Edmodo At SE Middle School



The teachers at SE Middle School were recently trained in the social/learning networking site Edmodo.  There has been an enthusiastic response to the platform, and I am excited about what this new tool will mean for student/teacher/parent interaction in a safe social learning environment!

Mandy Durrence came out to our school and did an excellent job explaining what Edmodo is, and presented the following rocket slide show:  http://portal.sliderocket.com/AQKTJ/Edmodo_District_Intro_Web

Teachers learned about setting up groups (classes) and joining communities to expand their learning networks.  I already joined the computer and technology group and learned the power of posting a question and receiving responses from all over the world!

Edmodo has opened up a whole new way of thinking about how we as teachers interact with our students.  One area that I can not emphasize enough is the need to have clear and pointed conversations with students about appropriate on-line etiquette and the consequences if they do not comply (students can be set to read only status for example).  I offered the teachers the following resources:

50 crucial rules for students on online etiquette:  http://www.onlinedegreeprograms.com/blog/2010/social-media-etiquette-for-students-50-crucial-rules/

Teaching commenting skills to students:  http://educational-blogging.wikispaces.com/How+To+Teach+Commenting+Skills

I posted a thread to my computer and tetechnology group on edmodo and received the following stream of suggestions on this issue: (this illustrates one of the great features of edmodo--how you can easily share a threaded discussion like this)  http://wsfcs.edmodo.com/post/35365091


Edmodo has a fantastic Help Section with screen shots and easy to understand directions for doing various things.  There are a series of guides that you can also print out and keep handy.  Even the WS/FCS district "In Touch Blog" has an entire series of posts on edmodo that are interesting and very informative.

Finally If you are a teacher at my school, I posted a number of these links including the book mark that Mandy handed to you during the workshop and a printable version of the on-line rubric for student postings on our staff shared drive in the following location:  S:\StaffShare\staff development\edmodo

I am looking forward to seeing where this new adventure takes us!

RSS Feeds - How to check your Feeds

Once you have created your RSS Feeds - this is how you can view them.

1. Click on the YELLOW STAR (FAVORITES) which is located just beneath your menu bar on the left hand side of your screen.  When you click on the star, all of your favorites will appear.
2. Locate the orange RSS Feeds tab that will appear once you click the star. Click on FEEDS. Your feeds will now appear.
3. Click on the feed that you want to view.  If the feed is in BOLD FONT then that means there is new information that can be viewed.  If it is just regular font, then you have viewed all the new information previously.  Once you click on that feed, the webpage will show you all the NEW information for that page.  On the right of that page, you can sort by showing ALL pieces of information or just the NEW pieces. 
4. Your RSS feed will update once a day however, you can change those properties so that it updates more or less frequently.  You will see the feed properties on the right hand side of the website you are viewing.  Changing one feeds' properties for updating does not change for all of your feeds.

RSS Feeds - How to subscribe

How to Subscribe to a webpage using RSS Feeds.

RSS feeds are great way to keep up with new information on your favorite sites like this Technology Blog. You create RSS feeds through your Favorites and anytime new information is submitted on the website you are subscribing to, then the NAME of your feed will become BOLD.  When you click on your RSS feed then only the NEW information will be displayed.  You can also still view old information by clicking on the ALL button.  Here is how you set up your RSS feed.  There are two different ways and I will start with the easiest.

First Way:

1. 
   
   If the website that you are accessing has a RSS Feed then locate the tool bar and you will see an icon that looks like this:

2. 
   
   If the website does not have a RSS feed then the icon above will be grey.
3. 
   
   If the orange RSS feed icon is located, click on it and the website will take you the RSS page for that website and you will  (2) plus icons and a link labeled SUBCRIBE TO THIS FEED.  Click on that link.
4. 
   
   A new window will pop on your screen.  At this point you have some options.  The easiest method is just click SUBSCRIBE.  If you would like to create folders for your feeds you can do that at this time.
5. 
   
   Once you click subscribe, the screen will display a message at the top saying that you have successfully subscribed to this feed.

Second Way:

On our District and school webpages, subscribing to the RSS feed is done a litte bit differently. Here are the steps.

1. Go to the webpage that you would like to subscribe to - for example our school calendar.
2. When you go to our calendar, you will not see an orange rss feed on the tool bar - however, if you look closely above the calendar you will see the orange rss feed.  Click on it.
3. A new webpage will be displayed.  Scroll down until you see a link - highlight, copy, and paste it in the url box at the top of your page (where you type in your internet web address).  Then press ENTER.
4. If the orange RSS feed icon is located, click on it and the website will take you the RSS page for that website and you will (2) plus icons and a link labeled SUBCRIBE TO THIS FEED. Click on that link.
5. 
   A new window will pop on your screen. At this point you have some options. The easiest method is just click SUBSCRIBE. If you would like to create folders for your feeds you can do that at this time.
6. Once you click subscribe, the screen will display a message at the top saying that you have successfully subscribed to this feed.
   

TAM Documents

The following is a link to the district site with all documents pertaining to your gradebook.

TAM Documents - WSFCS

NCWISE - End of the Year Steps!!

1. You will POST your 4th quarter grades as usual.  This part of the process is the same as each quarter.
2. Here is where the process of completing your FINAL GRADES takes place. - Once you have clicked on the yellow POST MARK TO REPORT CARDS you will come to the REPORTING TERMS MARK page.  This will show all grades for all quarters.  Make any necessary changes to  your 4th quarter grades and the SAVE it.
3. We are still on the same page - now click on the CALCULATE FINAL button.  This will calculate your final average.  You can make any necessary changes to the the FINAL AVERAGE at this time.  Click on the SAVE button.
4. Now click on the GO TO MARK ENTRY SCREEN.  Put in your 4th quarter comments, click on the MARK ENTRY IS COMPLETE check box.  Save it and go out the door ALL the way back to the original grade spreadsheet. 
   
   REPEAT STEPS 1-4 UNTIL ALL CLASSES ARE COMPLETED BEFORE YOU MOVE ON TO  STEP #5
5. Click back until you are on the HOME SCREEN - Click on the MARK ENTRY button.
6. In the middle of the screen you will see YL- 1st 9 Weeks. Click on the scroll bar on the right hand side and scroll down until you see YL-Final Mark. 
7. Click on the STUDENTS button.
8. Click on the MARK ENTRY IS COMPLETE - SAVE - CLICK ON BACK ARROW (not out the door).
9. Click on the next one of your classes and follow steps 7 and 8 until you have done this for all of your classes.
10. One final step, please click on the SETUP OPTION which is located on your home screen and make sure the DELETE ALL ASSESSMENTS AT YEAR END check box is CHECKED!!!
11. You are done!!!  : )

Opening Documents on Internet

Many of you have discussed this problem with me today and we have discovered that the entire system is having the same issue. Here is the issue - most of you are trying to use Susie's TEACHER MONEY TURN IN FORM. When you open it up on the internet, it loads as a WORD DOCUMENT. This is not a word document - it is actually a spreadsheet document. Until they (Central Office) fix the issue - here is what you can do.

1. When you click on the document - instead of selecting open - SELECT SAVE - then save it to the DESKTOP of your computer.

2. Go to the desktop and RIGHT CLICK on the file and select OPEN WITH - CHOOSE PROGRAM - you will see a list of programs - choose EXCEL - then click OK

3. The document will open up in the correct format now.

4. If you want to take this one step further, I would immediately go to FILE SAVE AS, change the file name to MONEY TURN IN - and save it to your home directory. That way you always have a copy.

This for some reason does not happen on all computers - so if you do not like my steps try someone else's machine. I will post this to my blog later on today.

Technology Meeting - 4/29/10

School Wires Assist - this will be the replacement for HEAT.  Starting next year, all teachers will have access to this and will be able to put in help desk requests. Training will take place at the beginning of the school year.  This will be a great way for me to track issues in the building

Schoolwires - MEDIA must be included as a Quicklink on the Home page.  It must also be included on the Faculty/Staff webpages directory.

NCWISE - Betty sent an ALERT NOW phone and email message to parents - this is what it said......

"This is a message from the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools for parents who have been receiving Progress Reports through email. All student progress reports are now available through Parent Assistant, an online resource that allows parents to access student progress, discipline, and attendance any time, any day. Although the information is available 24 x 7, please allow teachers one week to input grades.

If you do not already have an account, please go to your child’s school (you should go to the school of your oldest child if you have more than one.)
We hope that many of you are already utilizing this resource as we strive to seek the most effective means for communication between home and school."

What is important in my mind is what is highlighted in yellow which is not what we have told our staff. (I think we said two weeks).  I checked this against the School Board Policies online and this is also stated in there......  Maybe not a big deal this year - but next year we need to clarify this issue. AR 5124 Grade Reporting Regulations -

Betty also mentioned that we do not have to provide paper copies of Progress Reports unless there is no access to internet at home or if the parents ask for this. I know that we are going ahead and doing this for the remainder of the year but is something to think about next year.  



Debbie Harmon - District NCWISE Manager -

Teachers have to check the box to "post to parent assist" to populate the date to post to parent, and if they don't parents will never see the detail in parent assist.


For student absences, if teachers don't mark unexcused then parent will not see the absence in parent assist, so teachers should mark unexcused until student brings in a note. Marking unexcused also drives automated calls thorugh alert now. So teachers need to mark unexcused under absence indicator until a note is brought in. Technology Orders - ALL purchasing orders that involve technology will go through the technology department for approval.