Calendar
The Calendar screen allows you to create and manage a personal calendar in Focus. You can add one-time or recurring events to your calendar, and share events with your sections. You can also view events shared with you by other staff members. Additionally, you can define blocks of time you are available to meet with parents for conferences. You can request a conference with a parent, after which the parent will select the meeting date and time from the your availability. You can then approve or deny the request. Parents and students can also directly request a conference with you.
1. In the menu, click Calendar.
2. The current month and year is automatically displayed. To switch to a different month, click the left or right arrows.
3. Along the left side of the screen is a list of the upcoming events on your calendar. To filter the list, begin typing the event title in the Search field.
4. Click on an event in the list to navigate to that date on the calendar and view the event details in a pop-up window.
5. To filter the calendar to only view events in a specific category or categories, click the category pull-down and select the desired category or categories.
Categories you have created are marked with an asterisk. Categories for events other users have shared with you do not have asterisks, and appear at the bottom of the list.
6. Click on an event on the calendar to view the event details in a pop-up window.
7. In the Display pull-down, select Class room sections to view the meeting times for each of your sections on the calendar.
8. In the Display pull-down, select Show Assignment to view Gradebook assignments on the calendar for your sections.
9. Click the assignment to view its details in a pop-up window.
10. In the Display pull-down, select Show Lessons to display the lessons set up in My Information > Web Pages on the calendar.
11. Click the lesson to open the web page in a new tab or window.
12. In the Display pull-down, select Show Units to display the units set up in My Information > Web Pages on the calendar.
13. Click the unit to open the web page in a new tab or window.
All of your assignments, section meeting times, lessons, or units may not fit on the calendar block. Click "X more" at the bottom of the block to view all your items in a pop-up window.
14. Click Week to view the calendar by week instead of month.
15. Click Month to return to the monthly view.
Event categories are used to organize the events on your calendar. When adding an event to the calendar, you can assign the event to a category. You can filter the calendar by category to only view events in the selected category/categories.
1. Click Setup at the top-right of the screen.
2. On the Setup screen, click the Event Categories tab.
3. In the blank row, click the Color field to select a color for the category.
4. In the pop-up window, click the desired color and click Choose.
5. Enter a Title for the category.
6. To restrict use of the category to specific school years, select the Min School Year and Max School Year.
7. Press Enter to add the event category. Continue adding event categories as needed.
8. When finished, click Return to calendar.
The Availability Settings are used to set up the days and times you are available for conferences with parents.
The Meeting Length must be set in the Availability Modifiers before setting up General Availability or Date-Specific Availability. An error message will display if you attempt to set up availability without first setting the Meeting Length.
The Availability Modifiers allow you to set the meeting length. This will break up your availability into slots of times, which are available for parents to select from when requesting conferences. You can also add time padding in between meetings. For example, if you have a meeting length of 20 minutes and add a time padding of 5 minutes, the options for parents will be 7:00 am - 7:20 am, 7:25 am - 7:45 am, 7:50 am - 8:10 am, etc.
1. Click Setup at the top-right of the screen.
2. In the Availability Settings tab, scroll down to the Availability Modifiers section.
3. Click the Meeting Length (minutes) field, and enter the meeting length of time, in minutes. This will break up your available windows of time into slots that parents/students can request for conferences.
4. Click the Time Padding between meetings/classes (minutes) field, and enter the length of time in minutes to pad between meetings.
Your entries will auto-save once you click or Tab out of the field. A green check mark will briefly display next to the field to indicate it has been saved.
In the General Availability settings, you can set up the days and times you are available to meet every week.
1. Click Setup at the top-right of the screen.
2. In the Availability Settings tab under General Availability, click the plus icon next to the applicable day of the week.
3. Click in the time fields and enter the start and end times for your first window of availability on that day, in the format hours:minutes am/pm. Once you click or Tab out of a time field, the time is auto-saved.
If you enter a time without am or pm, Focus will populate am or pm based on the logic of the typical school day. For example, if you enter 7:00, Focus will populate 7:00 am. If you enter 3:00, Focus will populate 3:00 pm. Review the time windows carefully to ensure the correct time of day is indicated.
4. To add an additional time window for the same day, click the plus icon again and enter the start and end times for the second window.
5. To remove a time window, click the red X icon.
6. Continue adding time windows for the other days of the week, as needed.
In the Date-Specific Availability settings, you can set up the specific dates and times you are available or not available to meet, which differ from your General Availability.
1. Click Setup at the top-right of the screen.
2. In the Availability Settings tab, scroll down to the Date-Specific Availability section.
3. In the blank row, click the Date field and enter the date or select the date from the calendar.
4. In the Time Start and Time End fields, enter the window of time you are available/not available in the hours:minutes am/pm format.
If you enter a time without am or pm, Focus will populate am or pm based on the logic of the typical school day. For example, if you enter 7:00, Focus will populate 7:00 am. If you enter 3:00, Focus will populate 3:00 pm. Review the time windows carefully to ensure the correct time of day is indicated.
5. In the Available pull-down, select Yes or No to indicate if this is a window of time you are available or are not available.
6. Enter any Notes, if needed. Notes are for your use only; they are not visible to parents.
7. Press Enter to add the row. Continue adding other date-specific availability, as needed.
You can add events to your calendar and share events with your sections.
1. On the Calendar screen, hover over the green plus icon and click Add an event.
Alternatively, click the applicable date on the calendar. This will auto-populate the Date fields for the event.
2. In the pop-up window, enter a Title for the event.
3. To share this event with parents and students in your section(s), select the Section(s) with whom to share the event. If this is an event only for your own calendar, leave the Section(s) pull-down blank.
4. Select the Category for the event.
The district may have set up default categories that are available to you to use, as well as the event categories you have created yourself.
5. Click the first Date field and enter or select the event start date from the calendar.
The end date field will auto-populate with the same date. If the event will last multiple days, enter or select the end date in the second date field.
If you added the event by clicking on the date on the calendar, the Date fields will be auto-populated based on the date you clicked.
6. If the event will last all day, select All Day. This will hide the Set Time fields.
7. If you have access to multiple schools, select the School, if applicable.
8. In the Set Time fields, enter the start and end times for the event (for non-all day events) in the format hours:minutes am/pm. If a meeting length was set up in the Availability Settings, the end time will auto-populate based on the length set.
9. Enter any notes for the event, as needed.
Notes are displayed when the event is opened on the calendar.
10. Click Save.
The event is added to the calendar, highlighted in the category color.
1. On the Calendar screen, hover over the green plus icon and click Add Recurring Event.
2. On the left side of pop-up window, enter a Title for the event.
3. To share this event with parents and students in your section(s), select the Section(s) with whom to share the event. If this is an event only for your own calendar, leave the Section(s) pull-down blank.
4. Select the Category for the event.
The district may have set up default categories that are available to you to use, as well as the event categories you have created yourself.
5. If the event will last all day, select All Day. This will hide the Set Time fields.
6. If you have access to multiple schools, select the School, if applicable.
7. In the Set Time fields, enter the start and end times for the event (for non-all day events) in the format hours:minutes am/pm. If a meeting length was set up in the Availability Settings, the end time will auto-populate based on the length set.
8. Enter any notes for the event, as needed.
Notes are displayed when the event is opened on the calendar.
9. On the right side of the screen, select the days of the week for the event.
10. In the Pattern pull-down, select whether the event occurs Weekly, Bi-weekly, Monthly Forward, or Monthly Backwards.
If you select Wednesday in Days Scheduled and select Monthly Forward in the Pattern pull-down, the system will look for the first available day of the week (Wednesday) after the start date. If you select Wednesday in the Days Scheduled and select Monthly Backwards in the Pattern pull-down, the system will look for the first available day of the week (Wednesday) before the start date.
When the Monthly Forward or Monthly Backwards option is selected, only one week day should be selected.
11. Select Ignore School Year Range to ignore the school year calendar and allow events to extend through the given time frame.
This might be useful for teachers working outside of the set school calendar.
12. In the From and To fields, enter or select from the calendar the date range for the event.
13. Click Generate Scheduled Days.
The dates for the recurring event will be listed, based on the days of the week, pattern, and date range selected.
14. If a particular date should be excluded, click the red minus sign to delete the date.
For example, you might remove non-school days.
15. In the confirmation message, click OK.
16. Click Create Recurring Event.
The events are added to the calendar, highlighted in the category color.
You can edit events you have created. If you have shared these events with parents and students in your sections, the events on their calendars will also be updated with your edits.
1. Click the event on the calendar.
2. In the pop-up window, make your changes and click Save.
If you have edited a recurring event, a pop-up will display asking if you want to apply changes to only this event or all events. Click Yes to update all events (excluding date/time), or click Cancel to only update that particular event.
You can delete events you have created. If you have shared these events with parents and students in your sections, deleting the event will also remove it from their calendars.
1. Click the event on the calendar.
2. In the pop-up window, click Delete.
The event is removed from your calendar, and the calendar for any users you have shared the event with.
If you have deleted a recurring event, a pop-up will display asking if you want to delete all events tied to this event. Click OK to delete all events, or Cancel to delete only that particular event.
Requesting a parent conference will send an email to the selected parent containing your message and a link to request a date and time from your availability. The parent will also receive a Portal alert. Parents can select up to three time slots.
1. On the Calendar screen, hover over the green plus icon and click Request Parent Conference.
2. In the pop-up window, select the Parent from the pull-down.
3. Enter a Reason for the conference request.
4. Click Request.
A confirmation message will display indicating an email was sent to the parent.
5. Click OK to close the confirmation message.
Once a parent has requested time slots for the conference, the bell icon on the Calendar screen will display a number, indicating the number of pending requests waiting your approval. You will also receive a Portal alert when you have pending conference requests.
1. On the Calendar screen, click the bell icon, or on the Portal, click the Portal alert.
2. In the pop-up window, select the time slot you will meet with the parent and click Approve. To deny all the time slot requests, click Deny all.
When you click "Deny all," you will be prompted to enter a reason. This reason will be included in an email that is sent to the parent. The reason will also display in the Approved/Denied Requests tab in the Request Conference screen for the parent.
When a time slot is approved, it is added to your calendar as an event. The parent will receive an email that the conference request was approved. The conference will also be added as an event on the parent's calendar. If you delete the event from your calendar, it will also be deleted from the parent's calendar, and the time slot will become available again.
The Conference History tab displays all past conference requests.
1. On the Calendar screen, click the bell icon..
2. Click the Conference History tab.
The requester, child, reason for the conference, accepted time, and status are displayed for all past conference requests.
The Conference Requests Sent tab displays the pending conference requests that you have sent to parents that are awaiting the parent's response.
1. On the Calendar screen, click the bell icon..
2. Click the Conference Requests Sent tab.
The user who requested the conference, the parent the request was sent to, and the reason for the conference request are displayed.
