Using engrade was extremely easy to set up and very user friendly. I think its a terrific way for teachers to get FREE use out of a very useful and efficient site.
This site is perfect for designing your class lists, student grades, comments, calendars etc. I was very pleased to see how quickly I was able to set up my site. I couldnt believe students would also be able to have access to their grades as well. This was one of my favorite features. It is very helpful and uselful to share access betweent students and parents.I think parents would appreciate being able to see how their child is doing before report cards go home. Using engrade allows them to be part of the process right along with their child and teacher. I dont think this is particularly useful for elementary students, but it would be helpful for highschool and college students to keep track of their progress.
Overall, this is a tool I would most definitely use in my class and recommend to other teachers as well. Like I stated before, it is very easy to use and can anyone could use it! What an organized way to keep grades, comments, etc saved on your computer so teachers can access anywhere. Vote for engrade!
My name is Pam and I am a grad student at MSMC. I am passionate about teaching young children and I am so thankful for everything I have learned thus far at MSMC. My blog is titled Teaching to Learn and Learning to Teach because I believe that we are all lifelong learners. As we move into our careers as teachers we will be continuously learning from our peers and students. Happy blogging!
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Pam, I agree Engrade is a great site and I to would use it in my classroom. I also do not think it would be a good thing to allow parents and students in elementary schools to have access to the students grades. You did mention that it would work in 2nd schools, but do you think with the students and parents having access to the studnets grades parents will be pushing or tell others that their child is "so Smart"? Do you think that this will cause problems between parent and child?
ReplyDelete**Kathleen
Pam,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on Engrade. My favorite feature is the ability for students and parents to access it and keep track of their progress.
~Sally
I am an avid user of engrade and I love the website.
ReplyDeleteWhen parents and students are granted access, they are only able to see their unique grades, not those of other students. They also have the ability to send a message to the teacher and vice-versa, the teacher can send a message to some/all of his students that are registered.
Teachers also have the option of setting up a homepage although very simple.
There is an option to have all assignments weighed equally, or you can create categories with different weights. I can vary the amount of points per assignment to also add to the weighting.
One major positive for engrade is the ability to upload files for the students. I will create PDF versions of my worksheets that will allow the students to download and print if they missed class, or misplaced the worksheet.
I just liked engrade on facebook and saw this blog. I wanted to comment that I used to work at a high school teaching business and computer classes, and I LOVE engrade. The kids don't have to ask me what their grade is all the time, I just say LOG IN AND LOOK!! I actually have to disagree with Karen. I never had any issues with parents saying "Look how smart my kid is." It actually motivates the parents to keep checking so they know if their child is slacking or doing well. That way they are a little extra push for the students to get their work done!! Now that I teach 7th and 8th grade Computer science, my kids LOVE engrade even more than the high school students I taught. I work in Philadelphia in a low income area, and the kids get to feel a sense of belonging. They email me all the time asking for make up work (even though I tell them several times I ATTACH the worksheets or the directions to each assignment) and they can email me whenever they are absent from home. I have only had a couple parents email me or actually check on their child's grades. I send stuff home, tell the kids to tell their parents, but sometimes it never gets there or they never find out! Our back to school was for homeroom teachers only and as a 'prep' teacher I didn't get to meet with the parents. Unfortunately, I cannot call 100 parents to tell them they can check their child's grades online, I am only human and have other things that need to be done. I have however gotten 3 teachers at my school to join, and we added our school so the kids only have one log in but they can see 3 classes! The 6th grade teachers love it! LOL. Thanks for your blog and keep up the good work : )
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