SPMS Schoology Overview 2021-2022

New to Schoology? We can help! Madison Gowin, media specialist & Jessica Horton, science teacher and faculty
Schoology trainer.

- Reporting problems: please put in a web ticket for any Schoology technology issues. For immediate
questions/concerns/how-to, you can visit Ms. Gowin in the library or Ms. Horton in room 355 (6 th period
planning).
- Continued Training Opportunities: New teachers will have further trainings through the monthly new
teacher meetings. You can also schedule an appointment with Ms. Gowin or Ms. Horton, or we can
share helpful videos and process documents.

Non-negotiables (per admin):

 Update Schoology course weekly
 Post daily “to do” in updates for quarantined or absent kids.
 Communicate weekly with families using Schoology Course Updates

 All graded assignments go on calendar with due dates

 Anything that is graded needs to be scheduled on the calendar. Pro tip – the titles of the
assignments, quizzes and tests should match what students will see in TAC.
 When adding an event/assignment, start with your subject area. (Ex: ELA: Nouns Quiz)
 Teach your students how to color code their own calendar.
 Make sure events/assignments have a clear beginning and end date (due date)
 Label the assignment the SAME in Schoology and TAC
 Label if the assignment is a formative or summative grade

 Label and organize everything in folders

 Label each folder with the Unit number, name, and a color
 When a Unit is over, change the color of the folder to white
 Use subfolders to organize materials by week including the date
 Link folders to the calendar by adding begin/end dates to them

 Communicate using updates

 Any important information about the happenings in your classroom

 Important dates (Tests, school events, etc)
 Class Newsletter (if you use one)
 Agenda of activities or assignments for the week or unit
*How you organize your agenda is up to you.

Additionally, it is expected that you will:

 Teach students how to use Schoology (First week, see below)

 Become proficient with Schoology and understand the basic functions and navigation

 Utilize Schoology for your PLC

- Sandbox Course
 If you do not have access to your academic courses OR you want to try out the features of Schoology without
risk, consider setting up a Sandbox Course. Reach out if you need help doing this!

- Correct Schoology login

 URL: https://stjohnsschools.schoology.com or visit the school homepage.
*One of the biggest login issues is that students visit www.schoology.com  NOT correct!

- MUST-DOs for the 2021-2022 School Year

 Update Course Privacy Settings
o Settings must be changed for every course individually; these settings will not apply to all
courses.

 Gradebook Set Up
o It is not a requirement that you utilize the gradebook synching feature, but you do need to
complete the setup. However, teachers who use Schoology for grading formatives and
summatives find it incredibly useful to sync. If your students are completing most of their work
on Schoology, consider trying this.

- Schoology Access Codes for Parents

 These can be found in HAC. Teachers do not have access to the Parent Schoology codes.

- What you will need to teach your students, per SJCSD:

• Log in
• Check Updates
• Collaborate and Submit Assignments
• Access and differentiate between Groups and Courses
• How to message teachers
• How to access and color code the calendar
*You can choose how you communicate this out to your students – whole group, reserve a cart or lab, etc.

Part 2 of Training will cover:

*This training is for teachers who are new to St. John’s County and whomever else would like to stay.

 Groups vs Courses + required settings within

 Badges
 Adding Materials
 Assigning from the OneDrive App
 Adding Assignments
 Assignments vs Discussions
 Student and Parent Use