The setting for Sports Desk is a TV sports show. Host Jim Shortz is joined by a retired coach (Coach), a sports journalist (Terri), and a former pro athlete (TJ). As students work on sports-related math word problems, the sports panel comments on their work, encourages them, and describes their efforts with a wide range of sports cliches used by the media. In addition to strengthening and extending student math and reading skills, we hope students grow to understand and enjoy the panel's cliche-ridden comments too. Of course, reading skills are important when solving word problems. Though reading levels match math levels to some extent, weak readers face a double challenge mastering word problems. By turning on the Audio Support option, teachers can enable students to hear words pronounced by simply clicking on them. Download Teachers' Guide PDF

Problem Types and Data Tracked by Sports Desk The program's Summary Page shows the range and types of problems which can be chosen by the teacher as work for a single student, a small group, or the entire class. The easiest work involves addition to ten (above). Most challenging are problems involving combined operations, and those requiring a basic understanding of fractions, decimals, or percents (below). Each of the 1000+ problems in Sports Desk generates its data randomly from within set ranges. Thus, a repeated problem very likely will not contain the same numerical values on its second appearance. Both the Summary Screen and Easy Track can display how each student has performed in each of the 42 data categories. Results can be viewed for the latest session, the last 5 sessions, or students’ cumulative work. Scores can be displayed as right / total, a percent correct, or as a letter grade with the grading scale being established from Easy Track. (Students can access the Summary Screen, but only to view their own work. Students do not access Easy Track.) The Sports Desk Options screen provides teachers a great deal of control in tailoring work to individual, small group, or class needs.

An additional option for teachers is to set a starting point for students and then turn on Auto Advance. Sports Desk then automatically moves students forward in a logical sequence as they demonstrate success, and moves them backward to less difficult material if performance is poor. The scoreboard on the screen below shows the student has missed one out of the four problems completed, is working on all types of problems in the program except those requiring estimation, and is working at Level 2 with Auto Advance turned on. When all markers left of the 2 on the scoreboard are red, the highest level of Auto Advance has been reached.

In addition to individual student records, class totals are also kept and shown on the Summary Page and in Easy Track. At a glance, teachers can quickly assess the classes’ overall performance on a given objective.

Sports Desk with Jim Shortz includes Easy Track, Micrograms' latest recordkeeping and management system. This system collects student performance data from around the network and consolidates it into screen reports (partially described above), printable reports, and printable graphs. Printable reports may be for the latest work session, the last five work sessions, or a cumulative report of all work done. The report may be for a single student, for every class member with class totals, or for teacher-designated special groups. Graphs document student or group performance over time. Also, they can be used to compare the performance of an individual to a group, or to several groups, over time. On a stand-alone machine, similar kinds of recordkeeping can be done; but, of course, students must take turns using the program, rather than using it simultaneously, as they do on a network.

Easy Track also allows teachers to quickly adjust program activities for students individually or to easily change options for a group, or the entire class, at once. In the network environment, Easy Track provides our most advanced network security, convenience, and management features, many of which can be used in the stand-alone environment as well.