Week Ahead: Nov. 29 – Dec. 3

Another absolutely amazing vaccination day took place Sunday.  The heroic efforts of the nursing office, business office, HR, grounds, custodial, and maintenance departments made it possible for our students to get their vaccinations on campus with only ours of notice –  final confirmation about the date came Saturday evening.   And of course, it took a team of additional volunteers to make it all function getting parents and students through the paperwork, check in, screening, and observation.

It’s hard to believe that we are entering the last 2 and 1/2 weeks of the semester.  As we close it out, let’s be sure to work together t0 create the best finish.   Please be sure to use the workload planner in Schoology to help balance out final assessments, projects, etc. for students (see below for more information).

Here is what’s up next week:

Monday, Nov. 29
VS A-D

Tuesday, Nov. 30
VS E-H
3:15-4:30 MS Leadership Team mtg

Wednesday, Dec. 1
Wellness / Consolidation
*Happy Birthday Jacob West
3:15-4:30 Divisional Mtg (Schoology S2 set up)

Thursday, Dec. 2
VS A-D

Friday, Dec. 3
VS E-H

Upcoming (on the radar)

• December 14 – comments completed and peer reviewed (in S1 bin) and grades completed by 3:00; verification reports printed at 3:45
• December 15 – verification reviewed, signed (can be digital) and returned to office by 3:00
• December 16 – 1/2 day schedule: Winter Celebration!; report cards emailed parents

Winter Celebration Fun:  I’m looking for a few people to help brainstorm some ideas for our half day on Dec. 16.  We need to have a flexible plan – one that will work in a virtual environment.  Here are the activities from last year.

From Daniel:  Workload Planning Feature

For example, I have opened the Grade 7 advisory page and kept the default Student Workload to “2 or more items.” This setting sets the minimum amount of work (assignments, tests/quizzes, or graded discussions) that a student should have across his or her Schoology course sections.

The top table displays a summary of student information. For example, in the image below, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays are days where most students in grade 7 have at least 2 or more items due.  Tuesday and Thursdays are much lighter for students.

Lockdown Browser Subscription:  SSIS has now purchased a subscription to Respondus Lockdown Browser for you to use.  Any time you create an Assessment in Schoology you can activate this feature in the Lockdown Browser menu.  I will create a tutorial for students and have them complete it through our Advisory course.

You can find the lockdown browser in your course side menu and there are Getting Started tutorials built into this tool.  If you would like support or need to troubleshoot a situation please send me a calendar invite.

From Thao: I’m excited to share a great news with you that the House League shirts are free for our lovely faculty and staff this year  So if you would like to order a House League shirt, please fill in the HL shirt order form for MS Faculty and Staff by December 1, 2021.  Please let me know if you have any questions.

Welcome John Koski (starting Jan 2022): John Koski will be joining us in in January teaching ELA6.  He will be shadowing Erin this week and will be meeting the students.  Here is a short bio about John that was shared with parents:  Mr. Koski is a well experienced international educator who has worked in China, Kazakhstan, Paraguay, Puerto Rico, Guatemala, and the United States. In the 28 years Mr. Koski has been in education, he has served as a leader in bilingual education, technology integration, and inquiry based education.

More from Daniel: Edpuzzle Integration

If you are wanting to assign an Edpuzzle video in Schoology you will need to first go to the App Center and install Edpuzzle

Log in to Schoology and click on the app center (the icon in the upper blue menu bar with four squares).

Scroll down and click on Edpuzzle, which will open a new page.
Click on the blue “Install LTI” button and choose “I agree” from the pop-up window.

Deselect “Add to my homepage” and select the course you want to add Edpuzzle for as well as the “Couse admins only” option below each course. Click “Install.”

Once Edpuzzle has been added to Schoology, all you need to do is select the course of your choice and then click on “Edpuzzle” in the side menu.

You’ll be prompted to create a Course Description and add Grade Level & Subject

Configuration is complete!

II. How to Assign a Video Lesson on Schoology
To assign an Edpuzzle video lesson on Schoology:

Go to “Courses” and choose the course you’d like to assign an edpuzzle for.
Click on “Materials.”
In the “Add Materials” drop-down menu, select “Edpuzzle.”

This will open a pop-up window showing your “My Content” on Edpuzzle.
Select your video lesson (click on the eye icon in the middle of your video).
Click the blue “Assign” button, which will return you to the “Materials” page.

Now click on the gear icon to the right of the assignment you’ve just created and select “Edit.”

Check the “Enable Grading” box in the pop-up window, select a category for your grades (i.e. homework) and click the blue “Save Changes” button. You can optionally set a due date at this point. (Note: Do NOT have to enter the consumer key and shared secret!)

Now your video lesson is ready for your students on Schoology! Your students will start to appear as they click on the assignment link.
Best of all, once students complete the lessons their grades will automatically sync with Schoology – couldn’t be easier!Note: If you’re a teacher using the Schoology app, please note that you won’t be able to view edpuzzles using a mobile. On the other hand, you can watch edpuzzles if you’re using a tablet.

III. How Students Can Use Edpuzzle Through Schoology
Your students will be able to log in to their Schoology accounts and complete your Edpuzzle video lessons right from there! Here are some things to keep in mind depending on the device they’re using:

For desktop: Students simply need to log in to Schoology and click on the assignment(s) to view your edpuzzles.
For tablets: Students can use the Schoology app to view your edpuzzles.
For mobile: Students will need to use both the Schoology and Edpuzzle apps. When they go to watch an edpuzzle through the Schoology app, they’ll get a pop-up prompting them to download the Edpuzzle app if they haven’t already, or if they have, students will be asked to open it in the Edpuzzle app. When they’re finished, they can return to the Schoology app.

Very Important for Schoology Courses that are Linked

If you’re teaching the same class to multiple sections/periods, you may be using linked classes on Schoology. Be aware that if you’re viewing your students in Edpuzzle, they’ll all appear in one large class rather than in your separate linked classes (however, your grades will be sorted correctly in Schoology, so don’t worry).
Another side effect is that you should NOT use the dropdown menu in Schoology to click on your different sections, since all the students will appear in the same class (the first section listed). If you accidentally use the dropdown menu and click on another section, this will create a new class, which you’ll need to delete by selecting “Class options” and “Delete class” or by going to Edpuzzle and deleting the section with no assignments.

Repeat Posts:

Assigning Students to Study Zone: Teachers can assign students to study zone in addition to the students who are mandatory attenders (those with 5 or more missing assignments).  As a teacher you are welcome to:

• Invite students directly & add their names to Study Zone Attendance Tracker.
  • Add by grade level, last name alpha order
  • Can attend an either study zone session
  • Put “Your last name, teacher requested” ex. Scott, requested
• Optional: you can email parents if you chose; recommended to increase likelihood of attendance
• Students should be notified by 3:00pm the day before you are asking them to attend Study Zone
• Optional: Zoom into Study Zone and ask to work with your student in a breakout room. Zoom in here: STUDY ZONE

Ordering for 22-23 School Year:. Another thing that will be coming up soon is ordering for the 22-23 school year.  Given the time it takes to process ordering materials from overseas as well as getting their shipped to Vietnam, we start this process much earlier than you might expect.  This year presents new challenges as we might not ever quite be aware of what we have (and will have left because we haven’t been able to use it yet) and what we might need for next school year.  Each department will work together to identify needed materials as a department and each individual teacher will identify what they need (or the person following them next year).  More information will be coming from the business office soon along with the budget allocation for each department.

SSIS School Pass to 21CHKWe purchased a School Pass to 21CHK (Nov 22 – Dec 4).  Specific log-in information will be issued once their site rosters our faculty and staff.  I’ll communicate when you should expect this email and we will support as needed.

SSIS School Access to EduSparkWe partnered with EduSpark and Craig Kemp this year.  Everyone at SSIS has access to all courses offered on EduSpark at no cost.  This includes the regular and the “pro” options.  The options include numerous, and growing, courses by recognized professionals across the educational world as well as educators from international schools.  You received log-in information in September.  If you need assistance or reminders about accessing, please communicate with Trinh Lu or Craig Kemp (craig@mrkempnz.com) directly.