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October 2012
Greetings!    

 

We're another month into what I hope will be the best year ever for you and your students.   

 

Administrators, teachers, students and parents all have great expectations at the beginning of the year. Don't let these goals get lost!

 

Checking on academic progress all year long provides information that can help your students reach their academic goals. 

 

The Castle Learning Online Team

 

In This Issue
Webinar Offerings
Grading Constructed Responses
Social Studies News
Ace the SAT & ACT Writing
SAT or ACT?
ELA News
Science News
New Theology Course
Mail Bag
Upcoming Conferences
November Webinar Offerings! 

Castle Learning is committed to continuous development and learning opportunities. 

 

Join one of our Training Team members for topics including:

  • LOTE & ESL Teachers
  • Creating Classes
  • General Q&A
  • State Testing Prep
  • What's New for Returning Users?
  • Differentiating Instruction
  • Data Driven Instruction
Grading a Constructed Response Assignment

Grading a constructed response assignment is easy. You can grade by student or grade by class. The flexibility to grade by class helps save time and increase efficiency as you grade each student question-by-question.

Read more to get instructions for grading a constructed response assignment for more than one student.

Social Studies News
Constructed Response Questions Update

 

Social Studies Constructed Response questions are now searchable by attribute. When creating a Constructed Response assignment, teachers can search by choosing the 'Additional Criteria' filter box on the question criteria page.

 

Teachers can look at specific types of questions (such as political cartoons or maps) and/or search based on Bloom's Taxonomy or Webb's Depth of Knowledge Levels.  

 

How to Ace image: logo for Method Test Prep.SAT & ACT Writing  Sections
   By Method Test Prep

Writing sections are on both the SAT and ACT tests. They make up a crucial part of the composite scores of each test. The SAT contains a mandatory essay, but on the ACT, the written essay is optional. However, some schools require the essay as part of admissions.

So how do students perform well on the written portions of these tests? The following tips can help students become better writers for the SAT or ACT. 
  1. The Essay - Say What You Mean
  2. Improve. Identify. Review.
  3. Practice

READ MORE 

 

image: logo for Method Test Prep.
Should a Student Take the SAT or ACT? 
By Method Test Prep

Nearly every college or university in the country accepts either SAT or ACT scores.  It is difficult to predict on which test a student will score higher.  Therefore, every student should take both the SAT and ACT at least once to see on which one they perform better.

 

READ MORE  

ELA News 
Various updates in the ELA database! 
Science News
Focus on Vocabulary

One of the keys to mastering any subject area is understanding the terminology it uses. This is particularly true for technical subjects like science.

Castle Learning Online assists students in rising to this challenge by providing a comprehensive glossary of vocabulary terms for each course that can be used in several ways to "learn the lingo."

Attention: Catholic High School Customers
New Theology Course!

Castle Learning Online has recently released a new course: Theology. This is based on the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' Curriculum Framework for the Development of Catechetical Materials for Young People of High School Age.
Customer Support Mail Bag

 

In this month's mail bag you can get the answers to the following questions by clicking on the blue hyperlinks: 

Upcoming Conferences
Meet the Castle Learning Team

Nov 2-3 - NYS TESOL
Nov 8-9 - AMTNYS
Nov 8-9 - NC Science Teachers 
Nov 8-9 - NJ Education Association
Nov 16 - PADLA
Nov 17 - NYC Association of Math Teachers
Nov 18-20 - NYSCATE
Nov 19 - PA Association for Supervisors and  Curriculum Development
Nov 28-30 - PA Science Teachers Association
Nov 29-30 - PA School Counselors Association