Managing All Those Lists!

Do you ever find yourself drowning in lists? Where did I put the class list? The field trip list? Who returned school photo orders? Who got student of the month so far?

The answer of couse, is a spreadsheet. That may seem like a no-brainer, which is why I haven't blogged about it, but I have a few tips that have worked for me and may work for you.

1. Use the same spreadsheet for all the lists. Just make a new sheet within the file when you need a new list. That way you always know where to find it.
2. When you need a new check off list, just duplicate the original sheet. Then you have all the kids names, You never have to type a list again.
3. Bookmark that spreadsheet right at the top of your screen. It will always be handy.
4. Add student names when you first set it up with first and last in separate columns so you can sort either whenever necessary. 
5. Advanced tip - use conditional formatting to help you visualize info.

Here's a sample file with some ideas to get you started. Link Here 

Form to Formative Assessment

Documenting student progress doesn't always need to be another piece of paper. When students are actively working, you can observe and use a google form to track mastery. This idea came from Shawn Reed @swkreed and @ClassTechTips on Twitter.

Create the form and add it to the home screen of your phone or ipad for quick access. I used the Grid option to add levels of mastery. For this sample I used sample student names as numbers but I would use actual names on my form. Here's a link to the live form.

When you view the spreadsheet, you can use the Transpose function and conditional formatting to organize the info and visualize it better.

To use the transpose function, add a new sheet by clicking the + in the bottom left corner. In cell A1, add the function =TRANSPOSE('Form Responses 1'!B:T)
'Form Responses 1' refers to the first sheet where the data is coming from.
B:T is having it pull from all rows in columns B through T

Conditional Formatting:

Highlight the columns, under the Format menu choose Conditional Formatting. On the right side under Format rules, choose Text contains or Text is exactly and then type whatever your text option is. In my example I used Mastery and chose it to be blue, Working toward mastery as green, and Needs extra help as yellow. Each color is set up as a new rule.

Give it a try and see if it helps streamline your formative assessment.

Expert Help: Alice Keeler on Google Sheets: Creating a Line Graph

My class has done the Journey North Mystery Class Project for several years. It's a year long project that takes us through tracking daylight and observing changes to using geographical clues. We will be looking for 10 Mystery Classes located somewhere around the world.
So far, we've always graphed the data on paper and posted them in the classroom. We will still work on that, but I wanted a way the kids could see the data online so they could refer back to it, talk about what it means, and make predictions. I was stuck because I couldn't get the data into a line graph in Google Sheets or Excel.
One morning I posted the question to Alice Keeler (@AliceKeeler).

She asked a few more questions, I shared the Google Sheet file with her, and was able to watch as she moved things around and made it work! The amazing thing about Google Sheets, or any Google Doc, is the ability to share in real time! She commented right in the file and showed me where I went wrong and how to fix it. Not only do I have a line graph that I had been trying to figure out for several years, but I know how to do it myself the next time!

Click here for the explanation in Alice Keeler's blog. AliceKeeler.com

http://www.alicekeeler.com/teachertech/2015/01/04/google-sheets-creating-a-line-graph/