Power Teacher 2015-2016 August 2015 1
What s Possible with Power Teacher 2.8 Can change a student s given name to his/her preferred name. Can leave a late-enrolling student at the bottom of the class list. Can rename class sections to make it easier to identify which class is which. Can create your own comment codes. Can email from Power Teacher. Does not look like you can email progress reports only messages. 2
Launching Power Teacher Click on Internet Explorer The high school website should be the default site (If not, type http://acpssharepoint/achs/sitepages/home. aspx Find Power Teacher Links on the left-hand side Choose Teachers at ACHS 3
User name: firstinitiallastname260 (if new to ACHS, add the middle initial) Example: cfahrman260 Password: 123456 (first time users only last year s password works for returning teachers.) School codes: APS 250 AES 110 AMS 160 ACHS -260 4
New teachers: password is 123456 (then you will be prompted to change it) Old teachers type in last year s password Click sign in 5
You might be prompted, by Windows, to save your password. I would NOT do that (say never for this site ) 6
You should have a screen that looks like this: New people: I no longer think you need to do this.but we will see. Now click personalize if you need to change your password. Place your name, user name, and password on card. Give card to Ceil Fahrman. 7
Click on change password: 1. type in old password 2. type in new password 3. retype new password 4. click submit Note: you may keep last years password or change just be sure to turn in the card to Ceil with your current login information. 8
Now, the next several slides deal with setting up a Gradebook icon on your desktop. These slides were created last year. I have an updated set of steps for this procedure which you can download off of the Staff website entitled Installing PT icon. Please note: If you still have the icon from last year, you will need to uninstall it first Again, directions can be found on the Staff website entitled uninstalling PT icon. Now reinstall the icon following the install directions 9
Now click on PowerSchool at the upper left of the screen. This will take you back to the main navigation page; ie, it is your HOME button. Home Screen Attendance; no longer used Student Info Don t use Notice the run installer once you can still use the old launch, but I suggest setting up the Power Teacher icon on your desk top. Click on the run installer once Reports 10
Choose Download Installer Choose Run 11
Click install 12
Click Next 13
Click Finish 14
Now you have an icon on your desktop. Use this in the future to enter your gradebook.you will bypass the backpack area. Java can be updated and it will not affect the login process. One more thing to do. Click on the icon Gradebook Login 15
Click OK Go back to the ACHS website. Click on Teachers at ACHS. 16
Click Launch Click Open 17
The gradebook will open. Close the gradebook Exit Power Teacher Go back to the Power Teacher icon on your desktop. Double-click on it Put in your username and password. You will go directly to the gradebook and bypass the backpack area. 18
Now that the Power Teacher Icon has been installed, we will investigate the backpack area. Click on the backpack. 19
You can click on a student s last name or on one of the other classes, listed under change class. 20
Explore on your own later. 21
Click PowerSchool to go to Home Page. 22
You should have a home screen that looks like this. Now click on the old launch 23
The old launch will still allow you to enter your gradebook. You do not want to update Java. You will say later to the prompt. You will get some kind of message. You will have to click agree, allow, yes, or run. Ultimately you will arrive at your grade book. 24
1 2 3 4 This page is the spreadsheet upon which you will eventually find columns representing your assignments which will contain any grades that you have entered. Now let s check out the left side (1, 2, 3, & 4) 25
1 Clicking area #1 expands to give you a break down of the current year. If you were here in previous years, it also allows you to look at those previous years classes/grades. 26
2 If you click on a class, you can see your students for that class. Take a minute to look at your rolls. We do not have time for you to print your rolls now. I will show you how to do this when we get to reports. 27
3 In this section, you can create groups of students (such as cooperative learning groups, reading groups, etc.) You can click on the triangle for another view of the class list. 28
4a Preset categories Now we will take a few minutes to fine tune your categories. (These are the categories by which your assignments will be identified. Make sure to include any possible category you might use this year. These categories do not need to be used by all of your classes.) Use + to add categories or to delete categories. Notice that four possible categories have been preset. You can edit a category name, you can delete a category, or you can create a new category. Now click on the + sign. 29
4b Type in name of category. Create an abbreviation. You must choose a color. You will most likely want to choose 100 for points possible. Change points to percentage. Description is not necessary. 30
In order for semester grades to be calculated correctly, we must add 2 categories: Midterm Exam and Final Exam. Follow the example to the left to create the Midterm Exam category. (some SOL teachers will not need this category) Repeat the process for Final Exam (use FE as the abbreviation) The old folks (those here last year) should already have both categories listed. Now create your possible categories or fine tune last year s categories. 31
A Word of Warning Regarding Categories Be sure to choose a different color for each category; this will be important later For those old-timers.you cannot delete a category once it has been used So, if you created a blue test category 3 years ago and created a red test category last year, both will be a choice for you to use this year Some of you create categories every year.that is not necessary you do not want this list to get too lengthy A few of you last year inherited categories from someone else IF you were assigned the same class (ie. Project Graduation) These inherited categories cannot be removed 32
Let s set up Power Teacher for computing averages. At the top of the screen on the menu bar Click Tools Click preferences Select grading tab Select rounded Set to 0 decimal places Uncheck absences and tardies Make sure letter grade and percent are checked under both Click ok 33
Again, click on Tools ; click on preferences ; click on Comment Bank You can now create your own comment bank to use when an assignment is not completed for a reason not covered by the canned comments. Click on Add Create your code, comment, and category (I m assuming positive or negative) Click OK and the new comment will appear in your list. You should be able to access it in the score inspector 34
Again click Tools, Click Preferences ; then Click on Student tab Notice that now we can alter a student s given name to his/her preferred name. I will show this later. Click use preferred name Also, a new feature this year is the ability to leave a newly enrolled student at the bottom of the already sorted list (this allows you to create your hard-copy grade book and not worry about changing it). 35
Again click on Tools ; click on preferences ; this time, click on Section tab New this year you can rename your class periods if you so desire. In some cases, it might be easier to identify your different sections. So if you want to rename your classes, click Custom Display Name. 36
Again this year is the ability to create score codes. When you have time, experiment with this. Let s try to add ABSU for Absent Unexcused. (Please note that the next 3 slides are using last year s grade book screens.) Click Add. 37
Add Code: ABSU Fill in Description Uncheck Exempt Percent: 0 Leave the rest alone. Click ok 38
Now, ABSU is available to use. (I m assuming while entering grades into the score sheet, you will have the ability to use any of the score codes you have created. These score codes could eliminate the need to use the Score Inspector for explaining grades.) 39
Let s set up the grade book by clicking on Grade Setup. FYI: This is where you can alter a student s name. FYI: This is where you can alter the name of the class. 40
Choose a class (not raider room). Please note: when setting up Y1 (for year long courses), S1, or S2 you need to set up Term Weights. For Y1, each semester must count the same. For S1 or S2, Q1(3) counts 45%, Q2(4) counts 45%, and E1(2) counts 10%. When setting up any of the quarters, you must use category weights. At this time, you decide which categories you wish to use from your bank of categories and you determine each category s percent weight. 41
For those of you with year-longs classes, double click on Y1 (or single-click on the small arrow to the right), click on Term Weights, and the following screen appears. Under the weight column, we can leave the weights at 100 and 100. Click save 42
Double click on S1 (or single-click on the small arrow to the right), click on Term Weights, and the following screen appears. Under the weight column, we need to change the weights from 100, 100, 100 to 45, 45, 10. Click save 43
Double click on E1, select category weights, and the following appears. Click add category. A list of all of your categories appear. Choose final exam and midterm exam. Click ok. 44
It should now list both final exam and midterm exam as categories. Under the weight column, change the weight to 1 and 1. This gives equal weight to each exam. This is where it is important that you note the color as well as the identity of the category. Click save 45
Double click on Q1, select category weights, and the following appears. Click add category. A list of all of your categories appear. Choose the categories that you will use to determine a quarter grade. Click ok. 46
It should now list your categories. I happen to have 5 categories. Under the weight column, determine how you want the breakdown to occur. Be sure that each category has a weight. (IF you have a homework column, it cannot count more than 10% of the grade. Also note that no category can count more than 40%.) The weights should cause the percent column to total 100%. Again note color of category. Repeat process for Q2. 47
Again this year, Power Teacher gives us the ability to copy the grade setup to any other class that will utilize the identical grade setup. (You can copy a year long set up to another year long class. You can copy a semester set up to another semester class, even from one semester to another.) Right click on S1 and the small window will appear. Choose copy grade setup entire class 48
The following window appears. Place a check in any other class during semester 1 for which you wish to use the current grade setup. Click next. 49
The following window appears. Click finish. 1 st Semester setup is complete. 50
Now we will repeat the process for 2 nd semester. Right click on S1 and the small window will appear. Choose copy grade setup entire class 51
Switch from Semester 1 to Semester 2. 52
Check any class for which you wish to use the current grade setup. Click next. 53
When you choose the first class for the switch, a mismatch detected box will appear. Click confirm. Repeat the process for any and all classes. 54
Once you are finished copying grading rules, the following window appears to verify that you wish to copy the setup from S1 to S2. Click finish. Now all classes that utilize the same setup will have the same setup. 55
Now, click on score sheet tab. 56
If you click on the box above, it will open to give you the above options. I suggest during Quarter 1, work in Q1. Once Q1 is finalized, then switch to Q2. Understand that S1 will show all grades recorded during the first semester. 57
The easiest way to add assignments, is to use the + sign. So click on the + sign. 58
The following window appears. Type in name. Verify final grade is checked Create abbreviation. Verify score type Choose category. Can add bonus pts. Can alter weight. Must assign date IMPORTANT: choose a category that is listed in the Grade Setup make sure that the colors match or your grades will not average correctly. Once all parameters set, click save. 59
Notice that a column appears for your first assignment. 60
If that same assignment is going to be used for other classes, you can copy the assignment to the other classes. Right click on the top of the column. Choose copy assignment Notice the other options that could be used they will be covered in upcoming documents. 61
Note that if you enter several assignments before choosing to copy assignments, all created assignments will be in the list. Just choose those that you wish to copy at this time. Click next. 62
Now choose into which class(es) you wish to copy the assignment. Notice that you can also copy from one semester to another. But, if you copy assignments from S1 to S2, they will arrive in S2 alphabetically with the date of the day you made the move. I found this feature to be more work than creating S2 assignments from scratch. Click ok. 63
In order to print your rolls (note there will be changes throughout the week), click on reports tab. It is currently set to print only student name. But, you can add additional information by checking any of the listed categories. Exports into Excel Click run report Open report?, click ok Adobe Acrobat opens the report; print 64
This power point and all additional creations will be placed on the Staff Page of the ACHS website as well as sent to you in an email. Before leaving today. Complete and turn in the blue card Show me that the grade setup has been completed for all classes, including semester 2 classes. I must verify completion of grade book setup. On the card, place.(please print legibly) Name Login Password Note: you will not need to change this password any more this year. 65