Creating PPT Templates

							Creating PowerPoint Templates to Guide Student Responses
What is a Template?
  § A template is a boilerplate that students may follow to create a slide show, document or other assignment.
  § It is reusable. Each time a student opens a template, it must be saved as a new document. This safeguard
       preserves the formatting and file name of your original document.
  § You can create a template in any Office program.
              § Word: Create templates for journals, lab reports, essays, book reports, letters, newsletters, etc.
              § Excel: Create templates for budgets, inventories, data collection, surveys, etc.
              § PPT: Create templates for presentations, signs or displays of any kind.

Why?
  § If you are just starting to use technology in your classroom, a good template can serve as an extra set of helping
     hands. It can give students directions.
  § Templates will allow students to concentrate on content and not the technology.
  § Templates will allow students to formulate appropriate responses on their own.
  § Templates will allow students to work independently (alone or in groups).
  § Templates allow teachers to show the expectations of an assignment.
  § Templates still leave room for creativity once the content is in place.

Tips
    §    As with other computer-based assignments, ask students to do rough drafts or storyboards before going to the
         lab.
    §    Give the students a little demonstration about how to use the template for the first time. Some of them may need
         some help with highlighting. An easy way to highlight is to hold down the SHIFT key while using the arrows.
         This method requires no mouse and may be used to perfect highlighting as well.
    §    Talk with kids about the expectations of the assignment. Do I have to complete every slide? Some of them? Do
         I have to use sound?
    §    You may need to save your template on a diskette or your network drive and transfer it to the desktop of the
         computers your students are working on.

How?
1. Open PPT.
2. The window at the right will appear. You’ll see a choice for
    templates, but this is a little deceiving. TEMPLATES in this
    case are the colorful backgrounds that PPT allows you to use.
    If you want your student template to use a PPT-created
    background, select this option. If you just want a blank
    presentation with a plain background, click on BLANK
    PRESENTATION.

3. Click OK.
4. The NEW SLIDE window will appear.
5. Select the layout for your first slide.
6. Click OK.
7. Your slide will appear.
8. In each box, type in the directions for your students. See
    the next page for a short example.




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Saving Your Template (in any Office application)
1. Add all of the information you need to assist your students.
2. Go to FILE.
3. Go to SAVE. A new window
    will appear.
4. You’ll notice a dialogue box
    at the bottom of this window
    labeled SAVE AS TYPE.
5. Click on the DOWN ARROW
    to the right of this box.
6. Change the file type to
    PRESENTATION
    TEMPLATE.
7. Navigate to the area where you would like to save your template. This area may change according to your needs and
    the network setup you are working with.
    §    Use the “A” drive if you need a portable version of your template. (You may need to do this if you have to load
         the template on many machines.)
    §    Don’t change the directory at all if you want this template to appear with all of the other Office templates. (When
         users of the machine you are using go to NEW OFFICE DOCUMENT, they’ll see and be able to use your
         template. This tactic is great for your own machine. You can save yourself time by putting a parent letter or other
         commonly used files here as templates.)
    §    Save to your network drive if you want access to your template wherever you log in without using a floppy. To
         put this template on the hard drive of each machine, see below.
8. Enter a FILE NAME for your template.
9. Click once on SAVE.
10. You’re template is ready for use. When you or your students use it, Office will force a name change. (This process
    preserves the original template.)


Transferring Templates So They Appear as a NEW DOCUMENT Choice
    1. Click your right mouse button on MY COMPUTER.
    2. Go to EXPLORE.
    3. A new window will appear. This window should give you access to all of your available drives (network, C, D, A,
         etc.). You’ll see a split window with folders representing your drives and icons representing your files.
    4. Navigate to the area where your template is saved.
    5. Highlight your template file.
    6. COPY it. (CTRL + C or go to Edit and Copy)
    7. Navigate to the templates folder for Office. *This location is most likely:
         C Program Files Microsoft Office Templates
         *There is a chance that your templates are in a different location. If you’re not sure where they are, go to Start. Go to Find. Do a Search for
         “templates” and make note of the location of the Office templates.
    8. Open this location by double clicking on the folder.

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    9. Paste in your template. (CTRL + V or go to Edit and Paste)
    10. You should see your template in the folder.
    11. Close all your windows and check your word by going to Start and New Office Document. Your template should
         be one of the available choices there.


When the Kids Use the Template
    1. Show them where it is located.
    2. As they begin the assignment, ask them to Save. Because they are working from a template, they will be asked
         to give the file a new name. (This process preserves your template for the next user.)
    3. Save as you normally would. (Sometimes it helps to give kids a file name format to follow. For example the
         assignment name and their initials or first name.)


Extending Your Knowledge
Use the FORMS toolbar in Word to create form-based template. Forms are nice because they only allow users to add
information in designated areas without messing up the format of the document.
§   To access the forms toolbar, go to View. Go to Toolbar. Go to Forms. The toolbar will appear.
§   As you pass over each button, you’ll get a message stating what they do.
§   Experiment with the buttons to see what they do.
§   If you would like detailed instructions on creating forms, email Kim at bannigank@cesa5.k12.wi.us.




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