Progress Book - Enter Report Cards

Are grades due for yet another quarter and you are pulling your hair out?  Did you spend the entire weekend getting everything RIGHT, yet the office cannot see your grades?  You can put all your grades in the gradebook and the office cannot see them until you follow 5 easy steps.

1. Make sure you select Enter Report Cards

2. Select the class / Show all Students

3. Check the box for the current quarter.

4. Press Equal sign

5. Finally save (at the bottom of page)

You must do this for every class.  Putting the grades in your gradebook grid is not enough for the office to retrieve your grades.  

Turning off spell check in Microsoft Word

Tech Tip *Bonus*

So…you are tired of the computer auto-correcting that thing you misspelled on purpose or even telling you about the misspelling at all?

Turn off auto-correct as you type or spell check altogether in Word Options.

How do you get there?  In Microsoft Office 2013select FILE -> Options

Then in the dialog box select your changes and push OK.

More Info. Spell Check Changes

Connecting your Google Account to Schoology

Start by logging in to Schoology.  If you do not have an account yet you can Sign Up quickly and easily.

Click on Resources at the top of the page. Then select Apps.

 Select Install Apps

Then check the box next to Google Drive (or any other app you would like). 

Click Install button.

Approve authorization

Then connect.  After you connect you will need to login to Google unless you are logged in already in another tab. 

Then viola.  You can pull resources from Google to your Schoology account to share with students or show your students and they can submit Google files in Schoology.

Lookup Tables

Today’s tip is for assigning groups people or items to groups/centers/locations.  I like to use the lookup function in Excel to place a group of students to specific assignments or locations.  A lookup table can be used to assign letter grades to specific percentages also.  

Actually, Excel can Lookup many different types of values in a table format.

In the spreadsheet above I show an example of assigning students to groups for a weekly rotation. I have a list of students and assign them to a group. In cell F2 I have a lookup function =LOOKUP(C:C,L:L,M:M). 

This function tell cell F2 to look at column C, find a match in column L and return the value in column M.  Then I can copy the formula for every student in the column.  Then if you decide you want to change the assignment for Group A on Monday you only need to make the change in cell M3 and the function will do the rest to the cells with the function available.

Use the lookup table to lookup many variables that might change over time when you have a long list to update.  Have fun customizing your own spreadsheet for classes, over school events, or organizing stuff at home.

For more info on functions watch: Excel Functions

LOOKUP function (description from Microsoft help)

The LOOKUP function returns a value either from a one-row or one-column range (range: Two or more cells on a sheet. The cells in a range can be adjacent or nonadjacent.) or from an array (array: Used to build single formulas that produce multiple results or that operate on a group of arguments that are arranged in rows and columns. An array range shares a common formula; an array constant is a group of constants used as an argument.). The LOOKUP function has two syntax forms: the vector form and the array form.

·         For the LOOKUP function to work correctly, the data being looked up must be sorted in ascending order.

Vector form

A vector is a range of only one row or one column. The vector form of LOOKUP looks in a one-row or one-column range (known as a vector) for a value and returns a value from the same position in a second one-row or one-column range. Use this form of the LOOKUP function when you want to specify the range that contains the values that you want to match.

LOOKUP(lookup_value,  lookup_vector,  [result_vector])

·         lookup_value    Required. A value that LOOKUP searches for in the first vector. Lookup_value can be a number, text, a logical value, or a name or reference that refers to a value.

·         lookup_vector    Required. A range that contains only one row or one column. result_vector    Optional. A range that contains only one row or column.

Note:

·         If the LOOKUP function can't find the lookup_value, the function matches the largest value in lookup_vector that is less than or equal to lookup_value.

·         If lookup_value is smaller than the smallest value in lookup_vector, LOOKUP returns the #N/A error value.

So many tech tips, so little time...SMARTboard Activity Builder

So many Tech Tips, so little time…

Once again, I previously posted a blog with SmartBoard resources.  It can get very overwhelming looking for your own info just to create a SmartBoard lesson.  So overwhelming in fact that I avoid the lesson/activity builder because building lessons is so time consuming.  With this said, it’s very beneficial sometimes to create your own lesson tailored to the specifics to your course.  Although some of the SmartBoards are different from room to room the current software, SMART Notebook remains the same.  

I found it very helpful to learn more about the activity builder in SMART Notebook. Hopefully these links will help with the use of creating your own lessons.

SMART Notebook: Activity Builder/Toolkit

Matching

Sorting

Activity Builder

So many Tech Tips, so little time...Creating Outlook Contact Groups

I find we can get swamped with the Tech Tips.  We get emails, newsletters, and suggestions and they all lead us to more links, templates, courses, and videos.  Well not to disappoint you this Tech Tip will do the same.  I’m going to lead you to a couple places to get guidance on a specific topic though, not a general topic. 

I found it very helpful to create groups in Outlook to manage my email contacts, one contact may be a part of several groups but hopefully by grouping people the correct information gets to everyone concerned.

Outlook Groups

The Microsoft Office website gives wonderful step-by-step guidance for many activities you want to complete within the Microsoft Suite, this link takes you to step-by-step guidance for creating and managing groups.

Step-by-step guidance isn’t your thing…you need to see it?  Watch this video.

Taking Time Out For You

Did you know that you can track your Daily Feats on some phones? Yep, there's an app for that. Search for the Daily Feats app on your device to see what's available and start tracking. Don't have a smartphone or tablet? Don't worry neither did I until 3 weeks ago. Add a Bookmark to the site on your web browser. If you bookmark it to the bar in Chrome you will have access to it at home and at school.

Daily Feats earns you points toward a gift card and gives encouragement toward a healthy lifestyle but didn't quite log all the habits I wanted to track.  Try logging fitness and nutrition goals with My Fitness Pal.  You can share success and get support from friends, log your calories, set goals, and monitor exercise activities all in one place. You can use My Fitness Pal online or there's an app for that too!

http://www.myfitnesspal.com

Have fun taking care of you!