-----Original Message----- From: myschoolonline1 [mailto:myschoolonline1@send.fen.com] Sent: Tuesday, November 20, 2001 10:16 AM To: myschoolonline Subject: Best Practices Newsletter -- November 20, 2001 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Advertisement~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Do you still go to the store for your shopping? With eScrip, you can help your child's education today. Join over 250,000 other families who combined earn over $20 million for their children's schools and youth groups -- simply by shopping at the store! Groceries, gas, clothing and more. eScrip, a Learning Network partner. To learn more, go to: <a href="http://send.familyeducation.com:9956/T/A4.39.231.1.21956"> http://send.familyeducation.com:9956/T/A4.39.231.1.21956 </a> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Advertisement~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Best Practices Newsletter -- November 19, 2001 This biweekly newsletter offers practical tips, advice, and examples of how teachers are using LearningNetwork's QuizLab, MySchoolOnline, and MyGradebook to integrate technology into their classrooms and motivate students. ----------------------------------------------------------------- In This Issue: *Introducing the Best Practices Newsletter *Posting Assignments in MyGradebook *Use Quiz Lab to Personalize Instruction *Ideas of the Month from MySchoolOnline *Specials for Teachers ----------------------------------------------------------------- Welcome to the premiere issue of the Best Practices Newsletter! As busy classroom teachers, you don't usually have the extra time you need to explore all of our great teacher tools. This newsletter will do that for you. We'll show you how other teachers use the special features built into MyGradebook, Quiz Lab, and MySchoolOnline, and we'll give you detailed directions for using them yourself. So, sit back, relax, and get ready to take a power-user look at our teacher tools. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Posting Assignments in MyGradebook: A strategy for motivating students and engaging parents While many teachers readily appreciate what a timesaver my MyGradebook is for calculating and tracking students' grades, each day more teachers appreciate what a powerful tool MyGradebook is for motivating students -- and engaging parents. These teachers have learned that by posting assignment information in MyGradebook, they reap a double benefit. Since students can log in to their accounts from home (or any Internet-connected computer) to check their assignments, there are fewer excuses they can offer for missed work. Similarly, when parents log in to check their child's grades, they can easily review upcoming assignments and learn about the wonderful activities going on in your classroom. Thus, MyGradebook becomes a powerful communication tool for highlighting your hard work and creativity -- something that should not only be showcased on back-to-school night. Parents gain a better understanding of what's going in your class, and this shared knowledge can spark conversations at home about what students are learning in school. And, if assignments involve students using the Internet to gather information, it's easy to add live web links to your assignment descriptions. Then parents can do a little exploring themselves and share in the learning experience. Finally if you want to take this a step further, consider adding your grading rubric to the assignment description. Making this information readily available to students and parents is a great way to head off controversies later when you issue grades! *View an Assignment Select Squanto Debate to see a sample assignment, complete with the live Internet links student use to research their points of view. <a href="http://send.familyeducation.com:9956/T/A2.101.2824.1.1766015"> http://send.familyeducation.com:9956/T/A2.101.2824.1.1766015 </a> *Add Links to Your Assignments To learn how easy it is to add live web links to your MyGradebook assignment, read on! <a href="http://send.familyeducation.com:9956/T/A2.101.2824.2.1766015"> http://send.familyeducation.com:9956/T/A2.101.2824.2.1766015 </a> To learn more about MyGradebook, take our new tour. <a href="http://send.familyeducation.com:9956/T/A2.101.2824.3.1766015"> http://send.familyeducation.com:9956/T/A2.101.2824.3.1766015 </a> ----------------------------------------------------------------- Use Quiz Lab to Personalize Instruction During the course of a school year, some students may miss school for an extended period of time due to illness or injury. How do you help those students keep up with the class? When you introduce a new topic, you frequently discover that one or two of your students will need a lot of extra help mastering some basic skills. How can you find time to provide them with extra practice and review materials that will help them catch up? By creating and personalizing a special class for these students, you can give them the additional support and practice they need to excel in your classroom. With Quiz Lab Pro, it only takes a few minutes to add a class and link quizzes, games, and Internet resources to it. Use the login message to keep the students focused and on-task. Students and parents can post messages directly to you so valuable time isn't wasted. *View a Specialized Class "Darren" is working from home while recovering from an illness. Visit Darren's page to see how his teacher personalizes the page for him. <a href="http://send.familyeducation.com:9956/T/A2.101.2824.4.1766015"> http://send.familyeducation.com:9956/T/A2.101.2824.4.1766015 </a> *Add a New Class Log in to your Quiz Lab Pro account and select Add a Class from the highlighted features area on your main menu. Give the title for this class and create a secret word for your student. When you click Continue, you'll automatically switch to the new class. From here, add quizzes and games to help your student learn while he's out of the classroom. Make sure you add a login message and list assignments in the calendar, too. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Ideas of the Month for November from MySchoolOnline *Learn about Veterans Day at: Mrs. Hammersley's 4th Grade, Culpeper, Virginia <a href="http://send.familyeducation.com:9956/T/A2.101.2824.5.1766015"> http://send.familyeducation.com:9956/T/A2.101.2824.5.1766015 </a> 4th Grade Spotlight, Stockbridge, Massachusetts <a href="http://send.familyeducation.com:9956/T/A2.101.2824.6.1766015"> http://send.familyeducation.com:9956/T/A2.101.2824.6.1766015 </a> *Celebrate Thanksgiving at: Sutter Elementary School, Antioch, California <a href="http://send.familyeducation.com:9956/T/A2.101.2824.7.1766015"> http://send.familyeducation.com:9956/T/A2.101.2824.7.1766015 </a> MCA Kindergarten, Chicago, Illinois <a href="http://send.familyeducation.com:9956/T/A2.101.2824.8.1766015"> http://send.familyeducation.com:9956/T/A2.101.2824.8.1766015 </a> *Deal with the war in Afghanistan: Tomorrow's Generation, Langhorne, Pennsylvania <a href="http://send.familyeducation.com:9956/T/A2.101.2824.9.1766015"> http://send.familyeducation.com:9956/T/A2.101.2824.9.1766015 </a> ----------------------------------------------------------------- Specials for Teachers *Free Software from Logetics Check out this free software offer! Find titles such as Carmen Sandiego, Compton's 3D World Atlas, Reader Rabbit, and more. You pay only shipping and handling charges for each title. This is an excellent way to build up your classroom software library. <a href="http://send.familyeducation.com:9956/T/A2.101.2824.10.1766015"> http://send.familyeducation.com:9956/T/A2.101.2824.10.1766015 </a> *Discover TeacherVision's lessons and online resources for all grade levels. Find outstanding ideas for seasonal events, useful classroom management techniques and forms, free email newsletters, printables, and more. <a href="http://send.familyeducation.com:9956/T/A2.101.2824.11.1766015"> http://send.familyeducation.com:9956/T/A2.101.2824.11.1766015 </a> *Don't Miss the SchoolCash Holiday Fair Supporting your school, classroom, or chorus has never been easier! SchoolCash is the online fundraising program that allows schools and educational and community groups to earn cash back from supporters' online shopping -- up to 30 percent of every purchase. Supporters simply shop from the over 250 name-brand merchants on the SchoolCash website -- merchants like JCPenney.com, Coldwater Creek, Barnes & Noble.com, Lands' End and L.L. Bean -- and earn cash back to their school or group on every purchase. They shop where they normally shop, pay what they normally pay -- but they now earn cash rebates back to their school or group. And there's no cost for supporters, schools, or groups to participate. During the SchoolCash Holiday Fair, now through December 31, schools and groups will receive extra rebates from supporter purchases at the following merchants: KBtoys.com, JCPenney.com, L.L.Bean, OfficeMax, Lands' End, Eddie Bauer, and Learning Network Store. In order to receive rebates, your school or group must be registered with SchoolCash. Click here (http://www.schoolcash.com) for more information on this free program, or to register today. <a href="http://send.familyeducation.com:9956/T/A2.101.2824.12.1766015"> http://send.familyeducation.com:9956/T/A2.101.2824.12.1766015 </a> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Advertisement~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Create adventure learning in your classroom. Visit The Quest Channel for standards-driven real-world learning environment. <a href="http://send.familyeducation.com:9956/T/A4.39.231.2.21956"> http://send.familyeducation.com:9956/T/A4.39.231.2.21956 </a> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Advertisement~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ----------------------------------------------------------------- Cheers! Pat O'Donnell Producer, Educator Applications Best Practices Newsletter is another great service from Learning Network. Feel free to forward this email to your friends, family, or colleagues! To unsubscribe from this newsletter, please email teachertips@fen.com and write "unsubscribe" in the subject line. 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