Focus University Training Document

Focus University Training Document Focus Training: Elementary Scheduling Part 2 Training Agenda Part II 2016 Sections Building teacher sections, including PE Building Co-taught Sections Reports Tweaking with Teacher Schedules Report o Click and Drag sections from Period 00 to correct periods Tweaking with the Master Schedule Report o Mass updating changes (e.g. Related Arts begin/end periods) Packaging Building/Tweaking the Package, including Related Arts Removing child sections from a parent Objectives Create Sections Create Co-taught sections Use the Teacher Schedule Report to move sections to the assigned periods Use the Master Schedule Report to Mass Update periods for Related Arts Build or tweak Packages Training URL: focus.collierschools.com Make sure to change the school year to display 2016-2017 Focus School Software 1

REVIEW: The following items should have been completed prior to moving to Part II of Scheduling: Bell Schedule: Periods should range from 00 to 07 for Regular schools and from 00 to 08 for Extended Day schools. Period 00 has been marked to Take Attendance and all periods have been marked Required for Scheduling. Courses & Sections: Subject Folders for each grade level have been renamed with 00, 000, 001, etc. The PK Subject, PKATTEND course and PK Sections have been added where applicable. All other courses are in the correct Subject folder. Non-returning teachers and/or substitute teacher sections have been deleted if not needed. Each Homeroom teacher should have at least one section for all their courses except LA; regular schools should have 2 LA sections per teacher and Extended Day schools should have 3 LA sections per teacher. Grade Level Course and Health: All sections have been marked Graded and Exclude from FTE. Teachers: where applicable (and known), teachers have been assigned to the correct grade level and room number for next year. Creating New Sections The sections for your school s specials may have rolled over to 2016-17 intact and you may only need to create additional sections if the number of teachers for a grade level has increased. Additionally, if all teachers do not have at least one section for each of their subjects, you will need to create those sections. The Copy feature can be used in these instances. If your school lost all PE sections, you will need to re-create those sections. The following steps will assist with that process. From the Section list, click the + at the bottom of the column. Focus School Software 2

Enter the following data for the numbered fields: 1. Teacher: select from the pull down 2. Room (use the green link to select the room from the Room list) 3. Beginning and Ending Periods: refer to your spreadsheet and enter based on the grade level 4. Meeting Day(s): adjust if the section only meets on specific days of the week based on the grade level 5. Seats: set the maximum number of students that can be assigned to the section 6. Short Name: should indicate which HR teacher this section will be paired with 7. Course History Term (and Marking Period) should both default to Full Year 8. Takes Attendance: uncheck the box (HR only class for Attendance) 9. Graded: leave the box checked Notice that the Florida tab is already open, just below the Section fields; 10. Class Minutes Weekly will have to be entered and 11. Scheduling Method of S- Self Contained is selected by default. Click the SAVE button when done. At this point, the Copy feature can be used to create the additional PE sections, as well as any other existing sections for other courses, where applicable. Copying Sections The Copy feature is used when additional sections are needed within the same course; this process is generally recommended over adding a new section. Focus School Software 3

1. Click on the specific section and then click the Copy button in the upper right of the Section information. 2. Focus will ask for confirmation; click OK to accept. 3. If PE sections are being copied for the same teacher and grade level, leave all fields the same EXCEPT the Short Name. This should identify the HR teacher to which this section will be paired; otherwise select a different teacher from the drop down as well as a different room number, if applicable. 4. Click Save when done. The copied section now displays the new Short Name. Note: The short name must be 3-5 digits that are unique for each section. Be sure to remove the word Copy from the short name. Continue this process until all sections for this grade level have been created, then repeat the steps for the next grade level. Focus School Software 4

Co-Teach Sections for PE and/or HR Schools may have lost all PE and HR sections that had a scheduling method of C- Co-Teaching. If you plan to have PE teachers as co-teachers, those sections will have to be rebuilt, as will any sections where Homeroom Teachers were co-teaching. 1. From the Courses & Sections screen select the Section that will be assigned a co-teacher. 2. Click on the Co-teach tab. 3. Use the Co-teacher tab to assign a co-teacher to the section. If this will be a TRUE co-teaching situation, check the box for Report to DOE; otherwise, leave unchecked. Be sure to select what Gradebook Permissions the co-teacher will have and the days of the week the teacher will be with the students. 4. Click the Save button when done. Tweaking via the Teacher Schedules Report To access this report, click the Scheduling Menu and select Teacher Schedules Report. The Teacher Schedules Report displays a list of scheduled teachers and their scheduled sections. This report can be used to make changes to a teacher s schedule by literally moving (dragging and dropping) sections around, much like an electronic whiteboard schedule. The report also identifies possible section conflicts by displaying those sections in red. It indicates that more than one section has been scheduled into a single period. Initially, all courses will display in Period 00. Reference your Master Schedule spreadsheet to use this report to move courses to the applicable periods. It may be helpful to Filter the report by Subject to view one grade level at a time. Check the box to display Courses/Section Numbers. The totals in ( ) will be zero until students are assigned to the teachers. If numbers appear, they will reflect the number of seats assigned to the section the previous year provided Courses & Sections were rolled over. Filter even further to view a specific teacher by typing the teacher name in the Search box Focus School Software 5

Filtered by Grade Level: Filtered by Grade level and Teacher: Focus School Software 6

Using your Master Schedule spread sheet, move sections to the correct periods (only the Grade Level course should remain in Period 00). To move a section, click and hold the blue plus sign (+), located to the right of the section title, drag the section to the new location (period) and drop when the new block appears highlighted (see next page). In the example below, Charlene Bake s Math Grade Two class will be moved from Period 00 to Period 1. Release (drop) when the new period box highlights When moved successfully, you will see a temporary blue check mark appear in the new period block. Focus School Software 7

Continue this process until all the teacher s sections have been moved to the correct period for that grade level. If necessary, to access a section s information, simply click the underlined class section title. A new browser popup will show the Courses & Sections screen for the selected class. From here, Tweaking the Section information can be performed, as well as setting up Co-Teacher options, as well as completing or editing Florida state reporting fields. Once all sections have been moved according to your Master Schedule worksheet, the Teacher Schedules Report will look similar to this: Focus School Software 8

Activity 1. Filter the Teacher Schedule Report to display the Kindergarten classes only. 2. Use your Master Schedule spreadsheet to move all kindergarten sections except Related Arts to the applicable periods. Tweaking the current Master Schedule This report shows all the section information including whether the class Takes Attendance, is Graded, and all state required fields. Adjustments can be made directly from within the Master Schedule Report this is known as Tweaking. When courses and sections Rollover from year to year, only a few may need to be tweaked. To access the report, click the Scheduling Menu and select Master Schedule Report. To include Florida Fields in this report, click the Show Florida Fields button in the upper right corner of the report screen. The report defaults to the Sections tab Focus School Software 9

If desired, turn on the Filters to search by specific sections, courses, teachers or any column header. This will be helpful if Mass Updating changes to the Master Schedule (such as period changes for all 2 nd grade PE sections). Customize the columns that display by clicking Toggle Columns; this will give the user the ability to hide columns o Uncheck any columns to be hidden from view when the report is displayed: These columns will stay hidden until the user re-checks them To make individual changes to section information, click the boxed entries to display edit options. (Checkboxes allow multiple selections). Click the SAVE button after making any changes. Focus School Software 10

Mass Updating Changes from the Master Schedule Report (Related Arts Begin/End Periods) When certain fields on the sections need to be changed, this can be quickly addressed using the Mass Update feature within the Master Schedule Report. Make sure the Sections tab is highlighted. 1. Click on the FILTERS button to turn on the filter 2. At the top of the Course column, type in the name of the course whose PERIODS will be changed The system will automatically display all sections for that Course. 3. Click on the Mass Update button: 4. Select BEGIN PERIOD from the first drop down (Column) and 5. Select the new PERIOD from the second drop down (Value) Focus School Software 11

6. Click Update 7. Click on the Mass Update button again 8. Select END PERIOD from the first drop down (Column) and 9. Select the new PERIOD from the second drop down (Value) 10. Click Update The updated fields will change to yellow and the save button will change to red. 11. Click the red Save button to preserve the changes. Other common changes that can be mass updated from the Master Schedule Report include but are not limited to: Room number Total Seats Scheduling Method Section short names Focus School Software 12

Activity Use the Master Schedule Report to Mass update the period for the Kindergarten PE sections. Check the Teacher Schedules Report to view the changes. Click on one of the sections to view the change at the section level. Creating Packages (aka Parent/Child sections) Packaging Sections Package Scheduling ties multiple sections together for ease in scheduling (also referred to as Parenting ). The Homeroom section is identified as the Parent Section. All other sections assigned to the teacher are called the Child Sections this includes Specials. It is worth noting that there are multiple approaches to creating packages for scheduling. This section will cover creating packages via Create Packages or within the Teacher Schedules Report. Note: before creating a package, ensure the Homeroom section is setup as well as all grade level sections, including Specials. Building the Package via Create Packages (Simplest method) 1. To begin building the package, go to the Scheduling menu and select Create Packages 2. Select the Parent/Homeroom Section by typing in one of the following: the teacher number, teacher name, course number, course name or section number (this may be the same as the teacher number in some schools) 3. Select the Children Sections including Related Arts by typing in the teacher/section number in the filter box and checking the boxes next to each of the teacher s sections. Focus School Software 13

NOTE: Be sure to click SAVE once all child sections have been added. To delete a child section click the box to deselect it or to delete all of the child sections, select Clear selected. Unlinking Parent/Child Sections Child sections can be unlinked from the Parent section in three ways: from Create Packages, from Courses & Sections, or via the Master Schedule Report. From Create Packages: 1. Go to the Scheduling menu and select Create Packages 2. Click into the Parent/Homeroom Section box to bring up the Filter field; begin typing in the teacher name, teacher number or course number to locate the desired parent section. Focus School Software 14

3. Click on the Parent Course or teacher when it displays; this will display all the sections linked to the parent: 4. Click into the pull down with all the sections listed to make the check boxes display. 5. To delete a child section click the box to deselect it or to delete all of the child sections, click on Clear selected. Focus School Software 15

6. Click the Save button in the upper right corner. From Courses & Sections: 1. Click on the section that is to be removed from the Parent: 2. In the section header, click the underlined Choose Parent Section link. A pop up window displays and just above the Subjects column will be a button titled Remove the Parent. 3. Clicking this button will close the new browser window and remove the Parent/Child association. Focus School Software 16

Once the popup browser closes, notice that the Section information screen now shows that there is no longer a Parent Section associated with the course instead it will appear as it did before a Parent was assigned, showing only the underlined word Choose. Verify that this is correct and click the red Save button to finalize the Parent Section removal process. From the Master Schedule Report 1. Select the Linked Sections tab 2. Turn on the filters and in the Parent Section column, type in the Homeroom teacher s name: 3. Scroll to the right to select the section(s) to be unlinked and click on the This will open to the section information in Courses & Sections. 4. In the section header, click the underlined Choose Parent Section link. Focus School Software 17

A pop up window displays and just above the Subjects column will be a button titled Remove the Parent. 5. Clicking this button will close the new browser window and remove the Parent/Child association. Once the popup browser closes, notice that the Section information screen now shows that there is no longer a Parent Section associated with the course instead it will appear as it did before a Parent was assigned, showing only the underlined word Choose. Verify that this is correct and click the red Save button to finalize the Parent Section removal process. Activity Use the time remaining to either: Build your co-teach or Related sections if applicable Move all sections for each grade level to the appropriate period Use the Teacher Schedules Report or the Master Schedule Report to verify the period set up for your grade levels Focus School Software 18

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