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16 Ideas for Student Projects Using Google Docs, Slides, and Forms

July 31, 2016

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As you probably know, Google Drive is far more than a place to store files online. It also includes a suite of versatile creation tools, many of which perform the same functions as the ones we use in other spaces. These include  Google Docs,  a word processing program that behaves similarly to Microsoft Word,  Google Slides,  a presentation program similar to PowerPoint, and  Google Forms,  a survey-creation tool similar to Survey Monkey.  Although Drive also includes other tools, these three are particularly useful for creating rigorous, academically robust projects. If your school uses Google Classroom or at least gives students access to Google Drive, your students are probably already using these tools to write papers or create slideshow presentations, but there are other projects they could be doing that you may not have thought of.

Below I have listed 16 great ideas for projects using Google Docs, Slides, and Forms.

Annotated Bibliography By the time a student reaches the later years of high school, and certainly by the time she’s gotten to college, it’s likely that she’ll be required to write an annotated bibliography, a list of resources that not only includes the bibliographical information of each source, but also a short paragraph summarizing the resource and reflecting on its usefulness for a given project. Usually an annotated bibliography is required as a part of a larger research paper, but it could stand alone as an assignment that tasks students with seeking out and evaluating sources just for the practice of doing so. And the research tools in Google Docs allow students to locate, read, and cite their sources all in one place. To learn more, see this guide from Cornell University Library on How to Prepare an Annotated Bibliography .

Book Review Instead of a book report, have students write a book review instead. This is certainly not a new idea, but publishing the work electronically allows students to enhance the final product with the book’s cover image, a link to the book’s page on Amazon, and even links to other titles the author has written or articles on related topics. For models and inspiration, elementary and middle school students can read student-written reviews on sites like Spaghetti Book Club . Older or advanced students might work toward more sophisticated, nuanced review styles like book reviews written on Oprah.com .

Collaborative Story Because Google Docs is cloud-based, multiple people can work on a Doc at the same time. So students can work together on a story, a script for a play, or any other kind of group writing project. They can use the comments feature to give each other feedback and make decisions together. And because students can work from any location with an Internet connection, collaboration isn’t restricted to school hours; each group member can work on the project from any location whenever they have time.

Media-Rich Research Paper Any kind of research paper can be given a big boost when done in a Google Doc, because students can insert images, drawings, and links to other relevant resources, like articles and videos. Using the research tools built into Docs, students can research their topics and include in-text citations with footnotes.

Super Simple Blog If you don’t want to mess with actual blogging platforms, but want students to be able to experience writing blog posts that contain images and hyperlinks to other websites, this could be accomplished easily in a single running Google Doc.

Table Being able to organize information visually is an important skill, and students who understand how to build a table in Google Docs will have a skill for presenting all kinds of information in the future. They can be used as a compare and contrast exercise, to display data from an experiment, or even put together a schedule. Yes, you could do these things yourself, print them, and have students fill them out, but why not have students practice creating the tables themselves? 

Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Story Because slides can contain hyperlinks to other slides, students could build a whole story where the reader chooses different options at key points in the story, leading them down completely different paths. The reader would consume the content as a slideshow, clicking on the links themselves as they go through. This could be a pretty massive undertaking, but we all know students who would be totally up for the challenge.

E-book These could take a variety of forms: mini-textbooks, children’s books, cookbooks or how-to manuals, personal art or writing portfolios, even yearbook-style memory books. To learn more about the possibilities, see my post from earlier this year on  Student E-Books .

Magazine Along the same lines as an e-book, students could use a similar template to create a PDF magazine or newsletter that is shared online on a regular schedule. The possibilities here are endless, useful for student clubs or sports teams, classroom or grade-level newsletters, or magazines put out by groups of students who share a common interest, like gaming systems, soccer, or books.

Museum Kiosk Imagine if we could enhance science fair projects with a looping video display that provides the audience with vivid visuals and text about our topic. Or imagine an art show, where a self-running informational slideshow could be placed beside an art display to share the story behind the piece and photos of the work in progress? This is possible and EASY in Google Slides: Simply create a slideshow, then use the “Publish to the Web” feature to create a slideshow that auto-advances and has no need for a presenter. Pop that up on an iPad or laptop and you’re all set. This mock-up of a slideshow on Coral Reefs shows you what it could look like (click the image to open in a new window).

Short Film Students can upload their own images and add text boxes to a slideshow to create an animated story, then record the slideshow with a Google extension called Screencastify . They can either record their own voice as narration, add background music, or both. There are so many different kinds of films students could produce: illustrated stories or poems, final reflections for a 20 Time or Genius Hour project, video textbooks on content-related topics, or news-like feature stories of school or community events. In this quick sample, I added music from YouTube’s library of royalty-free music that anyone can use to enhance their recordings:

Video Tutorial Using the same screencasting software mentioned above, students could also create their own video tutorials by creating a Slides presentation on their topic (such as “How to Open a Combination Lock”), then recording the slideshow with narration. This would make a nice final product for a unit on informational writing or a way for students to demonstrate their learning at the end of a unit in science (“How to Take Care of Lab Equipment”), social studies (“How to Measure Distance on a Map”), or math (“How to Multiply Fractions”). Student-made tutorials could even be created to teach classroom procedures. And any tutorials students make could be stored for later, so other students can also benefit from them.  Learn more about how Screencastify works right inside Chrome .

Peer Survey Whenever students need to gather data to support an argumentative essay or speech, let them gather data quickly and easily by creating a survey with Google Forms. Links to the survey can be sent out via email, QR codes , or through a post in a learning management system like Edmodo or Google Classroom. When results come in, students can use them to support whatever claim they are trying to make in their argument, or make adjustments based on what they discover in their research.

Feedback Form Have students provide feedback to each other’s presentations, speeches, even videos using Google Forms. Here’s how it would work: Each student creates her own form, asking for the kind of feedback she wants on the project. As other students view or the project, they can be sent to a form to offer praise or constructive criticism, which the creator would then be able to view privately and use to improve the project. Students could even use their feedback to write a reflection on their process after the project is done.

Quiz One great way to learn material is to create a test or quiz over the content. Have students use Google Forms to create their own multiple-choice, True/False, fill-in-the-blank, or open-ended quizzes on the content they are learning.

Visual Representation of Data Sets Whenever people enter responses to a Form, Google allows the form creator to view responses in charts and graphs. Have students gain a better understanding of how data can be represented visually by accepting responses (or entering their own fake ones) into a Form, then looking at how the numbers are represented in graphs. This could work well as a series of math lessons.

Way Beyond Worksheets

Just this morning on Twitter, someone posted a comment along these lines: “A worksheet on a Google Doc is STILL a worksheet. Students should be using tech to create!” I’ve heard this sentiment over and over, and it’s exactly why I’ve put this list together. Google offers some incredibly powerful tools if we know how to use them. I hope this list has given you a few new ideas to put into your students’ hands. ♦

What to Read Next

Categories: Instruction , Technology

Tags: assessment , content area literacy , English language arts , Grades 3-5 , Grades 6-8 , Grades 9-12 , project-based learning , teaching with tech , tech tools

51 Comments

This is wonderful.

This is my first year teaching in an alternative high school. All students have IEP’s as well as social and emotional disabilities. I really want to focus on literacy as many are well below grade-level, ability wise. Writing of course is a big part of literacy. I’m looking for ideas that they can collaborate on, via Google Docs, Slides, etc. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Check out Boomwriter: A Fun Twist on Collaborative Writing . Lots of good resources there that you might like. Also take a look at Student-Made E-Books: A Beautiful Way to Demonstrate Learning .

I am an RSP teacher in Anaheim. For summer school I am going to have them build a “Bucket List” in Google slides.

Thanks for compiling these resources. I use many already but haven’t tried Screencastify yet. My district uses Google Classroom, but the forms app is blocked on student accounts- I think because it’s a perfect medium for under-the-radar cyberbullying (“How much do you hate Linda?…A little, a lot, a ton…”). Before teachers plan a lesson using forms, they should make sure the feature is enabled for students in their district. In my district, students can access forms and create them but they cannot send them to other students.

Thanks, Robyn. Good to know!

I love these ideas! You are so creative and now I have GREAT ideas for my SS project! Thanks! XD

this is all true

Our district is allowing extra credit this year and I have always been totally opposed to offering extra credit. These ideas are worth extra credit, and my focus this year is on what the students can teach me and the rest of their peers.

This gave me some good ideas for culminating activities. Thanks!

Thank you so much for sharing these ideas about creating projects by using the Google Drive! The middle school I teach at implemented a 1:1 program last year with Chromebooks, so the students have easy access to all of the Google apps. I had always grown up using Word docs and I was a little hesitant to start using Google docs at first. After just a few weeks, I absolutely fell in love with it! It is amazing how you can access all of your docs, forms, slides that you create from any device you’re using and the fact that everything automatically saves is just the cherry on top. I am grateful for this feature, especially working in a middle school where it is easy for students to forget to save something before exiting out. Although I teach Math, I found a lot of your project ideas to be utilized cross-curriculum and I truly appreciate it. I got my feet wet last year and had my students create google slides presentations in groups. At the beginning of this year, I started with a google form I created where students answered review questions from 6th grade Math. I love that when you get the results from all of the forms, you can easily see which areas students are struggling in and which areas they are proficient in because it is presented the results in graphs and charts. I just learned recently that you can create quizzes now, which is awesome because all of the testing in my district is done on the computers, so this will help prepare my students. I want to borrow your idea of having students create peer surveys that they can post on Google classroom in order to gather information and analyze results. This is a great skill for students to have. Thanks again, I truly enjoy reading your blogs!

Be positive at all time

Great collection of resources! Easy to read and very helpful for teachers who often do not get the tutorials they need to instruct with GAFE. I particular like the Museum Kiosk idea. It will work great will my history classes.

– Kevin

Hi everyone! I also would like to suggest my own (free) templates site. Im designing these presentations using “free” resources from other sites such as FreePik, FlatIcon,… and I think the result is pretty good. I invite you to have a look. The site is https://slidesppt.com

In the section of student blog posts, can you clarify how all the students in one class could be writing and posting a running blog which everyone in the class can read and respond to ?

This is Holly Burcham, a Customer Experience Manager. The idea Jenn laid out here is to simply create a shared Google Doc where each student would basically be responsible for his/her own page (literally page 1, page 2, etc.). Within a shared Doc, everyone with permission can be in and typing at the same time. Once “posts” are written, students can go in and add comments to others’ work. The comments would show up in the margins and would be arranged by corresponding content, not time like a typical blog post.

But, as you can imagine, this could quickly become very convoluted and a bit messy. The thought behind using Docs as a student blog is more for writing practice, getting the feel for writing a blog post without doing the real thing…

So, if you’re interested in your students truly creating a blog, we highly recommend checking out Edublogs and Kidblog . Hope this helps!

How are these good for projects? you said that these are for kid presentations, all I see are essay templates and idea’s for teachers to map out their classroom jobs(other then the coral)

Hi, Isaac! I’m not sure what could be used to map out classroom jobs specifically from this post, and I think the ideas here go way beyond essay outlines–please get back to me to clarify exactly what you’re referring to, because we believe all the ideas here are good for student use. Thanks!

You might update this post. Google Forms now supports branching which would be much easier to create a “choose your own” adventure type experience.

Thanks for the suggestion. I can picture how that would work, yes, but I guess the aesthetic experience might be lacking in a Google Form. With Slides you have complete creative freedom to design the slides like a real book. I guess it would be a matter of personal preference?

Where do I go to find accessibility features of Google docs, slides, and forms? I am a teacher of the blind and visually impaired. This technology is wonderful but without the ability to navigate the site independently, my students are at a lost. Can you direct me?

Hi! A couple of things that may be of help: Go to “Tools” in the menu bar and select Voice Typing (use Google Chrome). You can also click on Add-Ons in the menu bar and add the Speech Recognition Soundwriter extension for free. Here’s a link to find more Google Accessibility features — you just have to spend a bit of time looking through the list to see what may be relevant to your needs. I hope this helps!

You can also combine Google forms and docs to simplify book reports for elementary students: https://electriceducator.blogspot.com/2016/03/elementary-book-report-machine.html?m=1

Is there an available rubric or assessment piece for the museum kiosk activity?

Hi Colleen! No, sorry, I don’t have anything on that!

Hi I am a teacher at a elementary school and I was wondering if you had any ideas for what I could do for an autobiography book report.

Hi Madison,

There really are so many things you can have the kids do — I would first think about what you’re expecting the kids to be able to do in the end. What will actually be assessed and what will they be accountable for? (I suggest checking out Understanding Backward Design if you haven’t already.) From there, they can choose how to present what they learned, meeting the assessment criteria. I think using some of the ideas in the Slides section of the post could work really well, especially Student Made E-Books , or making a short film.

Madison, I love the idea of using Google Slides for autobiography book report. I’m thinking about Jennifer’s Slides suggestions and just tailoring it to your book report criteria/rubric. Thoughts?

thank you very much!!

Thank you! I can’t wait to explore some of these options more. This list is very much appreciated! 🙂

I really appreciate your kindness and your efforts and I’m going to try everything you have mentioned in this wonderful article

Thanks. Higher Ed ESOL Prof -no lesson prep for me… but I DO have my reading list for the next several (10-12) hours! All suggestions added to the original post are appreciated.

I am a huge fan of Google resources, but you have showed me some new ways I can use these. Thank you for sharing!

Thanks for some great ideas! I have another suggestion that I have used before- my students really liked it- a collaborative Google Slides presentation. I did this for types of organic molecules as an intro to organic chemistry. Each pair of students in the class was assigned a specific molecule to research. They had to create 1 slide with some specific information and add to a collaborative google slides presentation that I shared on Google Classroom. When the slideshow was complete, they could all access it, and they used it to take notes.

Great suggestion Susan! Thanks so much for sharing this idea.

I am wondering if I can find similar google instructions to send to my students now that we are teaching remotely and 90% of them probably don’t know how to use Google. This would be a fantastic use of their time. Thank you

Take a look at Jenn’s Google Drive Basics video course ! I think it’s got what you’re looking for – it’s for teachers and students!

I am thinking about doing a Rap Challenge in which they (as teams based on which class period they are in) create lyrics using WWII vocabulary we have used.

I create raps for my students and my though was that I would take parts of ALL of their submissions and create a WWII rap to add to the collection they have heard already.

Which of the Google Drive features would be my best bet for collaboration like that while the students are all working from home?

Hi Jim! I think this could be done in Google Docs pretty easily, as they are just writing a script, correct? If you want to share video or audio, you can just put these files into a shared folder in Drive and give all students access to those files. I hope this helps!

Amazing ideas

An innovative way to eliminate paper.

Hi! I love this site. I am beginning to use technology in my higehr education classroom. Could you help me to suggest some kind of game to use in Communication Skilss? Thanks a lot

Hi! Check out our Gamification Pinterest board and see what might be relevant. Hope this helps!

I’m a college student (who is now a nanny which brought me to this page) and for the screen recording, I highly reccomend Loom over Screencastify. In my experience using both during the remote learning period, the video quality is much higher on Loom, the user interface is easier, and you can’t edit Screencastify videos in an external editor like iMovie. (I had to do a group presentation and since partner lived in Kuwait we used this vs Zoom, etc. to record the presentation since we weren’t recording at the same time. It was very difficult to figure out how to merge our parts of the presentation into a single file.)

Also with screencastify the time limit per video on the free version (5 min I think) was frustrating as my work was longer. May not be a problem for students but for educators using the tool who don’t have the premium, this could be highly inconvenient. With Loom there isn’t a time limit.

What an adventure for me, who’s relatively new to this google drive thing. Mind blowing resources. It’s amazing. I’m excited as to what I can do with and in google drive. I’m definitely taking it one day at a time, will surely enjoy this ‘CRUISE’. Thank you Jennifer.

What does it mean to type I am from Germany?

Hi Flannery! It can mean a few different things depending on the context–either typing on a keyboard or the “kind” of something (“What type of ice cream do you like?”). We’d love to give a specific answer, so please let us know which part of the post or which comment you saw that you’d like more clarification on. Thanks!

Thanks for sharing these ideas. July 2021

I love all the awesome ways to incorporate technology in the classroom. This post had so many options to choose from and some that I personally loved when I was in school. There are so many different ways to make learning fun with technology!

So glad you enjoyed the post!

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10 Google Docs Lessons for Students

By Med Kharbach, PhD | Last Update: May 14, 2024

Applied Digital Skills is a great resource from Google for Education that offers a wide variety of digitally-focused lessons to integrate in both in-class and distance instruction. Its library includes over 100 video-based lessons spanning various topics and skill sets. You can browse the lessons by audience (late elementary, middle school, high school, or adult learners), digital tool (e.g., Docs, Drawings, Slides, Sheets, Meet, Sites, etc), and by topic (e.g., Art, Digital Citizenship, Science, Math, Social Studies, Computer Science, etc.). 

In this post, I am sharing with you  10 lessons or Google Docs activities  I curated from Applied Digital Skills library showcasing the different ways you can use Google Docs with your students in class. Each lesson comes with a sample rubric, a lesson plan, instructional videos, Google Docs activities, and printable certificates of completion. Click on the title of each of these lessons to access its resources. For Google Forms check out these Forms activities to use with students in class.

1- Annotate text in Google Docs

In this lesson, “students make digital notes in an article to increase their engagement with and understanding of what they read”. Skills targeted include: document formatting, researching a topic, and writing strategies.

2- Create a Photo Journal in Google Docs

This lesson helps students learn how to create a photo journal that embeds formatted text, visuals, and creative writing using Google Docs. Skills targeted include: communication, document formatting, and writing strategies.

3- Write a Press Release

In this lesson, “students will write a press release in Google Docs to communicate the important details of their project to the public. You can use this lesson to facilitate the selection and completion of a community service project with a class or large group of students.” Skills targeted include: communication, digital publishing, document formatting and writing strategies.

4- Take Notes in a Table

In this lesson students will practice taking notes using a table created in Google Docs. Some of the objectives of this lesson include: “know how to set up a template for table-based note-taking, understand the purpose of the different table sections”, and more.

5- Write a Story Using Emojis

The lesson engages students in writing and sharing emoji rebus stories. The objectives of the lesson include helping students write stories within the assigned word count, use images together with text to create representational meanings, among others. 

6- Revise and Edit a Piece of Writing

“In Revise and Edit a Piece of Writing, students will Interact and collaborate with a group to revise and edit a document to strengthen the writing using standard English conventions.” Objectives of the lesson include: use editing rules and guidelines to improve a piece of writing, and collaborate with a group to decide how to make a piece of writing stronger”.

7- Analyze Book Characters and Cast Them in a Movie

In this lesson, students use a table created in Google Docs to analyze characters and cast a movie of the  book. Targeted objectives include: “identify character traits of a book character, support students understanding of a character using textual evidence, and create an imaginary cast list for a film adaptation.”

8- How to write a cover letter

This lesson teaches students how to conduct “research on a potential employer or company and write a tailored cover letter for a specific job”.

9- Create a resume in Google Docs

In this lesson students learn how to use pre-made templates in Google Docs to design resumes that communicate relevant information about themselves. Some of the skills students  get to practice as they complete this lesson include: use a spell check, comment in a document, share a document, and make formatting changes.

10- Make a family newsletter

Students learn how to create a newsletter using Google Docs. By the end of the lesson students should be able to “gather stories and other family related items and plan a newsletter, write a newsletter, and format a newsletter.” For more newsletters creating tools you can check this list . 

Final thoughts

In conclusion, Applied Digital Skills from Google for Education is an invaluable resource for integrating digitally-focused lessons into both in-class and distance learning environments. With over 100 video-based lessons covering a range of topics and skill sets, educators can easily find and implement engaging activities that enhance students’ digital literacy. The curated Google Docs activities showcased in this post demonstrate practical applications of these skills, from annotating texts and creating photo journals to writing press releases and crafting resumes.

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Meet Med Kharbach, PhD

Dr. Med Kharbach is an influential voice in the global educational technology landscape, with an extensive background in educational studies and a decade-long experience as a K-12 teacher. Holding a Ph.D. from Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax, Canada, he brings a unique perspective to the educational world by integrating his profound academic knowledge with his hands-on teaching experience. Dr. Kharbach's academic pursuits encompass curriculum studies, discourse analysis, language learning/teaching, language and identity, emerging literacies, educational technology, and research methodologies. His work has been presented at numerous national and international conferences and published in various esteemed academic journals.

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Sunday, September 4, 2022

Docs rocks 8 engaging activities for google docs.

🟨 Highlighting for summarization ⬛ Creating blackout poetry 😀 Emojis for writing and summarizing 📘 Cloze reading activities 🐉 Making "Choose Your Own Adventure" stories 💡 Prewriting with embedded graphic organizers ✍️ Writing less to write better ⌨️ Generating punctuation practice

• Resource Document - "Engaging ELA Activities with Google Docs" - Google Docs link
• Session Slideshow - "Engaging ELA Activities with Google Docs" - Google Slides link
• Blog Post - Improve Reading Comprehension with Google Docs "Black Out" - Resource link
• Blog post - 15+ Awesome Article Sites for Students - Resource link
• Sample article about spiders - Google Docs link
• Example completed article - Google Docs link

• Blog Post - Black Out Poetry with Google Docs - Resource link
• Sample text for Black Out poem - Google Docs link
• Completed examples - Example 1 - Example 2

• Blog Post - 5 Emoji Learning Activities with Google Docs - Resource link
• Rebus stories - Wintertime example - Blog post link - Template link
• Rebus stories - Valentine example - Blog post link - Template link
• Rebus stories - Halloween example - Blog post link - Template link
• Explore emotions with emojis - "Character Emojis" Template - Google Doc link

• Blog post - "Create Cloze Reading Activities with Google Docs Dropdown Chips" - Website link
• Tutorial video - YouTube link
• Sample - "Frog Cloze Activity" - Sample Starter Text -  Completed Example
• Blog post - "Choose Your Own Adventure Stories with Google Docs" - Website link
• Sample - "Dragon Quest" Interactive Story - Google Document link

• Blog post - "30 Free Google Drawings Graphic Organizers" - Website link
• More templates - Resource link - Resource link - Resource link

• Blog post - "Have Students Write Better by Writing Less with Google Docs" - Website link

• Blog post - "Creating Punctuation Practice Activities with Google Docs" - Website link
• Sample document to test - Google Docs link

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Lessons with google docs: 4 simple activities to foster creative thinking and collaboration.

Google Drive is the optimum collaborative tool, and because of its ease and accessibility, many schools have gone Google wild. While many students are already using Google Docs to collaboratively work through the components of the writing process, these shared documents can be the platform for many collaborative learning activities too.

I’m an ELA teacher, and time-saving activities where I can combine reading and writing to create authentic and meaningful experiences to deepen learning are my go-to’s. And when I can collaborate with content specialists, it’s a trifecta! The following activities are some of my favorites, and when used with different titles and concepts, the activity itself can be used multiple times throughout the year, turning into students’ favorites too.

I hope you are able to see these activities through a lens where you can envision your own favorite titles and substitute that content with mine to make it more meaningful to you.

Google Docs Activity: Four Corners

Four Corners is a popular activity that engages students by encouraging students to think of a position or stand on a statement. With different areas of the room labeled Agree, Strongly Agree, Disagree and Strongly Disagree, students will physically move to that place in the classroom, usually the four corners of the room, to work with the rest of that small group to develop their claims or arguments as to why they placed themselves in that spot.

Four Corners Google Style is perfect for holding all students accountable, working in a smaller space, or settling down after the original four corners.

Teaching students the components of an argument—claims, counter claims and rebuttals—naturally occurs when everyone is looking at the same Google Doc.

I’ve used this with To Kill a Mockingbird (Grades 7-12, Level Z, Lexile 870), focusing on Harper Lee specifically to debate the controversial publication of her second novel, Go Set a Watchman (Grades 9-A, Lexile 870).

Prior to the activity, students should be given some background knowledge about Harper Lee—her iconic success with To Kill a Mockingbird , her secluded lifestyle and her recent, eagerly anticipated and surprising second publication.

• Show students the following clip:

After encouraging a discussion on the mood and tone of the piece, provide alternative resources such as the following articles:

• The Harper Lee ‘Go Set a Watchman’ Fraud
• The Suspicious Story behind Harper Lee’s ‘Go Set a Watchman’
• What’s the message behind the new Harper Lee book?
• Harper Lee’s ‘Go Set a Watchman’ May Have Been Found Earlier Than Thought
• Harper Lee’s ‘Go Set a Watchman’ Should Not Have Been Published

Finally, provide a claim such as, “Publishing Go Set a Watchman was an ethical choice.”

In a Google doc with a table consisting of four quadrants (or corners), students can enter their argument as to why they agree or disagree with that statement. The beauty of the project is that as students are entering their rationals, they are also reading what others have written, thus causing them to naturally create rebuttals and counterclaims as they write.

Four corners activity Google Doc

Google Docs Activity: Group Research

When working on projects, one person usually tends to take the lead. Using a Google Doc grid for research holds all students accountable while at the same time allowing for collaborative work on a project. Choosing content based topics is perfect for combining content area subjects with reading and writing skills.

Choice is key. Letting students choose their topics is what leads to motivation and interest.

Groups of students working on the same topic can brainstorm questions to research. The questions go along the top of the grid. Resources they use are along the left side. When students research the answers to the questions, they summarize their responses under the question and across from the resource it was found in.

Once they have exhausted their resources, the information they have found is organized vertically by subjects, helping student compile information for whatever creative endeavor they are using to share their results.

Google Docs Activity: Word Cloud

Word Clouds can be created from websites and applications such as wordle.net , wordclouds.com , wordcloud.booogle.net or abcya.com . They are visual representations of ideas or thoughts. The more a term is present, the larger the application creates that word or phrase. Words or phrases used less often are created smaller.

Here’s an example that uses the book Teammates (Grades K-3, Level S, Lexile 930) by Peter Golenbock. Four different groups had a Google Doc where they wrote words related to the main idea of Teammates . Even though this title is intended for elementary school students, I think this activity would be engaging for many ages. The book tells the story of Jackie Robinson and his relationship with Peewee Reese.

This example of one group’s Google Doc represents a variety of concepts. The more frequently a student wrote a word, the more they felt it was significant to the story.

A simple Google spreadsheet can be used to create a word cloud.

From this document, create the word cloud. It’s easy to do; simply copy the second column and paste it into the cloud text box. And click Create!

A student-created word cloud

Questions to pose: Do the larger words and phrases represent the big idea of the text? How does each group’s word cloud compare? Is there something on the cloud that you disagree with?

Actual text from the book can be entered too, helping students determine how the author represents the concepts given.

Google Docs Activity: Speed Read

My final four favorite involves a little competition. With students working on the same document, speed can be a determining factor with this game-like activity.

Create a document with two columns: figurative language and literal language. Using multiple copies of the same book to enhance the competition, have students locate examples of figurative language to enter in the first column, then translate the phrase’s literal meaning in the adjacent column. Students will continuously check back to the document to make sure the examples they are using haven’t already been taken. The speed and competition come in when students fight for the same phrase. The example below was used with Hi, Koo! (Grades K-3, Level Z, Lexile 870) by Jon J. Muth.

Google doc used in the speed read activity

Typically, students of all ages love these game-like activities, and at the same time they are practicing critical thinking and interpretation. These activities are also clever ways to introduce students to new books, possibly tempting them to choose something outside of their comfort zone for independent reading. It’s important to consistently introduce new books with book talks to kids. This way, students are getting introduced without it labeled as such.

Google has so many teacher and class-friendly tools, but sometimes the simplest tools can turn into the most adventuresome learning.

About the Author: Kelli Westmoreland

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Google Classroom  - Creating Assignments and Materials

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Google Classroom: Creating Assignments and Materials

Lesson 2: creating assignments and materials.

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Creating assignments and materials

Google Classroom gives you the ability to create and assign work for your students, all without having to print anything. Questions , essays , worksheets , and readings can all be distributed online and made easily available to your class. If you haven't created a class already, check out our Getting Started with Google Classroom lesson.

Watch the video below to learn more about creating assignments and materials in Google Classroom.

Creating an assignment

Whenever you want to create new assignments, questions, or material, you'll need to navigate to the Classwork tab.

In this tab, you can create assignments and view all current and past assignments. To create an assignment, click the Create button, then select Assignment . You can also select Question if you'd like to pose a single question to your students, or Material if you simply want to post a reading, visual, or other supplementary material.

This will bring up the Assignment form. Google Classroom offers considerable flexibility and options when creating assignments.

Click the buttons in the interactive below to become familiar with the Assignment form.

This is where you'll type the title of the assignment you're creating.

Instructions

If you'd like to include instructions with your assignment, you can type them here.

Here, you can decide how many points an assignment is worth by typing the number in the form. You can also click the drop-down arrow to select Ungraded if you don't want to grade an assignment.

You can select a due date for an assignment by clicking this arrow and selecting a date from the calendar that appears. Students will have until then to submit their work.

In Google Classroom, you can sort your assignments and materials into topics. This menu allows you to select an existing topic or create a new one to place an assignment under.

Attachments

You can attach files from your computer , files from Google Drive , URLs , and YouTube videos to your assignments.

Google Classroom gives you the option of sending assignments to all students or a select number .

Once you're happy with the assignment you've created, click Assign . The drop-down menu also gives you the option to Schedule  an assignment if you'd like it to post it at a later date.

You can attach a rubric to help students know your expectations for the assignment and to give them feedback.

Once you've completed the form and clicked Assign , your students will receive an email notification letting them know about the assignment.

Google Classroom takes all of your assignments and automatically adds them to your Google Calendar. From the Classwork tab, you can click Google Calendar to pull this up and get a better overall view of the timeline for your assignments' due dates.

Using Google Docs with assignments

When creating an assignment, there may often be times when you want to attach a document from Google Docs. These can be helpful when providing lengthy instructions, study guides, and other material.

When attaching these types of files, you'll want to make sure to choose the correct setting for how your students can interact with it . After attaching one to an assignment, you'll find a drop-down menu with three options.

Let's take a look at when you might want to use each of these:

• Students can view file : Use this option if the file is simply something you want your students to view but not make any changes to.
• Students can edit file : This option can be helpful if you're providing a document you want your students to collaborate on or fill out collectively.
• Make a copy for each student : If you're creating a worksheet or document that you want each student to complete individually, this option will create a separate copy of the same document for every student.

Using topics

On the Classwork tab, you can use  topics to sort and group your assignments and material. To create a topic, click the Create button, then select Topic .

Topics can be helpful for organizing your content into the various units you teach throughout the year. You could also use it to separate your content by type , splitting it into homework, classwork, readings, and other topic areas.

In our next lesson , we'll explore how to create quizzes and worksheets with Google Forms, further expanding how you can use Google Classroom with your students.

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Assign tasks from Google Docs

Tasks in Docs are only available for eligible work or school accounts, and you’re not currently signed in. Learn more about work and school accounts .

Sign in to your work account

Assign a task in Google Docs

• On your computer, in Google Docs, open a doc.
• In the document, enter @task and press Enter.

• In the document, enter @checklist and press Enter .
• Enter a task in the checklist.

• You can assign a task to yourself or other users in your domain.
• Optional: To set a date for the task, click Date and pick a date from the calendar.
• To assign the task, click Add .
• When you assign a task to someone, they receive an email notification that includes your email address. They can view the task in their personal Tasks list and on their Google Calendar if the task has a set date. Learn more about shared tasks .
• Anonymous users can't assign or edit Tasks in a Google Doc.

View or edit a task in Docs

• If a task is completed, its title will be crossed out.
• Title: Type in the checklist item text and press Tab to update. 
• If you edit the user the task is assigned to, both the previous assignee and the new assignee will receive an email notification. 

Mark a task complete in Docs

• In Google Docs, open a doc with assigned tasks.
• Find an assigned checklist item.
• If a task is marked as completed in the doc, it'll show as completed in the assignee’s personal Tasks list and they’ll get an email notification.

Delete a task in Docs

• On the left of an assigned checklist item, point to the icon.

Tips : 

• If a task is deleted in the doc, it won't appear in the assignee’s personal Tasks list. If the task wasn’t already completed, the assignee will receive an email notification.

Manage updates to tasks in Docs

On the icon to the left of the checklist item, a blue dot may appear. This can happen when:

• Someone updates the checklist item in the doc but doesn’t update the task.
• The assignee of a task updates the task title in Tasks, but doesn’t update the checklist text in the doc.
• Someone reverts the document to an earlier version.

To fix the issue and remove the blue dot:

• Point to the task with a blue dot.
• At the bottom right of the pop up window, click Update .

Tip: A blue dot may also appear on a task icon if the assignee updates or deletes the task in their personal Tasks list, but doesn’t have edit access to the doc.

• To fix this, point to the blue dot and click Yes .
• To prevent this, make sure the assignee has edit access to the doc .

Change task notifications

You can change the notifications you receive for tasks in a document.

• On your computer, open a Google Doc, Sheet, or Slide.

• All comments and tasks: When any tasks are created or changed.
• Comments and tasks for you: When others reply to tasks or comments you're added to.
• None: Never receive emails about comments or tasks for that file.

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• Get started with Shared Google Tasks

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