Reading Is Good

Read below for information on resolving problems, instructions on button use, and other issues surrounding the use of the Question Writer Toolbar. If you have any unanswered questions, use the comment box below.

1. Problems
2. General Tips
3. Numbering
4. Regular Question Format
5. Picture Question Format
6. List Organizer Question Format
7. Quoted Sentence Question Format
8. Sequence Organizer Question Format
9. Web Organizer Question Format
10. Pin Button (Fixpoint)
11. Question Mark Button (HELP)

Screen Cap of Toolbar:

Click to enlarge.

Problems!

THE TOOLBAR INSERTS MY NEW QUESTION INSIDE OF MY OLD QUESTION

This is usually caused by having deleted the space after each question. That space contains a bookmark that tells the toolbar where to insert the next question. Without the bookmark, the poor toolbar gets confused and does crazy things.

Solution: First, highlight the newly inserted question and delete it. Do not use the UNDO button (see below). Now place your cursor after your last question and click the PIN button - . This inserts a new bookmark and restores order to the universe.

I TRIED TO USE ‘UNDO’ TO ERASE MY QUESTION BUT NOTHING HAPPENED!

Yeah, I know. The UNDO command undoes a single action. When the toolbar inserts a question, however, it goes through a series of about 75 actions. Hitting UNDO once only takes a single step back. Hitting it 75 times will make you wish you’d never downloaded it in the first place. Instead, try this…

Solution: Select the newly inserted question (mouse over the upper left corner of the table, then click the little box with four arrows that appears) and delete it. Click the PIN button - - then start your question over.

I DON’T WANT MY QUESTION TO START ON ONE PAGE AND END ON THE NEXT. WHAT CAN I DO?

Word is not sympathetic to the obsessive-compulsive tendencies of most classroom teachers. It will split your questions between pages without blinking an eye. So when you realize that you don’t have enough space left on the page for your next question, try this…

Solution: Either go Insert>Break>Page Break>OK, or just hit enter until Word skips to a new page. Now, with the cursor at the top of the new page, click the PIN button - . Insert your next question.

General Tips

1. Be careful when selecting Odd or Even numbering (see below).
2. Everything created when a toolbar button is clicked can be altered by the user. Resize table cells, move things around, change the font, make things bold or italic, etc. The toolbar’s role is to create the template for a question; everything else is up to you.
3. It’s not a bad idea to click the PIN button — — before each question you insert. This will ensure that the toolbar knows exactly where you want the question inserted.

Numbering

Standardized tests use a numbering convention for answer choices that cannot be mimicked easily with Microsoft Word’s numbered lists. Odd numbered questions have answer choices labeled A, B, C, D, while even numbered questions have answer choices labeled F, G, H, J.

To work around this, the toolbar requires that you manually select whether the question you are writing is an Odd Number or Even Number question. This decision, made when you select a question in the toolbar, determines how the answer choices will be numbered.

Regular Question Format

This question format is the most frequently used. Any question stem that simply provides a question and then gives four choices falls under the Regular category.

Toolbar Buttons:
Odd Number — use this for odd numbered questions on your test.
Even Number — use this for even numbered questions on your test.

Picture Question Format

This question format is typically used for phonics questions, although it will work for any other times you need to include an image in the question, as well. It provides a box for pasting in your image.

In all likelihood, you will need to resize your image or clip art to an appropriate size. You can do so right inside of word by clicking and dragging any corner of the image. The question format will self-adjust to the size of your image.

Toolbar Buttons:
Odd Number — use this for odd numbered questions on your test.
Even Number — use this for even numbered questions on your test.

List Organizer Question Format

This question format is used when you have information from a passage and want students to identify what information is missing. It provides a bordered box for the list, including a field for the list title. Adding multiple list items is as simple as hitting the enter key as many times as necessary.

Toolbar Buttons:
Odd Number — use this for odd numbered questions on your test.
Even Number — use this for even numbered questions on your test.

Quoted Sentence Question Format

This question format is used to quote a sentence from the passage. It provides a bordered box for providing the passage quote.

Toolbar Buttons:
Odd Number — use this for odd numbered questions on your test.
Even Number — use this for even numbered questions on your test.

Sequence Question Format

This question format is typically used for phonics questions, although it will work for any other times you need to include an image in the question, as well

Toolbar Buttons:
Odd Number — use this for odd numbered questions on your test.
Even Number — use this for even numbered questions on your test.
Insert New Event — use this to add a new event box to the organizer. Event boxes will always be placed after the first event box.

TIP: Consider deciding how many events will be in your sequence and create the event boxes before you start typing in the events.

Web Question Format

This question format provides a basic, four-element word web. You can type in each of the five circles to provide information for your question.

Toolbar Buttons:
Odd Number — use this for odd numbered questions on your test.
Even Number — use this for even numbered questions on your test.

Pin Button (Fixpoint) —

This button inserts a bookmark on the page that tells the toolbar where to place the next question. Note that the toolbar automatically inserts this bookmark after every question, so the PIN button should only need to be used in the following circumstances:

1. When you move the cursor down to create a new page. Use the PIN button at the top of the new page before inserting your next question.
2. When inserting a new question causes weird things, such as a new question embedded inside of an old one, or a new question that overlaps a previous question.

Question Mark Button (HELP)

This button opens this web page in your browser.