Zangle - TeacherConnect Knowledgebase
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| Attendance | Gradebook | Reporting Periods |
Zangle Reports | Email |
Attendance
Q: How do I know when a student has been dropped from my class?
A: When a student is withdrawn from your roster, in the seating chart view of your attendance application, the student's name will appear in red font, and you will not be able to take attendance on that student. The student will remain in your seating chart until you actually remove the student by clicking the "X".
Gradebook
Q: How do I copy tasks I've created from one year to the next in the same class?
When you first log into Zangle in a new school year, your gradebook will appear as a blank slate with no tasks or setup options associated with your classes. Before you can copy tasks into your new classes from last year's gradebook, you must take the following steps in the order given below:
1. Under the Gradebook Setup tab, Class Setup menu, click the radio button Copy Class Setup.
2. From the "Item to Copy" box, select Class Options. Select the class to "Copy From". Important!: Last year's class carries this year's date! In other words, academic year 2009-2010 English classes are shown as 2010 English. The new year is shown as the next calendar year. After you select the class to "Copy From," select the class to "Copy To:".
3. From the "Item to Copy" box, select Assignment Categories. Select the class to "Copy From". After you select the class to "Copy From," select the class to "Copy To:".
4. You may also copy Grading Scale and Scoring Options, but the two items in steps 2 and 3 above are REQUIRED in order to transfer tasks to your new classes.
5. Once you have copied Class Options and Assignment Categories to the new class, go to Task Maintenance, and click the radio button Copy Assignments. Choose the class to Copy From, then select the class to Copy Assignments To:. You will have the option to de-select ("Uncheck") tasks you do not wish to carry into the new year.
6. Check your spreadsheet for the new class to which you've added. Last year's tasks should appear.
Q: How do Elementary teachers report grades into Zangle if I haven't used the gradebook?
Download these concise instructions to walk you through the process! [Thanks to Pam Disney!]
Q: My grades from my gradebook do not appear in the Calculate/Post Marks window during the reporting window. Where did they go?
A: In the set up of the gradebook, teachers who have not been able to post their grades have not designated grading scales. In Gradebook Setup, Class Setup, open the Class Grading Scale option. While you may see a grading scale there, you need to designate it for your classes. Click on Add/Edit Class Grading Scale, then select the Mark Set (We use Letter Marks with +/-). THEN, make certain you go to Copy Class Setup and copy the grading scale into your other classes.
Q: How can I roll credit over from Quarter 1 to Quarter 2 in my semester-long gradebook? I don't usually start afresh in the second quarter with credit.
Opening Gradebook, then Gradebook Setup, then Class Options, choosing a Class, then calculated marking period options--changing that to Sem 1 will put everything there. NOTE: You need to close out Gradebook before you can open it up accurately again. Then in Teacher Preferences (bottom), set your Default View to Semester 1.
Q: I get this SQL Error when I try to open my gradebook spreadsheet:
A: This error code appears when a teacher has designated conflicting percentages corresponding to letter grades. For instance, in the Grading Scale setup, a teacher designates B+ = 85%, and B = 85%. If two grades share the same % value, the SQL error will result. Changing the values so that different letter grades hold a correspondingly different % value will repair the error.
Q: How do I work in my gradebook for the next term while still in the current term?
In preparing your spreadsheet to move into your next term, please consider changing the following settings in your gradebook to avoid confusion. Many teachers are beginning to create tasks for the next Quarter 2/Trimester 2 classwork, so you will want to working in that part of your gradebook.
Recall that when you initially setup your gradebook, you probably set your view to default to the "current term" as shown below at <<. The "current term", for a little while yet, will be the first quarter/trimester. If you have submitted your grades and are ready to roll into your next marking period, it might be helpful to change this setting to show the next marking period by default. Changing this setting to the next marking period opens your spreadsheet and gradebook tabs to the marking period you select.
Once you have submitted your grades in the period of the reporting window, you may consider your gradebook "closed" for this marking period. You may still make edits as necessary until the window closes, but you are free to move on to the next Quarter/Trimester
Reporting Periods
Q: Why does Zangle use a reporting window? Why can’t teachers change their grades themselves at any time when we believe they should be changed? Aren’t we trusted?
A: Report cards and the various assessments represented on them (letter grades, standards and benchmark grades, comments, grade point averages) are intended to serve as accurate snapshots of student progress at the point at which they are issued. Not only are grades used by students and parents to remain informed as to each particular student’s academic standing, they become part of the larger data stream used by site and district-level staff for making decisions about student placement and the district educational program. Often data are used to study the efficacy of the educational program over an extended period of time. For that data to serve those critical functions, it must be stable and not present analysts with a “moving target.” While teachers’ day-to-day tasks are necessarily student-centered, their wider professional responsibilities include providing information in such a manner that it can be useful for analysis and planning by various entities within the system, at site, district, county, state and ultimately federal levels. A reporting window, during which time-sensitive data regarding a specific period of student learning is submitted, protects the integrity of that data, and assures all users that they are viewing an accurate representation of student performance.
Q: Why doesn't anything appear in my Marks Reporting tabs?
A: Rosters and entry fields will only appear in the reporting tabs during the reporting window which is typically seven days long at the end of each marking period.
Q: How do I start the next reporting period in my gradebook?
See above in the Gradebook section.
Zangle Reports
Q: How do I produce a Progress Report for an elementary student that displays all work on a single page?
A: Please see this document: Creating a Progress Report for Elementary Students
Q: When I email parents from home, does it use my work email or home email address as the return address?
A: When you use the EMAIL TAB in TeacherConnection, the email will always be sent from your DJUSD webmail address regardless of which computer you are working from.
When you go to a student's contact information through Student Profile (click on student name, then to Contacts, then clicking on the hyperlinked contact name), Zangle goes to whichever is the default email editor on that computer. If you are at school, it will open your Outlook, and the return address will be your DJUSD address. If you are working at home from your DJUSD laptop, Outlook won't work. If you are working from your home machine, it will use your home email address from your home computer in the default email editor.
Bottom Line: When sending emails to parents from home, use only the EMAIL TAB in TeacherConnection for selecting recipients of individual emails. It's a couple more clicks, but it will preserve your email privacy.
Q: When I send email from the TeacherConnection Email tab, I get a CC for EACH parent I send to, not just one copy for myself. WHY??!
A: Email is considered a parent contact, so it is in your interest to have evidence that you made each of those contacts. We suggest you make a rule in your Outlook to manage your receipt of those CCs, directing those emails to a special folder in Outlook so they don't clutter your Inbox. Refer to these directions: Outlook Rule Managing Zangle Email.
