I'm curious to know if many teachers are required to maintain paper records of grades, lesson plans etc. in addition to digital records creating redundancy and wasted time which is the most valuable asset that a teacher has. I have heard stories that this is happening at some sites.
Hi Mark,
I can only speak for Gallego, the teachers are asked to keep their grades on-line using infinite campus and this year lesson plans have been on-line as well. Some do choose to print them out so they can refer to them throughout the day and not have to go back to their desk-top. I think all sites are working at trying to reduce their use of paper especially if they have LCD projectors.
Digital file storage and management skills need to be taught as a part of teacher's digital literacy. Infinite Campus provides a systematic control over grades entry and I can see a uniform lesson plan format, storage and access system evolving in BT. Many teachers spend so much time trying to find online lesson plans and support files that we need to save them from themselves. A short staff development session on the admittedly clerical skill choosing appropriate keywords for file names, including a consistent date format in the file name and creating logical, limited directory trees (nested folders) would free up some of those crucial minutes stolen by a lack of efficiency when going paperless, let alone those wasted managing hard copies. Woof!
I would like to know what you know about finding those resources. It is a definitely a time killer and discouraging in spending so much time to look for resources for ourselves or for the students. All of your ideas for doing proper searches should be shared and utilized. Like you said BT and infinite campus are evolving at every school site in how they are utilized and what people think are useful or applicable. We are trying to free up our time to engage in higher level activities and student centered classrooms so your ideas sound extremely useful.
I share your thoughts. I have spent hours looking for resources as well. There should be a place on the district website where all teachers can post the web addresses of useful sites.
Regarding paperwork, at our site we email our lesson plans to our principal,but we also have to print a copy and post it on a bulltin board in the classroom. As to grades, I record them on Infinite Campus and have never had a problem. I don't keep paper grades.
Our teachers use Infinite Camus for report cards and some are utilizing the gradebook, but most of the teachers still keep a hard copy of grades for assignments. We currently have 3 grade levels that use GoogleDocs for keeping track of BT formative and parallel data. I am hoping that we can have all grade levels on board with this.
There are also teachers that post their lesson plans to a wikispace so other teachers and leadership are able to view them. This is a good way to share with others what is being taught and helps to collaborate with other teachers. It is nice also to have grades on the Google Docs especially if teachers share students to enrich/reteach in small groups.
I know that TUSD uses a different grading program and teachers lose their grades all the time. I'm wondering if Sunnyside will have similar problems and if there isn't a plan for backing up grades online.
I know that TUSD uses a different grading program and teachers lose their grades all the time. I'm wondering if Sunnyside will have similar problems and if there isn't a plan for backing up grades online.
I am about half and half. I do all my lesson planning using the computer and I just pull up the daily lessons on my laptop in case I need to refer to them. However, I do keep a hard copy as well as use Infinite Campus for my grades. I just would hate to put all the students' grades into Infinite Campus, return the papers to the kids, then have the system accidentally crash and dump my grades. I just don't want to ever be up that creek without a paddle. However, I print the blank spreadsheets from Infinite Campus to record the kids scores and it really takes me no extra time at all to plug the grades into Infinite Campus. The piece of mind I get having a hard copy is worth the extra time it takes. Other then this, pretty much all my other paper work is not the computer.
I think somewhere along the way, whether it be in undergrad, grad, or more recently, we’ve all experienced that nightmare of a computer crash / power outage / whatever that led to lost data. The agony of going back and starting over is painful, even just to remember. I think because of these experiences, many of us got in the habit of printing hard copies as back up for most things we do. However, it seems to me that the district could easily – and inexpensively – distribute portable drives to all teachers every year which would really eliminate the need for us to feel that we must continue printing copies of everything we do. I’m not sure what the expense comparison would be, but even if we all just used methods of our own to electronically back-up our data, the paper and printing savings would probably be substantial. Personally, I’d love to get to the point where I didn’t even need a file cabinet in my room… or at least have a minimal need for it. I think as we move forward, the less paper the better.
I know it’s bad but I like to still keep both for now. I am slowly trying to go totally digital. I guess it just a security blanket for me to have a paper grade book.
I think many teachers post online and also have a hard copy. It's a reference tool one can use when speaking with parents. Not all families have computers or have Internet access. Yes, there are hot spots, however, many of our families go to McDonalds and utilize the drive through! As we have learned and experience the "Internet is down"! Back it up with a hard copy or USB!
Although we turn in lesson plans electronically, we still print out a copy for classroom use. Since we teach all the subjects with no time between switching, we need to be able to quickly have it on hand. Also, when administrators do walk throughs they have begun asking to see lesson plans.It is ironic that we have to sign off on attendance verification sheets but we don't keep attendance.
It would be nice to trust that Infinite Campus would always work and nothing would ever be lost, but I always kept a paper copy of the grades. Too many times I have entered data, saved it, and then came back to find gone. This isn't just an issue with Infinite campus but with entering writing grades in ATI. This last time we SRI tested fewer and fewer of the computers banks would work. You just never know when something will happen. This doesn't feel tech savvy to many of our teachers. If we knew we could pick up a phone and send an email and someone would come and fix it there would be less paperwork back up copies. We have a great Technology Facilitator, but many issues related to hardware she can't fix. I know everyone in IT is working very hard so there is no blame, but this is just the reality.
I've been teaching in Sunnyisde for 5 years and only kept a hardcopy of my grades my first year teaching, but that was because I didn't know how to record things in Infinite Campus. Since then I have only recorded grades in Infinite Campus. Even when I was switching reading classes with SFA I kept grades in a word document. I can definitely see there being a huge issue if Infinite Campus were to crash, but it has yet to happen (knock on wood).
As far as lesson plans go I have been creating lesson plans on my computer for the past 3 years. I save them by the month and then at the end of the year put them into another folder.
I agree with what Annette said about a simple lesosn in organizing computer files. Luckily my 2nd year teaching a friend of mine showed me how to do this. If she hadn't my computer would have been a huge mess and it would have become more and more tedious to try and find files. I have since passed this information onto my students and they are able to organize and find files they have created.
We turn in lesson plans electronically, (and as Lynn pointed out, file management has been a big issue), but we are also required to keep hard copies posted outside our door for walk-throughs, and in-hand for teaching, so lots of paper there. We also have much of the information posted on a whiteboard for students daily as part of a standardized board configuration. We also do paper verifications for attendance, although many of us do not keep separate hard copy attendance.
For grading it's a mixed bag- we use IC, but many people keep hard copies. I don't, but I often have a hard copy of immediate grades for the day's bellwork and classwork until I get it entered 1-2 times per week. I hope to be able to start using Moodle for at least some of this, and do more real time with my laptop, but the siren song of paper is still strong.
Meeting agendas are electronic, but most of our business still involves paper. I am hoping we can model more on-line collaboration, forums, etc. instead of all the paper and face-to-face time, especially when we have either really routine or really complex issues to process!
Thanks for asking!
We are not required to keep both paper and digital record but the availablity and the trust that they will be there when needed is not all there yet for me anyways. there are times when I need records and I am not near my computer or will not be somewhere I can get the internet so I try to keep things up to date on paper as well. This is very time consuming and I usually am very good at keeping the paper records and fall back on the digital records. It is easy to find my roster than to log in and find the page I need to be on to record the data. I think that as I get use to it it I will get better. I guess it is just a process
At our school (Santa Clara) the only grade that I know of that still keeps and maintains a paper record of grades is Kindergarten. But, that is only because they have still not created a report card on infinite campus for Kindergarten. As far as lesson plans I would have to say the majority keep them on their computer.
We are required to turn in our lesson plans both electronically and hard copy. We do need to have them available on our desk so that the principal and others have them available during walk thrus. I have not kept a paper copy of grades, only on the computer. I must admit that I am a little nervous about not having a paper trail after hearing everones commemts about loss of grades, but have not heard any such instances at our school.
Same applies to our school. Teachers submit lesson plans electronically and grades are entered in Infinite Campus. However, many teachers do still keep a hard copy of their grades. If one feels the need to do that, I feel it is fine; however I would like to remind people to always use scrap paper for this kind of priting.
I keep virtually everything on computer, but am required to turn in hard copies of lesson plans.
Lynn, you made a wonderful point about the importance of file storage and management skills. Knowing how to create main folders, sub folders and files beyond that is crucial to finding all your work efficiently...not to mention which drive you keep it all in.
My very first teaching experience never required paper copies of anything. We kept our grades and lesson plans electronically. We posted them to a particular file on the LAN each week and our grades at the end of each quarter. Our gradebook was backed up and that was all we "turned" in for grades each quarter. The principal had access to our lesson plans on the LAN and that was backed up at the end of each quarter. It was shock when I came to SUSD and was required to turn in hard copies of my grades and lesson plans.
I agree with Lynn and Jessica, but it also goes beyond which drive you keep your files stored in-you must always have a back-up, or two. As Kim and Mrs. Ortega mentioned, we use Google Docs to share info, but it never hurts to have everything saved on a flash drive-nothing is more painful than having all your files wiped out! Ouch!