TALK - Help

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This site is a part of FCPS.net

Contents of this web site are intended to be used for the enhancement of instruction only.

Search the Site | Site Extras | Viewing Lessons | More Tips

The TALK website was created to help teachers find effective literacy-based activities to use with their students. These lessons have been indexed multiple ways to help you find exactly what you are looking for.

You will notice on the left side of every page links to search through our collection of lessons by the Classroom Literacy Guide, Content Area, Literacy First Skill, Software Application, or by Keyword. These links are the basic way to find lessons within TALK. When you click any of the first four links, you will be taken to a page that contains links to activities as described below.

Classroom Literacy Guide: The first page will give you the major components of the Classroom Literacy Guide. Clicking on one of these will take you to a list of its sub-components. Any subcomponent that has lessons to go with it, will have a hyperlink on the component key-words. Click that link to see available lessons and a brief description. You can then click the lesson title to see the full lesson.
Content Area: This page will show each content area along with the titles and a short description of the three most popular lessons for that particular topic. You can view those lessons directly by clicking on the titles. At the end of that list, you will see a "More Lessons..." link. By clicking this, you will see all of the activities that pertain to that particular subject area.
Software Application: This page will show various common software applications available to most Fayette County teachers along with a title and description of the three most popular lessons for that application. You can view those lessons directly by clicking on the titles. At the end of that list, you will see a "More Lessons..." link. By clicking this, you will see all of the activities that pertain to that particular software application.
Keyword Search: This allows you to search through our database of lessons by keyword. The keywords are derived from the brief description for each lesson. This is the same description when you search the links from any of the above methods. The Advanced Search will allow you to further refine your searches by keyword, grade level, subject area, software application and literacy skill.

Site Extras: The Resources link on the left takes you to a page with links to all the resources available through this site. These may include links to external websites with extra help for particular software applications to templates we have created for use with the lessons in the TALK website.

The How to Use This Site button brought you here! Hopefully, you will soon become very comfortable with using the site and won't need to return that often.

The Student Portal link takes you to the Student portion of the site. While TALK was originally designed for teachers to use, each lesson also includes a student page for you to use with your class. These pages work with a keyword. As you view each lesson, there is a keyword assigned to it. When your students type in each keyword, they can see the lesson. The entire list of keywords can be found through a link at the bottom of every student page.

Viewing Each Lesson

Each lesson will be similar in form. You will see the body of the lesson in the middle of the page. This will contain any directions and links to any resources that you will need to complete the lesson.

On the right, you will see some lesson details. If the lesson contributor's name is a hyperlink, it will either be a link to their webpage address or email address. You can ask questions and possibly find other similar resources. You will also find the applicable grade level, necessary technology tools, and the student portal keyword. Use this keyword as described in the Site Extras above to access the student page that goes with the site.

Below the details includes some Teacher Tips. This contains some links to websites that may help you with the lesson. The links that appear are based upon the content area and the software application(s) that the lesson uses.

At the bottom of the page you will see some references to the Classroom Literacy Guide and Literacy First Components. This is a list of all components that the lesson relates to. By clicking the link, you will see other lessons that address that particular component.

Below this is the interactive portion of the site. You have the opportunity to read and add comments about the particular lesson you are viewing. We encourage teachers who have used these lessons to add comments about any modifications or ideas which may help others improve these activities.

Other Tips

Save File As Many of these lessons include supplementary files necessary for completing the activity. Some of these will be versions you can view on the web. Others will be ones you can save to your computer. The easiest way to save a file is to right-click the file and choose Save File As (or Save Target As) from the menu that appears. You will see the familiar Save As dialogue box that asks you where you would like to save your file and what you would like to name it. Choose a name and location you can remember and click the Save button in the lower right. At some point, you may be asked for a username and password. Ignore these and click Cancel.

As you look through these lessons and see technology skills that you are not comfortable using with your students, feel free to contact your school's Technology Resource Teacher. They will be able to model the lesson with your class or give you some individual training or any other help that you may need.

You can also check out the Resources Page to find extra links about the software applications, download extras from the Internet, tips and tricks to use the software better, etc. If you have further questions feel free to contact the project developers to provide additional help.