Grading Made Simple

http://www.engrade.com/teacher-gradebook.php?c=2

http://www.engrade.com/msm1480 PUBLIC SITE

First I signed up for engrade.com, which was a very simple process. I then entered "my class." I liked how the site gave you a few different grading options you could choose letters, numbers, or percentages. I also liked how you could weight different assignments with different weights depending on what you wanted them to be worth, even if you did not want them to be worth 100. This program had many great features that I think will be helpful when I eventually have my own class. I love how you can use the calendar to post test and assignments and also leave comments/description of them and that the students can log in and see them and also that they can comment. This will be helpful just in case a student and/or parent has a question and they are not in school, because it is vacation time or the weekend. This way the lines of communication are always open. This site is also great because parents can go online and check up on how their children are doing in between report cards and progress reports. They can make sure that they know what is going on, because sometimes kids are not completely honest with their parents.

I like the comments section, because with a class full of students you sometimes might not remember why you marked a student a certain way, so with the comments section you can have notes that way if a parent or student questions you, you can just refer to your notes and then you will have a quick answer. If I had a classroom, I think that I would totally use this program and that it would be helpful in keeping me organized. I like order and having all of this on one program is a great idea, although people who have been teaching for a long time might not like this because they are used to using their "gradebooks" and might want to continue to do it without the help of technology. Parents like my mother were always asking me what I got on a test like a day later, so I feel like this beinig accessible to parents and students could be a good thing and a bad thing. Some parents get too involved and may spend too much time checking this and it could cause them to put more pressure on their children. I think that it is also good for children because if they forget to write down their homework, or if they are absent for a day or two they can sign on to this site and check out the calendar, and if they have questions they can leave them online. With computers being used in most home this is a good way to keep track of assignments and grades. This could also be bad if a family can't afford a computer. This may be a little more successful if schools show parents and students how to access and use the site.

All in all I found this to be a great site.