Setup Options, Decorators, & Checklists

Forethought Options

Forethought Options can be found on the Manage tab.

   

Planner Options

Lesson Plan Default Template - This is where you define the default template for all team planners. Enter the text as you want it to appear in the team planners. Click Save when your planner is set. While this template is available for all planners, it can be customized by teachers in their individual planners. 

Activity Options

• Activity Publishing Method - Choose whether activities will need curriculum administrator approval or can be automatically approved and published to the district scope and sequence.
• Display Related Activities - If checked, any and ALL activities and/or standard clarifications connected to a learning standard will be displayed for the teacher.  This means that if a state standard has a standard clarification connected to it in one group folder, then it will also be displayed again for the same state standard in another group folder. 
• Anonymous Publishing - Choose whether activities should be published anonymously.  If not, the name of the teacher will be listed at the top of the activity that he or she created.

 

Standard Decorators

Learning standard decorators enable the district to provide teachers with a visual indicator for district-defined standards meaning.  There are five separate colors (green, blue, red, gray, and yellow) that can be set to a learning standard.  These decorators are district-wide and can be used in all courses.  To enable a decorator, select the color choice then check the "active" box below.  Give the decorator a name and a description (optional).  The name and description will appear to the teachers if they hover the mouse over the decorator within their lesson plans. 

Lesson Checklists

Checklists give districts the ability to provide a series of items for teachers to check when creating lessons.  These items could be technology items, instructional strategies, or other materials that may be used in the lesson.  Multiple checklists can be created, however this feature is turned off by default.  To manage checklists, go to the Forethought Options interface.  Activate the feature by checking Enable Lesson Checklists.

Create Checklist Groups

• Type in the name of the desired group in the top text box
• Click the Add Group button

• You can use the Edit Group button to change the name of an existing group
• Move Up and Move Down will reorganize your existing groups
• Remove Group will help you remove unwanted groups

Create Checklist Items

• Select a checklist group
• Type in the new item in the text box below
• Click Add Item
• Repeat the process for additional items

As with groups, you can use Edit Item, Move Up, Move Down, and Remove Item to manage your list of items.

Items are immediately available to teachers upon creation.  No extra publishing is required. 

Run a Checklist Usage Report

A report of district wide checklist usage can be generated in the Reports tab.  This report shows the number of times each item was used within a given month.

To create a checklist usage report:

• Open the Reports Tab
• Select the Checklist Usage Report
• Choose the start date and school
• Click "Submit Report" to open or save a PDF File