Odd and Ends.......

I'll admit it - I haven't posted something new for a bit now. Sometimes time truly escapes us. That does not mean, however, I have forgotten about my blog. So, on with the show.

I've been getting several questions from parents about Progress Book. The first thing to keep in mind when checking grades is that not all grades are necessarily posted for every student at once. For example, grading response journals takes a considerable amount of time. You took the time to write in it, so I take the time to read, comment, and assess fairly. Sometimes I enter grades as I move through the items to be graded. Other times I wait and enter everything at the same time. Something like a quiz probably won't take as long to grade, so you'll see that appear quicker on progress book. Think of the system as a "work in progress." Because of this, I would get in the habit of checking grades once or twice a week.

Another thing you may not know is we (teachers) have the option whether or not to publish assignments/grades to the web. This might be done when we're recording the grades a few at a time. It gets confusing. Pretend you decide to check you grades and everything is pretty high - like 100%, 95%, and so on, but your overall grade says 85%. How is this possible? If there is an assignment not posted to the web but is in the system, your grades might not "match" perfectly. Again, once you check back in a few days, more than likely you'll notice some differences.

Missing assignments/homework DO impact grades! One thing that was discussed at Open House was that it is the student's responsibility to acquire any work missed during an absence and to complete that work in a reasonable time frame. Typically students get 1 day for each day they missed to make up the work. So if they missed 3 days of school, it should take no more than 3 days to complete their work. This is why it is SO important to check homework postings on progress book NIGHTLY! That way you know what homework was missed. BUT, we do not post any classwork that was missed. Again, we are shifting this responsibility to the students. Please believe me when I say that all students are given numerous reminders. I've also suggested to the team that they have a "buddy" that can give them some help on what they missed, explain things, and so on. Someone else asked me today that they noticed the homework assignment was no longer online. Well, it's there, but you have to manually adjust the date. I always have things posted for a week. At the start of a new week, the old assignments aren't visible unless I post it longer, perhaps for the whole year. You might notice that is the case with reading. Your "Read 25 minutes every night" assignment is always there, but something like "complete guided notes on pages 9-10 probably will only be posted during the week it's assigned and due.

I'm not sure why there is a question mark on the science page where the grade should be. It seems to be a glitch of some sort. All teams in fifth-grade are experiencing this problem. I'll keep you posted once this is resolved.

So is it crystal clear, or clear as mud? Trust me, you'll get used to it.

By the way, speaking of PIZZA, (like how I slipped that in?) keep bringing in those boxtops! PLEEEEEEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!! Funny how I want a pizza party AND encourage everyone to watch The Biggest Loser! The key is moderation!

I guess that's it for now. Have a great rest of the week and weekend!

Miss D'Amore : )