TeXT+Help

THE TeXT eZINE - This is where your students will publish their final writing pieces in each genre.

For you: 1. Before your students publish, you will need to set up an eZine. On the right side, you will see Student Login in green and Teacher Login in blue. If you do not have an account, select "Register for an Account" from the bottom of the blue Teacher Login box. You can find step-by-step registration instructions (and much more) at this link. 2. Once your registration is confirmed, you will get a confirmation e-mail, and can log in to the site using the username and password you selected during registration. In the right-hand sidebar, select "Go to your Dashboard." In the main window of the Dashboard, there will be several large red bars. Select "Create a New eZine." 3. The system will walk you through creating your eZine settings. These settings can always be changed later if you change your mind. Create an advanced eZine, so each student can have a login. Create a name for your eZine, write a description, and assign a unique link name so students and parents can find the site easily. Select a color. Select an image. Identify which sections you want on the eZine based on which genres you plan to teach this year. Decide if you want the students to be able to comment on each other's writing (probably yes) and if you want them to be able to rate each other's writing (probably no). On the last settings page, do not worry about entering student names, but do create a subscription key. This is a secret password that lets students become a part of your eZine when they register.

For your students: 1. On the right side, you will see Student Login in green and Teacher Login in blue. If your students do not have accounts, select "Register for an Account" from the bottom of the green Student Login box. They should enter a username (for simplicity, you could ask them to use the same name as for the Moodle classroom), and a password. They do not need to enter an e-mail address. The subscription key is the one you created when you set up your eZine. 2. Student registration does not need to be confirmed. Once they have created their accounts, they should have immediate access to your eZine (because they entered your subscription key when they registered). From now on, they can log in using the username and password they have created. They can select your eZine title from their Dashboard. 3. On the right-hand sidebar of your eZine, there is a link that says "Submit Writing to this eZine." When your students are ready to publish, they may click this link. There are three fields to be entered: Title, Section, and Body. 4. Students can copy and paste their title into the Title field. They do not need to include their names, since they are logged in under their username. Under no circumstances should students include their full last name online. 5. Students should select the appropriate section from the pull-down menu. This is the genre they have written in. 6. Students should copy and paste the body of their piece into the Body field, and click Submit. Their piece should appear in the left-hand sidebar of the eZine.

For you again: 1. You now have access to all of your students' writing. You can read it, comment on it, edit it, or even delete it. To edit or delete a piece of work, click on its title in the left-hand sidebar to bring it into the main window. You will then see a link to edit. The delete button can be seen while the work is in edit mode. 2. Work is private, and only able to be viewed by members of your eZine. If you think a student's work is ready, and if you have a signed permission slip, you can make it public by clicking the Make Public icon under the title of the piece of writing in the left-hand sidebar. You can click the same icon again to make the work private.