10 Things You Should Be Doing with Forms

img credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/31333486@N00/1977134004

Forms is one of the most versatile tools in the Google Apps For Education tool kit. With this one tool, districts are able to impact the efficiency with which they communicate with the community, present material to students, assess the efficacy of instruction, and streamline the library of paper forms that districts need to have filled out by all stakeholders. This is by no means an exhaustive list, and I look forward to hearing from you as to how you're using Forms to make your school run better.

The following examples are aligned to the presentation I'll be giving at TeachMeetNJ on August 11, 2016.

Forms for Paperwork

Forms for Formative Assessment

Forms for Voting

Forms for Surveys

Forms for Business Office

Forms for Benchmarks

Forms for PD Feedback

Forms for Homework

Forms for Quizzes

Forms for Walkthroughs

Play or: How I Learn Best (a Revisit)

(This was originally posted on 11/16/2015 as a part of a #slowchated. With schools around the country reporting back, it bears repeating. The closing paragraph has been amended. Best of luck to all you for successful, fun 2016-2017 school year. -RL)

(img credit: https://pixabay.com/en/playground-children-kids-game-417615/)

"Here you go. Make it work."

Those were the instructions I gave to the algebra students when I showed them the 3d printer our school recently acquired. I hadn't opened it. I didn't want to do anything with it until I knew what it would mean to the instructional lives of our students. There's no point in having something for the students unless there's a plan for how the tool will build on their experiences.

So that became the plan. I gave the unopened box with a laptop to a small group of students, who - through a glitch in scheduling (read: a mistake I made) - have an empty period in their day. They unpacked, explored, Googled, watched videos, made mistakes, aligned pieces, and printed a little heart pendant. The looks of satisfaction on their faces were priceless, and it was a result of their freedom to play with a goal.

Play is not about a lack of direction. It's about sampling, poking, prodding, and finding ways to fail and ways to succeed within parameters. Games are designed with ends in mind. So is learning that utilizes play. Assessments are done along the way. You understand how much a participant is capable of grasping of the play while observing them in it. When one skill is mastered, it generally opens the door to more sophisticated opportunities.

We've spent so much time trying to figure out as adults how much our students have actually learned that we have strayed away from what it means to be a child. They play, they touch, they learn, they grow, and then it repeats. It happens a little at a time, and it happens all at once, and it sometimes it takes a while for it to happen at all. Let them play, and don't be afraid to play a little for yourself. You're going to be shocked at your own growth.