Podcast: 4 Ways to Rock Google Docs with Building Blocks

Building blocks are those tools that make your job easier, but they are just different enough to be intimidating. The Purpose of this post is to help you dive into ways that you can develop your organization and design using Building Blocks!

Product Roadmap or…

The Product Roadmap is a great way for students to self-monitor their learning process through a station rotation experience or completing a menu/choice board that they have developed. In the example here, I modified the project column to be Chosen Activity, then the status column stayed the same. The two columns on the right are changing from reflection on what I have done, and my next steps moving forward. This creates an excellent self-assessment for students to keep track of the activities that they need to complete.

Review Tracker or….

The review tracker has the structure of a single-point rubric. I really like how this is simply created for you with the click of a mouse. I would rename the outside columns to say Areas of Improvement and Evidence of Exceeding Standards. However, thinking about this setup, I might shift some ideas around, sign the drop downs in the center column to state the “Areas for improvement” or “evidence of Exceeding Standards” Then, I would be able to change the outside of the single point rubric to get more detail about the activity or project. I could change the left column to hold the actual standards of the activity, and then the right side is feedback for the students. This way we have the opportunity to showcase the standards, see if they are approaching or exceeding standards, and then give specific quick feedback on what is being done or needs to improve. I think this setup could also be an ideal rubric for self or peer assessment included on the documents that you create.

Project Assets… or

With this Building Block, I see the start of a simple data-tracking system for students to use in class. The left column becomes the project/activity column, the middle column is for the standards that the students are working on, and the right side is changed to Below Standard, Approaches Standard, Meets Standards, Exceeds Standards. This way, as a self-assessment, students can track their progress with the standards. If more occurrences happen with the standards, you could add another column of activity description so then each activity could be there as evidence for the mastery of the standards.

Launch Content Tracker or…

I think the Content Tracker is the best. First, because I have started using it to track the development and sharing of my blog and podcast, to keep me organized and on top of deadlines. But looking at a classroom, this could be modified into a personalized planner for students. Kids could use this building block to keep track of the homework projects that they have in place, they could add a column or substitute a column with a Smart Chip that connects to their calendars so now they are going to get reminders about these activities that they are writing down.