PowerTeacher

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“What’s my grade in your class?” How many times have you heard that? How concretely can you answer it? Oddly enough, perhaps the benign neglect by the students who do not ask that question is the real problem. The purpose of Progress Reports is to inform both parent and student of a potential problem. Unfortunately doing so only once during the trimester may not be enough feedback if we want students to take more ownership of their academic achievement. By using PowerTeacher, you can give students printed updates at anytime as you enter grades. You can send these updates home with the student to review with his or her parent; you can cut and paste them into emails. You can create quick student printouts for just your class, or for your whole team for PPT’s and SAT meetings. As a team you can use the quick lookup function to see patterns – homework not being done, low quiz and test grades, and react more nimbly. More importantly, the importance of the printed page can’t be underestimated in its power to link the activity (effort, studying, preparation, quality work) with the results (The Grade). As middle school professionals, we know that grades are not the be all and end all; however, transforming student achievement from, “What grade did the teacher GIVE me,” to “What grade did I EARN,” is a worthy goal. 