The book for the teacher
— who has to fit in attendance, a pile of marking and a test before lunch
The class, the assignments and the answer key — same login.
The class, the assignments and the answer key
A new class with one code, attendance without a roll call, who still has to hand in, a test you follow live, and the material for a good assignment.
The class, all together
Know the feeling of spending the first half hour working out where you left off? Attendance is in one system, submissions in another, and who's missing what sits in a spreadsheet you made yourself — and forgot to update.
Here the three things sit on the same surface. You can see who owes what, who was here yesterday, and what's waiting to be graded.
What you can do here
Create a class, pick a trade, and share the code with the students — then they have full access to the trade for free. Send a test to the class and follow it live while they take it. Look up the answer and the explanation to the question that always causes trouble.
And take today's attendance on a page where everyone starts out present, so you only flip the ones who aren't there.
The teaching day
Know the feeling that something happened over the weekend and you don't know what? One student handed something in, another wrote to you, a third called in sick — each in its own inbox.
The School gateway is six surfaces: my teaching, submissions, attendance, calendar, messages and notifications. Each one has a line saying what lies behind it — “the queue waiting to be graded”, for example.
Messages and notifications carry a number, even when the number is zero.
Who owes whom
Know the feeling of cross-checking two lists to work out who's missing? One is your assignments, the other is the submissions, and the difference between them is the conversation you have to have tomorrow.
My teaching works out that difference for you. Four numbers at the top: classes, students, assignments set and how many are waiting to be graded.
Below them sits one row per student with two columns that are never added together — “waiting for you” and “still to hand in”. If all is well, it says so.
Create a class
Know the feeling that a new class costs you a morning? Users have to be created, invitations sent, and half the students never get the email. So you start on paper the first week anyway.
Here you name the class, pick a trade and get a code. The students type in the code, and they're in.
Under the trade selection it says what it means: the students get free access to this trade. Your classes are listed below with number of students, trade and the code.
Tests and answer keys
Know the feeling of a test that has to be copied, handed out, collected and marked by hand? And that the answer key sits in a folder you daren't put on the class drive, because then it's out?
Here you pick a test and one of your own classes and send it off. The students take it online, and you follow their progress live.
The question banks sit below, topic by topic, with the correct answer and the explanation — and the key is never visible to students.
Who's here
Know the feeling that attendance eats five minutes of every lesson? You read out names, someone says “he's in the toilet”, and afterwards it has to be typed in somewhere where the numbers won't add up at the end of the school year anyway.
Pick the class and the date, and the whole group appears with three buttons per student: present, absent, left early. Everyone starts out present — you only flip the ones who are missing.
The day's summary sits at the top, and “The school year's absence picture” is one click away.
What you set them to do
Know the feeling that a good assignment costs you an evening? You build a spreadsheet, find a picture, write an instruction — and a year later you can't find the file again.
The Tools gateway is seven surfaces you can set the class to work on: quizzes, tests, calculators, templates, the 3D workshop, universal tools and the class's own drive.
If you've picked a trade, quizzes, calculators and templates point into exactly that trade. Students can view and download the material on the drive, but not change it.
