CYCLE ONE CLASS NOTES

This week you are to work through the first cycle in the Cortez Peters' Skillbuilding program. Each cycle will start with a warm-up, a 5-minute timing, and continue through corrective (prescription) drills and ending in a posttest timing. When you have completed Cycle 1 and emailed your reports, you will begin Cycle 2. You must follow the steps below for each cycle. Do not waiver or omit a step. This program is designed to increase speed and accuracy through the following exercises.

 

CYCLE OVERVIEW
1. Warm-up Drills: A 5-minute warm-up should be done at the beginning of each activity period. Do as many lines as you can in 5 minutes.
2. Pretest: Return to the Menu screen and take two attempts at a 5 minute Pretest Timing
3. Corrective Practice: If you have more than five errors on your best 5-minute timing, go to the Corrective Practice menu and key the prescribed Accuracy Studies/Corrective Drills.
4. Diagnostic Test: This is only to be done if you have five errors or less on your best 5-minute timing. Take the Diagnostic Test for that timing. Example: Timing 1, second attempt with a score of 35WPM and 2 errors, you will take the Diagnostic Test. This test contains ten 1-Minute Timings on specially constructed sentences, each of which stresses a particular reach or stroke combination. Corrective practice assignments are prescribed for speed and accuracy determined by the results of the Diagnostic Test.
5. Skill-Development Paragraphs: After the corrective practices have been completed for the session or day, return to the Menu screen and proceed to Skill Development Paragraphs. These drills contain basic stroke combinations and 1-minute speed paragraphs that range in length from 20 to 130 words a minute (WAM). Every time you complete the paragraph with 100% accuracy the program will move to the next paragraph.
6. Posttest: When the drills have been completed, take two attempts at the Posttest 5-minute timed writing. Compare Posttest results with the Pretest results.

 

When you have completed all the steps for Cycle 1, send a report to your instructor, Start the next cycle, (Cycle 2) repeating the cycle steps.

The following link will give you instructions to email your work. Reports

Topics Covered:

• Program installation
• Email
• Menus, tools and using help
• Concentration! Correct fingering and posture at the computer keyboard.
• Skillbuilding Cycle

Starting and Customizing Cortez Peters' Skillbuilding program
Read the installation guide before installing the program. Refer to pages 1 - 15 of the student guide.

The first time you log onto the program, Click on the New Student button. Complete the registration information on the log on screen and click Save. (page 21, figure 4-2) Your information will be registered and the Warmup screen displays. Click on the menu button at the top of your screen. Specify your settings. Select settings on the Options drop-down menu to open the Settings dialog box. (page 23, figure 4-7) When finished with settings, click Save to record changes and close the Settings dialog box.
Everytime you log on after the initial logon, click OK. Do not click the new student button it will erase all of your data and you will have to restart the cycles.

Note: Review your settings. Your email address must be identical to the one your instructor used to register you on the Instructor Management Web site.

The first activity is a 5-minute warmup. The warmup is timed to last 5-minutes. Refer to page 25 of you guide for instructions. When you have completed the warmup the Main Menu appears.

Title bar
The bar at the top of your layout screen that shows the program name and the standard window control menu on the left and the minimize, maximize or restore, and close buttons on the right

Menu bar
The bar below the title bar that lists all of the drop-down menus

Button bar
The bar below the menu bar that includes button for frequently used features and on-screen guidance

Side Menu
Displays the activities included in the Cortez Peters' program

Navigation menu
On the left side of the screen includes icons for accessing activities by exercise and by activity type

Body of the screen
Provides instructions or an area for typing text

Status bar
Always check the status bar at the bottom of your document page. This bar has, drill and line numbers, number of attempts, misstrokes, WPM, page number, timing length, goal, word wrap on or off and all the information for that exercise. listed for the exercise you are working on.

Typing Area
Where users enter their text.

Follow the guide book for instructions on the use of your screen tools

Error Checking Colors
After taking a timing, you will be asked to view your scored text. Always view your scored text to see where your errors are and the type of errors you are making. The following is the color code for errors;

Red                Punctuation or spelling error
Example: Grass is gren.

Green<>      Omitted or left out a word or a sentence--missed a line
Example: The girl lost. The girl <is> lost.

Blue {}         Typed extra--double word or line
Example: The {the} sun is shining.