October 2018
Important Updates for Secondary Math Teachers
Schedule Changes and New Students
Each building's ALEKS admins can move students from one teacher to another teacher. They can also create new teacher accounts, if necessary. All teachers have access to move students from one of their own classes to another class they teach.
NEW STUDENTS
When a new student enters your class, the first thing you should ask is: "Have you been working in ALEKS in another CCS building?" If yes, let Steve know. That student can continue to work in his/her account while it is transferred. If you create a new account and the student starts over, it becomes much harder to correct. If the student has not been working in ALEKS yet, you can simply enroll the student using the Enroll/Preregister option. Refer to the guide below. You can find a much more comprehensive ALEKS guide in the Digital Resource Binder.
WE NEED YOUR INPUT!
Thanks!
AIR Support
1. Students should visit the Ohio Department of Education website and take the practice AIR tests.
2. Teachers can download released items and sample questions from the Digital Resource Binder and share these items with students.
3. Since many of the updates concern geometry standards, special geometry classes are being set up in ALEKS to help students prepare. Watch for information coming soon!
4. Students currently enrolled in courses such as Integrated Math III or AQR can be enrolled in Integrated Math I or II courses instead, or they can work in the new geometry courses being created.
NEW Classes in ALEKS
NEW CLASSES are being created in ALEKS!
These classes will focus on the GEOMETRY standards in Integrated Math I and II. We will let you know when those classes are ready. In the meantime, students should continue to work in their current ALEKS classes.
Add AIR Prep Assignments to Your ALEKS Classes!
You Can Still Use ALEKS for Your SLOs
Doing so will encourage students to work through the program, plugging in gaps as they learn new content. As the teacher, you can constantly monitor student progress, see where students need extra support, and help keep them on track as they learn. Even better, ALEKS does all the testing for you by providing an assessment after every 5 hours or 20 topics learned. You can also schedule an assessment any time you wish.
Some teachers use the entire ALEKS pie. Instead, let's look at one (or two) pie slices only.
Two examples of an SLO have been created for each of the following subjects:
- Math 6
- Math 7
- Math 8
- Integrated Math I
- Integrated Math II
You can adjust the goals for each student (or group of students) as necessary, choose a different pie slice, etc. Keep in mind that for SLOs to be most effective, you should choose topics that are studied during the entire year. That's why we chose decimals and fractions as examples in some middle school courses.
HS Department Chair Dates
Department chair meetings run from 3:30pm-5:30pm, usually the 3rd Wednesday of each month (see dates at right). Our next meeting will be held on October 17 at Linden-McKinley 7-12.
ALEKS/ConnectED Training
ConnectED Updates
You will see a menu such as the one shown at right. Note that the buttons on that image do not actually take you to ALEKS or any other programs... yet. This is something that McGraw-Hill is working on.
You can download a poster to display in your classroom, along with student login information, at the link below.
Middle School Accelerated Math
- Earned 230 or higher on BOY Map this fall
- Earned 224-229 on BOY Map this fall plus all 3s and 4s on Math 5 report card
- Identified as Gifted-Talented in math or superior cognition
- Earned a 4 or 5 on Math 5 AIR test
- Taking Math 6 as a fifth grader
Watch for more info to come.
Florence Nightingale Day - OSU Oct. 27 - CCS girls need to be involved!
Please see the flyer below and their website for more information (https://sites.google.com/view/fnightingaledayosu/home).
Ohio Standards - Signs for Your Room!
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