Saturday, August 30, 2008

Looking for a cool grammar resource?

Check out Grammar Girl on iTunes U. It's free, and it's something your kids will enjoy. You will find a variety of grammar topics handled in brief podcasts. You can choose to play these directly from iTunes store, or you can download them and play them later using itunes or an iPod. Grammar Girl also has a website where you can access these podcasts if you don't have access to iTunes.

Check it out.

Click here for the iTunes page.

Go to http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/ to find the website.

Enjoy. I think your kids will too.

Need some review?

If you have been through a Skills Iowa training, and now need a bit of review, there are a few places you can go.

The Quick Reference Guides that we distribute at our training sessions are great, brief guides to using both Assessment Center and Skills Tutor. If you have misplaced yours, these documents are available for download on our website. Just go to http://www.skillsiowa.org and click on the Documents button on the left side.

If you are the sort of person who wants much more than a brief guide, both programs offer extensive manuals for download. Again, we have linked to these manuals on our web page. Just click the Links button on our website. There, you will find links to user guides for Assessment Center and Skills Tutor. Or, you can click here for the Assessment Center User Guide and click here for the Skills Tutor User Guide.

And of course, one of the most effective resources is the other teachers in your building. Hopefully, you chose another teacher in your building as your Skills Iowa Buddy. Working as a team, you and your buddy can remember much more about the program together than you can alone.

If your problem isn't remembering how to use the programs, but rather something technical with your computer lab or network, it's probably time to talk to your building's tech person. Or, you may need to call the support number for Assessment Center or Skills Tutor.

You can reach the Assessment Center at: 1-888-778-7737 and you can email them at: k12support@review.com

You can reach Skills Tutor at: 1-888-764-2446 or email them at skillstutor_support@hmco.com

Of course, your project leader is always ready to help. Feel free to email or phone your school's project leader for help. You can find your project leader's contact information by clicking here.

We hope you use and enjoy the programs that are used in Skills Iowa.

Monday, August 25, 2008

Why won't my username and password work?

This time of year, one of the biggest questions that we are asked as project leaders is, "Why won't my username and password get me in to Assessment Center and Skills Tutor?"

The answer usually is that you have a new password for the year. Teacher records are  typically deleted from one year to the next, and you get a new password and username each year.  If you have not met with your project leader this year, you may not know your new username/password combo. So, what do you do? Your building principal can log in to discover your username and password, or you can contact your project leader, who can help you out. If your school has not yet submitted the data files for this school year, you may need to wait until that step is complete.

We want you to get started using Skills Iowa as soon as you can, and you do not need to wait for your project leader's first visit to get started.

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Check the sidebar for articles of interest

This is the second year for the Skills Iowa Blog. There have been a number of articles written in the past that might answer questions that you have in the present.  On the left side of this page is a month by month archive of articles. Click the triangle by the month to view the article titles for that month. You can also use the search feature to see if anything has been written about a question you have.

Here's an example of an article written last year that explains how to use this blog: click here.

A word about teachers and teaching...

My sister is a retired teacher. In an email, she wrote this about teaching and teachers. I thought it was worth sharing.

"Today is one of those gorgeous days just hinting at fall—hard to explain, isn't it?  Suddenly, mornings are crisp, the leaves are tired, and things are sobering—perhaps it's the return to school. Remember? We used to think September—now things are well underway in August. We have a lot to answer for as teachers. On the other hand, I worked terribly hard, and most days shot my best shot. I'm proud of my fellow teachers. One would be hard pressed to find a group of more decent people. It's not especially "cool" to be a teacher—disgustingly middle class, decidedly altruistic for the most part. Teaching is not a job one can "fake" for any length of time."

My sister was a great art teacher and remains a great artist. She was also an English major, and taught English on occasion. 

I have met many teachers while working with Skills Iowa. It's a great bunch of people.

Jim Lippold
Skills Iowa Project Leader


The Student Page

The Assessment Center student page is similar to the teacher page in some ways. It has the navigation links on the left side,  including the Skills Tutor link. 

The assessment assignments are in the middle of the page, however  only the most urgently pending assingments are shown here. Students can click on the start or continue buttons or they can click on the name of the assessment.

To see a complete list of assessments for an individual class, students should click on the class name in the blue section of the page. To see a complete list of assessments for all classes, students can click on the "See comple list of pending assignments" link below the assessment list.

Once students have completed an assessment, a completed assessments window will appear beneath the Pending Assignments window. They  can click on "Report" and see detailed results for their assessment.

Saturday, August 16, 2008

Missing Students

It happens to most teachers; a student who was not on your original class list shows up in your room. When you get started with Skills Iowa, this student may not have an account. The temptation is to create a new account for this student yourself so you can continue, and so can the student. This could create problems for several reasons. Your account may not be the only new account that has been created for this student, and if a student has multiple accounts, which one are we going to use? If both are in use, the student can easily get confused and not do the work you assign.

We ask that one person in the school be the person identified as the person who will create all new student accounts. This usually happens in the principal's office, but it could be another person who has been designated by the building principal. The best choice is to ask in the office if the new student's account could be created. It's an extra step, but it will save confusion later in the year.

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Welcome back!

We've missed you! We hope you make the Skills Iowa Blog a favorite stop in your day. We will do our best to make the time worthwhile. We offer tips, suggestions, solutions to problems and a bit of fun.

Today's suggestion: At your initial training, check the accuracy of the student names in your classes. If you start with an incorrect student identity, your only choice will be to retain that i.d. or to abandon the work already done on the incorrect account. Talk with your project leader or trainer at your training to make the correction.

We hope to help you make a difference in student achievement. We firmly believe that the use of formative assessment and the follow up analysis and action will lead to higher achievement for your students. Assess, Analyze, Act!

All of us who work with Skills Iowa are excited to be your partners in what is the most important endeavor our country has—educating our children. The future of democracy and our country depends on it.