Viewing Curriculum Maps for Schools without Schedule Expressions

Some schools in your district, such as elementary schools, might not build schedules using Aspen like your secondary schools do. Because of this, you need to follow a few additional steps for curriculum maps to appear in the Staff view on the Gradebook and Planner tabs for the appropriate teachers.

Schedule expressions define the days and periods a course meets. You can set up Aspen to display curriculum maps in the following ways for schools without schedule expressions.

Maps can appear on the Gradebook tab, Curriculum Maps side-tab only. This displays the map, but the teacher has to determine which topic to cover for a particular date on the timeline.

Maps can appear on the both the Gradebook tab, Curriculum Maps side-tab, and in the Curriculum View on the Planner tab. The Planner tab displays the map topics that are scheduled to be covered on a particular date based on the start date and number of meeting dates defined for the map topic.

Curriculum Maps on the Gradebook Tab in the Staff View

For a curriculum map to appear for the correct teachers, you must assign the curriculum map to the district course.

To have a curriculum map appear in the Staff view, on the Gradebook tab, Curriculum Maps side-tab, do the following:

In the District view, on the Assessments tab, Curriculum Maps side-tab, find and select the map to verify that the Active checkbox is selected.

Click the Schedule tab. On the Courses side-tab, find and select the course. At the Curriculum Map field, click to select the curriculum map you want to use for this course.

Now, the curriculum map appears in the Staff view, on the Gradebook tab, Curriculum Maps side-tab for any teacher assigned to that course.

Curriculum Maps on the Planner for an Elementary Teacher

If you want the appropriate curriculum map to appear on each teacher's Planner tab when they select the Curriculum View, you need to create schedule expressions (the days and times a course meets) for course sections in the School view. This way, Aspen knows to display the map topics on the planner.

Note: Although the actual days and periods you define for each section do not affect your schedule, you might want to assign logical expressions to course sections to view an organized schedule matrix. For example, you might define that Grade 2 Math meets 1(M-F), or every day, and that Grade 2 Science meets 2(M-F), etc.

For specialist course sections, such as Computer, Art, or Music, if you consider the number of meetings when creating specialist curriculum maps, you want the schedule expressions you define for those course sections to resemble how the courses meet. This way, Aspen knows which dates to display which map topics on the Planner tab.

For example, if Art meets once per week, you might define the schedule expression 1(M) for those course sections.

If Physical Education meets twice per week, you might define the schedule expression 3(M, Th) for those course sections. This way, the curriculum map topics appear based on the number of meetings that have already met, and will meet this week. For example, if Physical Education has met six times, and the teacher should begin a new map topic during meeting seven, the new map topic appears on the teacher's planner on the first meeting of the fourth week.

To have a curriculum map appear in the Staff view, on the Planner tab, do the following in addition to the steps above:

Note: Before you can define schedule expressions for course sections, make sure that you have at least one day and one period defined.

Log on to the School view, and click the Schedule tab, Structure side-tab.

On the Structure side-tab, click Days. If days are not defined, on the Options menu, click Add. The Add Day dialog box appears:
In the Day count field, type the number of days you want to define. To get curriculum maps to appear on teacher's planners, you only have to define one day. But, if you want your schedule expressions to accurately represent when these classes actually meet, you might define a day for each day of the week. Click Save.
On the Structure side-tab, click Periods. If periods are not defined, on the Options menu, click Add. The Add Period dialog box appears:
In the Period count field, type the number of periods you want to define. Like days, you only need to define one to create a schedule expression. Click Save.

On the Schedule tab, click the Master side-tab. You can do one of the following to define schedule expressions for course sections:

To define the same schedule expression for all course sections, select all course sections, and on the Options menu, click Mass Update. The Mass Update dialog box appears:

Select Schedule from the Field drop-down. Then, in the Value field, type the schedule expression you want to define for all sections, such as 1(M-F).

Note: The actual expression you define is not important. It can be 1(1). Aspen needs a value in this field only to display the maps.

To define a different schedule expression for each course section, find and select a course section. The section's Details page appears.

Click the value in the Schedule field. The Schedule pop-up appears:

Select the periods/days to define the schedule expression, and click OK.

Now, when teachers assigned to these course sections select to view the Curriculum View on the Planner tab, the active curriculum map assigned to that course appears.