Teacher Support

How to Get Your Blog Set Up

If you are visiting this page, you have gotten your e-mail invitation to begin using the Murchison website. Use these directions to get set-up so that you can be posting. This procedure takes less than 10 minutes. I've placed illustrations with each step. If you need to see them larger, just click on the thumbnail.

1.  Click on the link in the e-mail you received.

2.  You will be taken to Typepad's page.  Click on the "Register for Free" button.

   

3.  You will now be asked to make up a user name and password. Please pick something you will not forget and write it down! I will not be able to retrieve this for you at a later date. You will also be asked to put in your name and e-mail address. Click the button at the bottom to send your entries.

4.  Now that you are registered, you'll be taken to a screen to accept the invitation you were sent. All you have to do here is click the button!!!

5.  This is the screen where you will see all of the Blogs you have been invited to. You will have your own class page and you will also have access to your team or department page. The great thing is, you only have to register once. When you get your second invitation, just put your user-name and password in and your second blog will just show up on this page.

6.  From your main blog page, you can click links to create a post or edit an old post. Let's create a post. Click on the appropriate link.

7.  Type what you want to say. You can post homework, make an announcement or just say hi. This works very similarly to Microsoft Word or other word processing programs. Play around with the buttons to format your post. When you are finished, hit "save".

8.  That's it! Let's just practice how to delete a post. I had to place a post in everyone's blog to make sure I had it working right. We're going to delete it. Your 5 most recent posts are listed on your mail page. Click on the title of the post you want to delete.

9.  This brings up a screen with your post in it. You can either edit the post or hit the delete button at the bottom. That's it. The post is gone.

That should be enough info to get you started. Let me know if you have any additional questions.

Basic Posting

You can make a post once you log onto your account. To see the photos bigger, simply click on them.

1.  Click on Create a post

2.  Give your post a title and then type the message of your post. You can use bold, italics, underline, strike-through or colors just like you do in Microsoft Word. When you are finished, click the save button.

3.  You've created a post! That's it!!!!

Inserting Photos and Files

If you'd like to include a photo in your post, you'll need to make sure the photo is saved on your computer and that it is in .jpg or .gif format.

1.  While you are typing your post, click on the insert photo button above.

2.  A window will pop up and ask you to locate your photo. Click on browse

3.  A window will pop up that will let you select your file. When you find it, double click on it.

4.  At this point, you can choose either the default settings or customize where and how you want your photo displayed. You may want to experiment to find which settings work best for you. When you have the settings the way you want, click on Insert Image.

4.  That's it. The photo will be placed in your post. Finish typing what you want and hit save at the bottom. You can also put more than one photo in your post.

Inserting a File

You can insert a file the same way you put in a photo. Upload handouts or PowerPoint presentations for your students or parents to download at home. To upload a file, just click on the button next to the photo button.

2.  You'll get another pop-up window which will instruct you to browse to find your file.

3.  Your post will now have a link for site visitors to download the file.

That's it! Have fun experimenting!!!