Schoolwires – District 205 created by Andrew Chidester

District 205 Schoolwires  Open Mozilla Firefox (if available) / Some current versions of Internet Explorer have been prone to have issues  Go to: Additional Resources Schoolwires ManualYouTube 4 minute teacher pageSchoolwires ManualYouTube 4 minute teacher page (This is made with Flex page opt.) About Teacher AppApps pages on types available

Where should I go?  Navigate to your school’s home page.  Have you registered as a user under Schoolwires?  If you have, then please sign in from the upper right hand corner.  If not, then please click on “Register” in the upper right hand corner.

Sign-In/Registration 1) Your first step is to verify your date of birth. 2) You will then need to enter your personal information. 3) Your login name should be your regular computer login. 4) Your password should also be your regular network password. * (This makes it easy for you to remember and to assist you for lapses in memory) 5) You may also choose an E-Alert or Mobile E-Alert for special notifications from the district. 6) SAVE – You may come back to edit your information later by choosing “My Account” from the top corner. You may the edit your account settings.

Gaining access to your Home page Every teacher may have a page located under the main heading of “Areas for Instruction”. To get started though, you will have to be assigned as a section editor for that space.

Site Manager – Edit your page  When you are on your home page, the Site Manager tab will appear in the top right corner.  When you are on other pages on the web site, the Site Manager tab will not be there.  Clicking on Site Manager allows you to work on your website (don’t do this yet). Note: You will not see the Site Manager button on your MyStart bar until you sign in and navigate to your campus website. It is also only visible in sections for which you have editorial privileges. When you click on the Site Manager button, you will open Site Manager and enter the Section Workspace for your Section.

What should be on your webpage? Here are some ideas:  Welcome page  Class/Course Requirements  Class Calendar  Homework Policy  Class Handouts/Forms, Permission Slips  Homework Assignments  Internet Links  Reading Lists  Etc...

Create Your Home Page  Which kind of page do I choose? Blank/App or Flex Page  The Blank/App (Simple) choice allows for a more guided experience towards creating a webpage.  The Flex Page choice has a more wide-open format. The teacher who may have more experience with page formatting or using HTML might choose this.

Simple – Blank/App Page  Click on your Site Manager  Click on the green “New Page” button  Scroll down on “Available Page Types” and choose Blank Page.  Type in a Page Name, and then click on Save  Click on your New page that you just created  Look over to the right hand side of screen for the Actions section.  Click on “Manage Apps & Layout”  Click on “Add App” from the design mode in the center page.

Blank/App Page cont.  Choose and click “About Teacher App”  Find the page you just created from the list under the “Find section” and click on it. You could now add more apps or change the layout of your page. We are going to continue with just one app for now and keep the page at one column. If you put your cursor over the page section, then you should notice it changes to black.  Click on the “I’m Done” button in the design mode text.  Now click on your page and it should open up to a template screen. There are choices to complete information on both the “About Me” and “Details” tabs.  When you have added what you like, then make sure the box is checked next to activating your page and click save.  Go to the top and click “View Website” and click on your page.  Yay! – you now have a presence on the internet.

Using the Flex Page option The step for creating this page are similar to the prior slides.  Click on New Page, choose Flex Editor, give your page a name You should try to do some prior planning before starting this page. If you view the YouTube video for creating a page in under 4 minutes from the beginning of this presentation then you will have an idea of what to do.  Ideas like the following are helpful -Your Name -Contact Information -What You Teach -Graphics -Anything else you want (Don’t go too crazy.)

Adding Text  Click on the name of your newly named page to add information.  You can write and format your text here.  Be prepared to possibly add some tables to put objects or other information into.  When you click Save, your text will be on the website! **You might consider using such programs as Sharepoint Designer, Microsoft Expression, Publisher, Dreamweaver, CoffeeCup Softwares free editor or others if you would like to play around with some HTML options.

Row 1 Toolbar Features (Left to Right)  Spellcheck  Preview – See what your screen will look like on different computers.  Print  Search – Find and replace in Office  Cut  Copy  Paste  Paste from Word – removes some of the formatting tags from Office that can cause problems.  Paste from Text – pastes just the text with no formatting.  Undo  Redo  Clear All – Use with Caution! This deletes everything on the page.  Full Screen – Looks bigger  View Tutorials

Row 2 Toolbar Features  You can choose a template with the first button or font style with the second.  Other buttons are similar to Office: Bold, Italics, Underline, Strike Through, Left, Center, Right, and Full Justify, Numbering, Bullets, Indent, and Outdent (from left to right)

Row 3 Toolbar Features (Left to Right)  Insert Image  Edit Image Properties  Insert File Link  Horizontal Rule (draws a line)  Bookmark  Insert Link  Edit Link Properties  Insert Form Link – for forms and and surveys  Insert Table  Edit Table/Cell  Show/Hide Gridlines  Insert Text Box  Special Characters  Open Toolbox  Position by Pixel  Remove Formatting  ActiveBlocks – only if user is signed in

Adding Graphics  Click on the Insert Image icon. It is the first one on the left on the bottom row of the toolbar.

Insert Your Image  To insert a digital or other picture already on your computer, click on Insert new image from my computer or network … Click Next, Browse to find the picture, Name the picture, and Insert it.

Insert Image From …  Once you have a picture already on your site, you can click on the “Select image already uploaded to your site” button and click Next.  Then browse to find and insert the picture.

Shared & Clipart Library  To use a clipart picture, click on “Select image from…. (shared or clipart library)” and click next.  It will take a little time to load.  Select from the assortment of images. Regular images will appear. You can also click on other categories to find specific kinds of images.  Click on the button for the image you choose and click Next.

Adjusting the Picture  Name your picture.  Change the size. Usually 120 x 160 is a nice, small size.  You can change the alignment to the left, center, or right.  You can add a border by typing a number for its width.  Then click Insert Image.