EM-S ISD Educators get Microsoft Office FREE for Personal Computers and Devices!

We are excited to announce a new opportunity for our EM-S ISD educators to access Microsoft Office products (including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and more) FREE of charge for their home computers, tablets, and mobile devices.

Educators can download and install Microsoft Office on personal devices today by following these simple steps:

How to Install Microsoft Office on Personal PCs or Macs
Educators can install the latest versions of Microsoft Office on up to five personal devices.

• Sign in to your Office 365 account at outlook.com/ems-isd
• Click the Cog (Gear icon in the upper right corner) > Office 365 Settings
• Click Software (from side of window)
• Verify the version that you are using, and click Install. Follow the prompts to complete the installation.

How to Install Office on Devices

• Download the Microsoft apps from your app store, OR go to Office on your Devices and select the device (iPad, iPhone, Windows Phone, Android Phone)
• After the installation is complete, open the app
• When prompted, enter your district email address. Select Organizational or Work account and enter your Office 365 (email) password.

Learn more about this offer, the applications included in the Microsoft Office Suite, and more at www.emsisd.com/office365.

Stay tuned to this blog and to our Facebook page for news and helpful tips while using Office 365 and these Office applications!

District Website Outage Information

Click here or on the image below to read about the

planned District Webpage Outage (November 15-16.)

If you haven't already done so, go ahead and save/bookmark this blog page now so you can get back to it for reference later!

District Employee Links

Our district website, emsisd.com, will be unavailable due to scheduled network maintenance for 12-24 hours beginning at 6:00 pm on Saturday, November 15.

This blog will not be affected by the outage!

The following online resources will not be affected by the website outage, but employees will not be able to access the links on the Employees page of the district site. Instead, it will be necessary to access the sites directly using the links below.

Helpful Employee Links:

• Aesop (Educator/Substitute Login)
• Eduphoria
• Office 365 (Employee Email, Office 365, etc.)
• PD 24/7
• Skyward Educator Access (Gradebook)
• Skyward Employee Access (Financial)

District employees will receive an email from the Campus Technology Integrator (CTI) or administrator with a file that can be saved to your computer desktop (personal or district-owned) with all of these shortcuts.

Email Quarantine Notifications

Many of you may have received an email from quarantine{at}messaging{dot}Microsoft{dot}com this morning. This is a legitimate email from Microsoft’s spam filtering system.

In an effort to cut back on some of the spam we have been receiving, while keeping the settings open enough so that we receive emails from parents, vendors, etc., the Technology Department has enabled a Spam Filtering System from Microsoft for our Office 365 email accounts. In general, suspicious messages will be automatically intercepted and quarantined before they reach your inbox. Messages containing harmful content, such as viruses, will be deleted permanently, while email with potentially untrustworthy content (spam and phishing) will be moved to a safe quarantine space.

These emails will be sent once a day to notify you of possible spam messages that have been quarantined prior to reaching your inbox. Please watch for any legitimate emails from parents or other contacts that may be caught in this system. This notification gives you the following options for managing any suspicious emails:

• To move a quarantined email to your inbox, click the Release to Inbox link
• To classify a sender as trustworthy and move their quarantined email to your inbox, click the Report as Not Junk link
• If a message is actual spam or unwanted junk mail, NO ACTION IS NECESSARY. This message will be automatically deleted in 15 days.

Eduphoria: PDAS Questions of the Week

Teacher Self-Reports are due this week and we've heard from lots of people with the questions related to selecting TEKS/ELPS Objectives.

How do I select Objectives in my PDAS Self-Report?
Question 1 of Section 1 asks teachers to list the academic skills they directly teach or reinforce in their classes. Teachers can type in every objective (whew ... might take forever!). However, since our district uses Eduphoria: Forethought for curriculum and lesson plans, teachers can simply click the Forethought Courses option and select each of the TEKS (and ELPS) they address in each content area.

Use the drop-down list in the upper right corner to move between content areas. When you have selected the desired TEKS/ELPS, click the green Add Objectives button to insert them into the "answer field" of Question 1.

I changed grade levels and/or content areas. I only see the objectives from last year. How can I access the correct objectives for this year?
The Objectives (TEKS and ELPS) in PDAS are pulled directly from the current schedule in your personal Forethought planner. Even if you use a team planner or do not even use the Forethought Planner, you must have a current schedule in order to use this feature in PDAS. See video for step-by-step instructions. 

I see the ELPS, but do not see TEKS listed for one or more of my content areas. What should I do?
Please contact the district Curriculum Coordinator or Instructional Technologist.

Adjusting your Sleep Setting on your Laptop

Is your computer going to sleep too soon? 

Go to the Windows button

You will use your search feature in Windows 7 to find the sleep settings.

The search feature will bring up Change when the computer sleeps. 

When the computer is plugged in to the dock station,you will need to change the plugged in sleep settings. When the computer is running on battery (undocked), you will need to change the battery settings. To conserve battery life you may change your settings to sleep faster. 

Moving Files from OneDrive (Personal Account) to OneDrive for Business

OneDrive (formerly SkyDrive) is a personal Microsoft account. Any district employee that was here about 3 years ago has an account. Anyone that joined the district more recently may not have an account. Although it started out as a district account, Microsoft separated it from our email accounts, and therefore it is now a PERSONAL account. The district has no access to this account, and therefore cannot help troubleshoot password problems.

As part of our district Office 365 account, we all have access to OneDrive for Business. You can access it with the OneDrive link that is in your Office 365 account online. Each user has 1 Terabyte of space ... that is HUGE!

If you have been saving documents into OneDrive (formerly SkyDrive) and want to move them into OneDrive for Business, the video below walks you through the steps to download and install the OneDrive sync application and how to sync both your OneDrive contents and your OneDrive for Business contents. As soon as that is complete, you can easily drag files from one folder to the other on your computer, let it sync, and be done!

Changing your Display Name in Office 365

If you go by something other than your legal name, you might want to change your Display Name in Office 365. You cannot change the actual email address, but the Display Name is what others will see when you send an email.

Follow these simple steps to update your Display Name ...

• Sign in to your Office 365 account on the web
• Click the cog (gear) in the upper right corner > Options
• Scroll down and click Edit Information
• Click General (left)
• Update Display Name and SAVE

This video walks you through the entire process.

Eduphoria Forethought FAQs

Welcome back, TEACHERS! As we begin another year, we get more questions about Eduphoria: Forethought than just about anything else. Here are our top few questions ... and answers!

Q:  My schedule has changed this year. How do I change that in Forethought?
A:  You can delete your old schedule and create a new one (Rest assured ... deleting a schedule will NOT delete any previous plans) or you can edit your exiting schedule.



Q:  I have updated my profile (selected my new campus and/or new grade level, etc.) but I still see last year's TEKS in my lesson planner.
A:  Updating your profile is important, but does not affect your Forethought Lesson Planner or your PDAS. You will need to update your schedule and be sure that you select your new grade level when adding an entry. When it's time for your PDAS self report, your schedule must be updated to your current teaching assignment in order to easily insert TEKS in that report.

Q:  I changed my schedule, but I see last year's schedule on one (or more) of the days for this year. How do I replace it with my new schedule?
A:  Any time you click onto a day, the current schedule is "stamped" onto that day. If you see an old schedule, you can erase it and replace it with the current schedule by clicking on the "Magic Button" and selecting "Delete Today's Plans". (If you have actual plans on this day, they will be removed!)

Q:  How can I remove the default text, "Warm-Up, Materials, Procedures, and Evaluation" from every subject in my planner?
A:  You can highlight and delete the default text from your planner and replace it with whatever you or your principal prefers. You can change colors, fonts, styles, etc. You can even copy something from another application (Microsoft Word) and paste it into this field to replace the generic default text. When you are happy with your new template, you must click the wrench tool and select "Set Default Text for Entry". You will need to repeat this for every subject.
*Remember that if you have previously clicked on a day, you will see the old default text.

What other questions do you have about Eduphoria? What about any other district systems?

Eduphoria Login Information & Profile Update

Beginning this week, all users will log in to Eduphoria with their Active Directory (AD) usernames and accounts.

Secondary Campus (Windows 7) Users – this is what you used to log in to your computers on campus last year.
Elementary Campus Users – you set your AD password at the end of the year (it was suggested that you use the same as your Novell password.)

Eduphoria has been set to prompt ALL USERS to verify their information on their next login. It’s a very quick process …

Log in to Eduphoria with your Active Directory Username and Password.

Carefully review the information on the first screen. If the information is correct, select the first option. If you have moved campuses, please select the second option and update your profile.

If you have any trouble logging in to your Eduphoria account, please contact our helpdesk at 817-847-2990.

The 5 Apps Parents Should Delete From Kid's Phones

Keeping kids safe online can sometimes be a difficult task. Which apps are causing issues with bullying and cyber-safety? Click the link to view and read about the troublesome apps and what you can do to protect your students. http://www.click2houston.com/news/5-apps-parents-should-delete-from-kids-phones/25865316

Operating System & Browser Information

Operating System Information

You are probably aware that Microsoft has announced that as of yesterday, April 8, it is no longer supporting Windows XP and there will be no further security updates or offer technical support. If you are on an elementary campus, you are also aware that we are still using XP until the end of this year. Please do not be alarmed. Our district has security options in place and will continue to support our XP users.

If you are using XP at home, you may want to consider upgrading to a newer operating system. Remember that you can purchase Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 8.1 for less than $10 at ems.onthehub.com. The secondary campuses transitioned to Windows 7 this year, and Elementary campuses will be using Windows 7 for the 2014-15 school year. 

Browser Suggestions

We have received information from Schoolwires and Eduphoria that recommend all users use Chrome, Firefox, or Safari when accessing their sites. Specifically,

• Schoolwires Site Manager may not be accessible or may not work correctly in IE. Chrome, Firefox, and Safari should work fine. ESC 11 officially recommends Chrome when editing sites in Schoolwires.
• Eduphoria announced that IE8 on XP will no longer have access to SchoolObjects in late April and that IE8 will be blocked for all users this summer. IE9 will continue to work, but users may not be able to use all features. Eduphoria recommends using Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, or Apple Safari if you are running Windows XP or Vista.

Schoolwires Site Manager in Internet Explorer

If you have tried to update your EM-S ISD website in Internet Explorer in the last couple of weeks, you may have encountered an error message like this:

This is a compatibility issue and can be fixed with just a couple of clicks of the mouse.

• In the IE browser, click the cog (gear) in the upper right corner of your screen.
• Click Compatibility View Settings
• Click the Add button next to emsisd.com, click Close

When you click Site Manager again, you should get right in. Happy Editing!

Elementary Grading Handbook Revisions: Homework Grades (3rd-5th)

The newly revised Elementary Grading Report Handbook states that "Homework does not need to be graded; however, at teacher discretion, it may count for a maximum of 10% of the 40% daily work weighting."

If you are interested in including homework grades in your gradebook, this video will walk you through the process of manually determining if you are in compliance.