Teacher Help 1
Welcome to BoomWriter! Welcome to BoomWriter, the latest in creative writing technology for the classroom! This manual will provide a step-by-step explanation of the process on getting started and how to manage book writing competitions inside your classroom. It will provide you with all the tools for engaging your students and their parents in this exciting learning process. 2
Admin Overview Logo Upload school/class logo Accepted formats:.jpg,.png,.gif Start A Book Create new book View books that are currently underway Students Awaiting Approval View pending students who have signed up to your competitions Confirm and activate students allowing them to participate Current Competitions Statistics for BoomWriter activity taking place within your school Inbox You will be sent messages periodically keeping you up to date with the latest news and developments on the BoomWriter application. 3
Students Getting Students signed up Your task is to get the students signed up in order to begin a new book. Students can sign themselves up by going to: http://www.boomwriter.com/registration/ and following the links to Sign up to my school. Approve Pending Students After a student has signed up, you will need to confirm that they are part of your school. You can do this by following the links on the Admin Area Dashboard going to the Students sections of the site Until you approve the student, they will not be able to see or take part in any books that you are running. 4
Books Story Start The first step is choosing a Story Start (the first part of the story). You can select a Story Start from our site s Marketplace or you can write/insert your own. Choosing from Marketplace Teachers may select their story Start from one available inside our Marketplace. Our Marketplace includes Story Starts from credible guest authors. You can search for Story Starts by Grade, Category and Guest Author. Writing Your Own Here you can insert your own Story Start with a grade and category. Once you ve finished your Story Start, it will then be made available to any teacher using BoomWriter in your school. Competitions for each chapter Once a Story Start has been assigned, each following chapter is created through a series of competitions until the book is complete. The arrow to the right demonstrates the process for each chapter until the book is completed. Teacher Approves Entries Students write Tie Break: In that case, teacher determines best chapter Students (Community) Vote Begin Next Chapter 5
Group Book or Open Book? Group Book Closed book competition where the teacher selects the participating students Minimum of 5 authors Commonly used in the context of a genre study unit or an after-school project Open Book Book competition that can be open to all students in a particular grade (For example, an Open Book can be for any 6 th grade students within a school) Commonly used to promote a creative writing competition throughout a particular grade in a school There are some key differences between Group Book and Open Book competitions to consider With an Open Book, once you ve set the deadlines for chapter entries and voting you will not be able to go back and change them. With a Group Book, you have more flexibility with extending entry dates and voting periods. 6
Starting A New Group Book Step 1) Start New Book From the Admin page click Start New Book Step 2) Story Starts Every book starts with a Story Start. You have two choices when selecting a Story Start. Step 2a) Select a Story Start from the Marketplace Teachers may select their Story Start from our Marketplace. The Marketplace has Story Starts written by credible authors. You can search for one by Grade, Category and Guest Author. Once you ve chosen your Story Start, simply select Start Book from within the selected chapter. Step 2b) Write your own Story Start From here you can create/insert your own story start and then select Start Book to begin a competition. 7
Let s get them writing Step 3) Create the Book Once you ve selected a Story Start, you will be taken to the Books tab where you can set the parameters for writing each chapter. Step 3a) Select Group Book Step 3b) Provide Competition Name The Competition name should be unique to your classroom. Avoid giving it the same title as the Story Start, as there may be multiple competitions underway with that same Story Start title. Step 3c) Select Grade Assign the grade level to your competition. Step 3d) Assign Students Enter the names of the students who will be part of this Group Book. As you type, matching names will be displayed simply click a name to add the student into the group. 8
Let s get them writing Step 3e) Setup Duration & Chapter Count Competition Rounds Establish how many chapter competitions you want to include for this Group Book. You ll notice the counter you set is one less than the total shown in the purple summary box to the right on the screen. This is because it does not include the Story Start that has already been assigned for this Group Book. Writing Days Set the numbers of days the students have before submitting their final version of a chapter. In Group Books, you have the flexibility to extend writing deadlines. You should also set mini-deadlines in between each deadline in order to provide students with proper feedback (e.g. I want you all to write and submit your first draft by Wednesday ). Voting Days Set the number of days voting is open to the BoomWriter community at each chapter stage. For Group Books, teachers can extend voting deadlines. The purple box on the right will display the approximate timeline for completing the book. Note though that this is just an estimated completion date based on the timelines you ve submitted. You can change the writing and voting days at the start of each competition round, so you can fine tune this as you work towards completing the book. 9
Let s get them writing Step 3f) Guidance Notes Teachers can use this box to provide instructions to their students for each chapter. Teachers may provide tailored guidance, directives and/or encouragement for their students in the story writing process. Step 3g) Start or Save You can start the competition immediately or save it and start this at a later date. 10
Let s get them writing Step 4) Kids Write Chapters Your students can now sign-in to BoomWriter and begin writing and submitting their chapters. When a student submits his/her chapter for review, you can read through it and either accept it or send it back to the student with suggestions for improvement. As mentioned earlier, be sure to set mini-deadlines with the students so that you can provide them with feedback and comments before the final deadline. Once the final deadline is reached, the authors will not be able to correct any entries. TIP: If you need to extend the number of writing days, you can do this from the Books tab. Step 5) Teacher Review As students submit their chapters for review by the teacher, the teacher can then either approve the piece or request that changes be made by the student. Once all pieces have been approved, the teacher can begin the voting process using the form at the bottom of the page. 11
Voting Step 6) Start Voting Once the teacher has approved each entry, the voting can begin. You can identify who has not voted from the Book view screen. Remember, you can extend voting deadlines in book groups. Please also be aware that the voting will run for a minimum time period and then continue until the system has enough votes to declare a winner. Students may vote more than one time! Step 7) Tie Breaker In the case of a tie breaker, the teacher is responsible for selecting the winner. Step 8) Chapter Complete Teachers should provide instructions for each new chapter and then when ready start the writing phase. Repeat this process until the book is complete. 12
Starting A New Open Book Step 1) Start New Book From the Admin page, click Start New Book Step 2) Story Starts As mentioned previously, every book starts with a Story Start. You have two choices when selecting a Story Start. Step 2a) Select a Story Start from the site s Marketplace Teachers may select their Story Start from our Marketplace. The Marketplace has Story Starts written by credible authors. You can search for one by Grade, Category and Guest Author. Once you ve chosen your Story Start, simply select Start Book from within the selected chapter. Step 2b) Select a Story Start that you have written From here you can create/insert your own story start and then select Start Book to begin a competition. 13
Let s get them writing Step 3) Create the Book Once you ve selected a Story Start, you will be taken to the Books tab where you can set the parameters for writing each chapter. Step 3a) Select Group Book Step 3b) Provide Competition Name The competition name should be unique to your classroom. Avoid giving it the same title as the Story Start as there may be multiple competitions underway with that same Story Start title. Step 3c) Select Grade Assign the grade level to your competition 14
Let s get them writing Step 3e) Setup Duration & Chapter Count Competition rounds Establish how many chapter competitions you want to include for this Group Book. You ll notice the counter you set is one less than the total shown in the purple summary box to the right on the screen. This is because it does not include the Story Start that has been assigned for this Group Book. Writing Days Set the numbers of days the students have before submitting their final version of a chapter. In Group Books, you have the flexibility to extend writing deadlines. You should also set mini-deadlines in between each deadline in order to provide students with proper feedback (e.g. I want you all to write and submit your first draft by Wednesday ). Voting Days Set the number of days voting is open to the BoomWriter community at each chapter stage. For Group Books, teachers can extend voting deadlines. The purple box on the right side of the screen will display the approximate completion date for the book. Note that this is just an estimate based on your submitted timeline. You can change the writing and voting days at the start of each competition round (but not during the writing or voting stage), so you can fine tune this as you proceed through the book. 15
Let s get them writing Step 3f) Guidance Notes Teachers can use this box to provide instructions to their students for each chapter. Teachers may provide tailored guidance, directives and/or encouragement for their students in the story writing process. Step 3g) Start or Save You can start the competition immediately or save it and start at a later date. 16
Let s get them writing Step 4) Kids Write Chapters Teachers can now instruct their students to sign-in to BoomWriter and begin writing and submitting their chapters. With an Open Book, any student in your school at the competition s selected grade level can participate. Step 5) Teacher Review As students submit their chapters for review by the teacher, the teacher can then either approve the piece or request changes to be made by the student. All pieces approved by the voting start date will be included in the voting process. 17
Voting is the same as in the Book Group Step 6) Start Voting Once the teacher has approved each entry, the voting can begin. Voting will run for the minimum number of days, then continue until the system has enough votes to declare a winner. Remember, once voting deadlines are set you cannot extend deadlines. Step 7) Tie Breaker In the case of a tie breaker, the teacher is responsible for selecting the winner. Step 8) Chapter Complete Teachers can provide instructions for each new chapter, and when ready start the writing phase. They then repeat this process until the book is complete. 18
Story Starts What s a Story Start? As mentioned earlier, every new book must have a Story Start. The Story Start essentially serves as the first chapter of the story. You can select a Story Start from our Marketplace or choose to write one yourself. Select a Story Start from the Marketplace Teachers may select their Story Start from the site s Marketplace. The Marketplace includes Story Starts from credible guest authors. You can search for Story Starts by Grade, Category and Guest Author. Once you select a Story Start, simply select Start Book from within the selected chapter. Write Your Own Story Start From the main Story Starts page, select the Write your own option. You ll need to give your Story Start a title and assign it with a Grade and Book Category. Once you ve completed your Story Start, click the Publish Now button. Published Story Starts will be made available to any teacher using BoomWriter in your school. 19
Completing Books Once you ve completed a book competition, you will see a report on your book. This will provide details for all winning chapters and for each student who took part. Completed books are assigned a BoomWriter book code. Books created using BoomWriter can be located on the site s Bookstore using a BoomWriter book code. These books are available for viewing online and can also be purchased in soft-cover form. 20
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