Using Google Forms to Support Choice
Happy New Year, dear reader!
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I had a short week back at school with a surprisingly effective introduction of a choice-based project to my Art 1 class. This class, which each teacher in our 4-person department teaches with the same general media-based units, has a fair amount of student-driven choice that builds in the end to a self-directed project.
I’ve had quite a bit of success using Google Forms to support student learning in Studio, my completely self-directed class, so I decided to try using a similar form to introduce the project to my Beginning class. Full disclosure; I had forgotten that I was introducing the project that day during first period and could not find my slide deck. So I used only this form!
I introduced the project by sharing the form, which included project goals and guiding questions to help students develop ideas AND is clear about the work I’m looking for - a self-designed project that produces original work, includes thoughtful planning, and a polished final product. I explained to the class that this form was to help with their planning, not for me and that they needed to share their idea with me in a short conference so I could give them feedback in person.
About half the class finished the form on Friday and they were able to develop what I was looking for, using their ideas with no support. Here is the form - feel free to make a copy or experiment with filling it out.