Planning A Publisher Brochure

Finding the balance between creative presentation and content quality can be difficult. Our 4th grade classes are conducting research on Indiana counties. The teachers would like them to display their results in a series of travel brochures. The real lesson is learning about our state and reinforcing research skills, not how desktop publishing.

We decide that a Microsoft Publisher file would be the best method. Once they gave me a rough draft of content, I built a template for them. They also created a sample brochure with content, so that students have an idea of what it will look like before they begin researching.

To help maintain a consistent look among all the brochures, I placed items that should not be changed onto the Master page. This includes headlines, decorations and instructions for inserting each photo. Once a picture has been added, it will cover up the insert instructions. Students have the capability of removing elements that should only be modified, but I have not found a way to lock an item but allow its content to be modified.

The teachers will spend about 3/4 of their lab time researching and the last 1/4 will be spent building the brochures. We've set up all the shared files and folders and developed detailed instructions. As with many technology integrated projects, clear goals and plenty of planning ahead provides the best results.