Google Forms for Self Assessment

This past week, grades were due. I don't know about you, but I find grading at the end of the semester (especially as a language arts teacher) to be a daunting and time-consuming prospect. In addition to finishing that stack of papers that has been piling up, double-checking missing assignments, and entering comments for each student, my district also requires that we enter a grade for students' effort and conduct, respectively. This is an amazing idea, because it allows me to separate students' effort (such as homework assignments that only count for practice, not assessment) from their true academic achievement, and also provides an incentive for them to be on their best behavior.

The only problem with these grades is that they're highly subjective. I keep track of students' completion of effort-based assignments, but a student can keep up with their homework and never say a word in class, so this percentage isn't really a true reflection of students' effort. Instead, I took a cue from my technology hero and colleague, Matt Bergman, and tried having students rate themselves using a Google Form.

(On a side note, check out his blog on Universally Designing Learning-- it's a great resource on using technology to make learning accessible to all students, and he's donating money to a local child in need for each visit to his website!)

It's easy to make a Google Form on Google Drive.

I created a form based on Matt's suggestion, asking the students what they feel they did well, what they did not do well, and what they will work on in the coming semester, in addition to giving themselves a grade for Effort and Conduct.

Here's a preview of what my form looked like (without any coding or programming on my part!):

My students' responses were then automatically collected in a spreadsheet for me to read and print. They were surprisingly honest (and accurate!), and easy to read quickly because they were typed, resulting in some great feedback that helped both my students and I to reflect on their learning this semester.