Please contact us if your problem is not addressed here.
You add friends by clicking on the "Add to friends" link that is located on everyone's profile just below their picture in the left column. After clicking on it, a confirmation screen will appear to verify that you wish to add them. The next time that user logs in, they will see a "New Friend Request" link on their profile. If he/she agrees with the request, you will be added to their friends' list and he/she will be added to yours.
You can meet people by visiting either the groups page and finding an area of interest, by searching lesson plans and clicking on the users who created them, or by reading the forums.
You can browse/search available groups on the groups page. When you click on a group of interest, there is a "Join this group" (public groups) or "Request to join this group" (private groups) link at the bottom of the group's description.
Yes! If you search and browse our groups and do not find what you are interested in, please create your own! Just click on the "Create a Group" link on the groups main page, or just click here now. Your group can be either Public or Private. Public groups allow anyone to join and to read the topics on The Chalkboard. Private groups require people to "request to join" the group and the group owner must verify membership. The messages on The Chalkboard are also hidden from non-members.
Themes are optional tags that can be attached to lesson plans. They are usually different from the lesson's main topic and involve some larger theme that can span multiple topics and subjects. For instance, a "Thanksgiving" theme could be given to an arithmetic lesson with thanksgiving problems, or a reading lesson about the Mayflower, etc. This allows teachers to search for lessons across disciplines that are related to each other. We highly encourage you to tag each lesson for every theme that can apply to it!
Lesson plans are rated by all registered teachers on wetheteachers. Each plan has a 1-10 rating scale that you can choose from, and a weighted average of everyone's vote is presented as the final score. It is a "weighted" average because your chosen vote is weighted based on your clout. Users with high clout influence the final lesson rating more than new users with low clout.
7.3 (12) - A rating like this indicates a score of 7.3 on a 10 point scale, based on 12 votes.
We have a seperate page that describes our text formatting. It's very easy to add some fancy text when you are creating/editing your lessons. Just click here to find out how.
Your clout is the name we've given to your influence. When you rate a lesson plan, your influence on the overall rating of that plan is dependent on the strength of your clout. For instance, a new user with no uploaded plans typically has a low clout. When new users rate lesson plans, their vote has much less influence than someone who is more active on the website. The system encourages honesty by rewarding those who are identified by their peers as good teachers.
There are three types of apple icons, green apples (
), red apples (
) and apple baskets (
). Our method of calculating user clout is somewhat complex, but is portrayed through these icons. Green apples are the lowest unit. Every red apple is equal to three green apples, and every basket is equal to four red apples (or twelve green apples).
Every user is assigned clout based on several factors. One of the main factors is how well others rate your lesson plans. Someone with several very high lessons is given an equally high clout. However, there are other ways to increase your clout. Among them include active participartion in groups, having friends, messaging on the forums, etc. An easy way to quickly raise it is to upload a picture of yourself. By far, however, the best way to increase your clout is to upload lesson plans (although it can hurt you if they are poor plans that are rated low).
People often like to review their last posts to the forums. You can do this from the main forum index. There is a link in the upper right corner, "View your posts."
You may not be doing anything wrong. Unfortunately, we are limited to the size of files that you can upload to us, so your picture file must be smaller than 500KB (half a megabyte). If you are getting a "file size is too large" error, then shrink your picture. We only show pictures with a maximum width of 200 pixels, so you do not need to upload large images.
Only .jpg .jpeg and .gif images are allowed.
Don't worry, you can have it sent to the e-mail address with which you signed up. Click on the Lost Password link on the login page and enter your e-mail or your username. A new password will be created for you and sent to your e-mail address. We use secure encrypted passwords, so we do not store your password in readable form...for your own protection! But you can relogin with the new password and change it to something more familiar.
Click on the account settings link on your profile, in the left column below your picture and main links. There is a new password form in that link.
Yes! We require an e-mail address on file to have a place to send lost passwords, but you can definitely hide it from the general public. Click on the Edit my profile link on your profile, and look for your e-mail address on the form. Just below the e-mail is a checkbox that says, "hide e-mail from public." Make sure this is checked and it will no longer appear on your profile.