Difference between revisions of "Gradebook"

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[[File:teachereaseLogin.png|200px|thumb|right|TeacherEase login screen]]
[[File:teachereaseLogin.png|200px|thumb|right|TeacherEase login screen]]
==Logging In==
==Logging In==
# Head to [https://tsas.org/gradebook]
# Head to [https://tsas.org/gradebook tsas.org/gradebook]
# Click "Log In" at the top
# Click "Log In" at the top
# Click "Log In with Google"
# Click "Log In with Google"

Revision as of 13:11, 14 July 2022

TeacherEase login screen

Logging In

  1. Head to tsas.org/gradebook
  2. Click "Log In" at the top
  3. Click "Log In with Google"
  4. Choose your @tsas.org email address and enter password if prompted.
    • Note that students do the same. Their email is their student ID: 123456@TSAS.org, password Welcome.1 if they’ve never logged in
    • Parents log in with their personal email address and password on the Login screen—they do not use "Log In with Google"


Getting Oriented

TeacherEase grade book main screen
On the left of the main screen are your frequently-used features. Customize them with the gear icon at the top of the column. All links are also available in the navigation bar at the top of the screen.
In the middle is your news feed—it contains school- and class-wide announcements.
On the right is your calendar. Once assignments are created, they will appear here. School closures and such will also appear there. The drop-down above allows you to toggle each calendar's visibility.

Grade Book/Google Classroom Quick Setup

  1. Go to Gradebook 🠚 Setup 🠚 Categories, then enter Name (e.g., "Quiz," "Homework"), then assign a weight if you're using weighted grades
  2. Go to Gradebook 🠚 Setup 🠚 Sync Google Classroom and log in again if prompted. Select your first class, choose "Create a new Google Classroom class" and click next, then save. Repeat as necessary, using the "Link" button next to each class
  3. Visit Google Classroom to view/create/grade your assignments
  4. Grade all linked assignments within Google Classroom, as changes made in our grade book will not be pushed to Google Classroom&

Entering Grades (Not Using Google Classroom)

You must create a lesson plan before you enter grades
Marked grade in Wen-GAGE
  1. On any screen, click "Scores" in the bottom left
  2. Choose the class up top
  3. Enter the grade for each student in the grid
    • To excuse a student from the assignment, enter "N/A" in the box
    • To give all students full credit (All Points Possible), press "APP" below the assignment name up top
    • If you do not see all of your assignments, use the drop-down on the top left to choose a different date range, or the drop-down to the right to choose a different week
    • You may add assignments with the link in the top left

Create student progress report

  1. On the Scores screen, press the name of any student to download a PDF of that student's progress
Basic Wen-GAGE progress report

Visit #Reports for additional report types.

Creating Lesson Plans (Desktop)

Wen-GAGE allows you to copy lesson plans (and the assignments therein) between classes and school years. This is a great time saver, but takes a bit of preparation up front. Some definitions to make things clear:

Section group: any number of identical courses that share a structure and (some or all) assignments. E.g. Biology I will not share a section group with Biology II

Lesson plan: a unit of time within a course that contains assignments. Note that all assignments must be contained within a lesson plan, but your lesson plan may span the entire trimester

Assignment type: a classification that allows you to weight assignments (e.g. the "Test" type may count for 10% of the final grade) or drop high/low scores. Note that you do not need to weight the assignments, but they must all have a type. You may also choose a color for each type here

Take a minute to plan broadly your grading policy and assignment structure for the course. What kind of assignments will you give? Do you want to weight tests or projects differently, or just use a point system? Do you want to enter percentages in the grade book, or point values?

Creating a section group

Section Group created in Wen-GAGE
  1. On any screen, click "Lesson Plans" in the bottom left
  2. Click "Manage Section Groups" up top
  3. Click "New" on the right, unless you are editing an old group
  4. Name the group—usually the name and section of the course, e.g. Spanish II 1/2
  5. Press "Add New" below and to the right
  6. Enter a description for your first assignment type. This may be "Homework," "Lab reports," or "Final Exam"
  7. Enter a weight. If you will not use a percentage weighting system, leave it at zero
  8. Choose colors if you're feeling creative. Note "Fore color" is the text color
  9. Repeat steps 5–8 as necessary
  10. Press "Save" if you have completed all of your groups, press "Save & Add" to close this one and open a new, blank one

Assigning sections to a section group

  1. Click "Assign Sections to Groups" up top
  2. Use the drop-down menu next to each course to assign it to a section group. This displays all of your courses for this year. You need only assign those you are teaching immediately, but feel free to assign all identical classes to their groups now. (LIBRARY AIDE Per:1 Crs:7850 Sec:039 Ses:1-1 is the class Library Aide, period 1, session 1)
  3. Press the tiny Save button in the upper right before moving on

Creating lesson plans

As defined above, a lesson plan is defined by a start date and an end date, and every assignment must be within a lesson plan. If you prefer to not divide up the trimester this way, you may create one "Default" lesson plan for the entire trimester.

Lesson plan created in Wen-GAGE and assigned to classes
  1. Choose the class you wish to create a lesson plan for, then click "Lesson Plans," below
  2. Title the plan ("Knitting Two-at-Once Mittens," "Fractions," "The Romantic Era," "Default")
  3. The box below is a rich-text editor, and anything you put within will be seen by students and their parents. Descriptions can be very helpful
  4. Below are all courses you assigned to this course's section group. The check boxes allow you to include or exclude this lesson plan from each.
    If you're using the check boxes often, you likely should separate those courses with different section groups
  5. The begin and end dates default to the first and last days of each session. If you wish to change these, make sure you choose a day we are in class
  6. The "Apply Selected Section Dates to Other Sections" button will calculate the number of days you have chosen and apply that to the classes in other sessions
  7. Press "Save" up top, or "Save & Add" if you wish to add more
  8. See #Choosing an averaging method to choose how final grades will be calculated

Creating assignments

Assignment created in Wen-GAGE
  1. Choose the class you wish to add an assignment to, then click "Assignments" below
  2. Select "New"
  3. Choose the appropriate lesson plan
  4. Title the assignment, enter the number of possible points, and assign the assignment type
  5. The score multiplier will determine how many times the grade is included in the final grade calculation. Decimals will work
  6. Unchecking "Include in Average" will preclude the grade from the final grade calculation. Helpful for feedback
  7. "Display Order," if kept at zero, will organize the assignments in the order they are created. To alter this, enter a number in this box
  8. Check "Assign To On Roll Students" to make the assignment immediately visible to students in the class. Leaving this unchecked will hide it, and the assignment will only be visible when graded
  9. With the check boxes below, you may include or exclude any assignment from other classes with the same lesson plan
    The Assigned Date and Due Date must be within the start and end date of the lesson plan. You will get a (somewhat cryptic) red text error if they are not
  10. As above, the "Apply Selected Section Dates to Other Sections" will calculate the number of school days from the start of the current session and apply that to the other sessions within the lesson plan

Option Menu (Desktop)

Choosing an averaging method

Note the grade book defaults to the simple point averaging method. If you wish to give each assignment a point value, then enter the number of points earned for each, then you need to do nothing. Otherwise, there are four calculation options for determining the final grade:

The Simple Point Averaging Method is based on a possible points system and will NOT include the weight assigned to the specific Assignment Types. (The default.)

The Simple Score Averaging Method is based on a percentage system and will NOT include the weight assigned to the specific Assignment Types.

The Weighted Score Averaging Method is based on a percentage system and WILL include the weight you have assigned the specific Assignment Types.

The Weighted Point Averaging Method is based on a possible points system and WILL include the weight you have assigned to the specific Assignment Types.&

See the reference below for an example calculation of score and point averaging methods.

  1. Click "Options," top left
  2. Choose "Section Settings"
  3. Click the class you wish to assign, then select the averaging method from the drop-down menu
  4. Press "Save" in the top right

Reports

There are many options—you are best served by testing those that might seem useful. Here are a few I use often:

Progress Reports (Class-wide)

  1. Under "Reports," choose "Progress Report"
  2. Choose section (class) you wish to print
    • "Include Off Roll" will include those students who have dropped, are expelled, or are otherwise out
    • "Print Attendance Detail" will include the dates of absences or tardies (I usually include this)
    • "Print Assignments Detail" will include dates and grades for all assignments currently assigned (completed or not)
    • "Print Incomplete And Unscored Assignments Only" is useful for students who have fallen behind, but does not include their progress
    • "Print Grades Detail" will include (or not) their final calculated grade as it currently stands
    • "Print All Sections I Teach The Selected Students" is good for saving paper, but will print all grades you have given a student across all classes you currently teach the student
  3. "Set as Default Criteria" will prevent you from selecting the same options each time you run the report

See image above for progress report with Attendance, Assignments, and Grades Details checked.

Class Rolls Worksheet

Helpful when you have a sub or need a date table or list of students.

Wen-GAGE class rolls worksheet

Section Assignment Listing

Serves as a backup copy of your grades; a table of student names, assignments, and scores

Wen-GAGE section assignment listing

Section Lesson Plan Listing

Paper copy of your lesson plans. Parents and students can access this information via their login, but some prefer this format. This is also helpful during conferences to provide a scope of the session.

Wen-GAGE section lesson plan listing

Email Students (and guardians)

This interface allows you to email students and guardians from your gmail account using the addresses we have on file. User Name is your email address before the @, the password is your tsas.org password, and the "From Email" is your full @tsas.org email address. Choose a section, then check the boxes next to the names of the students/guardians you would like to email.

Please note that the "form email" is not encouraged, especially regarding a student's academic standing. A personalized email goes a long way in alleviating concerns. So, field trip reminders=yes, threats of failure=no.

See Also

Gradebook Errors

References

  1. School Insight, How do I integrate TeacherEase with Google Classroom?
  2. "How to Set an Averaging Method." i-GB Instructor Help System. [1].