All of the work you create on the Beyond Books website is stored in your portfolios. Access your portfolios by clicking on "Portfolios" in the yellow navigation bar at the top of any Beyond Books content page, or by clicking on the green button "Your Portfolios" from within Your Desk. You will see a list containing one portfolio for each class you are enrolled in, plus an additional personal portfolio.
| Saving or submitting a Beyond Books activity |
Selected Beyond Books programs contain submittable activities. If you have a subscription to the Beyond Books program Reading between the Lines, you can try out completing and submitting an activity online. From Reading between the Lines, find your way to any You Try It exercise and click on "Try it!" The exercise will open in a new browser window. Type in your response to the question, then click on "Submit to Your Desk."
After you submit work, Your Desk will open in a small window. Choose a class portfolio for this assignment, or choose your personal portfolio. At the bottom of the screen, you can edit your work once more before saving or submitting it. After you save or submit your work, you will be taken to your class portfolio. If you chose to submit the activity to your teacher, your teacher will now be able to view your work, comment on it and return it to you for revision if necessary.
| Creating your own portfolio item |
You can also create your own portfolio items from Your Desk. You can either save your portfolio entries or submit them to your teacher. To do so, click on "Portfolios" in the yellow navigation bar at the top of any Beyond Books content page, or go to the portfolios section of Your Desk and click on "Add an item to your portfolios" at the top right of the portfolios listing. At the top of the next screen, choose to put this entry into a class portfolio or your personal portfolio. Then use the "Subject" line to give a title to your work. Type or paste your work into the text box, then click on "save for later" or "submit to teacher." You will be taken to your class portfolio, where you can view all your saved or submitted work.
If you create a portfolio item by clicking on "Portfolios" in the yellow navigation bar at the top of any Beyond Books unit or focus page, Your Desk will keep track of what Beyond Books page you were on when you clicked. You can use this to write notes or a paragraph about that page. When you return to view your portfolio entry again, you will see the Beyond Books page and link listed near the top.
| Viewing items in your portfolios |
In each class portfolio or in your personal portfolio, you will see a listing of all your work. There are three categories for your portfolio items: saved, submitted, and returned. The status of each portfolio item is indicated with an icon.
- Saved work is work you did but haven't submitted to your teacher.
- Submitted work is work you've submitted to your teacher but haven't gotten back yet.
- Returned work is work that your teacher has commented on (and that may or may not require revision).
It is possible to edit saved and returned work, and to view submitted work. To view or edit an item, click on its title.
| Storing items in the archives |
If you are finished with items in your portfolio, or want to put them out of view, you can archive them. From the class portfolio or personal portfolio, simply click on the button "archive" beside the portfolio item. The item will disappear from this listing and will move to the archive. If you want to view items in the archive, click on "view archive" at the bottom of the class portfolio screen. You can also move items from the archive back into the portfolio by clicking on "unarchive."
You can view a list of all of your work all at once by clicking on "view all portfolios and archives" at the bottom of the portfolios list. This will list both work in your portfolios and work that you have archived.