Tasks
Work set for a child by a parent or a teacher, gathered in one place.
The menu item is called Tasks, and it gathers the work that has been set for a child — by a parent, or by a teacher linked to them — so there is one list to work through rather than several screens to remember.
Do not confuse it with Homework help, the item just below it. That one is the tutor for a worksheet your child is stuck on: see Homework help.
For a child
Each task is a card saying what to do and by when, with Start on it. Starting a task takes your child straight to the activity it points at, already set to the right book or list.
The kinds of task are Read, Echo read, Spelling — write, Spelling — say & repeat, Spelling — test, Word list practice, Word list test, Oral Practice and Write a composition. There is also a plain Task, which is just an instruction in words with no activity behind it — "read to your grandmother", say.
Write a composition is the one kind with no book: a writing title is not a book and never goes into the Family Library, so setting one asks for no book and no lesson. Start opens the Composition screen. It ticks itself off once a piece has been written and its transcript confirmed — an unchecked machine reading of your child's handwriting never completes homework on its own — and it carries no target score, because nothing in Composition gives a mark.
Oral Practice asks your child to talk with Jas about a book — see Oral Practice. It needs a book with pages to talk about, not a word list, and it covers the whole book rather than one lesson. Start opens Oral Practice on that book. It ticks itself off when a conversation has been finished and your child said something in it — opening the screen and closing it again does not count. It carries no target score, because a conversation is never given one: the feedback is in words.
Oral Practice is a preview feature too. A family that does not have it yet is not offered the kind, and a child in such a family sees the task without Start. A teacher can choose it for any linked child; if that child's family does not have Oral Practice yet, the app says so instead of setting a task the child could not do.
Write a composition is only offered to families that have Composition. Composition is a preview feature being released to a small group of families first. If your family is not in that group, the kind is not in the list at all; a composition task that was already set still shows, but without Start.
A card shows how it is going: Not started, In progress, Done or Overdue, with the count done so far, the due date, who set it, and — where one was set — the target score and the best reached.
The list is in the order the work is due: everything still to do first, soonest due date at the top and tasks with no due date after the dated ones; then finished tasks, then removed ones. Tasks due the same day are ordered by kind, then by book. Starting a task does not move it up.
Setting one
Parents, Family Managers and linked teachers use Set a task, having picked the child. You choose what to do, the book or list, a due date, how many times it should be done, and optionally a target score and whether reaching it finishes the task early. There is a note field for anything else.
Change this task edits the due date, the count and the note. To change the activity, the book or the lesson, remove the task and set a new one — the attempts already recorded belong to the work as it was set, and moving the goalposts underneath them would make nonsense of both.
Ticking one off by hand
Mark done closes a task the app cannot see — reading to a grandparent, or a sheet done on paper. It is recorded as ticked off by you, and is never presented as though Zen Reader measured it.
Hearing about tasks
Tasks send notifications, so nobody has to keep checking the list:
- A new task. When work is set, the child and the family's parents are told — "You have a new task" for the child, "Mei has a new task" for a parent — with who set it. Whoever set it is not told about their own task. Several tasks set on the same day arrive as one notice ("Mei has 3 new tasks"), not one each.
- A task coming due. A reminder counts down to the due date — five, three and one day before, and on the day — with how many of the set number are done. It arrives at your family's reminder time, and only while reminders are switched on, rather than in the middle of the night. A teacher gets only the due-day one.
- A task finished. Whoever set the task is told when it is complete — "Mei finished a task". When a teacher set it, the family's parents are told as well, since they would otherwise not see work set from outside the family.
Tapping one opens Tasks for that child.
Removing and restoring
Removing a task only stops it showing. Show removed brings the removed ones back into view, and any of them can be restored.
Still stuck? Ask Jas with the button in the corner, or email support@zenreader.co.