Adapting a Writing Template in Draft:Builder
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ADAPTING A WRITING TEMPLATE IN DRAFT:BUILDER
UT SOLO RESEARCH PROJECT
The first time you log into the computer with SOLO, you will need to create a login for you and for your student (using a pseudonym). You will need to adapt one of the existing templates. After this, you will not need to create names or adapt the template. You will log in, open the template, and have the student use it.
Open the program. When you see the login screen, click Teacher Sign In.
You will see the Teacher Sign In window. Click New at the bottom left.
Type your name into the top window. Type the default password, Admin1(admin with a capital A and 1 as in the number one). Then type whatever password you want to use in the bottom two spaces. Click OK.
You will see the Class Management window appear. Click on New Class.
Create a new class called UT Research Project. Click OK.
Next, click on New Student. Enter a pseudonym for each student. Use the first two letters of the school name, first two letters of the child’s first name, and first two letters of the child’s last name. Click OK.
You now will see the Teacher Central screen.
Before you adapt the template, set the speech rate for your students to be slightly faster than the default speed (approximately 100). Click Student Preferences, click the student’s name, then slide the Speech Rate indicator.
Click on New Assignment Template.
Click on Open a BLANK Assignment Template.
Click on Draft:Builder.
Click on Descriptive Paragraph.opt from the list of templates. Click OK.
While under the Outline tab, change the directions by clicking on the text
Click on the Notes tab.
You will see the template outline and notes (of which you will change several). Click on Topic Sentence.
Click on the first note. It will change to grey to indicate it is selected. Click the Unlock Text icon in the top menu. It looks like a T with a padlock.
A green icon will appear to the left of the note. This indicates that it is ready to be edited (unlocked). Double click on the note and a window will appear in which you can edit the note. Change the existing text to match the text below exactly and then click OK:
Hit OK. Then lock the text by clicking the lock symbol again. The green icon will disappear.
Click on the next note, unlock it by clicking the Lock/Unlock icon. Double click on the note and a window will appear in which you can edit the note. Change the existing text to match the text below exactly and then click OK:
On the left side of the screen, click Body Sentences. Click, unlock, and change the note to match the text below exactly:
On the left side of the screen, click Closing Sentences. Click, unlock, and change the top note to match the text below exactly:
Next, click the Draft tab. On the right side of the screen, change the text (or add text depending on software version) to match what is written below exactly. Then lock the text using the Lock Text icon. The text should change to yellow.
Next go to the File menu and select Save As (***IMPORTANT – do not just click Save!)
You will be prompted to give an assignment description. Type UT Research Template. Then, you will see the Save Assignment As… window. Type the File name: UT Research Template.
!!!!!IMPORTANT!!! Use the dropdown menu to select Outline Template. !!!!IMPORTANT!!!!
Then click Save.
Now, your template is ready for student use. Follow the directions for using the template for all subsequent sessions.
USING AN EXISTING WRITING TEMPLATE IN DRAFT:BUILDER WITH CO:WRITER
Open the program. On the Sign In screen, click Teacher Sign In. In the Teacher Sign In window, select your name from the dropdown menu (if you have not already created a sign in name, follow the directions in the ADAPTING A WRITING TEMPLATE IN DRAFT:BUILDER document to set up a teacher log in for yourself. Type your password and click OK.
On the left side of the Teacher Central screen, click Outline Templates. Scroll down until you find the template you want in the list. In this case, we want the UT Research Template. Double click on the template name.
Now save the template as an assignment and assign it to your students as follows:
Click Save As and enter UT Research Template. Then click OK.
Type the following File name. Make sure the format is Assignment. Then click Assign to Students.
Click the students’ pseudonyms and then click OK.
Then, exit all the way to the sign in screen.
Log in as the student. The default student password is 123456. When you are logged into Student Central, double click on the Assignment Templates folder. Then double click on the UT Research Template Assignment.
Next, open Co:Writer by clicking the icon in the top left menu.
Click OK to use the default settings.
The first time and then as needed,teach/help the student with the following:
Show the student how to play text by clicking the instructions on the outline tab and clicking the Speak button.
Show the student how to open the notes tab and listen to notes. Then how to open the draft tab. Explain that he/she will be dragging notes over into the draft area to put his/her notes altogether to become a paragraph.
Then give the student the writing prompt. Have him/her listen to the instructions under Topic Sentence. Have him/her double click on the empty note under Topic Sentence. Once the topic sentence window is open, have the student click in the top of the Co:Writer window. Instruct him/her to begin typing his/her topic sentence according to the instructions he/she heard. Explain to him/her that once he/she types his/her sentence and hits a punctuation key such as the period, the sentence will appear in the Topic Sentence window. Explain how he/she can type the entire word, or choose the word as it appears in the Co:Writer menu.
Help the student maneuver through the software prompts to complete all notes (Topic Sentence, Body Sentences, Closing Sentence). Then have him/her click the Draft tab. Instruct him/her on how to slide his/her sentences over into the bottom of the screen to form the paragraph.
Next, save the student’s work. Go to File then Save As. Save with the student’s pseudonym and the writing prompt name.
Copy the work to a Word document and save it with the same name. Send it to Dr. Coleman via email.
To transfer a saved outline template to another computer, you can copy the file onto a flash drive by locating it:
C: drive
Don Johnston
SOLO
Content
Outline Templates
Transfer the file onto your flash drive. On the next computer. Go to the Outline Templates folder just as you did before and copy the template into it.