ReFORMat Your Teaching

In two short weeks I am leading a workshop at a Google Summit in Lancaster PA about using Google Forms.  I came up with the title of the workshop, ReFORMat Your Teaching, because I want to encourage educators to think of more creative uses for forms other than assessment purposes.  Forms is a multi-faceted tool that enables teachers to collect information but what about the students?

Last year my students learned how to use forms to support their learning of key concepts.  They used forms to collect information related to online research, collected data for graphing and analysis, and assessing their peers' knowledge of concepts.

During our study of Life Structures (FOSS) I introduced the class to online search tips and tricks. Once students employed the use of these strategies to find appropriate websites concerning crayfish, they copied and pasted the links into a Google Form.  We then looked out the frequency of a particular website URL and had a great list of peer-reviewed sites to make the research process easier.




Here are some of the responses:

My students also surveyed each other by making their own Google Forms and adding options through the multiple choice format. This was a great introduction for how to create a Form on their own.  They then were able to analyze the data.  More information can be found on the class blog.

After reading blog posts from talented educators in my online PLN, I was later inspired about the possibilities of how to use Forms to enhance student learning, rather than just student assessment.  This involved student-created assessments, reading instruction, and writing creativity.

Last year's class created their own geometry test. They created the test items in a Google Doc and then drew visuals for questions using Google Draw.  Some examples of other "tests" they made are available here.

Another great use of Forms is to provided support while students are working more independently with for Reading instruction.  I created this example for a talk I did at Long Island University concerning Interventions for Struggling Readers.  I used branching to provide support for students that selected incorrect answers.  When a student was incorrect, a new page opened with an explanation with the correct answer.





My next goal is to use branching in a creative writing assignment where students do a "Choose Your Own Adventure" e-text.  Kate Petty has a great example on her blog.


Also next on the list is exploring more advanced scripts and add-ons!

Using Google Draw to add Gamification in the Classroom

I have recently been inspired by a variety of posts from my online PLN and a post that Alice Keeler wrote about using Google Draw to create Math manipulatives.  My students are memorizing their multiplication and division facts up to 12 at this point in the school year and I am always looking for new and exciting ways to motivate them to practice to pass our weekly quizzes.

My answer was gamifying this task by creating individual game boards in Google Draw. I then gave each of my students a copy using Google Classroom.  The game board  is very simple but it gets the job done.  Students can see how they are doing and move their game piece with each accomplishment. No one but me and the specific student can see where he/she are on the game board so no student has to worry about others making comments about the progress made.

Here is how I did it:

• First I used the shapes in Google Draw to create a simple game board. 

• Then I looked for a game piece by changing the search tools to only include images that can be reused.

• Once I got the game piece, this is the result.  I have provided a link to the game so you can feel free to make a copy and tweak for your purpose.

• Next, I created an assignment on Google Classroom and gave each of my students a copy.

The best part is that through Google Classroom I can easily access every students' game to check that they are accurately reflecting their progress.

So far, so good.  Now if we can stop with all this snow so we can have a full uninterrupted week of school!