Student Concert Poster Created in Microsoft Word

There are precious few things that universally appeal to teenagers. In fact, the only thing I can think of is music. Kids may not agree on what kind of music is best, but generally speaking, nearly all teens are into tunes (some so much that they stay tethered to their iPod 24/7).

With this in mind, I like to work a few music-related activities into my classes, especially in Computer Applications.

Our study of Microsoft Word includes a unit on making flyers (we use the Shelly Cashman books). At the conclusion of the unit, the students apply the skills they’ve learned, including inserting graphics and manipulating text, to create a concert poster for a band of their choice. The posters include information like tour cities, dates, and opening acts. The students may make up their own tours or use a website like www.pollstar.com to get real information about their favorite acts.

While programs like Publisher and Adobe InDesign are more geared towards creating posters, completing this project in Word helps the students understand the limitations of the program.  It also helps me understand how far out of the music loop I am (you mean, nobody listens to the Counting Crows anymore??).

When the posters are completed, I have the students upload their documents to a Workshop link on my Moodle website, so that they can be critiqued by others in the class.

This project can also be expanded to Excel (have the students budget and

Student Concert Poster, Created in Microsoft Word

plan an entire tour for their band), PowerPoint (have the students create a video slideshow featuring one of their band’s songs), and Access (have the students catalog the band’s CDs in a database). I will share those activities later on!

Lesson Resources
Instructions: Microsoft Word Concert Poster

Website: www.pollstar.com

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