Writing up a lesson in thirty seconds

Where you write up a lesson

On Today every one of today's lessons has a “Write up” button; on the Schedule you click a lesson and choose the same. The write-up opens as a window over the screen you were on, so after saving you are back on Today. A lesson that is over and has not been written up yet stays on Today under “Needs attention” until you have done it.

You can also write up a lesson that has not happened yet, but the software then asks whether you are sure: writing up marks the lesson as taught, and a taught lesson goes on the invoice.

Step by step

1. Open the lesson and, under “What did you work on?”, tap the topics. You type a new topic in with “+ topic”; after that it is in your standing list for that subject.
2. Under “How did it go?”, use five dots for each subject to show where the child stands, from just started to has really got it. This is your assessment of today, not a mark.
3. Did you also work on another subject? Add it with “Add a subject to this lesson” and fill it in the same way.
4. Tick “Homework set” if you gave them something to take home; at the next lesson the software asks whether it was done.
5. If this child has a lesson plan, tick off the lines you covered and add a short note where needed. If a goal is at five dots, the software suggests marking the goal as reached.
6. Write one sentence under “Note for the monthly report”: what went well, where they got stuck, what you will do next time. This is the sentence the monthly report will use.
7. If you like, add something under “Only for you”. That always stays private: not in the portal, not in the monthly report, not in the weekly mail to the school teacher.
8. Choose whether parents read this write-up in the portal; the default comes from your settings. Click “Write up”. Done.

The lesson plan: what you do every week

A student's lesson plan is a short list of topics you are working on, each with what you do (“10 minutes of quick-fire times tables”) and a goal (“three times without a mistake”). You create and edit it on the student's page or from Today, and it is ready with every lesson. Only you see it.

In the write-up you tick off each line that was done. Once a goal is reached, the line moves to the goals reached and you can put it back later. That way every lesson starts with a plan, and the picture of what a child can already do keeps growing.

Changing it afterwards

You can always change a write-up: open the lesson again and change whatever you like. If the lesson has been invoiced in the meantime, the write-up changes nothing on the invoice. If the monthly report has already been sent, it stays exactly as the parent received it.

A topic you accidentally typed twice can be merged under Settings › Subjects and topics; the write-ups move to the topic that remains.

Frequently asked questions