Some Timely Reminders

Middle School Start of the Year Checklist
High School Start of the Year Checklist
How to Push Grades to PTP
Canvas Credentials: what you log-in to your computer with followed by @psd.pennridge.org PW: Computer PW
Direct URL: pennridge.instructure.com
Go Through PSD Key and you don't need the URL or your credentials!! PSD Key Username is your regular computer username (no suffix) and your network password

1. Benefits of the VPN: Global Connect

Whenever using your laptop outside of the district, please consider connecting to the VPN while working.  When you are connected to the VPN, you will be able to use any of the functions of your machine just as if you are at school, such as:

• Accessing the U: Drive

• Using Microsoft Outlook, including sending e-mails, managing your calendar, and viewing your to-do lists.

• Using the Follow Me Printers, including the ability to print the night before and release the document right when you walk in the building the next morning.

You may have noticed Global Connect popping up on your computer.  This takes the place of our Cisco server.  Simply type in remote.pennridge.org (only the first time) to access the VPN and you will prompted for your username and password.  This will only work after you've access your home Wifi, and must only be done out of district.  This can be helpful at workshops, out of district conferences, etc.

2. Emailing Parents from PowerTeacher Pro

1. Login to the PTP Gradebook and make sure that the class you want to email is selected in the course drop down menu at the top of your screen.

2. Click "Class" from the Left Navigation.

3. Select Email Class.

4. Select the name(s) of the people you want to email and select semi-colon as your delimiter type.

5. Copy and Paste the email address list into the BCC field of outlook and enter your own email address into the "To" field. Compose and send your email.

3. 
   

3. Ways to Communicate with Classes in Canvas

• Announcements can be created to share information with everyone in a course or individual sections of a course. 
• The Inbox is Canvas' email system. Messages can be sent to individual students, courses, or sections. Remember, teachers can reply to Inbox messages directly from their pennridge.org email. However, you must go to Canvas to create a message.
• "Message Students Who" is a great way to target your communication. From the gradebook in Canvas, you can message students who haven't submitted work, scored less or more than a certain score, or whose work you have yet graded. 

4. Parents can Create Observer Accounts in Canvas

Here are the directions which can also be found under the Parents Tab of each middle school and the high school's website. Parents can ask their students to create pairing codes for them. However, if needed, teachers can generate a pairing code and provide it to a parent. 

5. The Canvas Guides are Amazing

The Canvas Guides offer super-clear resources on how to do all things Canvas. For the most up-to-date directions on how to do virtually anything in Canvas, check out this great resource. 

Starting Semester 2 and Coming Soon in Canvas

This Friday Five is a reminder of things to do to end the quarter and/or start a new semester course. Items 4 and 5 introduce a change that is coming to Canvas that will improve your workflow.

1. Grading in Canvas:  Teachers will be able to grade Q2 items in Canvas and push them to PTP until grades are due on February 4.  Remember: Once you are done with your grading for the quarter it is a best practice to "turn-off" the sync setting for assignments. 

How to turn of grade sync for an assignment.

2. Setting up Semester 2 (or Q3) Courses: If you teach the same course second semester, you can easily copy all of your Semester 1 content to your new course. Here are directions on how to do this. Reminders:

• If you used announcements, don't copy these
• Select "Remove All Dates" so you start with undated content
• Anything you copy will be copied in the same state that is in the original course (i.e., published or unpublished - you can always unpublish before or after copying)
• Don't forget to PUBLISH new courses. Directions are here.

3. New Gradebook in Canvas: As of 1/18, the gradebook in Canvas is changing. The last Friday Five linked here details the significant changes. Again, don't worry, it is not a huge change for us.

In addition to the new gradebook, Canvas will also be releasing some exciting upgrades next week....

4. Copy materials within Canvas: Tired of having to export items to another course to make a copy?

5. Sharing Canvas Items with Colleagues: Is sharing items to Commons too much of hassel when collaborating with colleagues?

If you answered "Yes" to either of the two questions above, you will be excited to watch this video. A better and more efficient way to copy and share is coming to Canvas on Monday next week- just in time for Semester 2! 

This is a huge improvement that will benefit all teachers. 

Have a fantastic semester 2 and please reach out to me with any Canvas questions.