By Dane Ehlert, posted October 12, 2015 –
In the last
post, Personal Growth Reports described ways to respond to student progress a
few times per grading period. But how do we respond more frequently?
Jon Orr and Kyle Pearce found an answer. Along with some tips from Alice Keeler and David
Griswold, they created a Gamified Google
Sheet to allow students to constantly see where they are and how they can grow.
See these links to their work:
It begins with a
master sheet where all the student data are placed (click here to see/copy my sheet).
As students
complete assessments (see this
post), the teacher inputs the grade in the
“Progress” column. In addition, feedback can be typed in the “Feedback” column.
What makes this different from a normal spreadsheet is the script that Alice
and David designed. After you "Make a Copy" (under File) for yourself, click
the tab titled “Student Tab Manipulation” on the menu bar and then select the “Copy Student” tab.
Script
Tab: This creates an individual tab for each
student where all the information is displayed. Here is what the student pages
look like.
Individual
Student Sheet: As you can see, John Smith’s
progress and teacher feedback corresponds with the master. The great part about
this is that the comments and grades will automatically update every time a
change is made on the master. When students reassess and demonstrate
improvement, this change will immediately be apparent. This is much quicker
than handing out a personal growth report once or twice a grading period, and
it allows students to constantly be aware of how they can improve and in what
areas to pursue further learning. With these points in mind, there are columns
where the teacher can place links to videos, extra work, or anything else that
may be helpful for student improvement.
Master
Image: The sheet is outstanding because it’s
a one-stop place for students to find ways to grow. How do the students access
their tab? Google Sheets creates an individual URL for each tab, and a column
on the master displays each student’s URL.
Student
URLs: Share each link with the corresponding
student, and he or she will have access to that tab only.
Gamification: One of my favorite growth mindset aspects of this tool is
the gamification feature on the student page. One cell says “Growth Level” and
has a celebrity picture next to it.
Growth
Level: Each time a student reaches the next
“Growth Level,” a new celebrity appears on his or her sheet. This is similar to
a video game, and it’s fun because students are intrigued with the mystery of
which celebrity is next in line. They want to get to the next growth
level!
However, the
most important part about gamification is the route to achieving new growth
levels. I originally was going to base the system solely on the number of
concepts mastered. Basically, if you reach the highest level of progress (10 in
my class), then you receive a concept mastery point, and a new celebrity
appears. However, I realized that this puts too much emphasis on performance
and not enough on work ethic and perseverance. Carol S. Dweck has written about this, and I want to make sure to hold true to the growth
mindset values I talk about with the students.
I decided that students will not only earn a growth
point when they master a concept but also receive a point every time they improve
their progress level on a concept. For example, if a student makes a 6 on his
or her first assessment but later re-assesses and receives a 7 or above, that
student will receive a growth point. I’m really excited about this because it
encourages perseverance. With this scenario, a student who never masters a
concept can theoretically receive more growth points than the student who gets
each concept right away. It’s all about growth and development!
Growth
Point Input: Here’s where growth points can
be placed on the master sheet.
Submitting
Work Tab: Another feature is the submit work
link. This idea came from Matthew Switzer a
few months ago. I set up a link to a Google Form where
students can submit something they create to demonstrate learning a concept. It
can be a video, Desmos graph, activity sheet, or whatever they come up with.
Work
Submission Form: After the work is submitted,
I receive an email and am able to review the work to give feedback and possibly
improve the student’s progress score based on demonstrated learning. I think
it’s important to emphasize this more because it opens the door to allow more
students to succeed. Some students need different avenues besides quizzes to
show what they’ve learned. In addition, the form encourages and rewards
creativity, a direction to which I want all my students to aspire.
Dane Ehlert, dane@whenmathhappens.com, is a secondary math teacher in Texas.
He tweets at @DaneEhlert and blogs at whenmathhappens.com.