- Create your groups.
- Track groups throughout your session.
- Push the data to your records.
GroupCheck is a Google Sheets-based application for teachers that can generate random groupings and help you manage your class and track formative data. Watch the video below to hear more about the problem I'm hoping to solve!
Before you can use the coded buttons, you must first enable the scripts to run. This only has to be done once when setting up. Click on any of the blue buttons on any tab and a warning window will pop up. You'll have to click "Advanced" and allow the scripts to run on your Google account in order to proceed. Don't worry! I don't have access to any of your info or anything scary, they're just warning you that this isn't Google's code and they want you to be careful. Once you've authorized the code to run, it should be good to use from then on!
After you've authorized the scripts, you'll need to set up your rosters and any rubrics you'd like to rate students on! Enter students' full names, separated by a space. Then, open the "Rubrics" tab and enter in any categories you'd like to evaluate your groups on. They will automatically add into the "Roster & Settings" tab. You can then hide the "Rubrics" tab from view until you need to add more!
Enter your desired parameters for the session including title, date, size of groups, etc. Make sure you've taken attendance by clicking the checkboxes next to students' names! Then click the "Create New Session" button, and a new tab will be created! The "Today's Groups" tab will also update.
This step isn't strictly needed, but it's a great way to capture student work for discussion at the end of the lesson! If you use your phone or Chromebook to pull up the current session, you can go to the Problem Set Url (mine is a Google Slide) and take pictures of student work right in the app! Then at the end you can pull up your problem set on your projector/Smart Board and lead a class discussion using student work!
Find the ID of the "Student_Data" spreadsheet after the /d/ in its url. Paste that in the "Rosters & Settings" tab in cell J3 under "Records ID". Once your session is finished, click the "Push Data to Records" button and it will transfer all of the session summary items like check marks, comments and rubric ratings to the "Student_Data" spreadsheet in each student's tab. You can then click the "Sync Records" button in the "Student_Data" spreadsheet to update the "Summary" tab with the latest student data.