For Teachers: Working with the Portal's Family Calendar Screen

Modified on Thu, Sep 12 at 9:11 AM

TABLE OF CONTENTS

What is The Family Calendar Screen?
What is on the Family Calendar?
Gradebook Assignment Display on the Family Calendar
Class Messages in the Gradebook
Course Messages in the Lesson Planner
Editing and Deleting Messages
Messages and Course Pages

What is The Family Calendar Screen?

A"Family Calendar" has been added to the Parent/Student Web Access portal. This displays all Gradebook Assignments assigned or due for every student attached to the account, as well as "Messages" entered either in the Gradebook or the Lesson Planner for the express purpose of appearing on a specified date on the Family Calendar.

This article covers how to work with Assignments in the Gradebook and Messages in both the Gradebook and the Lesson Planner so they will appear on the Family Calendar.

Assignments appear on the Family Calendar in yellow and Class/Course Messages appear in green.

What is on the Family Calendar?

The Family Calendar, by default, shows all Assignments and all Messages for every member of all students attached to the parent / student account for 1 week. It can optionally display Messages and Assignments for just one day or for an entire month.

Each student's Messages and Assignments are shown in their own column. The screen by default shows all students on the account at once but can be focused down to a single student.

Gradebook Assignment Display on the Family Calendar

Assignments set to display in the Parent/Student Web Access Portal appear both on their "Assigned" date and on their "Due date" and remain visible unless unshared by the teacher. That is, they first show up on the "assigned date" with an "Assigned" label and they appear in the "due date" with a "Due" label:

Assignment Status on the Family Calendar: Completed vs Not Completed

All assignments that are ungraded or past their due date appear with the status "Not Completed". All assignments that are graded or marked "collected" appear with the status "Completed". "Not Completed" and "Completed" are the only two status' that appear on the Family Calendar screen. Prior to their "Due Date" Assignments do not display a status.

There is now a "Collected" status on Gradebook's Grade Assignment screen: If you check "Collected" for a student without giving the student a grade, the Assignment's status on the Family Calendar is changed from "Not Completed" to "Completed". The Assignment's status also changes to "Completed" once you grade the student.

Class / Course Messages and Message Display

"Class Messages" from the Gradebook, called "Course Messages" in the Lesson Planner, are a new feature added to the system with the Family Calendar screen. Messages are entered for a specific course section or subject either in the Gradebook directly or in the Lesson Planner. Messages are a separate item separate from both Gradebook Assignments and Daily Lesson Plans (or Unit Plans).

Accessing/Using Class Messages in the Gradebook

Once Class Messages have been enabled, a new "Messages" screen appears for teachers under the "Gradebook->Gradebook" tab. Messages can be created, modified and deleted on this screen.

In addition, a new "Create Class Message" quick link appears in the Quick Links drop down. This allows teachers to create Class Messages - but not edit or delete them - directly from the Gradebook->Gradebook spreadsheet screen.

Class Messages are always associated with a course section (i.e. a subject in elementary schools) and a specific date.

Accessing/Using Class Messages in the Lesson Planner

If Messages have been turned on for your school, a "Messages" screen will appear under the Lesson Planner->My Books tab. Messages can be created, modified and deleted on this screen.

In addition, on the Lesson Planner->Calendar screen, when it is in the "Calendar by Book" mode, a "Message" link appears for each day on the Calendar. This allows you to create a new message for that specific day for the selected "Lesson Book". Editing and deleting messages take place on the Lesson Planner->My Books->Messages screen. - or on the Lesson Planner->Calendar screen: messages will appear on the Calendar screen on their selected date.

Class Messages in the Gradebook

The Gradebook->Gradebook->Messages screen contains a list of all existing messages for a class, as well as controls for creating, editing and deleting messages:

The Create Message button brings up a simple "Create Message" dialog:

A message is always for a particular day of a particular Course Section. You can change the date the message appears with the "Date" selector.

Course Messages in the Lesson Planner

In the Lesson Planner, messages are called "Course Messages" and are exactly the same as Class Messages in the Gradebook.

The Messages tab and screen in the Lesson Planner appears under the Lesson Planner->Lesson Books tab:

Messages can be created directly here. To create a message, click on the "Create Message" button. This brings up the "Create Message" dialog. Note that the "Select Lesson Book" drop down specifies the Lesson Book in which the Message will be created.

Select the date on which the Message is to appear (it will always be visible, but it will be located in the selected date), enter the message text and click "Save Message" to save and create the message.

Editing and Deleting Messages

To edit a message, click the edit icon:
This brings up the edit dialog:

From this dialog you can update the date of the message, alter the text and even delete the message entirely.

To update the date, the message text or both, simply make your updates and click "Save Message". To delete your message from here, click Delete Message.

You can also delete the message from the "Messages" screen directly, by clicking its delete button.

Messages and Course Pages

"Course Pages" are the web pages that can be managed from the Gradebook. "Class Messages" in the Gradebook and "Course Messages" in the Lesson Planner also automatically appear on the "Course Page" for their Course Section. This is built-in behavior and cannot be turned off. The individual Course Pages do have to be 'published' to the Parent Access module - and are not visible on the Course Pages screen unless published.