EN Test ONCE there was a gentleman who married, for his second wife, the proudest and most haughty woman that was ever seen. She had, by a former husband, two daughters of her own humor, who were, indeed, exactly like her in all things. He had likewise, by another wife, a young daughter, but of unparalleled goodness and sweetness of temper, which she took from her mother, who was the best creature in the world. No sooner were the ceremonies of the wedding over but the mother-in-law began to show herself in her true colors. She could not bear the good qualities of this pretty girl, and the less because they made her own daughters appear the more odious. She employed her in the meanest work of the house: she scoured the dishes, tables, etc., and scrubbed madam's chamber, and those of misses, her daughters; she lay up in a sorry garret, upon a wretched straw bed, while her sisters lay in fine rooms, with floors all inlaid, upon beds of the very newest fashion, and where they had looking-glasses so large that they might see themselves at their full length from head to foot. The poor girl bore all patiently, and dared not tell her father, who would have rattled her off; for his wife governed him entirely. When she had done her work, she used to go into the chimney-corner, and sit down among cinders and ashes, which made her commonly be called Cinderwench; but the youngest, who was not so rude and uncivil as the eldest, called her Cinderella. However, Cinderella, notwithstanding her mean apparel, was a hundred times handsomer than her sisters, though they were always dressed very richly. It happened that the King's son gave a ball, and invited all persons of fashion to it. Our young misses were also invited, for they cut a very grand figure among the quality. They were mightily delighted at this invitation, and wonderfully busy in choosing out such gowns, petticoats, and head-clothes as might become them. This was a new trouble to Cinderella; for it was she who ironed her sisters' linen, and plaited their ruffles; they talked all day long of nothing but how they should be dressed. "For my part," said the eldest, "I will wear my red velvet suit with French trimming." "And I," said the youngest, "shall have my usual petticoat; but then, to make amends for that, I will put on my gold-flowered manteau, and my diamond stomacher, which is far from being the most ordinary one in the world." They sent for the best tire-woman they could get to make up their head-dresses and adjust their double pinners, and they had their red brushes and patches from Mademoiselle de la Poche. Cinderella was likewise called up to them to be consulted in all these matters, for she had excellent notions, and advised them always for the best, nay, and offered her services to dress their heads, which they were very willing she should do. As she was doing this, they said to her: "Cinderella, would you not be glad to go to the ball?" "Alas!" said she, "you only jeer me; it is not for such as I am to go thither." "Thou art in the right of it," replied they; "it would make the people laugh to see a Cinderwench at a ball." Anyone but Cinderella would have dressed their heads awry, but she was very good, and dressed them perfectly well They were almost two days without eating, so much were they transported with joy. They broke above a dozen laces in trying to be laced up close, that they might have a fine slender shape, and they were continually at their looking-glass. At last the happy day came; they went to Court, and Cinderella followed them with her eyes as long as she could, and when she had lost sight of them, she fell a-crying. Her godmother, who saw her all in tears, asked her what was the matter. "I wish I could--I wish I could--"; she was not able to speak the rest, being interrupted by her tears and sobbing. This godmother of hers, who was a fairy, said to her, "Thou wishest thou couldst go to the ball; is it not so?" "Y--es," cried Cinderella, with a great sigh. "Well," said her godmother, "be but a good girl, and I will contrive that thou shalt go." Then she took her into her chamber, and said to her, "Run into the garden, and bring me a pumpkin." Cinderella went immediately to gather the finest she could get, and brought it to her godmother, not being able to imagine how this pumpkin could make her go to the ball. Her godmother scooped out all the inside of it, having left nothing but the rind; which done, she struck it with her wand, and the pumpkin was instantly turned into a fine coach, gilded all over with gold. She then went to look into her mouse-trap, where she found six mice, all alive, and ordered Cinderella to lift up a little the trapdoor, when, giving each mouse, as it went out, a little tap with her wand, the mouse was that moment turned into a fine horse, which altogether made a very fine set of six horses of a beautiful mouse-colored dapple-gray. Being at a loss for a coachman, "I will go and see," says Cinderella, "if there is never a rat in the rat-trap--we may make a coachman of him." "Thou art in the right," replied her godmother; "go and look."

Today I want to take some time to talk about our latest feature, which will be released very soon - Plan management. For teachers who assign activities, there have been many improvements made to the assignment management system over the past few years - allowing teachers to schedule in advance, set due dates, view their assignments by week, and bulk edit their assignments. Working closely with teachers across the globe, we honed in on a few additional features that represented incredible value for teachers and administrators: Copying assignments from one class to another Creating a sequence of assignments for your class, then sharing it with a colleague Reusing a sequence of assignments from last year Assigning a year’s worth of relevant activities with only a few clicks All of this will be possible with the new interface - and more!   How it works Copying from one class to another The list of all activities you have assigned to a class - those that have been completed, those that are active now, and those scheduled for the future - can be saved as a “plan”. Once this plan has been saved, you can load it for another class. This saves a lot of time that teachers currently spend assigning the same activities to multiple classes that they teach. Assign activities to one class Save the plan Switch to another class Load the plan This can be done multiple times - for teachers who assign one week in advance, the plan can be copied every week, or even more frequently if that’s how you work. After loading a plan, teachers can then make edits and personalise assignments without affecting the original. This can be done for both active assignments and scheduled assignments.   Sharing a plan Standardising and synchronising assignments across multiple classes is a very important goal for many users, such as grade leaders, math coaches, and district administrators. We also acknowledge that many teachers most familiar with Matific want to help their colleagues, particularly those who are less comfortable with our interface (or with technology in general). After saving any plan, you can generate a “share” link with a single click. When another teacher clicks this link, they will be prompted to load the plan you created into their own class. Once they accept, whatever you created will now be assigned to their class as well. Re-using a plan from last year Teachers can re-use plans from previous academic years - just save the plan at the end of the year, and load it for your new class at the start of the next. Loading a preset plan Matific has created a “preset” plan for every textbook and curriculum in our system, customised for every grade level. Rather than assigning a year’s worth of work yourself, you can select one of these presets and load it for your class. They will now have assigned work for every week. You can then make whatever changes you like, and even save and share your custom version with others. This will help many teachers get started with assigned work in the fastest possible way.   What about the Planner? The release of plan management will also see the removal of the “Planner” feature, as all the functionality of this older section of our platform has been incorporated into plan management. Rather than working in a separate section, you will use the same interface and functionality of “regular” activity assignment to build out your plan - or simply select a preset in a similar fashion as before. For any class with the Planner feature active, your work will not be lost - existing work will automatically be converted into plans. If you don’t log in to the teacher platform, you won’t notice any difference - the activities you selected in the old interface will continue to appear in the weeks you assigned them to without any disruption. If you do log in, you will no longer have access to the dedicated “Planner” page. Instead you will see the activities you selected in the “Scheduled” section of Manage Activities - the key difference will be that you can now edit these assignments in advance! We aim to ensure a smooth transition for everyone - please reach out to support if you encounter any difficulties.   Closing thoughts This new feature is built on the principle of maximising the impact you can create with your limited time. We have eliminated many tedious tasks, and built a platform where you can easily share your work - with your other classes, or with your colleagues. We are very excited to hear what you think of “Plan management” - please send us your feedback!

ONCE there was a gentleman who married, for his second wife, the proudest and most haughty woman that was ever seen. She had, by a former husband, two daughters of her own humor, who were, indeed, exactly like her in all things. He had likewise, by another wife, a young daughter, but of unparalleled goodness and sweetness of temper, which she took from her mother, who was the best creature in the world. No sooner were the ceremonies of the wedding over but the mother-in-law began to show herself in her true colors. She could not bear the good qualities of this pretty girl, and the less because they made her own daughters appear the more odious. She employed her in the meanest work of the house: she scoured the dishes, tables, etc., and scrubbed madam's chamber, and those of misses, her daughters; she lay up in a sorry garret, upon a wretched straw bed, while her sisters lay in fine rooms, with floors all inlaid, upon beds of the very newest fashion, and where they had looking-glasses so large that they might see themselves at their full length from head to foot. The poor girl bore all patiently, and dared not tell her father, who would have rattled her off; for his wife governed him entirely. When she had done her work, she used to go into the chimney-corner, and sit down among cinders and ashes, which made her commonly be called Cinderwench; but the youngest, who was not so rude and uncivil as the eldest, called her Cinderella. However, Cinderella, notwithstanding her mean apparel, was a hundred times handsomer than her sisters, though they were always dressed very richly. It happened that the King's son gave a ball, and invited all persons of fashion to it. Our young misses were also invited, for they cut a very grand figure among the quality. They were mightily delighted at this invitation, and wonderfully busy in choosing out such gowns, petticoats, and head-clothes as might become them. This was a new trouble to Cinderella; for it was she who ironed her sisters' linen, and plaited their ruffles; they talked all day long of nothing but how they should be dressed. "For my part," said the eldest, "I will wear my red velvet suit with French trimming." "And I," said the youngest, "shall have my usual petticoat; but then, to make amends for that, I will put on my gold-flowered manteau, and my diamond stomacher, which is far from being the most ordinary one in the world." They sent for the best tire-woman they could get to make up their head-dresses and adjust their double pinners, and they had their red brushes and patches from Mademoiselle de la Poche. Cinderella was likewise called up to them to be consulted in all these matters, for she had excellent notions, and advised them always for the best, nay, and offered her services to dress their heads, which they were very willing she should do. As she was doing this, they said to her: "Cinderella, would you not be glad to go to the ball?" "Alas!" said she, "you only jeer me; it is not for such as I am to go thither." "Thou art in the right of it," replied they; "it would make the people laugh to see a Cinderwench at a ball." Anyone but Cinderella would have dressed their heads awry, but she was very good, and dressed them perfectly well They were almost two days without eating, so much were they transported with joy. They broke above a dozen laces in trying to be laced up close, that they might have a fine slender shape, and they were continually at their looking-glass. At last the happy day came; they went to Court, and Cinderella followed them with her eyes as long as she could, and when she had lost sight of them, she fell a-crying. Her godmother, who saw her all in tears, asked her what was the matter. "I wish I could--I wish I could--"; she was not able to speak the rest, being interrupted by her tears and sobbing. This godmother of hers, who was a fairy, said to her, "Thou wishest thou couldst go to the ball; is it not so?" "Y--es," cried Cinderella, with a great sigh. "Well," said her godmother, "be but a good girl, and I will contrive that thou shalt go." Then she took her into her chamber, and said to her, "Run into the garden, and bring me a pumpkin." Cinderella went immediately to gather the finest she could get, and brought it to her godmother, not being able to imagine how this pumpkin could make her go to the ball. Her godmother scooped out all the inside of it, having left nothing but the rind; which done, she struck it with her wand, and the pumpkin was instantly turned into a fine coach, gilded all over with gold. She then went to look into her mouse-trap, where she found six mice, all alive, and ordered Cinderella to lift up a little the trapdoor, when, giving each mouse, as it went out, a little tap with her wand, the mouse was that moment turned into a fine horse, which altogether made a very fine set of six horses of a beautiful mouse-colored dapple-gray. Being at a loss for a coachman, "I will go and see," says Cinderella, "if there is never a rat in the rat-trap--we may make a coachman of him." "Thou art in the right," replied her godmother; "go and look."