This is the second in my series on inspiring Civil Rights Leaders. Today we are going to focus on Thurgood Marshall, but make sure you check out my previous post on John Lewis. It’s one of my best sellers for a reason – John Lewis was such an inspiring Civil Rights Leader!
Thurgood Marshall is often overlooked in the history books, but students who are passionate about justice and about solving problems democratically really resonate with Thurgood Marshall. His persistent approach of arguing for equal rights for all eventually earned him a seat as the first Black Supreme Court Justice. That story of persistence and determination is a great one to share with students.
And if you need even more inspiring biographies, be sure to check out this bundle of 12 biographies about Civil Rights Leaders. Each biography is short – just one page – and focuses on comprehension and vocabulary skills so you can meet your standards AND inspire kids! Win win!
Read on to learn more about this biography resource about Thurgood Marshall and how to use it in your classroom.
Table of Contents
Why Teach About Thurgood Marshall?
Thurgood Marshall had a passionate, lifelong committment to justice that many fifth and sixth graders find relevant. One year I taught this passage to my fifth graders, and I will never forget one girl’s response. Cute as a button, and knee high to a grasshopper, people often underestimated her intelligence and her committment. When she read the passage about Thurgood, she felt such a kinship with him that she went on to read more biographies and do more research about his life. When I asked her what made him so special to her, I will never forget her response. She said, “He’s just like me, Ms. Cotton. Because he was Black, people didn’t think he could do things, or be things. But he could. And he makes me know that I can too.”
And that’s why I continue to teach about Thurgood Marshall.
Ideas for Teaching About Thurgood Marshall
I like to introduce Thurgood by first introducing the key vocabulary term, segregation. I usually introduce the term with M&M’s. In the morning, I give each student either a yellow M&M or a red M&M. I also give each student a colored dot that matches the color of their M&M because they will almost immediately eat the candy! Then, I tell them the rules for the day. No yellow M&M kid can talk to, sit with, play with, or interact in any way with a red M&M kid. We move the desks to opposite sides of the room, and begin our day.
At first, the kids think it’s funny. Then, I pass out the math papers. Oops! Somehow I only have enough copies for the kids on the yellow side of the room. No worries! I give the red candy kids a piece of paper, and tell them to copy the work from the document camera. See? Everything is the same. Everything is equal. Everyone gets to do the same math assignment.
The day continues, and I deliberately favor the yellow candy kids in any way I can. They are usually sitting on the side of the room with the drinking fountain, and if a red candy kid wants a drink, they can’t cross into that territory. Too bad, no drink for you! And so it goes.
At the end of the day, I give each kid a red and a yellow candy, and we have a talk about segregation. How did it feel to the red candy kids? How did it feel to be a yellow candy kid? And what would happen if it continued for many, many years? And then finally, I show the image of Thurgood Marshall, and ask, “How would you feel if this man came to say segregation was wrong, and everything had to change?”
We finish up the introduction by biting the red and yellow candies in half, and talking about the differences on the outside, and the similarities on the inside. And then we complete the vocabulary practice page about segregation, and I promise that the students wil learn more about Thurgood the next day.
I’ve written a lot about the importance of teaching vocabulary. If you need a resource to help you teach the vocabulary in this biography, and in the other biographies about Civil Rights Leaders, be sure to check out this Civil Rights Word Wall! It is low prep, and makes a great teaching bulletin board in minutes!
And check out these other blog posts for more ideas.
This resource includes Google Slides, Google Forms, and PDF Printables so that you have the maximum amount of flexibility. Personally, I prefer to have my students work on the vocabulary as a printable. This allows them to add the pages to their Word Work notebook, and makes it easy for them to find and use the words later. But, I prefer the Google Slides text and Google Form comprehension questions practice. There are two reasons.
Reading online text is an important skill and students need practice. This resource is formatted so that students read a paragraph, and take notes right on the Google Slide. The slides also include highlighting bars so that the students can easily highlight important information.
Google Forms are so easy to grade, and that saves me time! Want to know more? Check out this video where I walk through my process of grading a Google Form, and you will see how easy it is! The Google Form in the video is from my John Lewis resource, but follows the same format as the Google Form in the FREE Thurgood Marshall resource.
What Do Teachers Say About this Resource?
This resource will inspire your students, and help you meet goals in reading, comprehension and vocabulary. Plus, it’s versatile and easy to use! But don’t take my word for it. Here is what other teachers are saying!
“Students loved the lesson. I will be using this resource again in my next school year.”
-Yvette P.
“Great Resource! Helpful to students. Well made. Thank you!”
-Brittney V.
Next Steps
This resource will help you inspire your students as they learn about this amazing Civil Rights Leader. Ready to download this FREE biography resource about Thurgood Marshall?
If you want to dive into Civil Rights more deeply, you will want to check out these resources that make a perfect companion to this resource.
This Civil Rights Activists resource includes the Thurgood Marshall resource featured in this blog post AND features biographies about 11 other Civil Rights Activists, including John Lewis, working for equality for women, blacks, hispanics, farm workers…. This resource is perfect for introducing students to many Civil Rights Leaders across time and a great jumping off place for a research project. Click the image to grab it now!
Future blog posts will go into greater detail about each of these resources. Check back soon!
And this Civil Rights Word Wall makes teaching important vocabulary terms easy and fun! Click the image and grab it today!
I hope these resources help you inspire students to be leaders as well as learners. And I hope they help make your teaching life easier.
One of the things that makes teaching meaningful for me is the chance to open a student’s eyes and help them see new possibilities. Know what I mean? But, it can be challenging to fit that in with all of the required curriculum, and it can be hard to find resources that help make that happen. That’s why I wrote 12 biographies about Civil Rights leaders like John Lewis. I researched about 20 leaders so that I could choose 12 leaders who fought for equality for women, blacks, hispanics, and farm workers. My goal was to help my students see themselves in these leaders, and I hope yours will too.
Each biography is short – just one page – and focuses on comprehension and vocabulary skills so you can meet your standards AND inspire kids! Win win!
This resource about John Lewis includes:
a one-page text in PDF format AND Google Slides
3 Vocabulary Practice sheets, also in PDF and Google Slides
Text Dependent Comprehension questions in PDF format AND Google Forms
vetted student friendly links for further research
Answer keys, Teaching Suggestions, Schedules, and more supports for you!
Read on to learn more about this biography resource about John Lewis and how to use it in your classroom.
Table of Contents
Why Teach About John Lewis?
This biograpy about John Lewis will introduce your students to a key Civil Rights leader who worked for equality from the 1960’s to the present day. Because John overcame discrimination as a teenager , I think he is especially inspiring to students. Maybe one of your students will follow in his footsteps and end up in Congress someday, fighting for a cause they believe in!
As a teenager, John experienced discrimination in his daily life. Luckily, he had a wonderful teacher who encouraged him, and he was able to attend college. His career as a Civil Rights leader really began as a Freedom Rider, and eventually, led him to run for Congress, and win! John’s example is definitely one that can help students see how to overcome the challenges in their own life and reach great success.
Ideas for Teaching About John Lewis
John Lewis first came to national prominence as the President of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, and he spoke at the March on Washington right before Dr. King spoke. I like to introduce my students to John Lewis by playing this video clip. In the clip, an older John Lewis reflects on that experience, and clips from his speech are woven throughout. This quick video gives students a wonderful introduction to John as a young man and as an older man (and the link is included in the Teaching Suggestions page of the resource as well!)
After playing the video, I introduce the vocabulary. The resource includes practice sheets for teaching these target vocabulary terms: discrimination, segregation and nonviolent. You can choose to use the PDF printable OR the Google Slides version of the practice sheets. I use my Civil Rights Word Wall cards to introduce the target vocabulary and prepare my students to understand the text. It is a perfect companion to this resource!
OR, introduce the vocabulary using one of your favorite strategies? Need some ideas? Be sure to check out this blog post which gives quick and easy strategies for introducing new vocabulary terms.
This resource includes Google Slides, Google Forms, and PDF Printables so that you have the maximum amount of flexibility. Personally, I prefer to have my students work on the vocabulary as a printable. This allows them to add the pages to their Word Work notebook, and makes it easy for them to find and use the words later. But, I prefer the Google Slides text and Google Form comprehension questions practice. There are two reasons.
Reading online text is an important skill and students need practice. This resource is formatted so that students read a paragraph, and take notes right on the Google Slide. The slides also include highlighting bars so that the students can easily highlight important information.
Google Forms are so easy to grade, and that saves me time! Want to know more? Check out this video where I walk through my process of grading this Google Form, and you will see how easy it is!
What Do Teachers Say About this Resource?
This resource will inspire your students, and help you meet goals in reading, comprehension and vocabulary. Plus, it’s versatile and easy to use! But don’t take my word for it. Here is what other teachers are saying!
“My students loved using this resource! It was very engaging and convenient to use! I will definitely use this again in the future.”
-Holly O.
“I used this with our week of learning on activists and our focus on the Selma march. I was looking for a resource to support my students’ ability to read more about John Lewis on their level. This was so helpful, thank you!”
-Lindsay D.
Next Steps
This resource will help you inspire your students as they learn about this amazing Civil Rights Leader. Ready to buy this biography resource about John Lewis?
If you want to dive into this more deeply, you will want to check out these resources that make a perfect companion to this resource.
This Civil Rights Activists resource includes the John Lewis resource featured in this blog post AND features biographies about 11 other Civil Rights Activists working for equality for women, blacks, hispanics, farm workers…. This resource is perfect for introducing students to many Civil Rights Leaders across time and a great jumping off place for a research project. Click the image to grab it now!
Future blog posts will go into greater detail about each of these resources. Check back soon!
And this Civil Rights Word Wall makes teaching important vocabulary terms easy and fun! Click the image and grab it today!
I hope these resources help you inspire students to be leaders as well as learners. And I hope they help make your teaching life easier.
Update: This awesome giveway has passed, but you can still grab this terrific Google Form Escape Room on TPT! Be sure to follow MsCottonsCorner so you never miss a FLASH FREEBIE again!
Today’s FLASH FREEBIE is a digital Escape Room about decimals – Escape from Santa’s Workshop. It is FREE for 24 hours! Grab it on TPT right now before the price goes back up! And be sure to follow me on TPT and Instagram to get all 12 FREEBIES in December!
Your students will love frolicking through the North Pole, solving decimal problems and laughing along the way. There are riddles, codes and rhymes along with some rigorous decimal problems. The decimal concepts covered are plotting decimals on a number line, comparing decimals, rounding decimals and writing decimals in expanded notation. The Form is completely self-grading, so just assign it through your Google Classroom or other LMS, and sit back and watch the fun!
There are still 3 MORE FREEBIES in the month of December! Watch for more postings about them on this blog and at MsCottonsCorner on Instagram! And one brand new resource will be revealed in my TPT store. Follow me all three places to ensure that you don’t miss a thing!
And there will be a bonus 13th day, so stay tuned!
And don’t forget to tell your teacher friends. Sharing is caring!
It’s Monday morning, and I spent a few minutes this morning mulling over my weekend reading. Saturday morning found me, coffee in hand, perusing the New York Times for the latest news. Saturday I also reviewed some websites about fixing a running toilet and finished a mystery I’ve been working on this week. Sunday I spent some time reading about how to fix florescent lights, started reading a book on life for Colonial Women, researched a fix for a problem with my Google Classroom, read some lesson plans on teaching language skills and read the first few pages of a new mystery. You may be noticing a trend – three fourths of my weekend reading was non-fiction. Take a minute and think about your own life as a reader. How much non-fiction do you typically read compared to fiction? Most adults read more non-fiction, so I suspect you will find that to be true for yourself as well.
When I was reading those websites about fixing things in my house, I used lots of essential skills like skimming and scanning that don’t work well in fiction but are essential for non-fiction reading. I don’t have time to read an entire blog post that won’t answer my questions, so I skimmed the headings, scanned the text and found my answers. (If you’re wondering, the toilet is fixed and the electrician will be here Wednesday!). I used the Table of Contents to help me find the lesson plans that my students need, and the captions and photos helped me digest and understand the news in the newspaper. The CCSS call for equal reading of fiction and non-fiction, and even if your standards don’t include that requirement, it’s important that intermediate grades step up with non-fiction to prepare our students for a successful adult life.
I’ve written about the importance in other posts. Be sure to check out Nab Some Non-fiction – a post about 5 essential non-fiction picture books to start with and also some of my reviews of other great non-fiction texts (Click the Biblio-files tab for all the links!) And this post from the ASCD website clearly explains why non-fiction matters. Non-fiction reading not only helps students prepare for their adult life, it improves their reading comprehension, builds vocabulary, and increases grades in science and social studies classes. And still, most of us struggle to bring in enough non-fiction. My district adopted reading program includes only about 10% non-fiction, nowhere near the 50% required my state standards.
So, how do we fill the gap? How do we get kids jazzed about non-fiction, and hook them on content? One strategy I’ve used to bring more non-fiction text to my classroom is Digital Escape Rooms!
Why Digital Escape Rooms?
Well, first and foremost, Escape Rooms are fun! But why digital, you ask? Kids are already spending too much time on screens. Shouldn’t we move away from that every chance we get?
Well, yes and no. The first Escape Room I tried was a paper and pencil format. It took me approximately 2 hours to copy, cut, stuff the envelopes, place them around the room, gather the boxes, locks, etc., and get things set up. For me, that time commitment is not practical, so I turned to digital Escape Rooms. Kids get all the fun of an Escape Room and you have no prep. That’s right, no prep! Just assign through your Google Classroom (click here for a blog post with step by step instructions) or other LMS and then watch the fun! And, you get automatic results if you use a Google Form Escape Room. The digital format makes this a more practical option, which means you’ll use it frequently. Your students will be doing a lot of reading, and they will also gain practice with the riddles and ciphers embedded in Escape Rooms, helping them be more successful!
The amount of non-fiction text in a digital Escape Room can vary, so if that is your goal, make sure you check it out carefully. This digital Escape Room about the States of Matter includes an embedded non-fiction text that teaches the science content and then asks students to answer questions about the text to unlock the doors. Click the image to check it out on TPT!
This Google Form Escape Room contains both fiction and non-fiction texts in addition the story that carries students through the adventure. One fiction text is a traditional Irish myth about the formation of the Giant’s Causeway and the other is a retelling of a traditional tale about a leprechaun. The non-fiction text is a biography of St. Patrick. All of the texts include comprehension questions that help students move to the next section of the adventure. Click the image to check it out on TPT!
Adventure in the Chocolate Factory contains text and video about the history of chocolate, and the chemistry behind the making of the world’s favorite flavor. Again, the focus is on comprehension, and the questions help students focus on content. Click the image to check it out on TPT!
Digital Escape Rooms are an easy way to bring more non-fiction text into your classroom. I hope that you give one a try. I think you’ll love it, and so will your students! I’m always creating more Escape Rooms, so be sure to follow me on TPT and check back frequently to see what I’ve been cooking up!
In the past year and a half, I have grown to love Google Forms. They are so versatile – you can include text, videos, photos… There are tons of different ways to ask questions, and they save me time because they are self-grading. What’s not to love? I use them for all the time. For more information on how to use them, be sure to check out this blog post.
Why digital instead of physical?
One of the things I most enjoy creating with Google Forms is Escape Rooms. I used paper Escape Rooms in my classroom before discovering the digital version, and I will never go back! Escape Rooms are so fun and engaging for kids – they forget they are learning! The key advantage of Google Form Escape Rooms is no prep. With the paper version, you have to print, cut, laminate, assemble, distribute…. You get the idea. Once a digital Escape Room is created, there is NO PREP! Just assign it through your Google Classroom, put the kids in groups, and away they go! For more about assigning Google Forms in Google Classroom, check out this blog post.
Escape Rooms teach content
Of course, an Escape Room is only as good as its content. My bestseller, Escape from the Lab uses texts and videos to teach students about the states of matter and to increase their comprehension skills of non-fiction text. It is a straightforward Escape Room that includes all of the information that students need to escape. Each section has a new lock, and the answers to the questions give students the code. I labeled this Escape Room B for Beginner because students do not need to solve difficult riddles and crack codes to be successful. Use this type of Escape Room if you haven’t done them with your students before or if you want the focus to be only content, and not include the extra layer of codes and ciphers. If students get the right answers to the questions, they will also have the codes and solutions for the riddles. These Escape Rooms are a similar challenge level – the content is on grade level, the codes are simple and all the information is clearly presented to the students
The Pet Nabber – an Escape Room type adventure about Number Sense
If your students are more experienced with Escape Rooms, I just finished creating Escape from Ireland, an adventure about the stories of Ireland. It’s perfect for St. Patrick’s day! The focus is on reading comprehension, so students read embedded texts and answer questions about them. The Escape Room includes a biography of St. Patrick that you can download for free on TPT! It also includes a retelling of the Legend of Finn MacCool, a fictional story about the Leprechaun King and 3 short descriptions of famous castles in Ireland. When you put those texts together with the storyline of the Escape Room, kids will be doing a lot of reading! The codes and riddles require some background knowledge, so this is rated I for Intermediate. I have filled this Escape Room with high quality photographs of Ireland, interesting texts and opportunities for critical thinking and problem solving. Plus, there are leprechauns and magic! What’s not to love!
You Decide Escape Rooms
Another type of Escape Room adventure is the choose your own adventure style. This is by far the most complicated type of Escape Room to create. It is not straightforward because the students make decisions during the activity, and each decision leads down a different path. These are incredibly engaging for for the kids, and I find that they play them over and over because they can have a different outcome each time! Escape from Plymouth Colony and Adventure in the Chocolate Factory are both this type of Escape Room.
Summary
Escape Rooms are versatile and easy to use, and kids love them! The varied formats, videos, texts, images, and adventure will hook them, and you will love the content and important strategies and skills that students can practice. Check out these digital Escape Rooms today and give one a try in your classroom. You will be glad you did!
Google Forms have become one of my go-to strategies for distance learning. I embed instructional videos in Google Forms for asynchronous instruction (for more on that, check out this blog post) and I use them for formative and summative assessments. I also use them to create digital Escape Rooms, which my students love! (Check out this blog post for more on that!) With the help of Google Forms, BOOM Cards, and Whiteboard.fi, I have a fairly good idea of what my students can and can’t do, which helps me plan instruction.
This blog post will walk you through how to assign a Google Form in your Google Classroom. We’ll start with a video tutorial, but read on for screenshots and additional tips. In the video, I am assigning Deiondre’s Homework, a Google Form about decomposing fractions. The resource can be purchased on my TPT store, and includes 3 Google Forms and an embedded instructional video.
I hope the video was helpful. You can find more tech videos for students and teachers on my YouTube Channel.
Now, let’s walk through the process of assigning a Google Form in Google Classroom one more time. This time, I am going to assign a Google Form on Equivalent Fractions. You can also purchase this at Ms. Cotton’s Corner on TPT. The resource includes 3 Google Forms, one of which includes an embedded video.
Step 1 – In the Classworks tab of your Google Classroom, click create and choose assignment. You can also choose Quiz assignment if you prefer.
Step 2 – Create the assignment. Give it a title and description and set the points and due date. Then, Click Add, and choose Google Drive. When you purchase the resource from TPT, they will automatically create a folder called TPT Purchases. It will be there unless you have saved it in another folder.
Step 3 – Choose the Form that you want to assign from your Google Drive. I always Toggle Grade importing to the “On” position. Then, once the students complete the work, all I have to do is import the grades with one click. Easy breezy!
Step 4 – Use the Assign button in the upper right hand corner to finish the assignment. You can assign it immediately or schedule it for the future. I often schedule a week’s worth of assignments on the weekend. It is very easy to reschedule if I find that the kids need more or less time than I planned.
And that’s it! Whether you are flipping the classroom, going paperless or teaching distance learning, Google Forms are an easy and effective way to provide instruction and assessment. Click below to purchase either of the resources featured in this blog post.
This post was originally written to solve a problem – poor attendance and engagement during virtual learning on Zoom. Thankfully, we are now back in physcial school,
Maybe you don’t have this problem, but one challenge that I am facing is attendance during digital learning. For a whole host of reasons (technology snafus, motivation, family situations….) some kids struggle to attend our Zooms. And they tend to be the same kids who struggle academically. In my experience, one thing that motivates this population, and all of my students, is videos. The visual and auditory components are engaging, and if they are between 3-5 minutes, attention doesn’t lag. I’ve started pairing short videos with Google Forms as asynchronous learning so that all students, even those that don’t attend regularly, are receiving instruction. Pairing the video with a Google Form gives students an immediate opportunity to put what they’ve learned to use. When we return to in person instruction, I still think these will be invaluable tools to help remediate and extend students. I can see so many ways to easily differentiate by assigning students the video instruction and Google Forms that move them to the next stage.
In my TPT store, you can find many of the videos I’ve created with Google Forms. I’ve focused on upper elementary math, especially fractions so far. Be sure to check back because I’m always expanding this part of my store, mostly as I try to help my students regain lost ground. I teach fifth grade, so that’s why the content is mostly upper elementary. If this is something that you want to use often, I encourage you to look at this Growing Bundle focused on Fractions and save money!
In this blog post, I want to walk through one of the free resources on my TPT store so that you can get an understanding of how it works and whether this type of resource is a good choice for your classroom. The resource we will be exploring is Mixed Numbers and Fractions Greater than One (Improper Fractions). At the bottom of the blog post are links to many other similar resources that you might find helpful.
This resource includes a Google Form and an embedded video. If you’d like to preview the video, you can find it on my YouTube channel here.
When you download this free resource, TPT will automatically add it to your Google Drive. Make sure that you have signed in with the Google Drive where you want the file to be saved – usually your school account. If you are assigning the Google Form through Google Classroom or another district LMS like Seesaw, this is essential!
To preview the assignment and video, you will want to open the Google Form and view it as a student. The video does not play in the teacher view. To see the student view, click on the eye in the upper right hand corner, which I’ve circled in red in this image.
Once you are in the student view, you will be able to play the video. You can also give the Google Form a try and easily see what your students will experience. One of the things I love about Google Forms is the immediate feedback that students receive! And the teacher does too, so no grading!
Once a student completes the Google Form and submits their answer, they will be able to see their score immediately and also receive feedback about anything they missed. Learning theory tells us that just-in-time feedback is so important for learning, and Google Forms are one of the best tools I know for providing that just-in-time feedback. In this example, you can see that the student identified the fraction greater than one as 4/6, but the Google Form would accept either 7/6 or 1 1/6 as the correct answers.
One limitation on Google Forms is how exact the students have to be. Again, in this example, you can see that I’ve given exact instructions for leaving a space between the whole number and the fraction if students write a mixed number. Google Forms will count it incorrect if there is no space. As the teacher, you are able to modify the score if you need to. For example, if you don’t care about the space, you can easily go back and change the points.
To see the students’ results, and change the points if you want to, you will need to go to the Response View. Begin by clicking Responses, which is the top middle of the screen, circled in red in this image.
In this view you can easily see how your students are doing with this standard. Google breaks the data down into a class summary, which is fantastic for planning next stages for the whole class. Google also gives you question by question data and individual student data. To change points or grade a question, click “Question” in the center of the screen.
As you can see, in this example, 1 student left out the space, so that 1 1/6 looks like 11/6. If you would like to give that student credit, just click the green check mark and then save your changes with the red save button. Google Forms will automatically update the student’s score. If more than one student made that mistake, it will update all the scores with two clicks. Easy breezy!
I don’t have room in this blog post to go through all of the fantastic data that you get from Google Forms. Be sure to play around with it and explore. All this great data frees you from grading so you can do what you do best – plan for amazing instruction!
After you have analyzed your data in Google Forms, you may want it in a spreadsheet so that you can easily enter grades in a gradebook. That’s easy too! Let’s explore a few more options from Google Forms.
In the upper right hand corner, you will find a green icon that allows you to easily export your data as a spreadsheet. When you click the green icon, you will see this message, which allows you to merge the data with an existing spreadsheet or name it and create a new spreadsheet. The default name is the name of the Google Form.
Simply name the spreadsheet and then click create. That’s it!
Some other great features are embedded in the three dots to the right of the spreadsheet icon. When you click them, you get this menu. Again, you can download the responses from here. You can also set a time for the Google Form to stop accepting responses. This is really a great feature if you are using a Google Form as a quiz. Probably the feature I use most often is Delete All Responses. Once I have downloaded the data, I delete the responses so that the Form is clear and ready for the next class.
One final piece of troubleshooting advice. By default, the Form is set to receive responses. However, below the three dots you will see an option to toggle the Form’s ability to Accept Responses. If that is toggled to the off position, your students will not be able to complete the Form. That is probably the question I receive most often, so when you are having trouble, check to make sure your Form can Accept Responses! You will know it is toggled to “On” when it changes color.
I hope this post helps you know whether Google Forms are a good choice for your classroom. For more information on this topic, check these blog posts:
Today I want to start a new series about tools that work well for digital learning. There are tons of blog posts out there that will give you tips and tricks for using digital tools. I’m definitely a novice there. What I’d like to add to the conversation is how the tools can be used to deliver effective and engaging instruction.
First, I have been teaching online in addition to teaching in a brick and mortar classroom for the past two years. And in that time, I’ve definitely learned a lot about engaging kids long distance. For more tips and advice about how to get started with distance learning, check out my post, Eight Things I’ve Learned about Virtual Teaching in the Past Two Years.
Today I want to dive into Google Forms. This is a free tool to anyone who has a gmail account, which is also free. Google has put a lot of effort into creating tools that allow people to communicate and work together virtually. Forms was originally meant as a survey tool. But savvy educators realized it could be used for teaching. It is very easy to create multiple choice, short answer, long answer, and other types of questions.
So, clearly Google forms is a great tool for a quiz. Under the Settings, you can set up three different types of Forms – Presentation, General and Quiz.
I almost always set things up as a Quiz. One of my favorite benefits of Quizzes is auto-grading. As soon as the students submit their answers, they receive their score. Additionally, you can provide general feedback for them. I usually set it up so that the feedback is targeted towards common errors. For example, I’ve just created a resource for my students to practice Order of Operations (FREE on TPT!). One typical mistake they make is not expressing ordered pairs as a pair, or reversing the order of the pair. So, I targeted the feedback towards those errors. This image shows what a student would see after they submit their work. Their answer is highlighted in red because it is incorrect. The correct answers are shown and the feedback points out a likely cause of the error.
What I love about this is that it puts the responsibility firmly where it belongs – with the student. Certainly, they might just skip the feedback – I know some students will be tempted to do that. But most won’t. Most students are genuinely interested in learning, and this gives them the power to take charge of that learning, to notice what they know and what they don’t, and to figure out how to do better next time. And it happens immediately, when the students’ interest in their progress is the strongest. Even at my best, (and I’m not great at grading papers in a timely manner!) I can’t give feedback to every student that quickly.
Another thing I love about Google Forms is how easy it is to embed a video. For distance learning, that is a key strategy for engaging kids and also for teaching. It allows me to be with them in their living room for a moment. Sometimes the videos I embed are created by me, and sometimes I find them on the internet. Check back in a few days for my next post about how I create short videos to teach my students.
Last week I gave my students a Pizza Fractions lesson on equivalent fractions. I started the lesson with this scenario:
Because the video is embedded into the Google Form, the students DO NOT go to You Tube. I really love that. You and I both know once they go to You Tube, we’ll never get them back. The video is a short, mini-lesson on equivalent fractions that I made using an app called Explain Everything.
Besides quizzes and teaching, Google Forms is great for Escape Rooms – something my kids are really loving right now! With not a lot of effort, you can set up a scenario, embed questions, and even videos and photos, and students are off on a learning adventure! I’ve just finished an Escape Room on Order of Operations for my kids for this week. Here is the scenario:
I think my students will be highly motivated to work through some Order of Operations problems as they try to get into the Escape Pod!
The final way I use Google Forms is for reflection. I am constantly working to help students reflect on their own behavior and learning. Google forms has this great feature called a Checkbox Grid. You can use that to help students tap into their own thinking. I’ve used it in several ways – for self-reflection on Habits of Mind during a project, to help students form an opinion about a topic and to give them help reflecting on their own behavior in class. Here is part of the tool I use to have students reflect on their Growth/Fixed Mindset (FREE on TPT!).
After students complete the self-reflection tool, I receive their responses, and then I have an individual conference with each one. This gives them a chance to reflect first, and also gives me a chance to think about the shape of the conference before we have it.
In this time when many of us are exploring distance learning, Google Forms can be a great way to create quizzes, to embed learning, and to help students self-reflect. There is a lot of power in this tool, and it’s intuitive and simple to use. Leave a comment about how you’ve used this tool or a question about something you’d like to know. Let’s get the dialogue started!
Click here to find these, and other Google apps products on TPT.
Some of my Google Forms that you can find on TPT!
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