Kathleen Patton's Blogger

CDD Weekly Class Report Uhuru 7-30-11

2011-08-01T06:33:00.000-07:00

WEEKLY CLASS REPORT
House of Uhuru – 30 July 2011

Opening Comments:
Gave a brief overview of what today’s lesson plan was and reminded the class that their essays were due Tuesday, and that each student would have to give a brief presentation in front of the class as well.

Attendance:
14 students attended class today
1st Topic Covered:
William went over the general guidelines for public speaking regarding eye contact, clear voice, and speaking speed. Allen discussed those guidelines in further detail and addressed the importance of preparation in public speaking. We recommended the students practice presenting to each other as well.

2nd Topic Covered:
Allen went over Cutting and Pasting, deleting/undeleting, and Parent Folders. William went over My Computer, Icon arrangement, and changing different display settings. We then went over the usage of the internet, and explained its practicality and many usages.

Lab Time:
After separating the class into two groups, we one group work on their essays and another work on the computer. Those who had already finished writing their essays were allowed to type them up, if they chose to do so. Allen went around the class to teach the students how to write a blog on the CDD website, while William helped with the essay-writing. We switched roles when the groups switched spots. Most of the students had completed their blog entry.

Final Notes:
About half of the class had completed or were close to completing their essays, and a few were almost done typing them up as well. Some of the students wanted to focus solely on their essays during lab time, and agreed to write their blog posts by next class meeting.

CDD Weekly Class Report Walden House 7-5-11

2011-07-21T07:27:00.000-07:00

WEEKLY CLASS REPORT
Walden House/July 5th/2011

OPENING COMMENTS:
Bharat was feeling under the weather so I was solo for the class. There were 12 students however 2 students dropped out.

ATTENDANCE:
There were 12 students however 2 students dropped out.

INTRODUCTIONS OR OVERVIEW:
Did a quick intro of what the course consisted of. Introduced myself and then went around the classroom, for students to introduce themselves, and their skill set of computers ranging from 1-5. Many are at a level 3. Only one who has had little to no experience

1ST TOPIC COVERED:
Assigned workbooks to the students. Explained the Rules and Expectations.

2ND TOPIC COVERED:
Talked about the written paper and how to compose an outline. Did several examples of what an outline will look like. Had 6 students read out aloud the first 6 computer terms.

LAB TIME:
Lab time was brainstorming for ideas on how to do their outline.

FINAL NOTES:

CDD Weekly Class Reports Cri-Help 7-5-11

2011-07-19T07:08:00.001-07:00

WEEKLY CLASS REPORT
Cri Help/7-5-2011

OPENING COMMENTS:
There were no events that I felt were out of the ordinary for the first meeting of class. My more experienced teaching partner did not report any incidents either.

ATTENDANCE:
Of the 8 students enrolled in the session, 6 were present on the first day of class. Ms.Christina Santos and Ms.Suzanne Bridges were absent. It should be noted that Mr. Brian Wu left with his classmates on break and did not return at the end of break.

INTRODUCTIONS OR OVERVIEW:
Colin explained the overview to the new class, with regards to attendance, participation and course completion. Graduation and behavior towards both teachers and fellow students was also discussed.

1ST TOPIC COVERED:
Herbert discussed the key points of the day which include: the computers cases, hard-drive, motherboard and connecting computer cables. The students were very inquisitive about the terminology and requested simplified explanations Analogies were used in the explanation of the day’s topics including Case-Skin, CPU-Brain, and Memories to R.O.M. and, quick arithmetic to R.A.M.

ADDITIONAL TOPICS:
In response to the inquires of the students regarding memory, Colin briefly explained the difference between MB and GB, using a floppy disk one of the students had and the SD cards found in cell phones.

LAB TIME:
The evening’s lab included an overview of the Personal Success Paper and mouse usage. Herbert conducted the paper lab, while Colin covered using the mouse. Mr. Gabriel Rivas (who prefers to be called “G”) was the only student unfamiliar with using a mouse. Colin likened the mouse to a joystick used for video games and the idea of pointing and clicking. Mr. Rivas was confident in his ability to use the mouse at the end of lab.

FINAL NOTES:
The students seemed very excited for the next class at the end of the first night. Mr. Tommy Quintant stated that he is capable of using a “smart-phone” but that he would like to expand his knowledge on a desktop. Mr. Jose Balderaz expressed that he has had limited computer usage in his life, but added that it was more than a decade ago. Ms. Iquisha Blaxon also has had very little usage but was able to navigate the desktop without assistance. Mr. Freddy Fernandez is quite knowledge able about computers and stated that he grew up around them. He is seeking a refresher on terminology and would like to expand his basic abilities to include things he may have forgotten.

CDD Weekly Class Report Uhuru 5-30-11

2011-07-06T07:37:00.000-07:00

WEEKLY CLASS REPORT
Uhuru/April 30, 2011

OPENING COMMENTS:

Computer # 11 was not operating. Had an error message that disk 0 was not being read.

ATTENDANCE:
Patricia Jones was absent. New enrollee Rose Sermons attended Saturday. I informed Rose, that considering she did not attend Tuesday class, that was considered an absent.

INTRODUCTIONS OR OVERVIEW:
Allen and I did a quick introduction of ourselves, and then we ask for everyone to state their name, and their level of computer experience.
Allen and I switched up in discussing the windows first part of Module 1

1ST TOPIC COVERED:
I went over the windows basis. Allen went over the Windows Icons, and talked about logging in and where it may apply.

2ND TOPIC COVERED:
Using the taskbar and help menu, both Allen and I did visuals with the students. Had the students use the mouse to maneuver over some of the functions. This is where we went around the room to make sure everyone understood and knew how the taskbar and help menu works.

Allen went over the first discovery term, and then had 5 more students read out the remaining discovery term.

ADDITIONAL TOPICS:
Allen handed out 4 papers.
Personal Plan for success
Paper expectations
Cover Letter
Making an outline

I wrote down the instructors names for Cover letter, and gave them dates, on which the Outline and paper is due.

LAB TIME:
Lab time was spent on working the Mavis Typing.
FINAL NOTES:
Natasha Callier has great difficulty reading. I sense there will be some issues pertaining to her doing her paper.

CDD at 1000

2011-05-18T07:21:00.001-07:00

CDD AT 1000

As CDD graduated its 1000th student on March 22nd, 2011, , the organization graduated to a new sphere. These 1,000 graduates are our legacy. They represent hundreds of hours in the classroom and behind the scenes by our dedicated volunteer Instructors, Installers, and Web Developers. There are hundreds of stories of transformation demonstrated by our students who walk into the classroom with intimidation and walk out with confidence and hope. An equal if not greater number of family members have been positively effected by this transformation: children who had given up on an absent parent; and parents who believed they would never again see their son or daughter in a good light. The positive domino effect that our classes have had on the greater community is something in which we can all take pride.

I would like to take a few moments to address questions I often have been asked about CDD. I see this as an opportunity to fill in any missing details about the CDD Program and to help our supporters better understand our program. We at CDD are always interested in your feedback and suggestions so please email us from our website or at info@cddnp.org. We will make an effort to address your questions or comments on a regular basis.

Q) What makes CDD so successful? What makes it work and what are the main components of its success?

A) There are a few important aspects of our program that are key to our success. First, we target adults instead of children. While CDD donates computers to youth groups and of course agree that youth groups are vital to an improved society, there are few programs in place for adults, especially the population on which CDD focuses that being adults in recovery. We know we are filling a need by offering this training to this distinct group of adult students.

Secondly, our training takes place inside the Recovery Center, while the student is participating in the recovery program. These adults are at a turning point. They have decided to let go of the past and rebuild with an eye toward the future. Most are sober for the first time in years. Often the only thing lacking in the plan to succeed are job skills. CDD addresses this problem head on by offering computer training. This training opens up the world to our students, as they become fully confident to apply for jobs, enroll in Community College and to reestablish contact with lost loved ones for the first time in years.

This training also provides each student with added hope and confidence, which plays an important role in helping them remain sober, after they leave the recovery center setting and begin to face the many difficult days ahead.

Q) Do volunteer Instructors really work in such an important position? Are they reliable? Don’t you really need experts to deal with such a challenging project?

A) One of the main reasons the CDD program is successful is our exclusive use of volunteer Instructors. Ninety per cent of our Instructors are not experienced teachers. Most have advanced degrees in a number of areas; many of which are tech-based. These are very busy professionals with demanding jobs, families, and social lives, but they feel strongly that computer literacy should be available to everyone. These volunteers are champions of our students. When the motivation to be in the classroom comes from a fundamental belief in equality and from a bond that is formed with the students, the classroom experience is very different, than when the motivation comes from earning a paycheck. There is something magic about doing something simply because you want to help.

There is another dynamic present as well. CDD Instructors and Students represent two very different groups of people. One group being highly educated and successful while the other has underachieved and been making bad decisions for years. Yet when these two opposites come together in the classroom something special occurs. A very tight bond is formed as both parties come to understand the value in the other person. This is another divide we did not anticipate being crossed when developing this program. Our students naturally look up to our Instructors. The Instructors seem larger than life with job skills that seem unreachable, exciting careers, and close personal relationships. The way our Students inspire the Instructors is perhaps the biggest surprise. These are individuals who have come from unbelievable adversity and suffering yet they walk into the classroom full of dreams and a determination to succeed. They are humble enough to reach out for support and face their fears and lack of feeling “worthy”. We all marvel at this inner drive with each new group of students who walk into our classrooms each session. The tie between these two groups is strong and we believe it would not be as strong or successful with paid Instructors.

Q) Have you been able to track the progress of your Graduates after they leave the program? Do you know the recidivism rate of your Graduates compared to those without CDD training? Do you have stories of success of your Graduates who attribute their success to CDD’s computer training?

A) I can answer yes to two of these questions. We are still working on a way to track the recidivism rate. One of the problems with this population is that they are very difficult to locate after they leave the recovery center setting. There are a variety of reasons for this but the primary reason is lack of stability. There may also be a tendency to return to a sense of anonymity. The latter is a recipe for disaster as many studies have shown that those in recovery need the support of a community to succeed.

However, CDD has been able to track several students, over the years. We have many stories of student success, which can be attributed to the computer training they received, as well as their recovery training. These students’ stories and portraits will be coming out in a book about CDD, which will be published, in the near future.

Q) The last question is about the future of CDD. What are your immediate goals for its growth? How do you hope to see CDD evolve over the next few years?

A) The wonderful thing about CDD is that we know we have a perfect recipe to achieve success. For a non-profit, unlike a for-profit that measures its success by its finances, an NPO needs to show that it is making a difference in the community. An NPO’s “widget” is the contribution it makes to solve a “human” problem.

CDD realized that with the emergence of the digital revolution anyone without basic computer skills would be left on the other side and that some of the most vulnerable are adults in recovery. The importance of bridging the digital divide has never diminished. After seven years of training we continue to see large numbers of our target population with no computer experience. Our only regret is that we have not been able to open additional training facilities. We have a very long and growing waiting list of centers that would like to see our training offered to their clients. Our major hurdle is funding. CDD has done as much as it can without being fully funded. We have maintained the three centers we opened seven years ago. However, without a full-time paid office staff, as well as other operational expenses, we have had to cap our growth to these three centers. Our goal is to locate an endowment or donor who would provide the funds we need to open more centers. We would also like to build a student-operated Refurbishing Company that would refurbish and resell donated computer equipment. The funds from this business would go to pay a salary to the student employees and provide additional funding to CDD in support of our training.

This concludes the Q&A of some of the most common questions we receive. We hope you will take a moment and donate either a computer or funds to CDD. Your donations are tax deducible and all go to support our training. We are always looking for volunteers as well. The support of our volunteers is what makes CDD possible.

Kathleen Patton
CDD Executive Director

CDD Weekly Class Report Uhuru 4-26-11

2011-04-29T06:50:00.000-07:00

WEEKLY CLASS REPORT
Uhuru/ 4-26-11

OPENING COMMENTS:

I walked into the center around 6:40 pm and a counselor greeted me. I met Melissa right away and started getting ready to let the students in the classroom. We had to get a table to put our books and teaching supplies on it, and we also had to get extra chairs. We let the students in at 7:00 pm and started taking attendance and passing out the manuals and recorded them in the attendance sheet.

ATTENDANCE:

Attendance was more than expected as we were short of manuals and some students had to share. Melissa assigned the manuals and created the teams and groups

INTRODUCTIONS OR OVERVIEW:

Melissa introduced herself and then I introduce myself and then We ask the students to tell us their names and the reason why they were in the class and how much computer knowledge they had acquired prior to this class.
I explained the importance of computer skills in today’s marketplace and why it would be in their best interest to do their best in the class. I explained the format of the class. The class expectations rules and regulations and told them to be on time and absences and tardiness were going to lower their graduation goals. I told them not to write on the manuals and to keep noise to a minimum. i informed them about their assignments due on the 5th week, the test on the 7th week, and the oral presentation on the 9th and 10th week.

1ST TOPIC COVERED:

Melissa covered this topic and she explained to them about the written essay in detail. She explained why they had to improve their writing skills in order to be competitive in the outside world. She told them about the length and topic of the paper and that they had to do an outline in order to write the paper and the importance of the outline. She explained that the paper was to describe their individual goals for the future and that the presentation of the paper will help them improve their public speaking skills.

2ND TOPIC COVERED:

I covered this topic and we opened up a computer to show them the parts inside the computer. We went over the computer terms on the manual, pretty straight statements of fact about computer hardware.

ADDITIONAL TOPICS:

LAB TIME:

Melissa explained the use of the mouse in detail and went over page viii of the manual. we let the students practice left clicking and right clicking during lab time the majority of the group got the idea pretty fast. During the last part of the lab the students were clicking on the icons AND SOME students practice their typing skills on the mavis beacon program.

FINAL NOTES:
Offer any additional issues you would like to point out to the next team.
Everything went pretty smooth, a couple of the students had to leave briefly because their counselors ask me if it was ok, but they returned right away and I knew that they were with their counselors.

CDD Weekly Class Report Cri-Help 2-19-11

2011-03-09T07:30:00.000-08:00

WEEKLY CLASS REPORT
CrI Help/ Saturday 02-19-2011

OPENING COMMENTS:

Rob was really good in the class. He made student comfortable. He distributed work sheet to the students.

ATTENDANCE:

There were 12 students in class.

INTRODUCTIONS OR OVERVIEW:

We introduce ourselves to class. There were few students who had an exposure to computers before. But there were few students which are very novice. Rob explained the areas the class will work on.

FIRST PHASE

In first phase, Rob explained the first few terms from the glossery. He explained the computer terms in detail with a good analogy terms. The class was very interested to know these terms and it was more of a discussion which was the best part.

Second Phase

In Second phase, Bharat went through the first module. He asked the students to read and go through the worksheet. He explained the topics with examples. He was asking the questions in between to make sure that students are paying enough attention to the class.

LAB TIME

Lab time students were really enthusiastic. They explore the desktop functions, task bar. Some of them also tried help functions in Microsoft word.
Final Comments
The class was really excited and some of the students were really thankful to the class. They are looking forward to learn a lot from this class.

CDD Weekly Class Report Walden House

2011-02-18T07:03:00.001-08:00

WEEKLY CLASS REPORT
Walden House/ Tuesday 02-15-2011

OPENING COMMENTS:
Ralph Mendoza was handling some paper work with the students when the instructors arrived. In addition Ralph introduced the CDD program and instructors to the students before leaving the class room.

ATTENDANCE:
We had 14 students in class. We started with 15 but Paul Martinez left at the beginning of the class.

INTRODUCTIONS OR OVERVIEW:

The CDD Instructors introduced themselves before the students got to talk about their Computer experience and expectations for the class. It seems that 50% of the class has very little to no experience with the computer. Soni went over the attendance rules and expectation especially the paper expectations.

1ST TOPIC COVERED:
Gritt handled the first 6 terms of the computer discovery section. It was fun. The class was very interested and asked questions. Even the students with very little experience with computers seemed to be able to understand and comprehend quickly. We used to have an open computer for demonstration purpose, which would have made the lecture even more informative and help the students to recognize the different parts of the computer.

2ND TOPIC COVERED:
Soni and Gritt as a Team lectured the workbook section “ How to use the mouse” and keyboard together.

LAB TIME:
During Lab time the students practice the different mouse function( left and right click ) plus learned plus practiced typing on the keyboard in the Mavos Beacon program.

FINAL NOTES:
Overall the class is very excited and eager to learn. At this point, I am not foreseeing any difficulties for any students.

CDD Weekly Class Report Walden House 10-18-10

2011-01-11T06:42:00.001-08:00

CDD WEEKLY CLASS REPORT
Walden House, Tuesday, October 18, 2010

OPENING COMMENTS:
Chairs were set up in rows with a white board for lecture. Soni, Joe and Loryn were there to instruct. Joe and Loryn were going to switch days, so Joe left shortly before class started.

ATTENDANCE:
Attendance was taken and the notebooks handed out. The room was full, with 13 students in attendance.

INTRODUCTIONS OR OVERVIEW:
The class jumped into the agenda quickly as there was a lot of information to review.

1ST TOPIC COVERED:
The class began by collecting papers from the students. Loryn reviewed the word count, giving credit to complete papers. Lecture began as a discussion on what makes a bad presentation. The students listed things like lack of volume, too many ‘uhms,’ and unprofessional attire. Soni then lectured on things that could help take away nervousness and create a great presentation: room set up, greeting the audience, knowing ones material, and practice.

2ND TOPIC COVERED:
The students were then told about graduation, being reminded it is a formal occasion, with pictures. Also, a class representative was to be chosen to speak and then they began their presentations. Every student in attendance took turns speaking in front of the room. After each student spoke the class applauded and then reviewed things that were good and things that could be improved. The class was reminded to share their computer skills experience gained from CDD in their speeches.

LAB TIME:
For lab time, students reviewed a handout with helpful Internet links. The CDD blog address was written on the board and each student took turns navigating to the site and submitting a post. Students who had completed their papers were directed to save onto a flash drive for submission. Those who were near finished continued typing. Special time was spent with: Edward Sandoval, to ensure he will finish his paper. Also, Paul Teargin, says he had over 500 words Saturday, but due to a saving issue (we checked the computer) he is now at 370 and will complete his typing to submit Saturday.

FINAL NOTES:
For the end of class, students were reminded they will all be presenting again on Saturday as a final presentation, so to practice with their papers, noting the key points to refer to.
There was an even set of 3 recommendations for presenter: Robert Johnson (engaging), Cookie (personable), Christopher Jorge (he was to work on his conclusion). Lastly, unfortunately, Isaias Martinez, initially in the class for attendance, was talked to on the side, regarding his outline. He said he had it in his room and left to get it, without returning.

Loryn took the books at the end of class for the Thursday meeting.

CDD Weekly Class Reports Uhuru 10-9-10

2010-12-03T07:00:00.000-08:00

WEEKLY CLASS REPORT
House of Uhuru/October 9, 2010

OPENING COMMENTS:
Hunter and I had another great class and all of the students were extremely focused throughout the class, learning about public speaking, the Internet, and finished their papers.

ATTENDANCE:
9 students attended the class and two students were absent.

INTRODUCTIONS OR OVERVIEW:
We went over the paper stressed that they must complete it by Tuesday’s class. We also talked about graduation and told the class that as long as they completed their paper and attended the remaining classes, they would graduate. We also told them that one student would be chosen to read their paper at graduation, which caused some nervousness, but overall excitement in the class.

1ST TOPIC COVERED:
Hunter covered the topic of Public Speaking going through various examples of how the students should present. Many of the students were nervous about presenting, but Hunter gave great tips to help them calm down and focus on presenting to their peers. He went through different topics like eye contact and speaking clearly and loudly, which the students later utilized during lab time.

2ND TOPIC COVERED:
I reviewed the Internet section in Module 3. Many of the students were excited to go on the Internet, but it was clear that most students knew how to use it already. We went over the address and task bar and also visited some websites, like Google. Overall the lesson was very brief and we helped some students individually who did not know how to use the Internet.

LAB TIME:
During lab time, we spent half the time working on paper and the other half of the time practicing presentations. Almost everyone had already completed his or her papers, with the exception of a few students. While we were helping students individually, they appreciated our input on their papers and were happy to share them with us. During the presentations, everyone gave great constructive criticism to the students who presented.

FINAL NOTES:

Everything went really smoothly, and as long as everyone who is still attending the class completes their papers and attends the last two classes, I think this class is going to do well. Everyone is very social and they feel comfortable with themselves to share their stories with their peers. Positive attitudes all around!

CDD Weekly Class Report Uhuru 10-5-10

2010-11-07T06:27:00.001-08:00

WEEKLY CLASS REPORT
House of Uhuru, 10-5-10

OPENING COMMENTS:
This week’s class over all was again energized and engaging, students seemed to look forward to the computer discovery test and were well prepared.

ATTENDANCE:
10 attended class. We were told that Charlene hurt her foot, but did send in another resident from the center to let us know that and ask if she could make up the test on Saturday.

INTRODUCTIONS OR OVERVIEW:
Julian took roll call. We discussed what we would be going over in the class. There were a lot of questions regarding the papers.

1ST TOPIC COVERED:
Jane reviewed materials discussed in module 2, discussing a bit more on cutting and pasting.

2ND TOPIC COVERED:
We passed out the tests. As the students were done, we collected them. Juliane wrote them all on the board, and we had all the students come up and match them all before we passed them back. Half of the students got 100%.

LAB TIME:
In Lab Time Juliane wrote out a cover page on the board as I went around the room and showed the students how to set this up in word, and begin typing their papers in their computers. The remaining of lab time, Juliane and I both worked with students on their papers.

FINAL NOTES:
In tonight’s class, the students were very engaging. They really enjoyed the way we went over the tests on the board together as a group. We had teams, the boys against the girls (the girls won), they really seem to understand the discovery terms, not just memorizing them, but also understanding what they mean. Most of the papers are just about completed; they also seem to understand how to work the tools on Word in order to complete their papers. The ones who understand it more are very helpful and supportive to the ones who are more challenged. (I love seeing that).

CDD Class Report Walden House 10-5-10

2010-10-21T06:47:00.000-07:00

WEEKLY CLASS REPORT
Walden House, 10-5-10

OPENING COMMENTS:
Chairs were set up at the computer workstations with a white board for lecture.

ATTENDANCE:
Attendance was taken and the notebooks handed out. The room was full, with 14 students in attendance.

INTRODUCTIONS OR OVERVIEW:
Students were given test over Discover terms.

1ST TOPIC COVERED:
Soni introduced students to various fields in IT. A motivational lecture to continue learning IT skills was also given.

2ND TOPIC COVERED:
Break was given and Tests were graded. Review of Second module was briefly given. Class broke up and went to work on their papers on the lab computers

LAB TIME:
Students were helped individually if it was identified that they needed help on outlines and/or paper. Soni and Joe went around class helping students that were in need and tried to review Module 2 skills with them.

FINAL NOTES:
To conclude, all books were returned and students were reminded to work on their papers and that it was due next Tuesday with an oral presentation. Overall, the class was excited and eager to learn more, many promising to study and work on their papers for the next class.

CDD Class Report Cri-Help 9-28-10

2010-10-06T07:33:00.000-07:00

WEEKLY CLASS REPORT
CH/9-28-10

7:00 to 7:10- Jordana took roll and handed out the workbooks. After writing the evening’s schedule on the board, she gave a brief talk on the topics for the evening. Eleven students were present and on time. Two students Erica and Aysha are no longer coming to class. Erica dropped the class and Aysha went home.

7:10 to 7:30 - Review and Outline Assignment
The outlines were collected. A few students shared and discussed their outlines. Jordana used the outlines presented to demonstrate how to turn outlines into an essay.
The class was reminded that the papers would be due on lesson 9.

7:30 – 8:00 – Computer Discovery
After reviewing the items presented on Module 1 on Saturday, Beverly went over the last 5 computer terms and reminded the students that they will be tested on all Computer Discovery Terms next week.

7:50 – 8:00 - Break

8:00 – 8:50 - Lab Time
The class worked into two groups to allow each student use of a computer. Beverly worked with the group at the computers. After making sure that each student understood the computer modules, students went on to work on Mavis Beacon. Jordana worked with the alternate group to help them begin turning their outlines into their actual papers.

8:50 – 9:00 –
Beverly led a final QA.

FINAL NOTES:
The class was attentive and on task the entire time. Students were reminded about their Computer Discovery Terms test next week and were also reminded about the due dates for final presentations and papers due.

CDD Class Report Uhuru 9-18-09

2010-09-30T07:35:00.000-07:00

WEEKLY CLASS REPORT
House of Uhuru/9-18-10

Opening Comments:
Hunter and I had an excellent time working with the students on Saturday. We explained to the students that because of the issues that occurred in the last class, the groups would be split into male and female separate by the front and back of the classroom. We are not sure if this change is what resulted in an excellent class or if the students just brought a new attitude with them; every single student was well behaved and everyone seemed very eager to learn. Hunter and I had a great time working with the students and teaching them today.

Attendance:
13 students attended the class. One student was sick and could not attend.

INTRODUCTIONS OR OVERVIEW:
Hunter and I introduced ourselves by telling them about our work experience and also explaining why we were volunteering with CDD. We made it a point to tell the students that without computer knowledge, they would have a very hard time finding a good job and that these skills would definitely help them in the future. I think the students appreciated our different perspectives of how we used computers in our work. We also went around the room and had each student introduce themselves and why they were taking the class. The students had a variety of answers and many of them had very specific goals in mind after they completed the class.

1ST TOPIC COVERED:
We reviewed the first six Discovery Terms by playing a matching game on the board and having the students come up and match the words with their definition. We also mentioned that they should copy down the words and definitions because there would be a quiz in a couple of weeks.

2ND TOPIC COVERED:
Hunter reviewed the first half of Module 1, which focused computer basics and understanding the desktop. Everyone was taking notes throughout the class and many students had questions about the material being covered that Hunter was able to answer very thoroughly.

LAB TIME:
During lab time, many of the students played with the computer to visually experience what they had just learned. Many of the students also started working on their outlines for their paper. Hunter and I walked around the class room to help students organize their thoughts and write them down in an outline format. Some of the more advanced students typed up their outlines, but most wrote them by hand.

The middle computer in the last row did not work and the first computer in the second row did not have a mouse, which made it extremely hard for that student to follow the class. We showed him some shortcuts so he could follow along, but I think it is extremely important for that computer to have a mouse so the student can follow along better in the next class.

FINAL NOTES:

Before class started, an old student stopped by to say hello, and I believe this was the student that gave the speech at the last session’s graduation. She mentioned how giving that speech really helped her increase her confidence.
The students in the class today were really great. Everyone was very open when they had questions or didn’t understand the material. In the beginning some students were chatty, but immediately stopped when we told them to pay attention to us. Although there were a couple of students who were more advanced than others, they did not disrupt the class and worked independently on their outlines. During lab time we both had a great chance to speak with many of the students and learn more about their goals after they graduated from class and got out of their program. Overall it was a very productive class and the students seemed to get a lot of it.

CDD Class Report Walden 9-15-10

2010-09-23T07:37:00.001-07:00

WEEKLY CLASS REPORT
Walden House, Tuesday, 9/15/10

Opening Comments:
Chairs were set up in a semi-circle with a white board for lecture. Ralph Mendoza, Center Vocational Manager, gave a brief introduction to the students.

Attendance:
Attendance was taken and the notebooks handed out. The room was full, with 14 students in attendance.

INTRODUCTIONS OR OVERVIEW:
Both Joe and Soni took turns reviewing their backgrounds and introducing themselves to the class. Soni also gave an overview of CDD and the course.

1ST TOPIC COVERED:
The students shared their familiarity and experiences with computers. The class, overall, had a very low level of exposure with computers, with only three having worked with them before. An overview of the format of the course was explained, reviewing the student paper and presentation. The rules and regulations were read aloud, with course requirements shared with the class.

2ND TOPIC COVERED:
The computer discovery terms were covered, also using the workbooks to follow along. The case of a non-working computer was opened by Joe, and displayed at the front of the room. The first six discovery terms were introduced, with each part displayed and defined. Having the terms written on the white board helped students to follow along and were used to wrap-up and review, with short definitions for every term.

LAB TIME:
A brief introduction to the keyboard and mouse was covered. Students then broke into groups and turned on the computers. Each station set up their user names on Mavis Beacon, then practiced typing,

FINAL NOTES:
To conclude, all books were returned and students were reminded of Saturday class from 11 to 1. Overall, the class was excited and eager to learn more, many not wanting the class to end. Several students mentioned they would be practicing their typing when they get a chance.

CDD Class Report Cri-Help 9-15-10

2010-09-17T07:15:00.000-07:00

WEEKLY CLASS REPORT
Cri-Help/ 9-15-10

Opening Comments:
Our class went very well and all students were cooperative and involved in the learning process.

INTRODUCTIONS OR OVERVIEW:
Ryan had everyone take their seat and took roll. Both he and Beverly introduced themselves and told why they volunteered. He led student introductions and the assignment of Student Manuals. Two groups were created for lab time.

1ST TOPIC COVERED:
An overview of the course was begun by Ryan. Beverly joined in the discussion of today’s topics, which included and introduction to the requirements of the 500-word paper. Both Beverly and Ryan went over the general class outline, reviewed class rules and gave an explanation of the required assignments and tests.

2ND TOPIC COVERED:
Both Beverly and Ryan led an explanation and discussion on the written paper and presentation assignment. We explained the paper and included some group brainstorming on general and individual goals. We discussed the benefits of working in teams and giving oral presentations.

ADDITIONAL TOPICS:
-- Beverly led the discussion of the first 6 terms while Ryan provided actual visuals when appropriate followed by a brief review of using the mouse. Followed by lab time for all students.

LAB TIME:
Most students were new technology users. The class was divided into two groups to allow each student use of a computer. Beverly worked with the group that took time to work in pairs to explore ideas for their papers. Ryan worked with others at the computer. Most students worked on Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing.

FINAL NOTES:
Since this is a relatively small class, we were able to provide extra attention to all students in need of it. At the end of the class we had a Q&A period and collected all workbooks.

CDD Course Report Uhuru 8-10-10

2010-09-15T07:44:00.000-07:00

Instructor End of Course Report

Center Name: House of Uhuru

Beginning Date: July 6, 2010

Graduation Date: August 10, 2010

Names of the four Instructors: Peter, Hunter, Juliane

The session consisted of 10 classes, with classes held on Tuesday evenings and Saturday mornings at the House of Uhuru. The teacher's team only consisted of 3 instructors, Peter, Hunter and Juliane. Peter taught on Tuesday's evenings. Juliane started in class 4 and also taught with Peter on Tuesdays. Hunter joined in class 6 and completed the team. Peter and Hunter already are experienced instructors and and knew how to lead through the class. They were a good support for Juliane, as she never taught before. But at the end of the session the three instructors turned out to be a very good and balanced team.

Though there were several technical difficulties in the beginning, at the end the computers worked pretty good and all the students got their opportunity to work on a computer to internalize the applications just learned in class. Out of 10 students in the beginning, we have 7 students graduating. They all are proud that they accomplished the outline, the computer discovery terms test, and the paper with the presentation. All of them seem to have gained confidence and knowledge working on a PC and they enjoyed the class.

Gregory was one of the students with no or little computer experience. Step by step he got more understanding of how to use the computer and at the end he was very confident in working by himself, he was even able to search the internet for schools he wants to contact to enroll after he gets discharged. Rickey as well did not have any or only little computer experience. He was a very quiet student but always very thankful for help and assistance.

Michele, Kyle and Victor already had some experience and were very confident in using the computer. But as they didn't use the computer in quite a while, they appreciated this course as a refresher and to be up to date with Windows 98 and later Windows XP. They understood everything they were taught right away and absorbed new information gratefully. These 3 students also were the nominees for the student presentation at the graduation ceremony.

Deanna and Shanae both liked working for themselves, but whenever they had questions they asked for help and appreciated it. Shanea sat next to Rickey and also tried to help him, whenever she could. She was very thoroughly working on her paper and cover page and was even concerned she might not graduate as she missed half of the 9th class. Deanna turned in her paper in the 10th class as before she had some medical issues and didn't finish the paper. She was very proud of her plan for success and couldn't wait to present it to the class.
The working, as well as the learning atmosphere was great and as a result of this atmosphere it was a very successful session for the students, but also for the instructors.

CDD Class Report Cri-Help 8-3-10

2010-09-05T07:24:00.000-07:00

WEEKLY CLASS REPORT
Cri-Help / 8-3-2010

Opening Comments:
Jordana and I both arrived about 20 minutes early to class. We put the agenda on the board as usual, and Jordana put the Santa Monica graduation information on the board as well.

Attendance:
Ryan took attendance. The entire Socorro class was a few minutes late because they encountered traffic on their way to the Cri-Help facility. But all the students arrived in class by 7:10 PM. Only Araceli did not show up.

INTRODUCTIONS OR OVERVIEW:
We told the class what the agenda was for tonight. Some people were nervous about the presentations and had questions. A few were very excited to present.

1ST TOPIC COVERED:
Ryan reviewed the 1st half of the Internet. Jordana continued with the 2nd half of the Internet. Some students had some questions afterwards, but most seemed focused on the paper presentations.

2ND TOPIC COVERED:
During the paper presentations, several people were excited to read, and Ibra was the 1st to go up in front of the class. Everyone was very respectful and cheered each other on. The students encouraged each other to go in front of the class; even if they were nervous or felt that their paper wasn’t good enough. One of the students that had a very good paper was Ray Campos. His paper was several pages long, and it was well written. It stuck to the computer topic very well and was cohesive. One student’s paper that surprised me was Robert Atkinson’s. Before class started, Robert told me that he couldn’t read. When he wrote his paper, he dictated it to someone and someone wrote what he said. He asked for help and if I could read his paper to the class, so I did. When I read his paper, it talked about his hardships and how being illiterate shaped him. Everyone was very moved afterwards and several people came up and hugged him. I think I also noticed that he started to cry (or at least had a tear in his eye) after I finished reading his paper to the class.

In all, 12 students who finished their papers presented. Another 4 students were almost done but wanted to add more. They still wanted to present, so we allowed them to present in class. However, I informed them that they still needed to complete their papers and re-present again on Saturday to get full credit. Those 4 students were Kevin, Anna, Eddie, and Magarita. Two other students did not present tonight, Danny C and Chris.

LAB TIME:
There was only 15 minutes left for the lab after the presentations. A few students were able to complete their blogs during this time. The students who were not done with their papers continued to work on them during this time.

FINAL NOTES:
We told the class the information about the Santa Monica graduation ceremony and that they could bring friends and family to the event. We collected the papers of the 12 students that presented. The other 6 students still have their papers with them and need to present on Saturday. Because I will be working remotely and not in the office on Wednesday, Jordana volunteered to scan the papers since she has access to a scanner. She will also bring the papers to the Thursday meeting to give to Micah and Renee, so that they can bring it to the Saturday class.

Overall, everyone did a great job in the presentations. Several students shook our hands at the end of the night.

The top students we nominate for Cri-Help (in order of preference):
1. Ray Campos
2. Robert Atkinson
3. Matthew Humphries
4. Ibra Taylor

CDD Class Report Cri-Help 7-31-10

2010-08-29T06:51:00.000-07:00

WEEKLY CLASS REPORT
Cri-Help / 7-31-2010

Opening Comments:
I arrived at 10:30 to try installing the GoodSearch toolbar and to test the Internet. A few computers were not connected to Ethernet cabling. I resolved that problem; all but 1 were connected and working. The last one, I got connected during the break. Renee arrived on time.

Attendance:
Renee took attendance. Robert came in nearly 15 minutes late. He decided to leave class since we told him he wouldn’t receive attendance credit. Matthew Humphries showed up in class today. Araceli did not.

INTRODUCTIONS OR OVERVIEW:
We answered a few quick questions about the timing of presentations and due dates for the final essay. Everybody was excited to be introduced to the Internet today. We specified that their browsing would be limited to the websites from the list Soni sent out.

1ST TOPIC COVERED:
I covered public speaking, some tips they should use when presenting their papers to the class, and if they’re selected, when presenting to the group as a whole. I talked how important a skill it was, and that speaking slowly, clearly, and loudly enough was very important.

2ND TOPIC COVERED:
Renee covered the Internet lecture. Some of the terminology in the material itself confused the students; we took extra time to explain what an Application was, and what a Search Engine did. We also touched momentarily on the basic structure of the Internet, which seemed to make those unfamiliar with the Internet less intimidated by it. We also explained E-mail by comparing it to snail mail.

LAB TIME:
At lab time, I focused on reading through and providing feedback for everybody who had a draft of their essay. As a general theme, people needed to focus more on specifics they learned at CDD and in particular, how computers were going to help them achieve their goal. I was pleasantly surprised to find that most students really were focused on their future plans; only a handful focused extensively on their history. Alex, one of the students whose outlines I had taken with me, was particularly focused on his past because he didn’t have the guidance of an outline. I selected a few parts of his past that he could include in his final piece and helped him to flesh out his outline (which I returned) so he could re-write it before Tuesday. I think that Molly’s is going to be particularly impactful if she can just pick a draft and stick to it. Ibra’s is coming along very well, but he needs more concrete information from his tech side. Chris’ outline is excellent and he has a lot to say. Ray had left his draft in his sponsor’s car but said he’s confident of it. I wish I could read it; I think it’ll be great. Jesse’s has a very solid body and conclusion but he needs to introduce himself and his essay better. Those are about all the specifics I could think of; everybody else’s was mostly general feedback. Anna never came to my side of the classroom; I haven’t read her essay. She seemed to be on the computers the whole time, but Renee and I didn’t notice until class was over.

[From Renee]
Lab time started rough for group 1. The Internet, which was working perfectly all morning, wasn't working when group 1 started to use it. So I had them go back into mavis beacon. The Internet was repaired and then the students started working on the internet. I showed them how to type a site into the address bar, how to use the search function, I had them navigate to monster.com and search for jobs in Los Angeles. I sent them to the CDD website, some entered in posts for the blog, they were very uneasy, some were not wanting to use their real names and were making up stories, we then ran out of time.I did the same things listed above with group 2. Regarding the blog posts, some were able to post a blog, some were not, and the CAPTCHA was a big hold up. This Lab session was very hectic. The students were very excited about using the Internet. I learned from this session that in Lab they should have a print out in front of them, a check list of things to do and they should check them off after they have done them, then at random, I go over and ask them to perform a task they have checked off. If anyone is not doing something from the checklist, they are made to get off the computer and work on their paper or leave class. It was very hard to make them stay on track with the lessons when all they wanted to do was surf the Internet. Since the class is so big, it's hard watching everyone. Also, there is a real problem with the more advanced students, being able to do these lessons easily and then doing something else and negatively influencing the other students (with less skill).

FINAL NOTES:
Overall Renee and I concluded after class that it went well. It’s a larger class but we’re working very hard to impose good structure on the students’ time. It seems to be working very nicely.

CDD Class Report Uhuru 7-28-10

2010-08-25T07:02:00.000-07:00

WEEKLY CLASS REPORT
House of Uhuru, 7-20-2010

INTRODUCTIONS OR OVERVIEW:
Six of eight students were present at the start of class. Prince and Shanae came in late and were marked absent. Michelle left halfway through the class, as she was not feeling well, and was also marked absent. Six of eight students turned in completed papers. Prince’s paper is nearly complete; he still needs to add a conclusion. Deanna has only finished about half of her paper, and said that she would complete it by Saturday. All papers were collected at the end of the class, except for the incomplete ones. The students were reminded about graduation on Tuesday (transportation will be provided and to please dress conservatively).

1ST TOPIC COVERED:
Peter reviewed several Internet topics, including the browser buttons and the concept of a web browser. He then explained how to set a home page, and how to print web content.

2ND TOPIC COVERED:
Chase, Rickey and Gregory performed their presentations. All students were critiqued by the class and by the instructors for their delivery and content.

BREAK
Break went as planned, for 10 minutes. All students arrived back from break on time.

LAB TIME:
Kyle, Victor and Shanae gave their presentations, and were critiqued. The class was very supportive of all students giving presentations. After the presentations, the students practiced typing and used the Internet.

FINAL NOTES:
The notebooks were removed from the classroom, and Peter will bring them to the meeting on Thursday. Deanna and Prince were reminded that if they do not complete their papers by Saturday, then they will not graduate.

CDD Class Report Walden House 7-24-10

2010-08-19T06:40:00.001-07:00

WEEKLY CLASS REPORT
Walden House, Saturday, 7/24/10

Opening Comments:
Chairs were set up with a white board for lecture.

Attendance:
Attendance was taken and the notebooks. Frank DeLeon came up to me and asked if he could be excused from the class because he wanted me to give him a note to excuse him from class to go to a baseball game.I explained that if he left he would be marked absent and that I would not be excusing him to go. One of the staff members happened to walk in while I was talking to Frank and he also, explained to Frank that the computer class was a priority at the center not the baseball game. He then told me that a list of the names on our roster had been given to the driver so that the students in the class would not leave for the game. All the students that were in class had their outlines although, many had questions that Austin I went over with them.

INTRODUCTIONS OR OVERVIEW:
I introduced the topics that would be covered during the class in Module 2 and MS Word

1ST TOPIC COVERED:
I briefly went over the last 5 discovery terms and also covered the First half of Module 2. I explained about running various programs at once and the cascading and tiling windows.

2ND TOPIC COVERED:
During the end of Module 2 I started feeling ill and one of the staff – Steve helped answering some questions from the students about the material.

LAB TIME:
Austin got to class very close to the break time, and after apologizing to the class for being late he excused the class for the 10 minute break. After returning from the break, Austin gave a brief introduction about himself and reminded them about the Discovery Term quiz on Tuesday. After answering a few brief questions about the outline and quiz, Austin instructed the students to use the computers for lab time.

During lab, Austin and myself assisted students still working on their outlines as well as instructed students to begin familiarizing themselves with MS Word. A few students began to create their title pages with Word. Many students had started to write their papers and were excited to share their current work with the instructors.

FINAL NOTES:
Overall a challenging class since I was by myself for the first half. However, it was encouraging to see that most students had begun writing their papers in their spare time as well as demonstrating the introductory concepts of MS Word.

Note from Austin:
Maria did extremely well with the class for being alone for the lecture portion. Most all students I talked to had a completed outline and had begun work on their papers. There were periods of time where some students were joking and repeatedly asking to use the restroom, but for the most part the class was kept under control and focused on completing the MS Word exercises.

CDD Class Report Uhuru 7-20-10

2010-08-13T06:52:00.001-07:00

WEEKLY CLASS REPORT
House of Uhuru, 7-20-2010

INTRODUCTIONS OR OVERVIEW:
Nine of ten students were present at the start of the class. Michael Alcantera has dropped the course. The workstations do not have Mavis Beacon or MS Office installed, so capabilities are somewhat limited. Peter started off the class by giving an overview of today’s lesson.

1ST TOPIC COVERED:
Juliane reviewed the outline process, and discovered that 8 of 9 students had completed their outlines. Wayne did not complete his outline, as he expects to leave the center next week. Five students presented their outlines to the class, and the outlines were critiqued by the instructors and students. The outlines were all within the scope of the paper. Some outlines were structured more like the actual paper (in complete sentences, etc) and this was pointed out to the students.

2ND TOPIC COVERED:
Peter reminded the students that there will be a quiz on the computer discovery terms next week. He then went over the last five discovery terms, using examples for each term. The class seemed to comprehend the terms. Peter briefly reviewed all 17 terms, in preparation for the quiz.

BREAK
Break went as planned, for 10 minutes. All students arrived back from break on time.

LAB TIME:
The students continued to work on their papers, using Wordpad or by writing them on paper. Juliane took the time to review some of the basic components of Windows with Wayne, since he is the least experienced user in the class. Peter assisted the students with various issues in Wordpad (formatting, etc) and showed them how to adjust the settings in the Control Panel.

FINAL NOTES:
Two of the students, Deanna and Prince, were talking during the lab and were being somewhat of a distraction. They were told to begin working on their papers. It was a successful class, but the issues with the lab still need to be sorted out.

CDD Class Report Walden 7-24-10

2010-08-09T07:07:00.000-07:00

WEEKLY CLASS REPORT
Walden House, Saturday, 7/24/10

Opening Comments:
Chairs were set up with a white board for lecture.

Attendance:
Attendance was taken and the notebooks. Frank DeLeon came up to me and asked if he could be excused from the class because he wanted me to give him a note to excuse him from class to go to a baseball game.I explained that if he left he would be marked absent and that I would not be excusing him to go. One of the staff members happened to walk in while I was talking to Frank and he also, explained to Frank that the computer class was a priority at the center not the baseball game. He then told me that a list of the names on our roster had been given to the driver so that the students in the class would not leave for the game. All the students that were in class had their outlines although, many had questions that Austin I went over with them.

INTRODUCTIONS OR OVERVIEW:
I introduced the topics that would be covered during the class in Module 2 and MS Word

1ST TOPIC COVERED:
I briefly went over the last 5 discovery terms and also covered the First half of Module 2. I explained about running various programs at once and the cascading and tiling windows.

2ND TOPIC COVERED:
During the end of Module 2 I started feeling ill and one of the staff – Steve helped answering some questions from the students about the material.

LAB TIME:
Austin got to class very close to the break time, and after apologizing to the class for being late he excused the class for the 10 minute break. After returning from the break, Austin gave a brief introduction about himself and reminded them about the Discovery Term quiz on Tuesday. After answering a few brief questions about the outline and quiz, Austin instructed the students to use the computers for lab time.

During lab, Austin and myself assisted students still working on their outlines as well as instructed students to begin familiarizing themselves with MS Word. A few students began to create their title pages with Word. Many students had started to write their papers and were excited to share their current work with the instructors.

FINAL NOTES:
Overall a challenging class since I was by myself for the first half. However, it was encouraging to see that most students had begun writing their papers in their spare time as well as demonstrating the introductory concepts of MS Word.

Note from Austin:
Maria did extremely well with the class for being alone for the lecture portion. Most all students I talked to had a completed outline and had begun work on their papers. There were periods of time where some students were joking and repeatedly asking to use the restroom, but for the most part the class was kept under control and focused on completing the MS Word exercises.

CDD Class Report Walden 7-20-10

2010-08-03T07:41:00.000-07:00

WEEKLY CLASS REPORT
Walden House, Tuesday, 7/20/10

Opening Comments:
Chairs were set up with a white board for lecture. The discovery terms were written on the board with short descriptions.

Attendance:
Attendance was taken and the notebooks handed out, including the new book I brought to replace the one which fell apart last week. Edward Ntuk came in to notify me he had dropped the class with Walden House Staff. I was told by WH staff, two students would be very late, I marked them absent (Ruben Casey and Aaron Thomas), only Aaron came in at 8:30 to show me his outline, which he will hopefully get credit for on Saturday. Lastly, Herver Fetheroff (student in wheelchair) arrived late at 7:10 after I saw him in the hall when I walked in. During class lecture, he interrupted by heading out the door, then ten minutes later tried to return. I did not allow him to stay or disrupt the class as he has in the past.

INTRODUCTIONS OR OVERVIEW:
Due to the large number of students to the class, I reminded them that class was from 7 to 9pm and they need to stay the entire class to get credit.

1ST TOPIC COVERED:
Students participated in a group as we used the white board to do a matching exercise as a group. Taking the time to explain definitions as we went along, the students demonstrated a good understanding of the terms.

2ND TOPIC COVERED:
The class submitted their outlines for review. Many students needed assistance during class time (David, Frank, Lamar, Arthur, and Aaron Thomas) and did not immediately get credit for their outlines. We did a group exercise to review how to brainstorm and create an outline.

LAB TIME:
A list (from the back of module 1) was written on the board for students to ensure they could complete the exercises of: minimize, maximize and help menu. Half of the class worked at the computer on these exercises and on typing, the other half worked on their outlines. I called the students to help them, one at a time, and was able to work to complete all of the listed students’ outlines with them, staying a little after to finish working with the tardy student, Aaron Thomas.

FINAL NOTES: To conclude, students were reminded to study for the matching quiz. All books were returned. Students were eager to start writing their papers from their outlines, so look forward to Saturday’s report as to their progress

CDD Course Report Uhuru 7-17-10

2010-08-01T07:14:00.000-07:00

WEEKLY CLASS REPORT
House of Uhuru/7-17-2010

Opening Comments:
Loryn and Juliane substituted the class for Jeff and Peter.

Attendance:
Before class, 2 students showed up and informed us that they would not attend, but they changed their mind and showed up on time. In total, 8 students were attending the class.

INTRODUCTIONS OR OVERVIEW:
Loryn started the class with introducing herself, afterwards Juliane introduced herself. After reminding the students that their outlines are due the following tuesday, they asked questions about the outline and Loryn took the time to explain the purpose and structure of an outline. The students then seemed to understand it. She also pointed out that the outline should be in handwriting as it is not sure if the printers will work to print the outlines the students started to write in word pad.

1ST TOPIC COVERED:
After her introduction, Juliane reviewed the computer discovery terms 7-12 by pointing them out in the open computer model. The students said they understood everything and didn't have any questions.

2ND TOPIC COVERED:
Loryn then explained the second half of module one to the students. Step by step she covered every topic and explained some of them by drawing on the white board. The students didn't have any additional questions and understood everything.

ADDITIONAL TOPICS:
no additional topics were covered.

LAB TIME:
During lab time the students continued working on their outlines and several students asked for help. Once again the instructors reminded the students to make sure they also handwrite the outline as there is not a guaranty that the printers will work. Rickey still seemed to have some problems with his outline.
Those students not working on their outline were asked to do the suggested lab exercise for class 4 (creating, deleting and restoring a folder). Wayne seems to feel insecure using the computer.

FINAL NOTES:
Offer It was a good class without any problems.

CDD Class Report Walden 7-17-10

2010-07-29T06:47:00.000-07:00

Walden House
Tuesday, 7/17/10

Opening Comments:
Chairs were set up with a white board for lecture.

Attendance:
Attendance was taken and the notebooks handed out. The room was full, with 14 students in attendance. I was informed by a staff member that Kirklan Stevenson would no longer be attending class. My teaching partner Delaram did not show up to class so I covered both topics.

INTRODUCTIONS OR OVERVIEW:
I gave an overview of what we would be covering class and reminded them that their outlines would be due on Tuesday

1ST TOPIC COVERED:
During the first part of the lecture the second set of 6 computer discovery terms were reviewed including video card, sound card, modem etc... The students seemed to understand them pretty well. They also, seemed to grasp the difference between computer hardware and software. The first half of module 1 and any questions that the students had were answered. One student brought up a question about Apple computers I explained that it was a different type of computer with different software and that type of computer was not covered in this class.

2ND TOPIC COVERED:
The second half of module one was then covered the help index tab and it was explained that there was a slight difference in the look of Windows 98 and XP. They also learned about the help search function and how to print something from the index. In addition the concept of working with different windows was explained and the students learned about maximizing and minimizing windows and how to close them and shutdown the computer.

LAB TIME:
At the beginning of lab time the topics in module 2 were covered in a more hands on approach. The students opened up the help menu and maximized and minimized Windows. The students were then divided up and some worked on their outline while others used Mavis Beacon and then switched off. During this time I went around and answered any questions that students had both about their outlines and the computer use. One student was having trouble writing his outline because he felt uncomfortable with his inability to spell. I explained that he should still write it even though it would have spelling errors.

FINAL NOTES:
To conclude, students were reminded that they needed to finish their outlines All books were returned. Aaron Robinson was still concerned about the fact he was marked absent last week although he did come to class late, I reminded him again of the class rules. When passing out the notebooks at the beginning of the class I believe it was folder 60 came apart. Many of the holes in the hole punched papers are broken and the order of the pages was jumbled. So I was unable to give it out to the student.

CDD Class Report Cri-Help 7-17-10

2010-07-26T06:32:00.000-07:00

WEEKLY CLASS REPORT
Cri-Help/July 17, 2010

Opening Comments:

Renee and Micah arrived on time and began class. Everybody was already seated and prepared. Micah did a quick introduction.

Attendance:

Renee took attendance. All students were present at the beginning of class on time with the exception of Eddie Aguilar. Some students were a few minutes slow in returning from break, and Micah explained to students during Lab that timeliness is critical.

INTRODUCTIONS OR OVERVIEW:
Renee began with a quick review of the class expectations and a short discussion of the Outline. We reminded everybody of the paper's title and that the outline is due Tuesday.

1ST TOPIC COVERED:

Renee started off material in the class with a review of the Computer Discovery Terms 7 – 12. After asking the class, we decided it would make sense to assign analogies to each of the terms. Once we did that, we had the entire class engaged in understanding the terms. They all remembered the clever analogies used for the first few terms and were comfortable with the format.

Video card = eyes
Sound card = ears
CD/DVD Drive = sketchbook/flipbook
Power supply = heart
Monitor = TV (difference: resolution (dots on the screen))
Modem = telephone

2ND TOPIC COVERED:

Micah continued with the rest of Module 1. We did a quick check for understanding of the material presented Tuesday; students were comfortable with that material. To review the 2nd half of the material, we used the board to draw examples. The students really seemed to like learning and expressing the functions of the various parts of the diagram in unison.

Micah drew a Desktop with a start button, taskbar, and My Computer/Mavis Beacon icons. He pointed to each item and asked the class to name each one. Then he drew a window of My Computer, and asked students to name each part of that screen (IE, titlebar, minimize button, maximize/restore button, close button). He made a picture of what the screen would look like after each button was pushed. At the end the class was able to reliably say the name of the function together of each component on the screen. (IE, point to minimize button ( _ ) and everybodfy would say “minimize – put it to the taskbar”).

ADDITIONAL TOPICS:

We covered the basics of how resolution works to help students understand the differences between TV's and computer monitors.

LAB TIME:

We split the students into the groups and group A went on the computers first, and group B worked on their outlines, then they switched at the halfway point. Renee spent time with the students on the computers while Micah did the outlines.

On the computers, students demonstrated their understanding of what the buttons did (minimize, maximize, restore) by using each function under Renee's supervision. Students also practiced deleting and emptying the trash can. Advanced students went on to Mavis-Beacon.

The other group continued with working on the outlines. Many students had already completed an outline; some hadn't started. We reinforced with each student that the outlines would be due Tuesday. One student, (Ibra, I believe) needed more individual help with his outline. I told him to work on what we went over in class and that somebody would help him individually on Tuesday. He did have the outline started and made some progress during class.

FINAL NOTES:

Micah is working on contacting Cri-Help to request a work order to get the Internet fixed. Micah also requested a clock be installed in the room so we can keep track of time without pulling out our cell phones during class.

Group B started on the computers this time and I feel that both groups got roughly equal time. We had to start late by about 5 minutes for the 2nd half of the class because many students had not returned. We were very specific in notifying students during Lab that tardiness returning from break would not be tolerated in the future.

The group seems to be dedicated and interested in the material. Matt is definitely the most computer-literate in the group, but his typing skills are nonexistent; we believe that during lab time he should usually be allowed to go straight into Mavis Beacon to get the most from Lab time.

2010-07-23T08:46:00.001-07:00

WEEKLY CLASS REPORT
House of Uhuru, 7-13-2010

INTRODUCTIONS OR OVERVIEW:
Nine students were present at the start of the class. Peter introduced himself to the class, and explained his background. Midway through the class, Wayne informed us that he would only be enrolled in the class for the next two weeks, as he is leaving UH afterwards. The students also said that Michael Alcantera has dropped the course. The main issue encountered was that the computers are not completely setup and need some additional work. None of the computers have Mavis Beacon or Microsoft Office installed. Three computers do not boot up, and one (first row, far right) does not have Windows XP installed. There are seven usable computers total, for the nine students.

1ST TOPIC COVERED:
Jeff started by reviewing some of the topics in module one, including cutting/pasting and minimizing/maximizing. He then explained that outlines are due in a week, and went over the concepts and purposes of an outline. He reviewed the sample structure of the outline in the workbook, and gave some examples of how it could be filled in. The students seemed to comprehend this topic, and many began working on their outlines during the lab.

2ND TOPIC COVERED:
Peter quickly reviewed the first six computer discovery terms. He then explained terms 7-12, providing analogies for each computer part. Example: Video card is like artist painting a picture, in that it is responsible for the display of all colors/graphics. The students seemed to understand the functions of the parts, and had good follow-up questions about each part.

BREAK
Break went as planned, for 10 minutes. All students arrived back from break on time.

LAB TIME:
Since Mavis Beacon was not accessible, the students worked on typing their outlines using Wordpad, or wrote them on paper. Jeff and Peter went around the room and assisted the students with creating their outlines, and with several Wordpad formatting issues. A few of the students completed their outlines, and started typing their papers. The features of Wordpad are basic, and did not offer many of the features that the students normally have (double-spacing, centering, etc).

FINAL NOTES:
No disciplinary issues were encountered. Other than the issues with the lab, it was a successful class.

CDD Class Report Walden 7-10-10

2010-07-21T09:36:00.000-07:00

WEEKLY CLASS REPORT
Walden House, Tuesday, 7/10/10

Opening Comments:
Steve one of the staff members at Walden explained that there was such a low turn out for the class because it had not been announced the previous week that the class was starting on Tuesday. Since, we had so few people Steve asked if we would be able to allowed to add anyone else. Delaram spoke to Kathleen and another student Greg Moobley was added to the class.

Attendance:
Because, of the confusion on Tuesday an announcement was made over the WH speaker today to notify the students the class was starting in the computer lab. Two of the students listed on the roster Calvin Booker and Victor Lopez came in and said they did not sign up for the class. Another student Ray Davenport came in to say he was dropping the class. Jose Padilla was not aware that class had started last week he came in but had to leave at 12. He was marked absent. Greg Moobley requested to add the class during the break. He only attended the lab time and was marked absent as well. We had a total of 10 students in attendance.

INTRODUCTIONS OR OVERVIEW:
The instructors (Maria & Delaram) introduced themselves to the class, and explained their backgrounds and why they were volunteering to teach the course.

1ST TOPIC COVERED:
Maria reminded the students about the paper and that they should beging thinking about their topic. She went on to review the First 6 Computer terms using one of the old computers to point out the parts to them again. The students seemed to understand all the terms and found the analogies Micah had provided last week very helpful. Some of the students who had very little experience with computers were much more confident after learning some of the terminology.

2ND TOPIC COVERED:
Delaram covered the 1st 13 pages of Module 1. She had them read from the workbooks and explained some of the basic concepts in using Windows. She explained about the desktop and taskbar. She also, explained multitasking and how to maximize, minimize and close a window. They seemed to understand the explanations well.

LAB TIME:

All of the computers booted up with no issues. The students turned on the computers they all worked on their typing skills with Mavis Beacon. There were not enough computers for each student in the lab and a few the students that were more experienced with computers paired up with other less experienced ones which was very helpful. Delaram and Maria walked around to make sure that all students had any questions or were having trouble using the computer

FINAL NOTES: No disciplinary issues were encountered There is still one computer that is not working. It has a sign that says no power supply

CDD Class Report Cri-Help 7-10-10

2010-07-18T06:59:00.000-07:00

WEEKLY CLASS REPORT
Cri-Help/July 10, 2010

Opening Comments:

Marlaina and I met up at 10:15am and we set up the class. Unfortunately, neither one of brought the lesson plan, and the internet wasn’t up and running, so we were not able to follow the lesson plan exactly as we should have.

Despite the minor setback at the beginning, we were able to run the class fairly smoothly and over all it went very well. The students were very kind and appreciative and really want to learn.

Attendance:
Juliette Hayes did not show up again and a student mentioned she thought Juliette may have dropped the program all together. Adolpho Ortega did not return from break.

INTRODUCTIONS OR OVERVIEW:
I did an intro and Marlaina did an intro and we went around the room and had the students introduce themselves one at a time.

1ST TOPIC COVERED:
Explain who covered this topic and any issues with the students on the topic.

We reviewed the computer discovery terms. Marlaina then went over Module 1 and demonstrated the techniques from the workbook by using a computer, the students seemed to enjoy that.

Unfortunately, since we didn’t have a lesson plan on hand, we didn’t know how far along we were supposed to go in Module 1. Instead of going through to page 13, we ended up stopping at page 8.

2ND TOPIC COVERED:

I went over the rules and regulations again with the students and inquired about how the essays were coming along. Most indicated they were coming along a few stated they hadn’t yet started theirs but have been thinking about it. The students asked about the possibility of seeing examples of essays and we said that we would see what could be done about that.

ADDITIONAL TOPICS:

Students asked about the mentoring program and about jobs and internships. One asked about volunteering for CDD when class is over. We told them that we would make sure that information would be available to them soon; hopefully at the next class on Tuesday.

LAB TIME:

We split the students into the groups and group A went on the computers first. The students opened and closed programs, I taught them about multi-tasking, how to switch between windows, they seemed to be relieved that it was such an easy concept. They all picked it up very well. They opened Mavis Beacon back up and continued where they left off. I noticed some have very good typing skills already, while others had a harder time grasping the concept of typing, i.e. hitting the keys too hard, holding the keys down too long etc…

While I focused on the students on the computers, during that time Marlaina primarily focused on the students that weren’t on a computer. She went around the room and spoke to each student about their plan for success. She also pointed out that they will be responsible for making an outline for their paper and that it will be due in a couple of weeks. Some of the students started working on their outlines right away while others started the brainstorming process.

FINAL NOTES:

Other than the fact that we didn’t finish Module I on the right page, there were not any major issues. The students really enjoyed the lab time the most.

Just a couple of things to keep in mind:

Kevin and Jessie tend to ask a lot of off topic questions.

Adolpho Ortega did not return from break and left a folder of personal paperwork in the class. I turned it into the front desk.

The computer closest to the front of the class against the wall on the entry side of the lab was acting up when Mavis Beacon was opened, but worked well using any other program.

CDD Class Report Uhuru 7-6-10

2010-07-16T07:08:00.000-07:00

WEEKLY CLASS REPORT
House Uhuru/7-6-2010

Opening Comments:
No unusual or concerning incidents happened. The students seemed to be engaged and respectful.

Attendance:
We had 9 students attend class this evening. Kim was told by one of the counselors that there might be as many as 13 students, but this was all that were in class today. All of the students were timely, both at the beginning and after the break.

INTRODUCTIONS OR OVERVIEW:
Jeff did the overview of the class, and since the class size was small we had time to do short intros from all the students as well. Both Jeff and Kim provided brief introductions and backgrounds of themselves.

1ST TOPIC COVERED:
Jeff covered Rules and Expectations and Paper/Presentation and making an outline.

2ND TOPIC COVERED:
Kim covered Computer Discovery and using the mouse.

LAB TIME:
We used this time to cover more questions the students had about our background, and also address more in depth what we expect to cover in class and more specific questions about computers.

FINAL NOTES:
In gauging the computer experience with the students, it seems that a lot of them have had at least a little computer experience, with some actually owning newer computers but not necessarily knowing how to use them well.

CDD Class Report Walden House 7-6-10

2010-07-15T06:31:00.000-07:00

WEEKLY CLASS REPORT
Walden House, Tuesday, 7/6/10

Opening Comments:
The students were excited to start learning, and were enthusiastic about the material.

Attendance:
Because it was the first class, an announcement was made over the WH speaker system to notify of the class being held in the computer lab. We had a classroom of 7 students to start the first session from the student roster of 16. Attendance was taken and the notebooks handed out.

INTRODUCTIONS OR OVERVIEW:
The instructors (Soni and Micah) introduced themselves to the class, and explained their backgrounds and why they were volunteering to teach the course.

1ST TOPIC COVERED:
Soni explained the purpose of the class, gave an overview of the format of the course, and explained the student paper and presentation. Students reviewed the eight rules that the class must follow and the basic expectations regarding class attendance and punctuality.

2ND TOPIC COVERED:
Soni explained some of the differences between computer hardware and software. Micah covered the first six discovery terms (case, motherboard, processor, memory, hard drive, and cables). The students followed along with a computer used to demonstrate in the front of the class. The case was opened and each part was displayed and defined. Micah was able to give some useful additional analogies for each part.

LAB TIME:
Soni gave an explanation of how to use the mouse and keyboard. We covered the difference between left-clicking and right-clicking, how to double-click, etc. All of the computers booted up with no issues. The students turned on the computers and opened Mavis Beacon. There were enough computers for each student in the lab. A few of the students had issues getting to the first lesson (couldn’t double-click the program icon, or had problems getting through the new user wizard) but were given addition help to get to the practice section. Micah and Soni walked around the room to make sure that all students had the correct position on the keyboard. Most students were diligent about sticking to the home row position when typing.

FINAL NOTES:
No disciplinary issues were encountered. Student, Arthur Huff, has a hearing aid, so things did need repeated a few times. However, his interruptions to the lecture got a little distracting to the other students, so recommend repeating to hold questions until the end of each section. Also, to note, one student is in a wheelchair for room set up. An additional student, Aaron Robinson, was “supposed to be on my roster” and will be speaking to WH staff to ensure that he is enrolled in the class. Lastly, after class, Soni and Micah stayed for a half hour organizing the stations, there are now four and four on each side of the room (rather that 3 and 5). Also, there is one computer station not working, which is indicated by the power source sitting atop the case.

CDD Class Report Cri-Help 7-6-10

2010-07-14T06:36:00.000-07:00

WEEKLY CLASS REPORT
Cri-Help/7-6-10

Opening Comments:
Please offer notes here about unusual or concerning incidents that took place in our class. Take extra space as needed for all sections.

I thought the first class went very well. The students seemed genuinely excited to be there.

Attendance:
Point out any issues with attendance or new/dropped students.

No issues this week.

INTRODUCTIONS OR OVERVIEW:
Speicify who did the overview and any new Intros for either Instructors or Students

Ryan and I shared the introductions of ourselves then gave the students a chance to do their own intros. He did most of the initial class overview.

1ST TOPIC COVERED:
Explain who covered this topic and any issues with the students on the topic.

We discussed the class essays (mostly covered by Ryan). Students asked a lot of questions and seemed a little nervous about the idea of writing an essay, but seemed to like the idea of learning to express themselves better.

2ND TOPIC COVERED:
Explain who covered this topic and any issues with the students on the topic.

Ryan and I shared going over initial vocabulary terms. Some students had some trouble with the technical aspects of the computer components, while others were familiar with basic concepts and were asking advanced questions.

ADDITIONAL TOPICS:

LAB TIME:
What was covered in lab time the general status of the students’ capabilities.

In lab time students practiced opening and closing windows and started working on Mavis Beacon. The ones I observed had very beginner level typing skills, and some asked if they were allowed to practice typing between classes.

Non-computer students seemed to be having a little trouble getting started brainstorming about their papers. Some were still stressed about the vocabulary words and were talking about that more.

FINAL NOTES:
Offer any additional issues you would like to point out to the next team.

No major issues, the group seemed great and eager to learn!

CDD Graduation Ceremony 6-1-10

2010-07-05T07:26:00.000-07:00

Graduation Event Wrap Up

Session Beginning Date: April 27th 2010

Graduation Date: June 1st 2010

Location: Santa Monica Recreation Center

Time: 7:00pm

Emcee: Wendell Bennett

Guest Speaker: Kathy Porter

Keynote Speaker: David Schumm

Names of Instructors:

Cri-Help- Smriti Raghunathan, Ryan Bailon, Wendell Bennett, Robert Sandoval

Walden House- Peter Downey, Soni Nagatani, Derin Oyekan, Agreja Sharman

House of Uhuru- Chris Liu, Micah Roth, Jeffery Charlot, Victor Acevedo

We quietly took our seats in among an audience of a hundred or more. It was the first of the month, a warm June month and by the looks of the audience, they were enjoying the weather outside. Another quick six weeks had gone by, and we had, seating in the front rows a new graduating class with stories to tell.

As the audience began to arrive the evening’s Emcee, 1st time Instructor Wendell Bennett, announced that the event would soon be starting and asked that everyone please find a seat. Wendell then commenced the ceremony with an introduction by congratulating all of the Graduates. He then offered some thoughts on what he enjoyed about teaching and the importance of the graduates continuing on with their success.

He then introduced the first speaker, longtime supporter and CDD Board Member, Katy Porter. Katy shared her passion for CDD with the audience and how inspired she is with their hard work toward a brighter future. Ms. Porter then offered some background about the night’s Keynote Speaker. Katy explained that David Schumm was a good friend and colleague. That she and David both were established members of Toastmasters and that David was also a supporter of CDD. Katy then introduced David Schumm to the audience.

Mr. Schumm’s began by congratulating the Graduates. David then began sharing important words of advice. He started first by referring to Maximus Decimus Meredius, the fictional Roman General from the movie, “Gladiator”. He quoted the General’s famous statement; “What we do in Life echoes in eternity”. The point being of the importance of making careful choices at this time in the their lives. The Speaker discussed the non-fictional historical figure of Abraham Lincoln.

David displayed the words of the Gettysburg Address on a screen in front of the audience so that everyone could read along as David discussed the speech as a way to motivate the Graduating class.

Mr. Schumm’s speech was well received by the audience. After a round of applause, the MC introduced our first Student Speaker, Arsen Altounian from Cri-Help. Arsen’s story was dramatic and a great example on how positive change can take place when one dedicates him or herself to improving the future. After listening to details of Mr. Altounian’s prison life and how he overcame ‘Lifer’ Status, we learned of his plans to start a company, of his family and eventually how he plans to give back to the community. We were all moved by his story. The following two speakers, Lariza Lara from House of Uhuru and Rodney Jackson, had similar stories reflecting their positive change that included CDD as an important positive step.
The evening wrapped up with all the Graduates being called out by name to receive their Certificates, event photographer, Mark Hanauer snapping photos as the students strode proudly to the stage. The ceremony closed with graduates, their families and CDD Members, enjoying refreshments and the joy of another successful session ending and celebratory ceremony

CDD May 1st Newsletter Article 2010

2010-06-21T07:52:00.000-07:00

CDD Computer Training
Our Services Needed Now More than Even
By Kathleen Patton

Every day we hear news of another round of budget cuts. Quoting a CNN Article from March 21st, 2010,”Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is proposing "painful" layoffs and service cuts to close a $485 million budget deficit as the city struggles to cope with an economy beat down by a recession.”

At a time when the need for services and support are increasing, important programs are, being eliminated. Upmost on the mind of our CDD Members is how these cuts effect our students and centers. I have to report that, unfortunately, each center is being hit hard and are feeling the pinch.

One reason they are so dramatically effected is that our partner centers, Cri-Help, Soccorro, Walden House and the House of Uhuru are not the “Betty Ford” Centers in our city. They do not have big names behind them or multi-million dollar budgets. Yet our centers support the most at-risk population of our community. These are adults with few resources or opportunities available. The Centers take these adults in crisis and when possible charge a reasonable fee. Too often though the client is unable to pay any of the fees having been without a job due to a long incarceration or years of battling their addiction. But when a person is reaching out for help is the time support should be available. Our Center partners, in the past, have been there to catch them before they fall permanently through the cracks. They have been able to do this due to the foreword thinking and progressive policy in California, which provides funds to people in crisis, who are unable to pay.

The state of California has been a model state in understanding the importance of timing to someone seeking to go into recovery. The state have put in place a varitable network of Recovery Centers and Halfway Houses over the past forty years. These crisis centers have aided thousands of people put the pieces back together and go on to live valuable lives. No doubt the state would look very different had these programs not been available. The result would be more people in prison; a greater number of Californian’s livingon the streets or worse.

CDD is also on an important turning point. Over the past several months, funds have been dramatcially reduced to our Centers, with more cuts very possibly planned. Each of our Centers are reporting having fewer clients enrolling due to an inability to pay for treatment. The Centers are being forced to lay off staff and reduce the important programs so badly needed by their clients. This has also resulted in fewer students enrolling in and benefitting from taking the CDD Computer Class.

Compounding the situation is a new law recently passed which will dramatically cut the prison population. An article from the Los Angeles Times on January 26th, 2010, quotes “State prison authorities Monday began reducing the number of parole violators sent back behind bars and offering inmates more opportunity to shorten their sentences, as part of a plan to decrease the prison population by 6,500 inmates over the next year.” (Patrick McGreevy) As of March of this year several thousand prisoners have been released early back into society. While CDD wholeheartedly supports early release programs, we do so when coupled with job training, mentoring and recovery programs (where needed) in order to assure these adults a successful transition. Without these program it could well be a recipe for failure.

CDD is working hard to find ways to take up the slack. We are fervently seeking grants from a number of donors as well as backing from our local representative. We need to expand our services at this crucial time. It is non-profit organizations and private groups who are expected to fill in the wholes created by the cuts to these social programs. But without funding we too cannot succeed. CDD has already a long list of centers waiting for our services. Our model of offering training while people are in recovery has proven to be highly successful. We are able to both propell our students upward at a crucial time in their recovery process and keep costs low by utilizing already exsisting recovery centers. CDD has built an amazing group of passionate volunteers who have become experts in transitioning students back into society. Being 100% volunteer based, CDD by far is the most cost effective, as well as experienced in transitioining struggling adults back into society But we cannot grow without additional funds.

How you can help CDD- You can help by donating your time, computers and money today, at www.cddnp.org. Hold a Computer Drive in your office or neighborhood. We can help you plan and impliment this project. Host a Fundraiser. We have many ideas of hosting a fun and successful event. Please write to us anytime with your suggestions and feedback at info@cddnp.org. Thank you for your ongoing support for our students and the CDD Program.

CDD Course Report Walden 6-1-10

2010-06-12T07:47:00.000-07:00

Instructor End of Course Report

Center Name: Walden House

Beginning Date: April 27, 2010

Graduation Date: June 1, 2010

Names of the four Instructors: Soni Nagatani, Agraja Sharma, Derin Oyekan, Peter Downey

The Walden House course consisted of two class sessions per week, for six weeks, with 15 students enrolled for the start of the course. Course topics included hardware components, including the monitor, processor, mouse, keyboard, learning how to type, using the Internet and the basic components of Windows. In order to graduate, the students were required to write a 500-word essay, and present their essay in front of the class. This was the first class being taught at the new Walden House facility.

With a few exceptions, the students had very little experience using computers at the start of the course. Some expressed feelings of intimidation from never having used a mouse and keyboard. Despite this, the students expressed much enthusiasm and a desire to gain the knowledge necessary to become proficient with computers. During the first couple classes, the “intimidation factor” started to disappear as the students learned the basic parts of a computer, and learned how to type properly using the instructional typing software. As the course progressed, the students opened up more and started asking questions which demonstrated how they were catching on to the material. For example, Rodney asked how he could copy pictures from a digital camera onto a hard drive. The students eventually took a quiz on the computer hardware terms, and all but two passed with scores over 85%.

Another very positive aspect of the course was the written essay requirement. The announcement that students were required to write a 500-word essay was not well received at first, but once the students created their outlines, the ideas and words started to flow. Because the students had to write most of their essays outside of the classroom, completing their papers really showed their dedication and devotion to graduating. Nearly all of the students had their entire essays written before the final class. When the time came for students to present their papers in front of the class, it was very inspiring to hear about their goals and aspirations. James talked about how essential it is to learn technical skills as part of any career, and how he plans to use computers in his job search. Eric discussed his former fear of technology, and how he now has an email address and is creating his own resume. It was assuring as an instructor to hear how computer skills will help the students with their future lives.

Unfortunately, only half of the original class went on to graduate, with the other half of the students dropping the course for various reasons. However, the students that did graduate really appeared to have a sense of accomplishment by the end of the course, for having achieved so much over such a short period of time. Teaching this course was an enjoyable experience, and the students seemed very grateful at graduation for having the opportunity to take a course with CDD.

CDD Class Report Cri-Help 5-29-10

2010-06-07T08:03:00.000-07:00

WEEKLY CLASS REPORT
Cri-Help/05/29/2010

Opening Comments:
Rob reminded everyone that graduation is this Tuesday coming up and that you must dress nice and presentable. We made copies of both the picture of the center and the directions to the facility and handed them out.

Attendance:
Everyone was there and accounted for. We passed the attendance sheet around as well as the sheet for them to write their names for their certificates. Also on that sheet they had to put down Y/N if they completed their paper.

INTRODUCTIONS OR OVERVIEW:
Rob went over the Email vocabulary. He wrote them on the white board and gave the students the chance to tell us the definition. Every single student participated, there were questions asked and there were even students helping other students out.

1ST TOPIC COVERED:
Here we listen too 4 people present their papers. This went very well. It was touching and everyone was really listening and paying attention to the speaker.

LAB TIME:
Lab Time was used for students that wanted too type their paper and also I made sure that everyone wrote their blog. Some students had questions about emailing and I showed them my email address and how to compose a letter and carbon copy etc.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS:

ONE OF THE STUDENTS (BELINDA) ACTUALLY NEEDED A PUSH TO COMPLETE HER PAPER. HER EXCUSE WAS THAT SHE HAS A JOB AND COULDN’T WRITE IT. AT THAT TIME I TOLD HER THAT “ YOU KNOW IF THERRE IS NO PAPER YOU DON’T GRADUATE” , SHE THEN REALIZED THAT SHE PUT SO MUCH HARD WORK TO GET where SHE IS IT WILL BE A PITTY NOT TO GRADUATE. SHE ENDED UP FINISHINH HER PAPER IN CLASS AND PRESENTING IT.

CDD Class Report Walden 5-25-10

2010-05-30T07:51:00.000-07:00

WEEKLY CLASS REPORT
Walden House, 5-25-2010

INTRODUCTIONS OR OVERVIEW:
We had 7 students in attendance, and all 7 students stayed for the entire class. Shannon was marked absent. Peter handed out binders and started off the class. All students had completed at least 50% of their papers and the majority appeared to have over 500 words (in writing). Peter explained that today’s class would focus on completing papers.

1ST TOPIC COVERED:
Five of the students volunteered to make their presentations, including Eugene, Eric, Rodney, James and Eric. All of the students gave complete presentations except for Eugene, who had only half of his paper completed. Eugene was asked if he could present again this Saturday, after he completed his entire paper. All students made a significant effort in their presentations to be aware of the best practices that Soni had explained in the previous class (keeping eye contact, speaking loudly and clearly, etc). Some students, especially Rodney, provided feedback after each presentation. The instructors decided that Rodney had the best speech so far, as it was delivered well and was the most complete in terms of content.

2ND TOPIC COVERED:
The students were directed to the computers and instructed to work on finishing their papers. All students began typing what they already had completed in writing. Soni and Peter explained several new functions of Word individually to the students, including page breaks, centering text, spell checking, word count, and spacing. Lamar had already worked on his paper in previous classes, and finished typing it before the break.

BREAK
Break went as planned, for 10 minutes. All students arrived back from break on time.

LAB TIME:
The students continued to work on their papers. Anthony was having issues typing his paper, so Soni stepped in and typed the first 250 words. At the end of the class, all students had over half of their papers typed.

FINAL NOTES:
Lamar had completed his paper early, and was asked to practice using the Internet. He was caught several times visiting questionable sites containing pictures of women, and was asked to stop each time. Please take note of this for the next session.

CDD Class Report Cri-Help 5-18-10

2010-05-24T07:51:00.000-07:00

WEEKLY CLASS REPORT
Cri-Help / 05.18.10

Opening Comments:
Class began on time. Robert gave an outline of what would be covered in the class. The students were reminded that there will be no class on Saturday and that the papers and presentations are due next Tuesday. Attendance was taken and the workbooks were handed out.

Attendance:
Everyone was present.

1ST TOPIC COVERED:
Robert reviewed the computer discovery terms and went over presentations emphasizing public speaking (eye contact, clear voice, etc.). Some students presented their papers as an example.

2ND TOPIC COVERED:
Smriti reviewed the first half of module 2 and covered the rest of the module.

ADDITIONAL TOPICS COVERED
After break, students were given the quiz. After that Smriti reviewed and covered the rest of Microsoft Word.

LAB TIME:
Because of the extra material that needed to be covered (due to the fact that there will be no class on Saturday), lab time was cut short. We had a total of twenty minutes for lab. Students who had completed writing their papers were asked to go to the computer so that they could start typing their papers. The rest of the students were asked to work on their papers.

FINAL NOTES:
Most of the students seem close to completing their papers. We are not sure if they will all be able to get them typed since not having a class on Saturday makes a big difference. The students are interested in learning and seem to enjoy the class.

CDD Class Report Uhuru 5-15-10

2010-05-19T07:53:00.000-07:00

WEEKLY CLASS REPORT
House of Uhuru, Tuesday, 5/15/2010

Opening Comments:
Class started at 11 am. We had a classroom of 7 students. Thus students expressed excitement over their coming presentation and had a volley of questions regarding it, and the essay.

Attendance:
We had 7 students in attendance, the 2 missing students were out on family leave, or had various other approved activities by the facility.

INTRODUCTIONS OR OVERVIEW:
The class started by reviewing the coming schedule, reviewing the discovery terms, informing students about their presentations, and looking over and assisting with essay introductions. In addition to reviewing the maximize, minimize, and close features, we reviewed the beginning of the module and covered the material with some difficulty due to the incogruencies between the text and the Operating System.

1ST TOPIC COVERED:
The first thing we did was review the basic concepts, clarified the discovery terms, and then informed the students about their presentations. We also took this time to tell the students that there would not be a class for the 22nd of May, and that they were still expected to be up to date with their assignments.

2ND TOPIC COVERED:
Participation from the students was fantastic, the students demonstrated with ease a basic understanding of the discovery terms. We then quickly went over individual questions and concerns to help clarify what the expectations of the students were.

LAB TIME:
Lab time was spent clarifying the module and opening up and working with Microsoft word. Introducing the purpose of creating a header and a footer, in addition to changing fonts, and font sizes. In combining tasks from the module we introduced cut, copy and paste, and reviewed the minimize, maximize, and close functions. Jeffery was great in using a scrapbook analogy to help students relate the cut copy and paste commands to real life.

FINAL NOTES:The students are on a great course to completing the course, and have demonstrated a incredible understanding of the concepts and operations

CDD Class Report Uhuru 5-8-10

2010-05-12T07:53:00.000-07:00

WEEKLY CLASS REPORT
House of Uhuru, Tuesday, 5/8/2010

Opening Comments:
We had a classroom of 12 students in this session. When I asked the students about their missing peers, we were informed that some students had dropped the course in the prior session.

Attendance:
Of the 12 attendees, They managed to show up on time and full of interest to continue the course. Jeffery took attendance, and I handed out the notebooks accordingly.

INTRODUCTIONS OR OVERVIEW:
Both Jeffery and I reintroduced ourselves to the class, and briefly went over our weekly routines and defined our choice in volunteering to be instructors. After which we promptly began the course and went into reviewing the discovery terms, and then helping students with their outlines, describing to the class what was expected of them in their outlines and the basic format to which it should resemble.

1ST TOPIC COVERED:
Explain who covered this topic and any issues with the students on the topic.
Jeffery went over the last six discovery terms, encouraging the class to define the terms with him as he went along. Victor engaged student questions, and utilized the whiteboard as Jeffery went on to define each component.

2ND TOPIC COVERED:
I then went over the outline and described to the students what was expected of them from the outline and how it would help define their essays, and their futures. I made a point to emphasis that it was not to be a biography but rather a roadmap to their future; how computers and technology specifically from this course would help to encourage their success. I utilized the whiteboard to go across specific career endeavors that the students were interested in and did some classroom brainstorming. ( e.g. Cosmetologist, Receptionist, Truck Driver, and Social Worker) Jeffery used this time to visit each student and ensure that they were understanding the material, and could comprehend what they were being asked to do.

LAB TIME:
Most of the students utilized the lab time to open Mavis Beacon and practice both typing and navigation skills of the computer. When Jeffery reminded them that there would be a test on the 18th for the Discovery terms, and that the outlines were due the next class session. Many of the students began to work on those assignments. At which point many requested one on one clarification of the discovery terms trying to ensure that they had a proper understanding.

FINAL NOTES:
The remaining students are still very eager and are driven to complete the course to the best of their abilities. With guidance and support I have no doubt that the students will achieve their goals and many have expressed a desire to continue to utilize computers in a higher capacity

CDD Class Report Cri-Help 5-4-10

2010-05-08T08:23:00.000-07:00

WEEKLY CLASS REPORT
Cri-Help / May 4, 2010

1ST TOPIC COVERED:
I covered the 1st topic for the lesson. I spent about 5 minutes reviewing Module 1 with the students, and I asked them to follow along in their manuals. Then, I went over the outline. I was surprised to hear from several of the students that they already started the outlines in the previous lesson, and one or two of them wanted to turn something in. I told the students to hold on to their outlines because they were due next week (not today), and we would be working on them during the lab sessions. I went over the “Making an Outline Lesson” in the manual, emphasizing the “Say it 3 times” rule, and explaining each section (opening statement, body, closing statement). I also created a handout with a simple outline example, which I gave each student to keep and use as a reference/guide.

2ND TOPIC COVERED:
Dwight covered the Computer Discovery Terms. He quickly reviewed the 1st 6 terms from the previous lesson, and then went on to lecture the next 6 terms. He brought in examples of each of the new 6 terms to show the class. By using an already open computer, he showed the class where they were located on the computer. Some students had questions about the computer parts, and so Dwight explained each term in more detail.

ADDITIONAL TOPICS:
None.

LAB TIME:
During the lab, group A was first to use the computers, and group B was the 2nd group. Dwight worked with the students who were on the computers, and I focused on working with the students to develop their outlines.

Dwight worked with each student on the computer. He showed them how to minimize/maximize and how to work with multiple windows open on the screen. Some students who already had Mavis-Beacon accounts started the typing lessons after the minimize/maximize exercises. The computer lesson went smoothly and each student seemed to be getting used to the computer. One student that didn’t know about dragging and dropping was excited that he could do it now, and he was even more excited to be able to minimize/maximize.

For the students working on the outlines, I had them get into their teams and discuss amongst themselves their outline topics. I went from group to group to talk about the outlines in detail, and I spoke with each student one-on-one to make sure they understood how to do an outline. As it turns out, several students didn’t know how to make an outline and didn’t understand the concept, so working with each student was very important. I gave an analogy of a skeleton to try to help them understand what an outline was. It helped for most, but there were 1 or 2 who still seemed confused. They wanted to write paragraphs and long sentences, so I had to keep telling them that they just needed to list their ideas in the outline. I also kept reemphasizing that this was their plan for the future and to try not to talk about the past, and also to incorporate the computer skills they were learning into the paper

FINAL NOTES:

Overall, I thought the lesson was successful. The students continue to show excitement and eagerness to learn, and working on the outlines opened up a lot of the students. They started to reveal a lot about themselves, and I felt touched that they were sharing this information so freely.

CDD Graduation Ceremony 3-23-10

2010-04-29T06:59:00.000-07:00

Graduation Event Wrap Up

Session Beginning Date: February 16, 2010

Graduation Date: March 23, 2010

Location: Santa Monica Recreational Center
1450 Ocean Avenue
Santa Monica, CA 90401

Time: 7pm

Emcee: Loryn Napala

Guest Speakers: Caroline Corser

Names of Instructors:

Cri-Help- Smriti , Tyson , Kenneth , Robert

Houe of Uhuru-Chris, Juan, Loryn, Mark

Walden House-Gritt, Soni, Ethan

The first teaching session of 2010 culminated on March 23, 2010 as Crossing the Digital Divide celebrated with a Graduation Ceremony held at the Santa Monica Recreational Center. There were nearly a hundred guests in attendance to honor the 28 graduates from the three computer centers:Cri-Help, House of Uhuru and Walden House.

Beginning just after 7pm, the emcee, Loryn Napala, welcomed guests and congratulated students for their dedication and hard work. To inspire the students, keynote speaker Caroline Corser, contributing author to the book, “Happiness is a Decision of the Heart” was introduced. Enlivening the crowd with her witty accounts of her computer interactions, she had the crowd amused with her important message of finding laughter in timesof perplexity.

Richard Rojas, graduating student from Cri-Help, then started the ‘Student Stories’ section of the ceremony. Elaborating upon his Plan for Success, he spoke of the skills gained from being diligent in computer class and spoke of his hopes to better the future for himself and for his family. Christopher McCowen, graduation representative for the House of Uhuru then spoke, telling of his goal to become a linguist, taking the opportunity to show his gratitude to CDD in a colorful array of languages. Lastly, Kenneth Slocum of Walden House, spoke of his appreciation for the computer class and his plans to use the skills learned for his Custom Bike Business.

Graduation certificates were then presented to the proud students, touching the crowd with their enthusiasm and success. The ceremony concluded with closing remarks, wrapping a beautiful Session One highlight for both the teacher volunteers and for CDD.

CDD Course Report Uhuru 4-23-10

2010-04-21T07:40:00.000-07:00

Instructor End of Course Report

Center Name: House of Uhuru

Beginning Date: 2/16/2010

Graduation Date: 3/23/2010

Names of the four Instructors: Loryn, Mark, Juan, Chris

The session started out with 15 students with many students having had experience using computers and a few being newbies on the computer. The session started off with instructors Juan and Chris teaching the Computer Discovery terms to some very enthusiastic students. The students were happy to learn the difference between a video card and a sound card, as well as seeing a motherboard for the first time. Loryn and Mark made an effective team introducing the students to computing concepts. Throughout the course, students were able to learn the basics – minimizing, resizing, and maximizing Windows; the desktop; cutting and pasting, copying and dragging; MS Word; and the class favorite - the Internet. As graduation drew near, students were ready to jump onto the Internet to search for various items to help their journey to recovery – apartments, jobs, schools, as well as social networking tools to keep in touch.
David was inspired to seriously start pursuing his dream of going into real estate. Jeffrey, who did not know much about computers at the start of course, was happy to be able to type up his paper by the end of the course.

Christopher always loved learning about different languages and cultures. With the help of the instructors, Christopher was able to see how the Internet could help him research what it takes to become a linguistic specialist. In his paper, he discusses with enthusiasm how he intends to pursue his hobby of learning languages and parlay it into a career in linguistics – Christopher passionately read his paper at the graduation.

Lisa, a quiet student who was intimidated by the computer, has never finished anything of significance in her life – drugs always got in the way. This class was the first time she has actually taken something to completion. Her sense of accomplishment will be her first step to completing other endeavors in her life.

Using the Internet, Simone was astonished to be able to check the weather of her hometown in Germany. She has not been back to her hometown in over 20 years but she was able to feel just a little bit closer. She said that she intends to use something she learned about in the course - e-mail - to communicate with hometown friends.
Sharanda was able to improve her typing skills from 17 wpm to 21 wpm during the course of the class. Other students did similarly well, building on their existing knowledge of computers. Reggie learned how to change his mouse settings to accommodate his being left-handed. Juana, Dennis, Orlando, and Oscar were excited to tile their windows so that they can see more than one window at a time.

Most students also improved their typing skills, utilizing the class to practice on the Mavis Beacon typing software. Many students were also thrilled to learn the basics of MS Word.

All in all 10 students graduated, each with new skills developed in the class. Even though we started out with one of the largest groups, three students left the facility and other students could not complete the class for personal reasons. But that did not diminish the work that the students accomplished. We were very proud of the students who week after week strived to gain some computing skills. Both the staff at House of Uhuru and the CDD instructors (Loryn, Mark, Juan, and Chris) gave them huge congratulations for graduating.

CDD Course Report Cri-Help 3-23-10

2010-04-16T07:51:00.000-07:00

Instructor End of Course Report

Center Name: CRI-HELP

Beginning Date: February 16, 2010

Graduation Date: March 23, 2010

Names of the four Instructors: Smriti, Tyson, Robert, Kenny

The course spanned six weeks with classes twice a week, on Tuesdays and Saturdays. At the beginning of the course the instructors were given a handout outlining the lesson plan for each of the classes during the six weeks. In addition, after each class the instructors had to email an attendance sheet and a report for that class to the entire team. Since there was a different set of instructors for the Tuesday and Saturday classes the handout and reports were very helpful as they helped keep the entire team on the same page with regard to the progression of the course.

The course involved teaching students the absolute basics in computers, showing them how to access the Internet, and how to type in Microsoft Word. During the course, students had to complete a number of assignments. However, to pass the course they had to complete and present a 500-page paper (preferably typed in Microsoft Word) about their future plans once they have completed their rehabilitation program. Students in the class came from different backgrounds with different levels of experience with computers. While some had never touched a computer in their lives, others had some experience typing reports and memos. Trying to get the entire class on the same level while making sure that everyone found it interesting and gained something from the course was, in my opinion, the biggest challenge the instructors faced.

Another challenge that the instructors faced was getting the students to be obedient and respectful of the teachers and each other. On some days some of the students would be in a bad mood and on other days the same students would be very polite and obedient. Also, Cri-Help has students from Cri-Help and Socorro, and it was the tendency of the students to stick together based on their rehab center. This problem was overcome by dividing them into two groups with each group containing students from both centers. This forced them to work with each other and get to know students from the other rehab center. In addition, the instructors had to be strict with them and had to reinforce the idea that if class rules were not followed and they were not obedient, they shall not be allowed to graduate.

CDD Class Report Walden House 3-20-10

2010-04-07T07:54:00.000-07:00

WEEKLY CLASS REPORT
Walden House /03-20-2010

1ST TOPIC COVERED:
Students worked on their papers for the first half of class. Those who finished were shown how to make a blog post. There was a formatting problem with the submission form that I'll look into, but it didn't stop the students from posting. All remaining students finished their papers and some were able to type them as well.Unfortunately the CDD site went down (i.e. the Internet was working, but pages on the CDD site wouldn't load) after only three or four students made their blog posts. We checked several times during class to see if the site came back online, but it remained down for the whole class, so we gave all the students credit.

2ND TOPIC COVERED:
After break, Marlaina reviewed the email vocabulary words.

3RD TOPIC COVERED:Students then gave their presentations. I didn't think any of the presentations were fantastic, but they were all very solid, and many students had more concrete, actionable papers than those I've heard in the past.Kenneth was chosen to present since his paper was good, he was the most comfortable speaking in groups, and he was willing (wanted actually) to do it. William, who's paper was also very good, was chosen as the alternate.

The presentations actually ran until s few minutes after one, so although we were able to finish them, the papers, the blogs, and the email, we didn't have time to talk about graduation or do book project signups. But, I think the center will give them the graduation details and I know they can sign up for the book project at the ceremony.

CDD Class Report Cri-Help 3-20-10

2010-03-31T08:04:00.000-07:00

WEEKLY CLASS REPORT
Cri-Help / 3.20.10

Opening Comments:
At the beginning of class we discussed what we would be doing for the last class and what needed to be completed for graduation.

Attendance:
All students were on time and all students were present for the entire class.

1ST TOPIC COVERED:
We went through the email vocabulary answering any questions the students had.

2ND TOPIC COVERED:
Elvio presented his paper.

ADDITIONAL TOPICS COVERED
We discussed the graduation with the students.

LAB TIME:
The remaining students finished typing their papers and doing their blogs. All students completed the assignments for graduation. Ralph had to write his blog in a Word Doc as the CDD website was down for the second have of lab time.

FINAL NOTES:
Richard was chosen for final speaker with Adolfo being the back up.

CDD Class Report Uhuru 3-16-10

2010-03-24T08:10:00.001-07:00

WEEKLY CLASS REPORT
Uhuru House /03-16-2010
OPENING COMMENTS:
Class started at 7PM.
ATTENDANCE:
We had 11 students in attendance. Gail Harris has left the facility.

INTRODUCTIONS OR OVERVIEW:
We went over the calendar, explaining that this was the 2nd to last class and that graduation would be on the 23rd of March.

1ST TOPIC COVERED:
Chris started out by going over the Internet. He talked about the Browser and navigating through a website using the Browser.

2ND TOPIC COVERED:
Juan went over useful Internet sites. Together, Chris and Juan discussed the history of the Internet and what the different names mean - .com, .biz, .org, etc.

3RD TOPIC COVERED:
We then had the students that had complete papers read theirs to the class. The class was very supportive and found out some things about each other that they did not know. Hearing other students’ papers also helped to inspire the students that do not have complete papers.

ADDITIONAL TOPICS:
Chris and Juan briefly went over the Blog, what it is and showed them the Blog page.

LAB TIME:
Lab time was spent working on papers or typing in Mavis Beacon. Juan and Chris went one on one with students to help them with their papers.

FINAL NOTES:
Presented: Chris, Lisa, Luz, Simone
Complete papers: Lisa, Luz
Complete but still typing: Chris, Simone
Almost complete: David, Jeffrey, Juana (she also presented what she had to the class), Orlando, OscarReggie and Sharanda are still working on their papers and will probably need the most help.

CDD Class Report Cri-Help 3-13-10

2010-03-15T07:53:00.000-07:00

WEEKLY CLASS REPORT
Cri-Help / 03.13.10

Opening Comments:
All the students showed up on time

Attendance:
All students were present.

1ST TOPIC COVERED:
Discussed presenting and public speaking and students practiced reciting their papers. David did not have his paper, as it was lost/stolen. Adolfo was chosen to be the main presenter.

2ND TOPIC COVERED:
We went over the first three pages of how to use the Internet answering any questions the students had on the topic.

ADDITIONAL TOPICS COVERED
Went over any questions the students had about their papers.

LAB TIME:
We split the class up having some students finish the writing of their papers while the others started typing them out.

FINAL NOTES:
Class ran smoothly with no problems. Jean Pierre is finished with his paper.

2010-03-08T07:15:00.000-08:00

WEEKLY CLASS REPORT
Uhuru House 03.06.2010

OPENING COMMENTS:
Class started at 11AM.

ATTENDANCE:
We had 4 students in attendance.

INTRODUCTIONS OR OVERVIEW:
Loryn took roll, handed out the workbooks, and briefly reviewed todays topic at hand. In addition, Loryn informed the students that the matching test will take place next Tuesday.

1st TOPIC COVERED:
Loryn and Mark reviewed the last 5 Computer Discovery Terms, and then, we went through all of the terms in preparation of the matching test next Tuesday.

2nd TOPIC COVERED:
Loryn presented and lectured on the first half of Module 2. During the lecture, she showed and asked the students on how to (perform functions): -run a program, -switching between open applications, -using the keyboard to switch between programs (i.e., ALT+TAB), -how to arrange application windows (i.e., cascading/tiling/minimizing all windows.
Thereafter, Mark presented the last two pages (p32-p34)-working with dialog boxes: text box, radio buttons, list box, check boxes, accessing help witin dialog boxes, and how to utilize the keyboard within the dialog boxes (i.e., SHIFT+TAB).

3rd TOPIC COVERED:
Then, Loryn presented and lectured on 'Using Microsoft Word'. Functions included:-how to access MS Word (start -> Program -> Microsoft Word)-how to save as a doc file on My Document folder.-explained the difference between the title bar, menu bar and tool bar. She gave several examples for each function and how it relates to their Title Page. -most common functions: -how to use the command -how to use the command -how to use the command -tabs: explained, left/right tabs, -explained how to indent, change font size/color/style, how to right justify/center/left justify a line of string (words). -explained: Find/Replace (Edit -> Find/Replace),how to use the Spelling checker, Thesaurus, drawing toolbar, -explained the difference between a portrait and landscape layout. -explained header vs footer, and gave clear/concise examples for each function. -briefly explained margins (File -> Page Setup).

LAB TIME:
Lab time was spent utilizing MS Word, Loryn explained on how to create a Title Page. She gave an example on the chalkboard. Thereafter, the students followed. Loryn and Mark assisted all of the students with their Title Page. We helped the students on how to Save the doc, how to input text, and how to center justify the string of text.

FINAL NOTES:
The female students were excused from class from a field trip. Jeffrey was late and was marked absent. And Oscar had completed his outline.

CDD Class Report Uhuru 2-23-10

2010-03-03T07:01:00.000-08:00

WEEKLY CLASS REPORT
Uhuru House /02-23-2010

OPENING COMMENTS:
Class started at 7PM.

ATTENDANCE:
We had 12 students in attendance. Three students have been asked to leave the facility for personal reasons.

INTRODUCTIONS OR OVERVIEW:
Juan introduced himself and explained what he does and why he is a volunteer. Some students expressed interest in his military background.

1ST TOPIC COVERED:
Chris started out by briefly reviewing the first half of Module 1. He went over the desktop, Task Bar, icons, minimizing and maximizing windows, etc.

2ND TOPIC COVERED:
Chris then went over the outline and its purposes. He demonstrated a simple outline on the whiteboard by describing the steps to buy milk, with an introduction, body, and conclusion. This helped the students understand what is needed to complete an outline since many students were unsure. He also discussed possible topics for the papers.

3RD TOPIC COVERED:
Juan covered the next 6 Discovery Terms (video card, sound card, power supply, CD/DVD drive, modem, and monitor). The class took turns volunteering to read aloud the definitions. After a student read a definition, Juan led a short discussion about the item with examples.

ADDITIONAL TOPICS:
Chris also reminded the students that their outlines were due the following Tuesday. It was stressed that the paper itself was not due, just the outline. Juan also stressed the importance of writing the outline as opposed to typing it so that it could be edited outside of class.

LAB TIME:
Lab time was spent in Mavis Beacon and/or working on the outlines. Many students needed guidance on the subject of their paper. Others needed help in honing their outlines.

FINAL NOTES:
The students seem to be on track to finish their outlines by the due date.

CDD Class Report Uhuru 2-23-10

2010-02-27T07:45:00.000-08:00

CDD Class Report Walden 2-20-10

2010-02-24T08:04:00.000-08:00

WEEKLY CLASS REPORT
Walden House 2-20-2010

INTRODUCTIONS OR OVERVIEW:
Derrin and Ethan each gave an introduction to begin the class. They talked about their backgrounds, experience with CDD, and why they volunteer. The students then also gave introductions, talking about what they wanted to get out of the class and, to break the ice, stating their favorite sports team.

Ethan then gave an overview of the class and discussed the course requirements (computer discovery test, the paper and presentation, maximum two absences, etc).

1ST TOPIC COVERED:
Ethan reviewed the computer discovery terms. Students seemed to remember them well from last week. He also took questions from a few students, so everyone understood the terms by the end of the class. He then reviewed the mouse. Students took notes on the mouse so that, when they needed to apply the information in lab time, it would make sense.

2ND TOPIC COVERED:
Derrin taught the first half of Module 1, going page by page through the workbook. He covered everything up through page 13. Students seemed to understand well and said that what Derrin was saying was obvious.

BREAK
Derrin finished explaining the module and the students took a ten minute break. They all returned on time.

ADDITIONAL TOPICS:
Derrin answered a few questions during the Q&A

LAB TIME:
In lab time, the group of students on the computers practiced their typing and worked on Windows, and the group not on computers started to brainstorm their papers. The students I worked with already seem to have a good sense of what they want to write about.

FINAL NOTES:
A couple students wanted to leave early because they had visitors; Ethan told them that they could, but that if they did, it would count as an absence. They decided to stay until the end.

So far, although it’s early, everyone in the class seems to be doing fine.

CDD Class Report Cri-Help 2-16-10

2010-02-21T08:12:00.001-08:00

WEEKLY CLASS REPORT
Cri-Help / 02.16.10

Opening Comments:
Class began on time. Serg and Smriti introduced themselves to the class. We tried to get an idea of where the class stood with regard to their knowledge of computers. Students were divided into teams and groups and workbooks were handed out.

Attendance:
Based on the sheet provided to us by the CRI-HELP staff, one student (Enrique Silva) was not present. Richard Rojas was marked absent because he left class after the break. He said he was not feeling well and understood that he would be marked absent for this class. Markkis Sonier was marked absent cause he came in late after the break and would keep leaving the class in between lecture. Serg spoke to him about it and he said that he was not interested in attending the class because it was too basic for him. He said that he had spoken to his supervisor and his supervisor had agreed to let him drop the class.

1ST TOPIC COVERED:
An overview of the course was given. The structure of each class was explained. Students were explained the rules and expectations. Smriti spoke about the paper and presentation requirements for successful completion of the course

2ND TOPIC COVERED:
We went over the first six computer discovery terms and reviewed page viii (using the mouse) in the workbook

ADDITIONAL TOPICS COVERED
None

LAB TIME:
During lab time students were asked to demonstrate if they understood how to use the mouse and perform some very basic functions such as opening and closing applications etc. If they didn’t know how to perform these functions they were shown how to do it by an instructor.

FINAL NOTES:
Overall the class went smoothly. Most of the students seemed to be interested and eager to learn. They seemed to understand the rules and expectations.

CDD Plan for Success- Student Story

2010-02-04T08:05:00.000-08:00

Student Story by Gary Tillman
Session 6
December 15th 2009

Hello, my name is Gary, and I am (recovering) addict. I suffer from a disease that has affected all areas of my life. My mind, body, and spirit. This is a disease known amongst the Scientific and Medical Communities throughout the world as alcoholism and drug addiction. There are no known cures for these illnesses accept abstinence from the physical use of alcohol and drugs. Once this illness has been arrested, then the possibilities recovery is possible. Recovery is to gain that which I have lost. My ability to function in the normal aspect society has been hinder from my abuse of the chemicals I have used. Thank to such institutions such has Cri-Help who offers treatment for such a disease as well as behavioral modification. I am now able to start this process of my recovery. Living here in the facility provides me a safe environment, which allows me to obtain the tools of the 12 steps process that is needed to achieve sobriety. As well, Cri- Help offers various (other) opportunities to help one such as I to reenter in to society. In their working with CDD, one of those opportunities is learning how to use computers. The Basic Computer Program Class offer though CDD, which I am now involved in has shown me various ways of how the computers run and operate. I am learning that which has escaped me for so many years of computers; as well the more advance modern updates PC’s and Mac’s operating systems that control today’s markets in our society. Which will give me the knowledge and capabilities to navigate as well create my own web page. To access and gather information that can be vital and of use to me. Learning the language and terms that is become more and advance within this field as the computer industries grows.

My goals for obtaining such information are not only to use a computer properly, yet as well as to be able to use when I re-enter back into everyday (somewhat of) normal society. I am planning to return to college to obtain my Master Degree in the Medical field. Understanding that I will not only need just text books, but a lab top which is a computer that one can carry during classes and out of classes. I am able to access information from right where I sitting while lectures are going on. I’ll be able to do so many things with this technology at my disposal, that some of my classes I’ll be able to take without leave home.

As I am learning how to re-create my new found life with the12 steps recovery process and the help of such institutions such as Cri-Help and CDD. I am able to take hold of such great opportunities and structure my life to a better advancement without the usage of alcohol and drugs that has deterred me for so long. My gratitude to speak when I am no longer living in the problem, that I am now living in the solution. I have become a responsible and productive member of today’s standard society. Thanks to the help of Cri-Help and CDD for such opportunities. I am now able to live without the usage of alcohol and drugs.

Zambia: African Telecom Industry – A Catalyst For Change

2010-01-30T07:51:00.000-08:00

January 4, 2010

The rapid growth of the African telecom industry over the past few years, has remarkably transformed communication infrastructure on the continent. Just a decade ago, Africa’s telecom industry accounted for only 2% of the worlds phone lines. Fast forward to the 21st century and the continent is almost unrecognizable. Mobile phones are ubiquitous and if current trends are anything to go by, 2010 is the year in which the continent’s nascent but burgeoning mobile telecom industry receives a massive technological upgrade.

The coming world cup games in South Africa could give the industry a bigger boost as consumer demand rises further, with an increase in people accessing the Internet via mobile phones. Recent figures show that the past five years has seen the use of mobile phones on the continent increase exponentially – the fastest in the world – with 38% growth in 2007, placing Africa ahead of the Middle-East which stands at 33%.

The launch of Africa’s first mobile phone assembly factory located in Lusaka – in August 2009 – is being viewed as a strategic move by entrepreneurs, to tap into the growing African telecom market. The establishment of M-Tech Mobile Telecommunications Limited in Zambia was hugely welcome and experts in the telecom industry predict that in 2010, we could see Middle East and Indian-based telecommunications companies continue their penetration into Africa. Plans by the telecom company Zain Zambia, to spend more on upgrading existing equipment and introduce new technology in 2010, reflects a trend of continued growth and expansion in the telecoms industry.

As smart phones – using operating systems like Google’s Android – hit the shelves in the west, it is hoped that this technological platform will eventually become widely available in developing countries as well. With internet-enabled handsets already being used on the continent to access websites like Facebook and Flicker, people now feel more connected to the rest of the world. A study by Opera, a mobile software developer based in Norway, recently revealed that news sources such as CNN and BBC are among the most viewed sites in Zambia, Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana.

The success of the African telecom industry however, masks some disturbing realities about the living conditions most people have to endure. A study by the University of Sussex in England revealed recently that people in most developing countries were saving less because of high unemployment rates and are consequently living a hand to mouth existence. The poor state of both social and physical infrastructure in Africa continues to reduce productivity by at least 40%. There is growing sentiment that more needs to be done to enable the continent fully reap the benefits of technological advancements.

An entire generation has however, been transformed as technology slowly merges with culture. In Kenya for instance, a goat herder in a rural area can now negotiate the sale of his animals on a mobile phone. Continued technological development and the emergence of e-business could eventually decrease the importance of the size of an enterprise, as people promote and market their goods using e-business tools on mobile phones.

Africa does not have a Silicon Valley from which lots of companies are conquering the world with the latest software and hardware, but the increased use of mobile phones with their plethora of functions has empowered people and could close the digital divide between developed and developing countries.

Printed from an article posted at http://www.lusakatimes.com/?p=22752

How The Mobile Internet Could Change Everything

2010-01-23T08:07:00.000-08:00

By Luke Allnutt

Speaking in June last year about how foreign policy had been changed by the democratization of the Internet, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said, "You cannot have Rwanda again because information would come out far more quickly about what is actually going on and the public opinion would grow to the point where action would need to be taken."

Brown was wrong. By the time concerned netizens had turned their Facebook profile pictures red and the "Stop the Rwandan Genocide" campaign had found its 1 millionth member, the genocide would be nearing its end.

It would have spread quicker than it did in 1994, when it was fueled by word of mouth and state-run Hutu radio. These days, hate-speech would spread virally through text messages and social networks. A few video clips of Tutsi atrocities against Hutus -- unspeakable violence against worshippers in a church, for instance -- spread virally by mobile phones could enflame hatred more effectively than traditional media ever could.

While the defining technological shifts of the 2000s were the ubiquity of mobile phones and the growth of the Internet, in the next decade these two trends will converge: the rise and rise of the mobile Internet. It is a shift that will present great opportunities for prosperity and democratization, but also grave possibilities for tyrants and extremists.

According to a December 2009 Morgan Stanley report, the world is just starting "the mobile Internet cycle." It's the fifth information-technology cycle in 50 years and follows mainframe computing in the 1960s, mini-computing in the 1970s, personal computing in the 1980s, and desktop Internet computing of the 1990s.

For years, the mobile Internet was bogged down in WAP: slow, text-heavy, a return to the Internet of the late 1990s, but on a tiny screen. 3G always seemed like a distant, futuristic dream, something that only happened to Japanese teenagers. But then everything changed, largely because of the success of the iPhone and the proliferation of touch-screen technology. Five factors converged to drive the spread of the mobile Internet, according to Morgan Stanley: "3G adoption, social networking, video, VoIP [voice-over Internet protocol], [and] impressive mobile devices."

Finally the mobile web was like the real web, with pictures and video and intuitive navigation. The days of scrolling down a series of static HTML links were gone.

In the next 10 years, we will use our phones and mobile devices more and more: from managing our weight to finding the nearest user-recommended pizza joint to tracking our kids' movements. Our screens, full of third-party applications, will be a digital tapestry of our lives representing (not replacing) our loves, preferences, interests, tastes, and fears.

Third World Web

But perhaps the greatest opportunity for the mobile Internet lies in the developing world.

For years, there has been concern about the global digital divide: the vast disparity in access to the Internet between the developing and developed worlds. A number of Western philanthropic initiatives, most notably the One Laptop Per Child project, have had only limited success.

But where millions in the developing world remain without a laptop or access to a fixed Internet line, they might well have a mobile phone.

The growth of cell-phone networks has far outpaced the growth of fixed broadband or landlines in the developing world. In hard-to-reach places, it requires less investment from both the provider and the user. Pay-as-you-go programs have worked well in cash-based economies.

Mobile phones started the decade as an elite toy and ended as something owned by everyone from taxi drivers in Bangladesh to fishermen in Ghana. In 1999, around 1 billion people worldwide had telephone subscriptions. Now that number is more like 4 billion.

According to the World Bank and the International Telecommunications Union, in 2000 people in developing countries had one-quarter of the world's mobile phones. But in 2009, people in developing countries held three-quarters of the world's estimated 4 billion handsets.

Where philanthropy failed, the market succeeded. With Western mobile markets saturated, telecoms looked to the developing world. As economist Jeffrey Sachs has said, "The digital divide is ending not through a burst of civic responsibility, but mainly through market forces."

And with those phone towers came benefits. A 2005 study by Leonard Waverman from the London Business School showed that a 10 percent rise in mobile-phone penetration in developing countries could raise GDP by 0.6 percentage points.

2G mobile phones have already made crucial differences for people living in isolated societies: fishermen receiving weather updates by SMS, farmers checking prices before taking their goods to market, and so on.

In Kenya, M-PESA, a phone-based banking service, now has over 5 million subscribers, mostly people who have never had bank accounts before.

Just as developing parts of the world leapfrogged telephone landlines, they are well placed to leapfrog the fixed Internet. In the next decade, a farmer in Bangladesh or a taxi driver in Azerbaijan is more likely to access the Internet through his phone than through a computer.

More Freedom For All, For Good Or Ill

According to the Morgan Stanley report, not only are we now in the age of the mobile Internet, but globally it's ramping faster than the desktop Internet did, and "more users may connect to the Internet via mobile devices than desktop PCs within five years."

Other studies reach similar conclusions. According to Informa Telecoms, mobile broadband throughout the world will be dominant by 2012.

While the link between greater Internet penetration and economic growth is well established, what exactly the spread of the mobile Internet will mean for democratization is unclear.

Since the Enlightenment, technology has been equated with social progress. The Internet has spawned its fair share of techno-utopianists, confident that new technologies have the power to fundamentally change the way humans behave and interact. Unlike never before, they argue, the Internet gives people the opportunity to expand their personal freedoms in the face of meddlesome or authoritarian governments.

For example, in Iran, a combination of cell-phone cameras and social networking has sustained the opposition Green Movement. In Columbia in 2008, three people used Facebook to mobilize 1 million people to demonstrate against the guerilla group FARC.

And in authoritarian regimes around the world, the Internet -- more than any other medium -- has become the meeting place for dissidents and pro-democracy activists.

But where the techno-utopianists were limited in their vision is that in this great mass of Internet users, all capable of great things in the name of democracy, they saw a mirror image of themselves: progressive, philanthropic, cosmopolitan. They didn't see the neo-Nazis, pedophiles, or genocidal maniacs who have networked, grown, and prospered on the Internet.

The combination of the cell-phone camera and the Internet has probably done more than anything to globalize the jihadist movement in the last decade. A generation of young men has been galvanized by grainy footage of "atrocities" committed by Western forces, "martyrdom operations," or grisly execution videos.

Mobile phones and the Internet have also brought us "happy slapping," random attacks on people filmed on mobile phones, and "sexting," where teenagers send raunchy snaps of themselves to friends, images that sometimes end up on pedophile websites.

Technology's Not The Answer

And as the blogger and author Yevgeny Morozov argued in a March/April essay for the "Boston Review," "Cyber–utopians' biggest conceptual mistake is treating cyberspace as some kind of anarchist zone, which the authorities dare not enter except to shut things down."

The history of technological innovation has shown that tyrants and authoritarian governments have found that co-opting technology is often better than banning it.

Morozov continues: "The Soviets did not ban radio; they jammed certain Western stations, cracked down on dissenting broadcasters at home, and exploited the medium to promote their ideology. The Nazis took a similar approach to cinema, which became a preferred propaganda tool in the Third Reich."

Increasingly, tyrants will find creative ways to co-opt the Internet, like the Chinese authorities who have created the so-called 50 Cent Party, a group of pro-government netizens who seek out political forums to promote the party line.

And while Iran's blogosphere is admirably "democratic," for every young liberal cosmopolitan blogger, you'll find a conservative ready to die for the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.

In the future, old forms of repression -- closing down publications on trumped-up tax charges, beating and imprisoning critics -- will exist side-by-side with the new -- infiltrating opposition movements through social networks or government-sponsored cyber-vigilante campaigns.

Just as dissidents find more innovative ways to beat the system, so the governments will fight back with both increasing sophistication and the same old brute force.

The mistake both the utopians and neo-Luddites make is by giving too much credence to the idea that technology can fundamentally change human nature. For every article about how Twitter will save the world, a cyber-fatalist will argue that smartphones have turned us all into zombies.

Both are wrong. It is not technology per se that has the power to change the world (for good or bad), but rather the innovation and creativity of the people enabling and using it.

Article published on Radio Free Europe website at www.rferl.org

CDD Spring 2010 Tea-Reception Fundraiser

2010-01-18T08:17:00.001-08:00

CDD 2010 Reception
Architectural Tour

What: Spring Tea-Reception Fundraiser

Where: Private home in Los Angeles

When: 2:00 to 4:00pm Sunday, January 24th, 2010

More Details: Join us for CDD’s first fundraiser of the New Year will take place on January 24th. Afternoon includes a Presentation about CDD along with a slideshow of some of our successful Alumni followed by a tour of one of Los Angeles most well known and beautiful Victorian Mansions. This will be a rare opportunity for an inside tour of the home specially offered to CDD supporters by the owner. We will cap the afternoon with a formal tea. Don’t miss this great event. RSVP today for the few remaining openings by emailing kpatton@cddnp.org.

CDD Keynote Speech at 12-15-09 Grad Ceremony

2010-01-12T08:04:00.000-08:00

Vision Plan Execution (VPE)
by Duane Cofield

Like my introduction stated it has not always been this way. And I wondered what kind of story I could tell you today that would inspire you to achieve more, do more, and be the person you are destined to be. I was a little of everything:

Childhood- disrespectful to parents, low self-esteem, school nightmare, thought I knew it all. I got involved in Gangs and selling drugs at a very young age.

Early Adulthood- Drinking a fifth of Cognac every night, In and out of jail going t

Final Straw- Landed in prison (For only one thing of many that I was guilty of).

I was stuck, felony on my record, no job experience, and on parole with $200 to my name.

Vision
When I first decided that I wanted more out of life, when I first realized that the results I was getting were directly related to the mental picture that I had about success and myself. At that point all that I knew was that I had to change. I needed to establish a new vision of success, I need to find out how CEOs, athletes, actors, authors, basically everyone that I see achieving what some call impossible. I started my research by studying successful people, studying their habits, reading the books that they read, and doing the things that they do. I also read several self-help, motivational books, and autobiographies. The one thing that I immediately identified with, the one thing that reached out a grabbed me, they all had a vision. They had a vision of themselves in the role or job they are in many, many years before they were actually there.

Take a moment and close your eyes and visualize what your picture of success looks like. (Take 1 Minute)

What are you doing?
Who is with you?
What do you look like?
What are you driving?
Where do you live?
Where do you work?

This day, this graduation, this celebration of your accomplishments was vision of the founder (Kathleen), instructors. However it would not be possible without the Vision followed by the plan.

Plan
Once you have a vision of where you want to go and who you would like to become, you must put together a plan or establish goals.

Henry David Thoreau says “If one advances confidently in the direction of his or her dreams, and endeavors to live the life that which he or she has imagined, he or she will meet with a success unexpected, in common hours.

So we need to continue what got us here today, setting goals, believing that you can accomplish those goals, and working hard to achieve those goals.

Brian Tracy wrote a book that I read not too long ago called “Goals”. In the book he suggested a strategy that I use and have used with many of my goals. He suggested that you create two lists. The First list writes all of you major goals in order of importance, the number one goal being the most important. Transfer that number one goal to continue to explain the process.

Execution
This is by far the most difficult of the process of change. The actual work,

I had to change:

My Habits (I could no longer hang out every night)

My Internal Conversation (I had to speak belief and in the affirmative)

My Circle of Friends (Certain people were not good conversation or association)

Who I shared my dreams with (Dream Killers everywhere who will give you more reasons that you can give yourself on why you cant accomplish your goals)

My Inputs- Television, reading, topics in conversation, music, etc.

Why technology and computers are important?
Benefits:

Information- Whatever you need to know at the touch of a button. How to start at Business, Learning a New Language,
Education –Web based courses, get your PHD on-line.
Web Based business- E-Commerce, Clothing, Web Design, (You can be a big as you want on the internet). Video Production and editing.

In closing I would like to recite a quote from OG Mandino.
The victory of success is half won when one gains the habit of setting goals and achieving them. Even the most tedious chore will become endurable as you parade through each day convinced that every task, no matter how menial or boring, brings you closer to fulfilling your dreams.
Og Mandino

I wish you the best on your journey, and I will see you at the TOP.

CDD Graduation Ceremony 12-15-09

2010-01-07T07:51:00.000-08:00

CDD Graduation Event Wrap Up

Session Beginning Date: November 10th 2009
Graduation Date: December 15th 2009
Location: Santa Monica Recreational Center
1450 Ocean Avenue Santa Monica, CA 90401
Time: 7:00 to 9:00pm
Emcee: Erick
Guest Speaker: Duane Kofield

Our graduation ceremony began at 7:00 pm at the Santa Monica Recreational Center with over a hundred people in attendance. The evening’s emcee and current CDD Instructor, Erick, kicked off the ceremony with a few opening words and an overview of the evening. He congratulated the graduates and wished them all continued success. CDD Director, Kathleen Patton, then took the podium to talk about CDD’s mission and its impact and importance in the community.

Ms. Patton then conducted the annual CDD Awards Ceremony in which CDD honors volunteers who have shown exceptional dedication and devotion to our students over the past year. Shahab Inamdar was awarded CDD Volunteer of the Year for his tireless work as web team lead in maintaining the CDD website. Special Volunteer awards were handed out to Derin Oyekan, Katy Porter, and Chris Tyler. Derin was honored for his dedication to the organization as an instructor for the past three years, teaching and graduating dozens of the underprivileged at the Walden House. Katy was honored for her work as a motivational speaker and general supporter to CDD for the past three years. She has spoken at a number of graduation ceremonies and has offered consultation to CDD. Chris was honored for his work on the install team over the past two years as well as for arranging for his company to donate dozens of computers to CDD. Each shared a few words with the audience after receiving their City Certificates signed by the Mayor.

Motivational speaker, Duane Cofield, then delivered the ceremony’s keynote speech. Duane engaged the audience with his own story of how he turned his life around. He spoke about how he grew up being obnoxious and careless. He had been in a great deal of trouble in his youth leading to his being imprisoned. While in prison, Duane, with the help of his mentor and by doing a lot of reading, realized that he can change his life by investing his energy on positive rather than negative goals. He now travels around giving motivational speeches to those with similar backgrounds trying to help them get their lives back in track.

The audience showed their approval for all of the speakers with a loud round of applause. It was then time for the Student Presentations. One student is chosen from each house to read the essay they wrote during the course. The first student speaker was Stacey Ward from the House of Uhuru, then Denise Howe from Cri-Help, and last was James Sykes from Walden House. Each talked about their past experiences and the steps they were taking to achieve a more positive lifestyle. They all acknowledged that computers skills were important in helping them become successful and recognized CDD’s role in getting them started. Stacey and Denise both delivered emotional speeches about how they plan to turn their lives around. James concluded by motivating his fellow students to change their lives for the better, which earned him a huge ovation.

Suddenly there was a stir at the back of the room. Who would appear than non other than Santa Claus himself who looked jolly indeed! Old St. Nick shouted Merry Christmas as he strode to the front of the room with cheers in return from the crowd. Santa explained that he had heard there were some very good boys and girls in the room tonight and he had to stop in to sing a carol. Santa then brought out his accordion! He knew Santa played the accordion? Well, he does and he played Jingle Bells, beautifully while everyone sang along with great joy. That was sure nice of old Mr. Claus to take the time out of his busy schedule to share that treat and it will remain in our memories.

We closed the evening with the Walden House Ladies Choir sharing some beautiful harmonies and then, the big finale, awarding the certificates to the graduates. Each graduate was called to receive his or her certificate and was congratulated with handshakes from CDD and Staff Members. We all then shared laughs, hugs along with cake and refreshments, to bring to close the final session of 2009. What a special event and a wonderful way to end the year

CDD Class Report Walden 12-12-09

2009-12-23T07:58:00.000-08:00

WEEKLY CLASS REPORT
Walden House / 12-12-09

Opening Comments:
Class started on time.

Attendance:
We had 10 students in attendance. Roosevelt Harper was marked absent because his family was visiting.

INTRODUCTIONS OR OVERVIEW:

Derin went over the agenda of the day with the students.

1ST TOPIC COVERED:

Mark explained the importance of email and presented the email vocabulary list with the class.

2ND TOPIC COVERED:

Derin had each person in the class give their final presentations. Everyone presented their papers. After each presentation, the class critiqued their fellow student. Everyone was very positive of each other’s presentations.

ADDITIONAL TOPICS:

LAB TIME:

Some students worked to complete their papers. Derin and Mark walked around and helped those who were struggling. Others who were done, browsed relevant sites on the internet or practiced their typing skills on Mavis Beacon.

FINAL NOTES:
All the students with the exception of Roosevelt Harper had their papers typed. He was unable to stay in the class but he did turn in a completed, hand-written paper. We selected James Sykes as the presenter and Marcus Andrews as the alternate

CDD Class Report Cri-Help 12-17-09

2009-12-17T06:33:00.000-08:00

CDD Weekly Class Report
Cri-Help/ 12-17-09

Opening Comments:
Class started on time, with a brief review of the previous class, students were asked about their paper, and who would be reading.

Attendance:
All seven students were on time on ready for class.

INTRODUCTIONS OR OVERVIEW:
A brief outline of today’s class was given, followed by Graduation schedule

1ST TOPIC COVERED:
The first topic was the 15 email vocabulary followed by a brief description of each word

2ND TOPIC COVERED:
There was no second topic covered, student were allowed to work on typing their paper, All students finished their papers, Blog and Typed their papers.

ADDITIONAL TOPICS:
Graduation was covered in detail, Time, Place and Schedule.

LAB TIME:
During Lab Students finished typing their papers, posted a Blog Under the ‘Contact Us’ Section of WCDDNP.ORG” website. Students helped each other with blogging.

FINAL NOTES:
All Students are ready for graduation; the remaining papers have been email. Due to Illness, our second instructor, Mathew was unable to attend.

CDD Class Report Uhuru 12-08-09

2009-12-13T06:27:00.000-08:00

WEEKLY CLASS REPORT

Uhuru House /12-08-2009

OPENING COMMENTS:
The class started on time.

ATTENDANCE:
We had 13 students in attendance.

INTRODUCTIONS OR OVERVIEW:
Erick went over the plan for the day, and told the students that the majority of the class would be devoted to the Presentations.

1ST TOPIC COVERED:
Chris and Erick collected the papers from students, checking off whether they completed the assignment. All 13 students completed the Plan for Success paper assignment.

2ND TOPIC COVERED:
Erick reviewed how to use the internet. He reviewed a basic search, as well as a few job sites; monster, careerbuilder, hotjobs, and stressed the importance of having an email account. We recommended: gmail, yahoo, and hotmail.

3rd TOPIC COVERED:
Chris asked if there were any last questions regarding Modules, but all the students seemed to have a good understanding at this point.

4th TOPIC COVERED:
Group Presentations were given by seven of the thirteen students in attendance. At first, students were apprehensive about giving their speeches, but there was so much support for one another the room quickly warmed up, and made for a great atmosphere. Many of the students seemed anxious and excited to finally be able to express themselves. The papers touched on difficult times, future goals, and the thankfulness that they were given the opportunity to be part of this class. It was a huge success.

FINAL NOTES:
Chris informed the class about the Book Club Project and all the students seemed very excited to take part. Chris collected all the contact information of those who wish to participate.

CDD Class Report Walden 12-05-09

2009-12-07T07:42:00.000-08:00

WEEKLY CLASS REPORT
Walden House / 12-05-09

Opening Comments:
Class started on time though a few students walked in 2-3 minutes late.

Attendance:
We had 10 students in attendance. Roosevelt Harper was marked absent.

INTRODUCTIONS OR OVERVIEW:
Derin went over the agenda of the day with the students.

1ST TOPIC COVERED:
Derin reminded the class that their papers were due next class. He then went over how to give a good presentation with the class using examples on the whiteboard. Next he had everyone in the class each give a practice presentation with the first paragraph of their paper and gave a brief critique of each.

2ND TOPIC COVERED:
Mark explained the internet and world wide web to the class and gave examples of important functions that can be done using the internet. He then presented the material from the “How to Use the Internet” section up to page 3.

LAB TIME:
The students continued working on their papers, practiced using a web browser to browse relevant websites (such as search engines, news sites, and job sites), practiced typing on Mavis Beacon, or begun typing their papers in Word.

FINAL NOTES:
The class went smoothly. It seems like most of the students have already made good progress on their papers.

CDD Class Report Walden 12-1-09

2009-12-03T07:29:00.000-08:00

WEEKLY CLASS REPORT
Walden House / 12-1-09

Opening Comments:
Class started on time. One student was completing dismissal downstairs, Roosevelt, and joined the class at 8:03.

Attendance:
We had 11 students in attendance. Raymond Carillo submitted his outline upon entering class.

INTRODUCTIONS OR OVERVIEW:
It was explained that Marco would not be completing the session (several students wanted to wish him well) and Brett was introduced. Brett spoke of his job as a Web Developer and shared his story of crossing over into computers from his education in Horticulture.

1ST TOPIC COVERED:
The computer discovery term quiz was distributed by Soni. The results were as follows:
7 perfect scores, 17/17
Juan Hernandez at 15/17
Brian McGarry and Mark Black 14/17
Roosevelt Harper 13/17

2ND TOPIC COVERED:

Notebooks were distributed and the first part of Module Two was reviewed by Brett with the class. Then, new items of cutting and pasting and file paths and structure were introduced. Donald Norman again participated, using the analogy of a file cabinet in a room which helped to illustrate as Brett drew a diagram on the white board.

ADDITIONAL TOPICS:
During the break, a list of the key items of Module Two were compiled on the white board for students.

LAB TIME:
All students returned promptly from break and began to work through the items on the board. Students used their title pages to cut and paste and demonstrated the opening of programs as both instructors walked around the room to answer questions and help them expedite the tasks.

FINAL NOTES:
Students were given back their quizzes and were let know that they would be learning about public speaking and presenting over the next week as they work to finish writing their papers.

CDD Class Report Walden 11-28-09

2009-11-29T07:52:00.000-08:00

WEEKLY CLASS REPORT
Walden House / 11-28-09

Opening Comments:

Class started on time and all attending students were punctual.

Attendance:

We had 10 students in attendance. Raymond Carillo was absent and Von Hobbs is apparently out of the Walden House program

INTRODUCTIONS OR OVERVIEW:

We went over the agenda of the day with the students and collected missing outlines.

1ST TOPIC COVERED:

Mark reviewed the last 5 computer discovery terms.

2ND TOPIC COVERED:

Introduced the 1st half of Module 2 to the students ending with dialog boxes

ADDITIONAL TOPICS:

Mark covered pages 1 through 4 of the microsoft word document

LAB TIME:

All students returned promptly from break. We had all the students type and save their title pages. The rest of the lab time was spent working on papers and for the students who had finished, typing up those papers.

FINAL NOTES:
Students were reminded to study the Computer Discovery terms for a matching quiz to be given on 12/1. They were also reminded that the class was quickly coming to an end and to try to get their paper handwritten in the next week or so. It was a great class. Donald Foster has really stepped up and is helping us a lot with the class.

CDD Class Report Cri-Help 11-21-09

2009-11-24T07:12:00.000-08:00

WEEKLY CLASS REPORT
Cri-Help / 11-21-09

Opening Comments:
Class began on time. Robert introduced himself to the class and spent some time getting to know the students.

Attendance:
Attendance was taken, all students on time. Robert will be sending the attendance sheet

1ST TOPIC COVERED:
Robert spoke about the outline and addressed students’ questions. Examples were given, and random students were selected to share their ideas. These ideas were then discussed a group, to give the remaining students a better idea of what would be expected of them.

2ND TOPIC COVERED:
Matthew reviewed the discovery terms and emphasized the upcoming quiz, and the need for students to be able to use these terms. Afterwards, the remaining concepts of Module One were reviewed.

LAB TIME:
Lab time was spent by many students reviewing Mavis Beacon, and completing the exercises on page 25 of their books. Randomly we asked students about their outlines and what they would be discussing.

CDD Class Report Uhuru 11-17-09

2009-11-20T07:25:00.000-08:00

WEEKLY CLASS REPORT
Uhuru House /11-17-2009

OPENING COMMENTS:
Class started at 7PM.

ATTENDANCE:
We had 13 students in attendance. Harold Holliday was absent and may have left the facility.

INTRODUCTIONS OR OVERVIEW:
Erick introduced himself since it was his first time teaching this group of students. The students welcomed Erick.

1ST TOPIC COVERED:
Chris started out by briefly going over the first half of Module 1 as a review. He explained the desktop, Task Bar, icons, etc.

2ND TOPIC COVERED:
Chris then went over the outline and its purposes. He demonstrated a simple outline on the whiteboard by describing the steps to buy milk, with an introduction, body, and conclusion. This helped the students understand what is needed to complete an outline since many students were unsure.

3RD TOPIC COVERED:
Erick reviewed the first 6 Discovery Terms and then covered the next 6 Discovery Terms (from the Short Terms listing). To clarify, the terms covered were: keyboard, CPU, RAM, motherboard, mouse, case, hard drive, CD/DVD drive, sound card, cables, video card, and operating system.
The class was actively participating in talking about each term.

ADDITIONAL TOPICS:
Chris covered important dates:
Outline due: Nov 24
Discovery Terms test: Dec 1
Presentations start: Dec 8
Graduation: Dec 15

LAB TIME:
Lab time was spent in Mavis Beacon and/or working on the outlines. Many students needed guidance on the subject of their paper. Others needed help in honing their outlines.

FINAL NOTES:
Chris replaced the keyboard for Stacey with a new one. Samuel needed (and still needs) help using a mouse – his navigation skills are very limited and double-clicking the mouse is quite difficult. Lynn let Patrice (they share a computer) use the computer first with the premise that she would get to use the computer first (instead of Patrice) on Saturday. So Saturday team please ensure that Lynn uses the computer first. Also, the outlines are due on Tuesday the 24th making this Saturday their last chance to get help on finishing them up. Thus, there should be some emphasis on completing the outlines.
And thanks to Loryn for creating the seating chart, it helped immensely!

CDD Class Report Uhuru 11-14-09

2009-11-16T07:37:00.000-08:00

WEEKLY CLASS REPORT
House of Uhuru / 11/14/09

Opening Comments:

Class went as planned with no major incidents. Students needed to be reminded that computers are needed to stay off during the lecture portion of the class. Seating arrangements may need to be adjusted to make grouping a bit easier.    

Attendance:

All but one of the students attended the class. One student was marked as absent.

INTRODUCTIONS OR OVERVIEW:

Loryn and I both introduced ourselves and gave a little bit of our background. The students seem to have a good understanding of the rules and expectations, as well as the attendance policy.        

1ST TOPIC COVERED:

The first topic was Windows Basics. Most of the students had trouble understanding what DOS is. It was explained to them as an early operating system that did not use a mouse or a graphical interface, and needed to be utilized by typing commands in the command prompt.         Covered by Robert.

2ND TOPIC COVERED:

The second topic was Typical Windows Icons. Students were taught about the most commonly used icons, with emphasis on the My Computer, My Documents and Recycle Bin icons. A couple students wanted to know more about the functionality about the Network Neighborhood and Connect to the Internet icons. These icons were explained, but let the students know that they probably wouldn't be using those too often.
   
ADDITIONAL TOPICS:

All of the additional topics were covered by Loryn.    The remaining topics that were covered were The Windows Screen, Using the Taskbar, Accessing Help. The students seemed to grasp these topics as Loryn explained them in a very proficient and in a manner that was very easy to understand. Also, the first six discovery words were reviewed again.  

LAB TIME:

The lab was split into two groups. Half of the class was to work on their outline, while the other half went through a computer exercise. The students seemed to be nervous about the outline, although Loryn was able to calm them down and step them through the brainstorming process. They were also let known that the outline is not to be due until Nov. 24th. I created a simple exercise for the students to learn how to save a document, be able to view it in the My Documents folder and how to drag and drop it into the recycling bin. Most students were able to get through the lab smoothly.    

FINAL NOTES:

It seems that Samuel has no experience using a computer and has trouble navigating the mouse. Some special attention may be needed for him to get up to speed. The computer with the Microsoft keyboard as mentioned by Chris in the previous report seems to have a keyboard error when booting. This can be remedied by pressing the "help" key that is located where the F1 key normally is.

CDD Class Report Walden 11-10-09

2009-11-14T07:37:00.001-08:00

WEEKLY CLASS REPORT
Walden House / 11-10-09

Opening Comments:

There were two people who were not on the attendance list that tried to join in

Attendance:

All students showed up that were registered, about half of the students came from anotherlocation and were 10mins late.

INTRODUCTIONS OR OVERVIEW:

Both instructors introduced themselves, speaking about volunteering, and computer backgrounds.

1ST TOPIC COVERED:

Marco led from the introduction, going around the room to ask students what they hope to learn and then with manuals distributed, went over the rules and regulations in a stern and firm manner.

2ND TOPIC COVERED:

The required paper and presentation were discussed by Soni. The class followed along, reading from the manual.

ADDITIONAL TOPICS:

The first discovery words were covered after break, with Marco showing the class the inside of the computer and parts. The analogy of a car was used repeatedly to further
explain the ideas. The class was asked to come up with an example of RAM and they used the example of a cup of water from a jug of water.

LAB TIME:

Students turned on the monitor and computer. There was one computer for each student, with only one group of two. The mouse was then explained, with left button being the primary button and right button, being the secondary. Students then practiced click and drag, using the icons on the desktop.

FINAL NOTES:

While lab time was brief for this week, students were already showing excitement, not wanting class to be over. The wrap us was given by Soni, sharing the graduation ceremony news, reminding student to please not miss more than two classes.

CDD Class Report Cri-Help 11-10-09

2009-11-12T07:24:00.000-08:00

WEEKLY CLASS REPORT
Cri-Help / 11.10.09

Opening Comments:
Smriti and Tyson introduced themselves to the class and spent a few minutes getting to know the class and assess their skill level.

Attendance:
An employee from crihelp informed Tyson that there was 1 student that had opted out of the class. There was also a student who decided to leave the class within 5 minutes, her name was Laticia.

1ST TOPIC COVERED:
We covered the class rules and went over all of the class assignments. Answered all questions related to those topics

2ND TOPIC COVERED:
The first 6 discovery terms were discussed. Use of the mouse was also discussed. Answered all questions related to those topics

ADDITIONAL TOPICS COVERED
Assigned groups

LAB TIME:
Spent time with each student individually during lab time to help them with navigated basic computer applications with the mouse. Most students spent time on mavis beacon

FINAL NOTES:
3 students have very little computer skills. The rest of the students have a decent grasp on basic computer usage. Class was well behaved.

CDD Announces Special Presentation

2009-11-08T07:57:00.000-08:00

CDD Slideshow Presentation

We are pleased to announce the publishing of CDD's Book of Photos and Bios called “One Bright Light”; Profiles in Success. The book is due to be published in the Spring of 2010. In advance of the publishing we will be conducting a series of promotional events that will include published articles in local magazines, gallery showings of photos, book signings and radio spots.

The first part in the series will be a slideshow presentation about the book. This show will include photos taken by photographer Mark Hanauer of some of CDD's Success Stories and the Bios written by Jeff Nicosia. The photos are exceptional in quality and the stories are well written and inspirational. But it is the lives of the CDD Alumni that make this book so special.

We are taking the presentation into homes and halls for the next few months. Along with the slideshow there will be an Intro by a CDD Member and a talk by one of the students featured in the book. It's a special opportunity to see the photos up close and meet CDD members in your own home or office shared with guests selected by you the host.

Presentations are available to be shown to your group of 10 people or more booking now through February 2010. Reserve your night soon as the dates are filling up quickly. Contact us with your questions or to book your show at info@cddnp.org. Place “CDD Presentation” in the subject line. There is no cost to you. CDD provides all of the materials for free while you sit back and enjoy the show.

A link to an abbreviated version of the presentation has been posted in the CDD You Tube Channel here http://www.youtube.com/kathpatt#p/u

CDD Graduation Ceremony 10-20-09

2009-11-04T08:03:00.000-08:00

Graduation Event Wrap Up

Session Beginning Date: September 15, 2009

Graduation Date: October 20, 2009

Location: 2200 Virginia Ave Santa Monica, CA 90404

Time: 7:00 to 9:00pm

Emcee: Chris Liu

Guest Speakers: Katy Porter

Names of Instructors:

Cri-Help: Smriti, Tyson, Robert, Francis

Walden House: Joanne, Jonathan, Dawn,Derin

House of Uhuru: Chris, Dan, Kaoru, Paul

The Ceremony began with the Emcee; Chris Liu’s, welcoming the graduates and guests. Chris congratulated the graduates and then detailed the night’s events. Chris, who has been teaching the CDD classes for the past two sessions, expressed how much he enjoyed teaching and meeting the students and wished them all future success. Following Chris’ introduction, Katy Porter, our Guest Speaker took the stage. Katy’s motivational speech inspired everyone in the audience. Her speech concentrated on having a focus on goals and taking positive steps to accomplish them. Kathy used a story about a boy with a goal to be an astronaut, in the story the boy does anything necessary to achieve his goal, during his quest to become an astronaut he becomes an eye Doctor and discovers he’s a decent Doctor. Kathy’s story concentrated on achieving your goals and discovering new things along the way.

Our first Student Speaker was from House of Uhuru, followed by Walden House and Cri-Help center. Each of the three student speakers read their 500-word papers in front of the audience. Their experiences were touching and expressive, acknowledging CDD’s positive role in their lives. Uhuru had a very dedicated speaker, one who through his speech, showed he was ready to get back what he has lost. The Speaker from Walden House was very lively and inspiring. Cri-Help’s representative had the most heart-warm story out of the three; she spoke about her family and marriage. Throughout the ceremony, Mark Hanauer the CDD Event’s Photographer, walked about capturing the moment of each of the Speakers; Audience and Guests. To Conclude the Ceremony, CDD Staff and two personnel from each of the centers stood inline on stage as each of the students were called to receive their certificates.

At the end of the ceremony, The Students and their guest along with the CDD Instructors and facility personnel from each of the centers enjoyed refreshments, took pictures and socialized among themselves. The ceremony over all was smooth and well organized. The Guests enjoyed themselves afterwards in a relaxed environment. The Graduating Students made the night shine with pride as seen by their many smiling faces.

CDD Course Report Cri-Help 10-20-09

2009-10-28T07:07:00.000-07:00

Instructor End of Course Report

Center Name: CRI-HELP

Beginning Date: 09/15/09

Graduation Date: 10/20/09

Names of the four Instructors: Smriti, Tyson, Robert, Francis

The course spanned six weeks with classes twice a week, on Tuesdays and Saturdays. At the beginning of the course the instructors were given a handout outlining the lesson plan for each of the classes during the six weeks. In addition, after each class the instructors had to email an attendance sheet and a report for that class to the entire team. Since there was a different set of instructors for the Tuesday and Saturday classes the handout and reports were very helpful as they helped keep the entire team on the same page with regard to the progression of the course.

The course started with teaching students the absolute basics in computers (eg: computer parts, common terms associated with computers, using a keyboard, using the mouse, etc.) and then showing them how to access the internet and type in Microsoft Word, and ended with the students having to complete and present a 500 page paper (preferably typed in Microsoft Word) about their future plans once they have completed their rehabilitation program.

Students in the class came from different backgrounds with different levels of experience with computers. While some had never touched a computer in their lives, others had experience typing reports and memos and even fixing computers and setting up computer networks in offices. Trying to get the entire class on the same level while making sure that everyone found it interesting and gained something from the course, was, in my opinion, the biggest challenge the instructors faced. Some students felt that the course was a waste of their time and they could attend other group meetings that help them overcome their addiction. However, on speaking with Kathleen it was found that many of the students were in the course because they had never completed anything after starting, in their lives. This was something new, at least for me, as I had never come across such a situation before in my life.

Another challenge that the instructors (especially the Tuesday team) faced was getting the students to be obedient and respectful of the teachers and each other. Cri-Help has students from Cri-Help and Socorro, and it was the tendency of the students to stick together based on their rehab center. This problem was overcome by dividing them into two groups with each group containing students from both centers. This forced them to work with each other and get to know students from the other rehab center. In addition, the instructors had to be strict with them and had to reinforce the idea that if class rules were not followed and they were not obedient, they shall not be allowed to graduate.

Working with these students was an interesting experience. Many of us read about people with addiction problems but actually knowing such people and interacting with them is a different experience. Seeing them and their families on graduation day and how appreciative the students were of CDD, their instructors, and their rehabilitation centers, was very enlightening. I hope to come back and be a part of the program for the next session.

CDD Course Report Uhuru 10-20-09

2009-10-25T07:10:00.000-07:00

Instructor End of Course Report

Center Name: House of Uhuru

Beginning Date: 9/15/2009

Graduation Date: 10/20/2009

Names of the four Instructors: Kaoru, Paul, Daniel Chris

The session started out with 14 students with a few of them having had experience using computers and the rest being completely new to the computer. One student in particular (Annette) was very intimidated by the computer.

The session started off well, with instructors Dan and Chris teaching the Computer Discovery terms to some very enthusiastic students. The students were happy to learn the difference between memory (RAM) and hard drive, as well as seeing a motherboard for the first time. Paul joined us as an instructor a couple of classes into the session but was able to pick up easily and helped Kaoru teach the rest of the session. Throughout the course, students were able to learn the mouse, cutting and pasting, copying and dragging, MS Windows, the ins and outs of MS Word, and the Internet. By the end of the course, students were ready to jump onto the Internet to search for various items to help their journey – jobs, apartments, schools.

James was inspired to apply at LA Trade Tech to learn computer repair. Demetrus, who already knew a lot about computers, was disruptive towards the beginning of the session but calmed down enough to help a couple of students type their papers. He ended up presenting his own paper at graduation to thunderous applause.

Annette, who initially struggled, worked very hard to complete her paper and happily graduated with her colleagues. She plans to use the computer to track expenses in her future fabric store business. Other students did similarly well, building on their existing knowledge of computers. Tameka intends to use her newfound skills to promote her hairdressing talent. Tony, Allen, and Raymond developed their mouse using capabilities (a difficult thing for someone who has never used a mouse before). Allen even learned how to change his mouse settings so that he can use his mouse with his preferred hand (left). Most students also improved their typing skills, utilizing the class to practice on the Mavis Beacon typing software. Osbaldo had a tougher time than most because English is his second language. He persevered though and was able to graduate and receive his certificate.

All in all 9 students graduated, each with new skills developed in the class. Even though a couple of students left the facility and other students could not complete the class for personal reasons, we were very proud of the students who did stay and ‘stick it out’ for the 6 weeks. Both the staff at House of Uhuru and the CDD instructors (Kaoru, Paul, Dan, and Chris) gave them huge congratulations at graduation.

CDD Class Report Uhuru 10-17-09

2009-10-21T07:00:00.001-07:00

WEEKLY CLASS REPORT

House of Uhuru/10-17-2009

OPENING COMMENTS:
Class started at 11am.

ATTENDANCE:
We had 7 students in attendance. Richard and Patricia have left Uhuru House. James and Tameka were absent. Twyla attended the class even though she was absent 3 times already.

INTRODUCTIONS OR OVERVIEW:
We started with presentations that were not completed on Tuesday. Twyla started first, then Osbaldo, and then Annette.

1ST TOPIC COVERED:
After the presentation, we tried to collect all papers from the students. Since network was not working, we decided to collect papers as printed hard copy. Paul carried around the printer next to students’ pc one by one to print out typed papers. Demetrus helped carrying the printer around. Demetrus also helped finding extra blank papers when we got out of papers in the printer. Among all students (except Richard), Annette and Osbaldo are only students who could not finish typing.

2ND TOPIC COVERED:
We started to review all the materials they have learned in this class. Kaoru asked students what they have learned, and many students could quickly answer many topics we have covered. Paul asked some specific questions to see if they really understand the material. (e.g. What is the difference between application and program, what is the difference between WWW and the Internet, etc.) In addition, Paul emphasized the importance of using Cut, Copy, and Paste, as well as saving documents to make sure they know how to operate.

LAB TIME:
After break, we started to lecture Email Vocabulary. Kaoru explained basics and Paul explained in detail. (e.g. Paul wrote his email address on the white board and explained how each email address consists of, he wrote sample email format on the board and explained which topics go which. (Address, Subject, body, Signature), also he asked students what are good user name/password, and what are bad ones. etc) We’ve covered all 15 vocabulary. Although they could not get to use actual email system, many students seemed to understand these vocabularies quite well.

After that, we announced the class that Demetrus will be the presenter at graduation, and Raymond is alternate. We congratulate all the graduates and told them dress nicely on the event.

FINAL NOTES:
Before class is over, Paul explained about CDD Alumni book project, and asked students if they are interested in the project. Demetrus, Raymond, Allen, and Osbaldo signed in. In addition, Paul took Twyla aside and talked with her about her absence. At that moment, we as an instructor agreed to ask Kathleen for making exception to graduate Twyla. As for Richard, who has left the UH already but completed all the assignments except to turn in his paper, we talked to Counselor to tell him to bring his paper on graduation day.

CDD Class Report Walden House 10-17-09

2009-10-18T07:33:00.000-07:00

WEEKLY CLASS REPORT
Walden House /10-17-2009

Opening Comments:

The final class started on time. Dawn is “illing” so I covered the class solo.
Attendance:

We had 7 students in attendance. Jimmy and James were unable to attend.

INTRODUCTIONS OR OVERVIEW:

I took roll and laid out the agenda for the day.

1ST TOPIC COVERED:

We reviewed the prescribed 15 words in the Email vocabulary

2ND TOPIC COVERED:

I had all attending students present their papers.

ADDITIONAL TOPICS:
N/A

LAB TIME:
Lab time was spent having the students who hadn’t finish their papers work on that. We have 6 typed up papers which are attached with this report.
FINAL NOTES:

The class went very well. The students are excited about the upcoming graduation. David Chase was marked off as having completed his paper on Tuesday. He unfortunately misplaced the paper so he did not turn in a paper today.

After listening to the presentations, I concur with the Tuesday team’s assertion that Eric B. is the ideal presenter for the class. I would also like to recommend Shawn S. as the alternate.

CDD Class Report Uhuru 10-6-09

2009-10-13T06:48:00.000-07:00

WEEKLY CLASS REPORT
Uhuru House /10-06-2009

OPENING COMMENTS:
Class started at 7PM. Students were anxious about the quiz on Computer Discovery Terms.

ATTENDANCE:
We had 12 students in attendance. Jamie Alexander has left Uhuru House. Sedrict Shyn was absent.

INTRODUCTIONS OR OVERVIEW:
The students were asked if they wanted to take the quiz at the beginning of class or after the break. It was decided to take the quiz at the beginning so that the students could get it over with and also to avoid any distractions of students trying to study for the quiz during class.

1ST TOPIC COVERED:
After the quiz, Chris went over the second half of Module 2. He went over Cut, Copy, and Paste, and had students try cutting and copying/pasting words and phrases in Word. He also showed students how to cut and copy/paste a folder in My Documents. During this time, Daniel graded the quizzes.

2ND TOPIC COVERED:
Daniel then went over MS Word. He talked about headers/footers, fonts, page layouts, and page views. We went row by row among the tables and had students change their fonts and page views. We also took this opportunity to have the students demonstrate their skills at cutting and copying/pasting.

3RD TOPIC COVERED:
We also went over dialog boxes and had students change their page layout into various formats – landscape/portrait, letter/legal size, and different margins.

ADDITIONAL TOPICS:
None

LAB TIME:
Besides lecture and the quiz, most of the class time was spend doing hands-on exercises on the computer, mostly in MS Word. Students practiced cutting and pasting and changing their fonts (style, size, and color).

FINAL NOTES:
Demetrus was spoken to about listening to music during class. He said that he will stop. Internet access was unavailable. He also spent most of the class time typing his paper since he is already knowledgeable about the topics that were covered. The “Internet” light on the modem does not light up which could possibly mean that there is no Internet – last week when the Internet was working, that light was green. The device was rebooted and both jacks on the DSL line were tried. None of the computers were able to access the Internet. Perhaps the tech savvy Saturday team could take a look.

CDD Class Report Walden House 10-10-0-9

2009-10-11T07:13:00.000-07:00

WEEKLY CLASS REPORT
Walden House /10-10-2009

Opening Comments:
The 4th Saturday class started on time. All attending students were in class on time.
Attendance:

We had 9 students in attendance. Javier Herrera has dropped out of the class

INTRODUCTIONS OR OVERVIEW:
We took roll and laid out the agenda for the day.

1ST TOPIC COVERED:
We went over public speaking and presentations. We covered off on the Do’s and Don’ts of a good presentation.

2ND TOPIC COVERED:
Dawn reviewed the Internet materials

LAB TIME:
We skipped break and continued right into lab time. Most of the students have finished handwriting their papers and are now typing them. We spent lab time helping them out with their papers.

FINAL NOTES:
The class went very well. Still very drama-free!

CDD Class Report Walden House 10-3-09

2009-10-07T08:11:00.001-07:00

WEEKLY CLASS REPORT
Walden House /10-3-2009

Opening Comments:
The3rd Saturday class started on time. All attending students were in class on time.
Attendance:

We had 9 students in attendance. Joe Gates had a pass and was unable to attend

INTRODUCTIONS OR OVERVIEW:
We took roll and laid out the agenda for the day.

1ST TOPIC COVERED:
We reviewed the last 5 computer discovery terms.

2ND TOPIC COVERED:
Dawn reviewed the 2nd half of module two starting covering the menu and dialog box topics

ADDITIONAL TOPICS:
We covered the first 4 pages of the MS Word demonstration document discussing word processing, in general and MS word specifically.

LAB TIME:
Lab time was spent going over the suggested practice exercises. We had the student create word documents; create personal folders in “my documents” and save their documents. We also showed them how to access their saved documents.

FINAL NOTES:
The class went very well. The students were a bit nervous about the upcoming quiz but we were able to reassure them that nothing would be outside of the scope of what had been covered in class so far. The class is coming along nicely. One thing to note though, Steve Protillo might have some literacy issues as he struggled with spelling common words.

CDD Class Report Cri-Help 10-3-09

2009-10-04T06:56:00.000-07:00

WEEKLY CLASS REPORT
Cri-Help/Oct.03, 2009

Opening Comments:

Class started on time with eight students in class, the five where present at the premises but they had issues to sort out before coming to class and two where absent ( Kingsey Campbell , Theresa Banales). Ten minutes later the five came to class . Robert discussed today's topic in broad terms. Work books where given out by both Instructors(Robert & Francis).

Attendance:
There were thirteen students in total all from both groups (Socorro and Cri-help).

1ST TOPIC COVERED:

Robert reviewed model 2 , Terms in Computer Discovery, Topics in the workbook up through page 34 putting more Emphasis on Dialog Boxes, working with the mouse ,keyboard and used examples from Ms-Word..

2ND TOPIC COVERED:

Francis briefly went through MS-Word with he students a long in the work book up to page 4. and explained that muc of it will be carried out during Lab Time

ADDITIONAL TOPICS COVERED
There was no additional topics covered.

LAB TIME:

The students where divided into two groups where by each group had Aprox. 20min for hands on training on Computer , (eg. Typing using Ms-word Program) it was taken care of by Francis, then 20min completing their paper and presentation assignments was discussed by -Robert.

FINAL NOTES:

Two students handled in their outline paper that is Devin Parker and Susan Holzborn , then two where discharged from the center (Gabriel Gonzalez and Kingsey Campbell).

CDD Class Report Uhuru 9-22-09

2009-09-27T07:55:00.000-07:00

WEEKLY CLASS REPORT
Uhuru House /09-22-2009

OPENING COMMENTS:
The class started 5 minutes late due to some of the students straggling in. I reminded them of showing up on time.

ATTENDANCE:
We had 13 students in attendance. Tony was absent.

INTRODUCTIONS OR OVERVIEW:
We reviewed module 1 and creating an outline. During lab time, we helped out the students with the two topics.

1ST TOPIC COVERED:
I started the lecture with the review of Module 1. Some of the students were getting confused with the terminology (desktop, task, window, etc.). I explain the term and tried to distinguish between the different terms.

2ND TOPIC COVERED:
Chris followed on with the review of creating an outline. He gave a simple example of getting milk and steps needed to accomplish the task.

LAB TIME:
After break, we divided up the class in half. Chris worked with the students on the outlines, and I went around one by one and made sure they can open a program and bring a certain window to top. With some of the more advance students, I showed them shortcut keys and more maneuvering capabilities.

FINAL NOTES:
It seemed to me that some students are still confused with the outline (as usually is the case). Some were writing papers instead of outlines. Saturday instructors should review this one more time and work with the students. The slowest in the class seems to be Annette. The rest are following along quite well. The more advanced students actually had pretty good attitude and were quite enthusiastic when I showed them something they didn’t know before.

CDD Class Report Walden House 9-22-09

2009-09-24T11:38:00.001-07:00

WEEKLY CLASS REPORT
WALDEN HOUSE/TUESDAY: 09-22-09

Opening Comments:
12 students participated. 1 student dropped out (Frederico Delgado: said he already knew the course material and felt someone else would benefit) 1 student (alternate Javier Herrera replaced Delgado.

Attendance:
12 students showed participated. Since Javier Herrera missed the first two classes, Jonathan informed Herrera that he could not miss any classes or he would be dropped.

INTRODUCTIONS OR OVERVIEW:

Joanne Miller began with overview of material that would be discussed for class 3, reviewed last week's computer discovery terms and followed with "creating an outline". The students were reminded that outlines would be due next Tuesday (class 5).

1ST TOPIC COVERED:
Jonathan introduced Week 2 Computer Discovery Terms and after break worked with group A on computers while Joanne assisted group B with outline questions and discussion. Group B used computers while Jonathan assisted Group A with outlines.

2ND TOPIC COVERED: N/A

ADDITIONAL TOPICS:
Students demonstrated their computer knowledge by logging in and working on typing speed with Mavis Beacon program.

LAB TIME:
Split groups A & B for computer usage.

FINAL NOTES:
Students seem very interested in the topic "Plan for Success" and some completed outlines in class. Some students wanted to type their outline and paper, but understood that handwritten papers were expected.

CDD Class Report Walden House 9-19-09

2009-09-22T06:57:00.001-07:00

WEEKLY CLASS REPORT
Walden House /09-19-2009

Opening Comments:
The 1st Saturday class started on time. All attending student were in class on time
Attendance:

We had 11 students in attendance.

INTRODUCTIONS OR OVERVIEW:
Dawn and I introduced ourselves to the class. We briefly went over our tenure with CDD, our educational and professional backgrounds and how passion for computers. We then went around the class and had the student tell us their names and what they hoped to get out of the class.

Dawn took roll and presented the agenda for the day.

1ST TOPIC COVERED:
We reviewed the 1st 6 computer discovery terms.

2ND TOPIC COVERED:
Dawn reviewed the 1st half of module one.

ADDITIONAL TOPICS:
We went over the help section stopping on page 13. We had a 10 min break afterwards

LAB TIME:
Everyone came back on time from break. Lab time was spent mostly between mavis beacon and accessing the “help” menu.

FINAL NOTES:
The class went very well. Everyone seemed eager and committed to the material at hand.

CDD Class Report Cri-Help 9-15-09

2009-09-18T10:36:00.000-07:00

WEEKLY CLASS REPORT
Cri-Help/Sept 15, 2009

Opening Comments:

Class started on time with both Socorro and Cri-help students on time. Both Instructors and Students introduced themselves, some students showed advance knowledge of computers. Workbooks were assigned to Students.

Attendance:
There were fourteen students, including five from Socorro.

1ST TOPIC COVERED:

First item covered was ‘rules’ followed by 500-word paper requirements. Students took turns reading out loud ‘paper requirements’ from the workbook and were given a chance to ask questions.

2ND TOPIC COVERED:

Next, using the workbooks, the first six discovery terms were covered in detail by Smriti. Spare parts were used as visual aids.

ADDITIONAL TOPICS COVERED

Students appeared to be interested in computer hardware. A quick visual sample of how the motherboard, cables, drives and case come together was given while answering any quick questions

LAB TIME:

There were not enough computers for all the students; they were divided into two groups. All but one student were comfortable navigating using the mouse, and two students had more than enough experience.

FINAL NOTES:

Everyone was excited to be there and learn what they can. A student from the Socorro group brought up a possible time conflict with Saturday’s class, from 10-6pm they are having ‘face-off’(???) more information is needed.

2009-09-10T09:56:00.000-07:00

CDD Graduation Event Wrap Up

Session Beginning Date: Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Graduation Date: Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Location: Memorial Park Auditorium, Santa Monica, CA
Time: 7:00 to 9:00 pm
Emcee: Sally Cirello, CDD Instructor
Guest Speakers: Gary Binas, Motivational Speaker and Kathryn Pope, Antioch University

Names of Instructors:

House of Uhuru- Sally, Marie, Misty, Ethan
Cri-Help- Ashok, Robert, Paola, Lindsay
Walden House- Austin, Chris, Eric, Dawn

On August 25th, CDD hosted its third graduation of 2009 at Memorial Park in Santa Monica. As guests filed in, the excitement built as the graduates prepared to receive recognition for their accomplishment. At 7 PM, Sally, the Emcee, started the ceremony by welcoming everyone and recognizing the graduates.

She then introduced the first Guest Speaker, Gary Binas, a very accomplished professional and an experienced public speaker with the Toastmaster's organization. Using examples from the computer world, Gary gave an inspiring speech outlining the importance of 3 "Don’ts" for students after they leave the program: Don't be afraid, don’t stop learning, and don’t stop dreaming about tomorrow.

Following his speech, Sally introduced Antioch University's Kathryn Pope. She spoke about the Bridge Program; a fantastic Antioch offering that gives CDD graduates completely free access to a college education. She had sign up forms with her and several students decided to take advantage of this opportunity. The audience received both speeches very well.

Then, before the students came up and presented their papers, Sally introduced the Walden House Women's Choir. The choir performed a few songs to get the crowd excited, including "Presence of the Lord" and "I Believe I Can Fly."

Student presenters from each center were then called up to share their personal plans for success with the audience.

First up, Michael Glaze from Walden House talked about the steps on his journey to the top. After finishing the Walden House program, he plans to use the computer to find his dream job as a crane operator and to connect with people who came help him. Being a crane operator has been his dream since he first used one in his Navy tour in the 1980s. After his speech he received huge applause and a Walden House cheer.

Up next, Roxana from the House of Uhuru talked about her dream for a doctorate in psychology. She explained how she had always been very inclined towards learning, but had dropped out of UCLA and furthered her drug use after a false arrest forced her to miss a semester. She talked about the role of CDD in giving her computer training, but also for helping her overcome her biggest fear: going back into the classroom. She mentioned Sally in particular who helped re-spark her interest in education. Roxana will re-apply at UCLA for the fall semester.

Last up was Morris from Cri-Help. He gave a funny and inspiring speech about how computers will help him and mentioned being able to play Pacman with his granddaughter.

After these speeches, it was time for the moment everyone had been waiting for: handing out the certificates. CDD Director Kathleen Patton, speaker Gary Binas, and staff from each center formed a receiving line as the students were called up one by one for their certificates. The graduates proudly accepted their certificates and received congratulations.

After that, the official ceremony was over, but everyone stayed around for refreshments, pictures, and to talk with their families, guests, and instructors. The ceremony was a great success and a nice way to end another CDD session.

CDD End of Course Report Walden House 8-25-09

2009-09-05T06:49:00.000-07:00

Instructor End of Course Report

Center Name: Walden house

Beginning Date: July 21 2009

Graduation Date: Aug 25th 2009

Names of the four Instructors: Dawn, Austin, Eric and Chris

This session started out with 12 students. The class was evenly divided between students who knew a bit about computers and students who didn’t know too much. The students were a little intimidated at the beginning but eventually got used to the grove of things. Austin and I started off the session on July 21st. Austin was great at asking the students to take notes, reminding them constantly of the quiz date as well as their various assignment due dates. We also thoroughly went over the rules and regulations with the students.

Most of the class had worked very briefly on a computer before but was not too proficient. Albert was probably the only student in the class with an advanced knowledge in computers. Nonetheless the students were very enthusiastic about learning computer software and hardware. They thoroughly enjoyed Austin’s explanation of discovery terms. Almost everybody caught on really quick to practically using the computer. In a short period of time they learned to use the mouse, play around with the desktop icons and the various software related modules we went over during the session.

Most of the students didn’t mind the fast pace setting of the class. Johnny was a little slow at picking up things but Chris and Eric did an awesome job at giving him special attention and helping him catch up to the rest of the class.

All the students improved and learned a lot in this class. Michael, who presented was enthusiastic from the beginning of the class. He didn’t know too much about computers but had a heart willing to learn. He was very attentive in class and did well on all the assignments and the quiz. We teachers couldn’t have been happier with his presentation during graduation. He was very thankful to all the volunteer teachers. Another student who surprised me was Greg. Though he was very talented in writing, he was quite intimidated by computers. He initially had a very long paper and after working with all of us teachers he cut it short to about 500 words which in itself was a huge triumph. But to top it all he also typed his paper up by the last class and submitted it to Eric and Chris. This is a huge victory for him because he types really slow and did not know too much about using word.

Over all the session was good and went smoothly. Even though we were sad to see only half the initial class graduate, we were proud of the students who stuck it out and graduated.

2009-08-29T07:42:00.000-07:00

WEEKLY CLASS REPORT
House of Uhuru 08/22/09

Opening Comments:
Because Ethan is on vacation, this class was taught by Sally only. A new volunteer, Jon, observed and helped some students during lab time.
Attendance:
Terrell was away today. Ahnjayla showed up early and was frantic, because apparently she’d had a family emergency and had to leave soon. She asked to present her paper first, then posted a blog, then left. She understood that she would be marked absent. Everyone else was present for the whole time.

INTRODUCTIONS OR OVERVIEW:
We started by going over the topics for the day.

1ST TOPIC COVERED:
Ahnjayla and Dexter presented their papers first, then Harriet and Roxana volunteered to present theirs a second time. Jerry said he didn’t want to try again, and explained how he had gotten choked up on Tuesday. Then, students voted on who should read their paper at graduation, and Roxana won the election. She was excited and will be prepared to go on Tuesday night.

2ND TOPIC COVERED:
We discussed graduation in conjunction with some structured internet exploration. Together, students logged onto the CDD website and looked at pictures of the most recent graduation so that they knew what to expect. Then we went to google maps and went over how to get directions, using the House of Uhuru as a starting poing and the graduation location as an end point for an example. Several students wrote down these directions to give to their family members, and everyone wrote down the address.

3RD TOPIC COVERED:
After this, I explained how to do a blog post and what a blog is. All students posted and understood. The only student missing a blog post is Terrell, because he was absent.

LAB TIME
During lab time, students could finish their blog posts or type their papers. Several students finished typing their papers early and explored the internet. Everything was appropriate and they enjoyed the free time.
Additional Comments

All students are very grateful and excited about graduation.

CDD Class Report Walden 8-22-09

2009-08-27T07:52:00.000-07:00

WEEKLY CLASS REPORT
Walden House /08-22-2009

Opening Comments:
Class started on time with all remaining students getting in on time. Attendance: We had 6 students in attendance.

INTRODUCTIONS OR OVERVIEW:
In the interest of time, we did presentations first.

1ST TOPIC COVERED:
Four students -- Greg, Mario, Michael, and Johnny -- gave presentations. All of the presentations were very well done. It was clear from the presentations that all four speakers had taken the assignment seriously. All of the presentations were mostly focused on the future and on specific goals, and the steps necessary to achieve those goals. But all of the presentations were also heartfelt and showed a lot of character and hard-earned wisdom. The class favorite was Greg, who was very creative with his paper/presentation. But Chris and Eric agreed that Michael was the most faithful to the spirit of the assignment. Michael's presentation was hopeful and determined, yet pragmatic and focused on specific steps and how to stay positive. It was a tough decision, especially with the class having a favorite. I explained the reasoning behind choosing Michael -- that his paper was highly focused on taking very specific, practical steps toward getting a job. The class understood.

2ND TOPIC COVERED:
Eric introduced the topic of email and discussed it's importance as a communication tool. Chris covered the bulk of the concepts and terms. We then led a class demonstration. We opened up several different email accounts and sent mail back and forth between the two accounts. We focused on Gmail, but also used hotmail, to show the similarities and differences between the two companies. Tony asked how the companies make money and Chris explained that it was an ad-based business. We went on a short 10 minute break.

ADDITIONAL TOPICS LAB TIME:
Three students (Mario, Tony, and Albert) were finished with all work and used the time to work on Mavis Beacon (which all of the class enjoys). Thus our focus was on helping Greg and Michael finish typing their papers, and on getting Michael prepared for his Graduation presentation. Greg spent the entire lab time typing his paper. Eric helped Michael polish up his paper. Due time constraints -- we were very pressed for time -- we were unable to go over the Antioch stuff. Eric will print out the relevant information/forms and bring it to the graduation, if appropriate.

FINAL NOTES:
This was a great class. The presentation were awesome. Chris and Eric got a chance to talk casually with the guys after the presentation. We definitely bonded and everyone left the class with positive, supportive feelings about each other and about the class and computers in general.

CDD Class Report Walden 8-15-09

2009-08-22T13:18:00.000-07:00

WEEKLY CLASS REPORT
Walden House /08-15-2009

Opening Comments:
Class started on time with most of the students getting in on time. Greg arrived at 11:40am and was marked absent but stayed for the remainder of class.
Attendance:
We had 6 students in attendance, Greg included.

INTRODUCTIONS OR OVERVIEW:
Austin took roll and briefly went over the topics we were going to cover that day. Austin went over the final paper and presentation, and prepared the class for how presentations should be delivered and that feedback would be given as well. Austin scheduled Albert, Tony, and Michael for presentations on Tuesday.

1ST TOPIC COVERED:
Eric introduced the Internet as a concept, that the internet is how computers connect with each other. I emphasized that it is a public collection of information, similar to a library, and that this information was best accessed through search engines like Google.

2ND TOPIC COVERED:
We covered the relevant information in the manual, showing how browsers are a window into the internet. Because most of the students are restricted, Austin served as a demonstrator while I continued the lecture and suggested different types of searches. We used various examples to illustrate (1) the vast range of information available and (2) the importance of being as specific as possible when inputting words in the search box.
We went on a short 10-minute break after that.

LAB TIME:
All students worked on papers for the entire lab time. Both Austin and Eric worked one-on-one with students. Albert worked a bit on his paper, but is mostly done. Greg is still working on his paper and he will need close attention to be kept on task during Tuesday's lab (he tends to ramble with his writing). Mario is doing steady, quality work, and is about halfway finished and while he does work well independently, he benefits from check-ins and also he has trouble keeping his files organized. Tony, I think, has completed his paper. Michael still has a lot to write, I think, but he is motivated and might be ready to present on Tuesday. I'm not sure exactly where Johnny is, but I am confident he will need close one-on-one direction. My recommendation is that, in Tuesday's class, one teacher makes sure Johnny is on track, and one teacher makes sure Greg is on track. I could see them each needing 15-20 minutes of one-on-one time.

FINAL NOTES:
We were unable to log into the staff computer and thus we were not able to print any papers. Austin had a floppy disk and we made backup copies. In writing this, I realize that Mario was typing, and not writing his paper, and thus we need to make sure we get him a printed copy of his paper by Tuesday. Otherwise, I think everyone else is either finished with the paper or has a written version. I think. :-)

CDD Class Report Uhuru 8-11-09

2009-08-15T09:08:00.001-07:00

WEEKLY CLASS REPORT
House of Uhuru 8-11-09

INTRODUCTIONS OR OVERVIEW:
Marie arrived early and wrote key points of review from Module 1 second half, as well as agenda on the whiteboard. Misty took attendance and lead the first part of the review.

1ST TOPIC COVERED:
Review of part 1 Module 2, and some elements of MS Word were gone over. Students were quizzed and more review was needed. Students were well versed in Word however, and said that Ethan had done an excellent job of explaining formatting, deleting, backspacing etc. Students were asked to edit their title pages per the lesson plan that Misty was reading from, and so we spent time doing so.

2ND TOPIC COVERED:
There was some confusion over what was to be covered and time began to run out for the review and new material time allotted. To make sure that we did not run out of time for the test, it was given immediately after the break before lab time and the part 2 of module 2 was taught. All students did well on the test (review was done first) We only made it to page 41, and used a lot of lab time to cover new topics, but used the practice list at the end of the module as a guide. Because much of this material was rushed, I don’t think the students really got it.

LAB TIME:
See 2nd topic above.

FINAL NOTES:
Students were reminded to hand write their papers so that they could work on them out of class, and that they really needed to use lab time to practice module material and not just Mavis Beacon because many of them were still struggling with basics. Extra time was spent with Jerry, Dexter on these basics. Jerry is in a GED class as well and so hopes to be improving soon with his literacy (he openly discussed this with Misty). Dexter did well on his test , and based on his pre-test verbal responses, I reviewed with him the 2 mistakes he made based on possible dyslexia – he had only missed the two answers that looked very similar in wording but that verbally he had answered correctly - “inner circuit board” and “image circuit board”.

CDD Class Report Walden 8-8-09

2009-08-10T08:49:00.000-07:00

WEEKLY CLASS REPORT
Walden House /08-08-2009

ATTENDANCE:
We had 7 students in attendance.

INTRODUCTIONS OR OVERVIEW:
Chris took roll and Eric briefly went over the topics that were going to be covered that day.

1ST TOPIC COVERED:
Chris started by going over all the Discovery Terms. The students were very eager to give the definitions. The whiteboard was used to write terms on one side and definitions on the other. Students were asked to come up and draw a line from the term to the matching definition.

2ND TOPIC COVERED:
Eric went over the first half of Module 2. He talked about the difference between programs/applications and files. He then talked about the Task Bar and arranging windows (cascading, tiling, and plain old minimizing). He ended by discussing Dialog Boxes and the options contained within a box.

3RD TOPIC COVERED:
Chris talked about MS Word. We had Anthony demonstrate on a computer how to open Word using Start/All Programs while the other students watched.
Chris demonstrated various features within Word such as changing fonts and font sizes, the difference between backspace and delete, etc.

ADDITIONAL TOPICS
Students also showed us their outlines and we spent some time individually helping each student with their paper or outline.

LAB TIME:
All students logged onto a computer. All the students were very eager to try Word. Most students spent time typing out various sentences and playing with spell check, alignment, and fonts.
Some students also tried typing their papers and saving the file to their computer.

FINAL NOTES:
The class was very happy to be learning about Word since this seemed to be a very useful program for them. All students looked to be making progress on their papers/outlines. Johnny and Stephen were able to refine their outline. Rico also rewrote some of his paper and was able to type it on the computer in Word. Gregory did shorten his paper but may need more help. Anthony, Mario, and Michael seemed to be on track with their papers.

CDD Class Report Uhuru 8-1-09

2009-08-06T07:56:00.001-07:00

WEEKLY CLASS REPORT
House of Uhuru / August 1, 2009

Opening Comments:
The class went well and was generally without unusual incident. Don showed up about ten minutes late, apologizing for being late. Ethan and I were both surprised, as we were under the impression that he would not be teaching this class anymore. Don left and said he would get in touch with Kathleen.

Attendance:
At the beginning of class, nine students were present and four missing. Students said that John Ferris walked out of the facility the night before and wouldn’t return, but they said the same thing about him last Saturday and it turned out not to be true. After the break, Harriet and Shawna left to go to a facility event. We told them that they would be marked absent, but we were glad they came to get the information. They understood the implications of an absent mark and were okay with that.

INTRODUCTIONS OR OVERVIEW:
Ethan started with a brief introduction, as it was his first class. We had the agenda on the board and went over it quickly. We both passed out notebooks, and Ethan used it as an opportunity to get everyone’s names.

1ST TOPIC COVERED:
First, we reviewed the outline. I made sure students knew it was due on Tuesday, the next class. Students expressed that they understood the process and format, so I asked if anyone wanted to come up and reteach the information to the class. Harriet volunteered, and came up and wrote some notes from the outline introduction on Tuesday. I stressed that this is important, but not quite what I was looking for, and Terrell offered to come up and explain it. He wrote on the board and explained each section of the outline very well. He wrote notes under each number about what each section should cover. The class gave him a round of applause, and everyone expressed comfort with the outline except Dexter, so I said I would discuss it in greater detail with him during lab time.

2ND TOPIC COVERED:
After, I reviewed the six computer discovery terms from Tuesday’s class. Ethan opened up the dead computer and held up each part as we discussed it. One of two students had questions about the test, and Ethan answered them.

ADDITIONAL TOPICS:
Next, Ethan spent some time working from Module 1 in the handbook. He reviewed the purpose of double-click and single-click, saying basically that single click is to select and double is to activate, with the exception of menus like the start bar. He drew pictures on the board of windows on a screen and explained how to resize, select and move windows. Ethan wrote down key parts of the lecture on the board in simple terms, telling students that they should write what he writes, because he only wrote down the most important things. Students took notes. At the beginning of lab time, the students turned on the computers and Ethan led them through the process of moving and resizing windows again to ensure that they understood all different ways.

LAB TIME:
Because there were enough computers for all students to use one, we didn’t divide them into their usual groups. Instead, after Ethan led them through Module 1 review on the computers, we had anyone who wanted help with their outlines come to the front, and anyone who felt confident about it go to the back and work on Mavis Beacon. Only Dexter and Jerry stayed in the front, but a few students in the back ended up getting help on their outlines anyway. Many students were writing their outlines basically as their essays; they filled in each number with the next sentence, instead of with the next idea. In the last few minutes of class, Ethan wrote a sample outline on the board to review. After class, Jerry stayed for a few minutes because he wanted Ethan to explain the parts of the computer in a little better detail, and Ty stayed so that I could check out his outline and make sure he was on the right track.

FINAL NOTES:Students seemed to be putting a lot of thought into their plans and outlines. Many of them had already started writing or completed their papers, although we told them that perhaps they might want to do a second draft. A couple students were focusing excessively on computer skills they would want to use in the future, so we suggested that they focus on their entire lives instead

CDD Class Report Walden 8-1-09

2009-08-04T07:27:00.000-07:00

WEEKLY CLASS REPORT
Walden House /08-01-2009

OPENING COMMENTS:
The class started on time with 4 students missing.

ATTENDANCE:
We had 8 students in attendance.

INTRODUCTIONS OR OVERVIEW:
The students each introduced themselves and Chris introduced himself (since it was his first class teaching).

1ST TOPIC COVERED:
Teacher Eric started by going over the outline and what was expected. He gave examples of a ‘plan’ such as buying milk and what steps he would have to do in order to complete it.
He went over what the outline consisted of, including the Intro, Body, and Conclusion. At this point, we gave the students some time to work on their outline. Some students already had their outline completed while other students needed help refining what their ‘plans’ were because they were too broad. Eric and Chris spent some time with each student to help them with their ‘plan’ and putting it into outline format.

2ND TOPIC COVERED:
Chris did a quick review of the first 6 discovery terms and then completed going over the rest of the terms. The students all knew the terms pretty well. Eric also went over specific definitions (culled from the exam) to ensure that the students would be able to answer the exam properly.

3RD TOPIC COVERED:
Chris led the class through the second half of Module One.

ADDITIONAL TOPICS

LAB TIME:
All students logged onto a computer. Each student was able to work on their own computer with no need for sharing. After all students went through using the Help and the topics covered during lecture (searching and printing within Help), the students were allowed to continue working on the computer. One student worked in MS Paint. Some students tried changing settings in the Display Settings. The rest of the students worked in Mavis Beacon. Most of the students made it through most of a Mavis lesson.

FINAL NOTES:
The class seemed very interested in learning and also in completing their essays. The students were eager to ask as well as answer questions. The most difficult part of this class was the outline. Eric and Chris tried to help the students understand the expectations for the outline and also to help the students formulate their ‘plans’.

APPRECIATION:
Chris would like to thank Eric for giving lots of direction to him in terms of teaching. Even though Eric has only recently started teaching, he seems like he is already a pro.

CDD Class Report Cri-Help 8-1-09

2009-08-02T07:51:00.000-07:00

WEEKLY CLASS REPORT
Cri-Help/Aug. 1st, 2009

Opening Comments:

We did not have any incidents during Saturday‘s class. Everyone was on his or her best behavior.

Attendance:

We had five students in attendance. Four of them showed up 5 minutes late. Someone from the staff had previously informed us that they would be a few minutes late b/c they were downstairs talking to the staff.

INTRODUCTIONS OR OVERVIEW:

I introduced myself and explained that I was there substituting for Robert. Then I introduced Lindsay and explained that she will be replacing Ethan. Everyone liked her right away. I gave a brief overview of the day’s agenda. I wrote on the board that the outline is due next Tuesday and they need to have it ready by the end of the day.

1ST TOPIC COVERED:

I asked students if they had any questions from the previous class. They did not. We quickly reviewed the first half of M1 and then we covered the 2nd half of M1. We talked about the help menu, working with a window, maximizing, minimizing, restoring etc. I explained the difference between an application and a document using a kitchen and a dish analogy; the kitchen being the application and the dish the document. We discuss the importance of shutting down the computer properly, and the difference between stand by mode, restart, and shut down.

2ND TOPIC COVERED:-

Lindsay covered the next six computer discovery terms. She asked students to take turns reading the next item to be discussed. Everyone was enthusiastic about participating. She covered up to number 12. Students complemented her on her teaching style and gave her a round of applause when she finished with the CD terms.

LAB TIME:

The first half hour, we worked on the outline. I helped Violet and Jerry. Lindsay worked with Morris. Adan had a little bit of trouble coming up with ideas for his outline but promised to have it ready on Tuesday. Adan was called downstairs and he came back with a signed note from the staff asking us to release him 30 minutes early because he had to meet with his counselor. He left at 12:30. Morris, Violet and Jerry had hand-written outlines ready by the end of class. The last 30 minutes, we had the students demonstrate that they could do the suggested exercises one by one. Open the Recycle bin, create, delete, restore a folder etc. All five students demonstrated this to Lindsay and me. After that, we had them open the MV typing program and they practiced. Class ended right at 1:00 pm

FINAL NOTES:

I thought the class went very well. With only five students, we were able to dedicate plenty of time to each of them. Kudos to Lindsay for a great job, despite the fact that she did not get any training! Thank you all for reading.

CDD Class Report Cri-Help 7-25-09

2009-07-28T07:42:00.000-07:00

WEEKLY CLASS REPORT
Cri-Help/July 25, 2009

Opening Comments:
Class began early with informal introductions, all but two students came ten minutes early to class; students were excited to begin.

Attendance:
There were nine students; staff member from cri-help informed us there may be another student joining the class.

INTRODUCTIONS OR OVERVIEW:
Introductions were done anew both from students and instructors, overview was done by Ethan.

1ST TOPIC COVERED:
Rules and Regulations by Ethan; First Topic was a review of the mouse done by Robert, used visual aid with a brief description of buttons and functions and ‘chalk-board’ instruction was done by Ethan.

2ND TOPIC COVERED:
Module 1 was covered in more detail with use of student handbook and ‘chalk-board’ presentation by Ethan, followed by a quick lab.

ADDITIONAL TOPICS:
First six words from discovery (motherboard, hard drive, video and audio card, general pc cables) and two short-cut keys on the keyboard.

LAB TIME:
Lab time covered a general introduction to items on the desktop, using the mouse, opening, minimizing and closing windows, standard tool bar, title bars, and application focus and application panels. Students were put into two groups, one at the Computers and the others with Ethan for review.

FINAL NOTES:
Keeping the student handbooks in the same classroom may be beneficial.

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2009-03-19T07:17:00.000-07:00

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