Saturday, May 30, 2020

Print your Gradebook Sheet

Did you know that you can print the full student gradebook posting sheet in Aspen?  This is handy for making your final grade determinations or for saving a copy at the end of the year.

The Aspen report, Gradebook Sheet, will create a copy of the entire gradebook sheet that you are viewing at the time that you run the report.

For the end of the year Gradebook Sheet, 

  1. Choose the Grade Column --> Post Columns - Term
  2. Select the Term --> All
    (see image on right)
  3. Click the Update Post Columns button to have Aspen calculate the Final grade for the course (FG field)
  4. Create the report by choosing the Reports button (1).
  5. Run Gradebook Sheet report (2)

The report generated will show the Aspen calculated final grade (FG).  You can print this report and get a hard copy OR print to PDF and save a copy of the file on your computer or in Google Drive.  After making the necessary updates to the student's final grades, you can run the report again and save a copy of this report as well.







Thursday, May 28, 2020

How to Enter Quarter 4 and Final Grades in Aspen 2020 Edition

How to Enter Quarter 4 and Final Grades in Aspen

The steps to entering your Quarter 4 grades is similar to entering grades during any other quarter, but you have the additional step of also adding your Final Exam and Final Grade (FG) for the course.


To Post your Q4 grades in Aspen Gradebook,
  1. Go to the Scores page in your Gradebook
  2. In the Grade Columns drop down box, select Post Columns.  Also, set the Term to Q4.  
    (see yellow in image right)
  3. The Aspen Posting columns will appear.  These are
    • Q4Grd - Quarter 4 Grade
    • Final Exam - Final Exam
    • Q4ClsAbs - Quarter 4 Class Absences
    • Q4Com1 and Q4Com2 - Quarter 4 Comment 1 and Comment 2 fields
    • Q4 - The grade from your gradebook for quarter 4
    • FG - Final Grade
  1. Click the Update Post Columns button -OR-
    Select Options -> Update Post Columns
  2. This will take you through the Update Post Columns wizard.  (see images below)


  • Step 1. Select the Grade Term (Q4) and the Grades to update (all students).

  • Step 2. Select
  • Click on Next at the bottom of the page

Step 3. Confirms the choices made in Step 1 and Step 2.
  • Click on Next at the bottom of the page.
Step 4. Click Finish.
  1. Replace the Q4Grd with a P for Pass, I for Incomplete, or F for Fail.
    ** Final Exam Leave this field blank.  
    ** FG is the Aspen calculated Final Grade. You will compare the value in this field to the MidYear grade. Please note: Aspen will calculate the Final Grade field based on the contents in the Q1Grd, Q2Grd, Q3Grd, Q4Grd, Midterm Exam, and Final Exam fields. Also note: If any of these fields are blank OR if the fields are a P, M, or I, the fields are considered blank and will be ignored.
  2. When you give Pass/Fail /Incomplete grades, all of the grades will have a red circle with a line through it.  This just means that you manually entered the grade.
  3. Compare the Midyear and FG fields and give students the higher of the two grades.  Because we have given Pass/Fail /Incomplete grades for Q4, it is being ignored.  The Final Exam is also ignored because it is blank.  So, the value of FG at this moment is equivalent to the value of the students grade through the third quarter.  If the midyear value is higher than the FG, giving the midyear grade as the final grade is equivalent to giving the student a P in Q3.

  4.   Add comment codes (see WHS Comment Codes)

Withdrawn Students -- IMPORTANT --- Check all classes
During the school year, you may have had students who withdrew from your class. These are a special case and it is important to set their grade as W before Posting grades.

  1. See a list of students who have withdrawn from the class section by clicking on the Withdrawn Status button (shown right).
  2. For each student found in the list, add the final grade (FG) of W for withdrawn (see below). Adding this W will allow Aspen to not report the student as being in your class. If a student changed sections during the year, they will recieve their grades from that other section.

POSTING Grades
Posting your grades sends a copy of the grades to the report card / student transcript.

  1. Once the posting period has opened, the pushpin will turn from black to green.  The green signifies that you can post your grades.
  2. To Post your grades, click the Post Grades button -OR- click Option -> Post Grades
  3. The Post Grades pop-up will appear.
    Fill in
    • Grade Term = Q4
    • Grades to post = Term Grades for all Students.
  4. Click Ok
  5. Once your grades are posted, your push pin will change from green to red.
  6. You must Post Grades for each class individually.

HELP! I’m getting an error when I post my grades
PostError.png


If you get the error “This section has already been posted.  Posting again will overwrite grades currently on the transcript.  Do you want to continue?”

PostError2.png

Click YES.  The reason that you are getting this error is because you had seniors in the class and you already gave them grades and posted them.



As you continue, you should also receive the error “Withdrawn students with grades are present.  Would you like to include them in this post?”  
My answer is NO.  I have posted my grades for seniors already and do not want to make any changes.   







FAQs

  • You may re-post your grades as many times as you please until the posting period ends.
  • Want a printable copy of this verification page?  
    • Select Reports -> Gradebook Sheet
    • The Gradebook Sheet will appear.  
    • Click Run.
    • The printable version of your Post Columns page of your gradebook will pop-up
    • Select Printer icon at the top of the Gradebook Sheet page.
  • If you planning on using the same comment field for most of the students in your class, you can quickly add the comment to all students by using Options -> Fill Down Values.  Then just change those students who need different comments.

Tuesday, May 26, 2020

Summer Online Technology PD

Want to learn more technology tools to use in your classroom?  Winchester Public School's is offering two online graduate courses for Winchester faculty that will help you to integrate technology into your classroom.  Signups for these courses can be found in Teachpoint.

21st Century Tools for Teaching Diverse Learners
(15 PDP's for SPED)

An examination of teaching strategies which teachers may integrate with online tools to support the success of ALL students, especially students with disabilities and diverse learning needs. This course explores effective techniques for incorporating web-based resources and emerging technologies into classroom lesson plans. Tools include Google apps, Chrome extensions, and other web-based tools.  

** Meets the DESE re-licensure requirement for at least 15 PDPs related to training in strategies for effective schooling for students with disabilities and the instruction of students with diverse learning styles.

Online class begins on June 1, 2020 and ends on June 28th, 2020.
Class consists of 4 online sessions.
15 PDP's or 1 graduate credit from Framingham State.

Questions about this course?  Contact Kathy Grace (kgrace@winchesterps.org)

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Teaching Strategies to Integrate Technology to Support C/LD Students
(15 PDP's for ELL)

An examination of teaching strategies which teachers may integrate with online tools to support the success of ALL students, especially students from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse background. This course explores effective techniques for incorporating web- based resources and emerging technologies into classroom lesson plans.

Tools include Google apps, Chrome extensions, and other web-based tools. The ultimate goal of this course is for you to gain useful tools and information which you may seamlessly apply in your day-to-day duties as an educator.

** Meets the DESE re-licensure requirement for 15 PDPs related to training in strategies for effective schooling for use of technology with students who are identified as Multi-Lingual / English Language  Learners.

Online class dates June 24 -August 4, 2019. 
Class consists of 4 online sessions.   15 PDP's  -- 1 Graduate Credit 


Questions about this course?  contact Laura Shanahan (lshanahan@winchesterps.org) or Kathy Grace (kgrace@winchesterps.org)

Tuesday, May 12, 2020

YouTube Approve Button

Here is some clarification about the Approve button which you see underneath Youtube videos when using your school account. This is relevant in that the restricted mode has blocked access to some videos that teachers assigned to students. 

When assigning a video for students to watch on Youtube, you can ensure they will be able to access it by clicking the Approve button below the video.


Explanation
The district enables Restricted mode on student accounts. Videos that are flagged as unsuitable for kids by Youtube uploaders or by Google's filter will not be accessible by students using their school account. 

Filtering systems are not perfect. It is possible that an unsuitable video was not flagged by the uploader and was not caught by Google's filter. These videos will be accessible, even if you did not click Approve. 

It is also possible that a video has been flagged, but is okay for students. Clicking the Approve button will override the restricted flag allowing students to access the video. 

IMPORTANT: Please be sure to watch the entire video before clicking Approve.