I am trying to upload some static templates that I download from Mijingo (the site I bought a tutorial from to learn ExpressionEngine) The instructions were to upload the templates to the folder with my expressionengine files. I was then under the impression that when I opened the local site I would see the template files. I am not very experienced in this area so I appreciate any direction you can provide.
I am also willing to provide any detail needed to help diagnose this issue. Thank you.
You need to make sure EE knows where your templates are located.
Sign into your control panel and navigate to: Design -> Templates -> Global Preferences
Change the settings for Save Templates as Files to Yes and then change Server path to site's templates to the location of the template files you added.
Usually I would create a new folder: /themes/site_themes/myNewTheme, then templates will be stored in /themes/site_themes/myNewTheme/default_site/
After changing the settings navigate to Design -> Templates -> Synchronise Templates, select all the templates and click submit.
Hopefully that should do the trick :)