A Branching Form

I have read about these critters on Twitter, but never took the time to wrestle them in submission, until I signed up for #GCISDVV.

Google Forms have been a part of my practice for a while now, because they are so useful for pretty much anything. Last year, during a PBL, my students used their smart phones and Google Forms to take surveys about drug use throughout the school. They were amazed that their data was collected in a nice, neat package. I've used Google Forms for student opinion and feedback on multiple topics.

The forms I used before were one-purpose, flat and linear.

But these interactive forms - beauty!  Responsive and interesting! Differentiated! A web of knowledge!

I used this tutorial from Shake Up Learning. The tutorial is easy to follow, but at first, I couldn't wrap my head around how the page breaks worked, having never used them before. Once I had the 'OIC!' moment, the biggest problem was thinking up questions and finding supplementary material.

And the end result - my very primitive, branching form of nuclear review! 

GCISD Virtual Voyage

Because I have nothing but time *cough*not*cough* I decided to add one more thing to the list.  I'm committed to learning as much as I can about Google Classroom and other tools for next year, so I decided to embark on the Virtual Voyage. After looking through the levels, I decided to work on Level 2.

Lets see how many badges I can earn this summer!

Google Classroom

Four years ago, I was thrilled to be part of Cadre 2 of the Digital Classroom wave that was sweeping over Grapevine-Colleyville. At the time, I was teaching middle school, and I eagerly taught my students new apps and ways to think.  However, I have since moved to teaching high school and have come to realization that iPads and their apps are not really suited to the work I need from my high school students.

Along with my partner in crime, @nagyscience, who will soon be a digital teacher as well, we decided that we were going to commit to using Google Classroom in this down time during 'testing season'.  We would practice our skills and explore the possibilities of it so we could hit the ground running with it next August.

Luckily, I discovered +Alice Keeler, who is a certified Google certified teacher, and an invaluable Twitter resource.  I've clicked on nearly every one of her Tweets and as a result, I'm starting to see the possibilities with Google Classroom. I keep a Google document labeled '1516' to jot down ideas for things to implement in the coming year.

The best part of the experience so far is how quickly I can assess students' work and give them feedback. I'm also working on my 'descriptive feedback' skills, remembering my lessons from VALOR.

Most teachers consider May to be dead time, with seniors checked out, and everyone else looking forward to summer. Exploring Google Classroom has helped both me and my students keep focused during this last month of school.