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Enter the Fortress of Solid Learning
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Dec 2008, Vol 8, Issue 4
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THE RIGHT STUFF
Greetings to fellow educators,
Learning can be magic if students are given the right resources. They absolutely love to soak up information, learn new skills and tap into their creative potential. There is nothing more exciting than seeing students reach out for greater academic achievement. They just need "the right stuff."
Having taught JHS and HS for 33-years in New York City and Long Island schools, I must tell you that education can be the most exciting place to be when you can be part of the learning process with your own creative juices flowing. I believe that this energy continues with our delivery of Castle Learning Online to students and teachers.
We describe Castle Learning Online as a "cyber advantage for teachers and students," but it has taken on a life of its own when a principal writes that since "Manhattan Hunter Science HS has been using Castle Learning, it has become an integral part of our instructional program. Teachers have embraced it and use it in different ways."
On the day a father learned his son's academic performance had earned him an achievement award as the most improved, he phoned to personally thank me and to let me know that the boy was the least likely to succeed. A teacher had used Castle Learning and he wanted to make sure I knew that "Someone I love deeply gained confidence in his ability to learn and achieve."
It is an awesome feeling to be a retired teacher and know that my teaching continues through a service we offer to educators like you.
Best wishes for Happy Holidays and a New Year of great progress in all your endeavors from all of us at Castle Learning.
- Professor Bill
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Focus on Math Skills
Castle Learning Online courses in Elementary Math and Intermediate Math provide a SKILLS REVIEW ACTIVITY in which students can sharpen their computational skill. Since this activity does not depend upon the teacher making an assignment, it provides a great opportunity for parents to work together with their child to brush up those math skills!.
- Elementary Math topics include operations with whole numbers, decimals, fractions and mixed numbers, as well as comparing and ordering numbers, rounding, working with money, and solving one-step equations.
- Intermediate Mathtopics expand upon these skills and include factoring, ratios, proportions, percents, interest, integers, absolute value, powers and exponents, mean and median of data, and solving two-step equations.
Students can access the Skills Review by choosing either Elementary Math or Intermediate Math from the Student Home page, and then clicking the Skill Review link. Three skill levels are availab le (Basic, Intermediate, or Advanced). Each topic (unit) covers a variety of skills for individual or mixed review. Questions appear in a variety of formats. Students work at their own pace and can move on to another skill at any time. A Skills Report shows students their progress in each skill and level. Teachers can also access this report.
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Literature: To Kill a Mockingbird
A new unit has been added to the English course, called "Literature: To Kill a Mockingbird." This is the sixth set in a series of literature short-answer questions. The sections in this unit correspond to the chapters dealing with Courage (1-11), The Trial (12-20), and The Verdict (21-31).
To add these questions into an assignment, go to the Add Question page, select the unit named "Literature: To Kill a Mockingbird", select a section for the desired chapter range, then use the Browse and Select option to select the questions that you would like to include in your assignment. The order of the literature questions for a particular chapter range parallels the sequence of events in the novel. Thus, the use of randomization is not recommended in assignments with literature questions.
Gregory Peck and Brock Peters in the 1962 film adaptation of "To Kill a Mockingbird."
Author Harper Lee received much acclaim including a Pulitzer Prize for novel she published in 1960.
More recently, she accepted the nation's highest civilian award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, in November 2007 at the age of 81.
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MEMO:
Administrators
Formative Assessment Made Easy!
We hope you're making
the most of Castle Learning Online's Reporting tools!
· Your colleagues are using Castle Learning for Formative Assessment.
· Castle Learning meets specific needs of the district to measure academic performance through an adaptable tool.
· Create real-time reports without the need for scanning, copying or manual
assessment.
See this month's Mailbag for more about measuring and monitoring student progress.
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December Mail Bag
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FOR ADMINISTRATORS
Current Student Activity Reports
Question:
How can I monitor current student activity?
Answer:
Castle Learning Online provides several reports for monitoring current student activity. The starting point for all of these reports is the Administrator Home page. If you are a district administrator, first select the school name from the drop-down menu on the Home page. Then click Reports.
The Session Summary report presents a quick summary of sessions for each course since the beginning of the school year. To access this report:
1. On the Reports page, click Session Summary.
2. The report displays on the Session Summary page.
3. To display a breakdown of sessions by month, click Monthly Session Summary below the table.
The Questions Summary report summarizes the total number of questions answered by students in each activity of each Castle Learning Online course since the beginning of the current school year. To access this report:
1. On the Reports page, click Questions Summary.
2. The report displays on the Questions Summary page.
3. To download a copy, click Export as spreadsheet file below the table. Save the file, as directed in the file dialog
window that pops up.
The Course Usage report breaks down usage in various activities in each Castle Learning Online course. These reports are created and posted to the Administrator Reports page every two months throughout the school year: November, January, March, May, and again at the end of June. The most current report covers course activity from the beginning of the school year up to that date. To access this report:
1. On the Reports page, click Student Usage.
2. On the Usage Reports page under Archived Reports, note the dates and click the desired Course Usage report.
3. Save the file, as directed in the file dialog window that pops up.
You can also generate a current Student Usage report in any course at any time. This report details each student's activity in each course. It includes the student identification number, if you provided it at the time of account creation, which allows you to coordinate Castle Learning Online data with other student statistical data. The Student Usage report will cover activity from the beginning of the current school year.
To generate a current Student Usage report:
1. On the Reports page, click Student Usage.
2. On the Usage Reports page under Student Usage Report, select the desired course from the course drop-down
menu, or select -all courses-.
3. Click Export as spreadsheet file.
4. Save the file, as directed in the file dialog window that pops up.
Please be patient! Student usage reports contain large amounts of data and may take a few minutes to create.
Archived Reports
Question:
How can I obtain a report last year's student activity?
Answer:
Archived reports of previous year's usage can be found on the Administrator Reports page. There are two types of reports. The Course Usage report breaks down usage in various activities in each Castle Learning Online course. The Student Usage report details each student's activity in each course. The activities include short answer sessions, constructed response and math skills as appropriate to the course. The Student Usage report also includes the student identification number, if you provided it at the time of account creation, which allows you to coordinate Castle Learning Online with other student statistical data.
To access the archived reports:
1. From the Administrator Home page, select the school name if you monitor more than one school. Then click
Reports.
2. On the Reports page, click Student Usage.
3. On the Usage Reports page under Archived Reports, note the dates and click the desired archived report --
Student Usage or Course Usage.
4. Save the file, as directed in the file dialog window that pops up.
Please be patient! Archived reports contain large amounts of data and may take a few minutes to create.
Downloaded Report Files
Question:
I downloaded a usage report but I am having trouble opening it with Microsoft Excel. Any advice?
Answer:
Castle Learning Online exports various reports in Windows CSV format (comma separated values). Sometimes, depending upon your version of Excel and possibly the file associations on your computer, these files may not automatically open when double-clicked. Try saving the file to your computer, then launch Excel and use its Open command to locate and open the CSV file.
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FOR TEACHERS
Seeing Assignments from the Student's Point of View
Question:
I am having trouble checking the student page. It says I have several assignments assigned to all of my classes, but when I click on the student page, it says there are no assignments to be completed. What am I doing wrong?
Answer:
Remember, "you" are not a member of your own classes. You can self-assign an assignment to see how the questions look from the student point of view. Here's how:
1. From the Teacher Assignments page, locate the desired assignment and click its Assign/Monitor Students icon.
2. On the Assignment Details page, click the Self-Assign (pink) tab.
3. Click Assign to Myself.
4. Click the Home button (upper right).
5. On the Teacher Home page, click Student Home Page. You should now see the alert to "your" assignment.
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FOR STUDENTS, TEACHERS AND PARENTS
Reviewing Assignments
Question:
After a teacher has assigned a session, is there a way that students can look it over to see what they missed and what they got right?
Answer:
This is a great question that unlocks one of terrific advantages of Castle Learning Online! Students can actually review the results of their session online so long as the teacher has not locked the assignment. Parents can also assist students with this activity. Here is what the student should do:
1. On the Student Home page, click the teacher's name/class. (Most students are already familiar with this step.)
2. Now, instead of looking at the table of Incomplete Assignments at the top of the page, the student should look at
the Course Activities area.
3. In the drop-down menu, set the course to the name of the course that the teacher used in the assignment.
4. Click Short Answer Review.
5. On the next page, click Assignments from your Teacher.
6. Locate the assignment to review and click either its name or date.
7. The student can now review the work previously done by stepping through each question, which is displayed
along with the correct answer, the reason, and links to its related vocabulary terms.
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See you
Soon |
The Castle Learning Online team will be at these conferences. Hope to see you there.
December
North Carolina Educational Technology Conference
Pennsylvania Science Teachers Association Convention
January
Nassau County Mathematics Teachers Association
NYS Council of School Superintendents
February
Pennsylvania Educational Technology
Drop by our conference booth. We look foward to meeting you!
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Contact Information
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Castle Software, Inc., 626 Layport Dr., Ste. 100, Sebastian, FL 32958
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