Organize the Flow of Ideas with Sheets

I want to talk about something boring today. I know, I know, I'm always talking about engagement and fun. However, one of Mickey's Commandments is about the importance of organizing flow in your space. Organizing may not be very fun, but it definitely frees you (and your students!) up to do more fun. If we can streamline our less-fun processes we can get to the fun that much more quickly!

So, today we're going to talk about the most boring program in existence: Google Sheets. Sheets is a database program similar to Microsoft Excel. Generally, these programs are used for data collection. As teachers, we are most likely to see it when we output quiz data from Google Forms. We might also see it when our school does data analysis on state tests or attendance. I can't imagine any of us have seen a database presented to us and said, "Wow! My students sure would love it if I put one of these in front of their face!" I know I sure didn't, and I honestly kind of like playing with Excel.

I first used Sheets for student input with my Provide or Conquer game. The first time I played the game students recorded their decisions and scores each round on paper. I quickly realized they were spending way more time doing math than doing history. On top of that, they weren't doing the math very well. Groups kept disagreeing on their current score totals. Knowing Excel, I realized this would be a good opportunity to use a database tool. Here's what the score sheet looks like now:

sheet here

Not the most visually appealing thing I admit, but it worked out perfectly for the game. Not only did the spreadsheet do the calculations automatically, but it forced each student to record their data in the same order and location. Now with just a quick glance at their screen I could see where each student was in terms of progress. Since the game was played all together, every screen should look the same. If someone was on the wrong line I could quickly and easily see that and get them back on track. That just isn't the case with pen and paper where every students writes differently.

This was a huge eye-opener for me. I had never considered using Sheets to help keep students organized with an assignment. I started to think about which of my activities could benefit from using a similar Sheet to record answers and Weigh the Evidence was an obvious choice. Not only does WTE ask students to respond to questions in a chart, it also has built in math that often led to student confusion. Previously, I'd have students divide their paper into 3 columns. They didn't have equal size so just explaining that step to 7th graders was a challenge. I'd get kids dividing their columns in all sorts of ways no matter how many times I modeled it.