Here is me hoping this is useful for remote teachers looking for ways to simplify our work (grading, conferring, giving feedback, planning) while maintaining the heart and intellectual challenge of our classes.

Google forms helped me to solve a problem I was having. Many of my students struggled to maintain a digital notebook I had created. Actually, I had struggled to make it useful because I was trying to do too much with the one notebook. Its design should have reflected more their intentions and not all of mine.

So, to regain a more authentic feel to the notebook, I began creating Google Forms for certain tasks that would allow me to assess skills in bite-size chunks. I have never done activities or worksheets before because they don’t reflect the writing process in the real world.

However, I did see the benefit of using the forms as a means to give me data for quicker feedback so I found a way where I feel I am using the form to maintain choice and complexity.

When Marie and I first imagined the need to “rewire” teaching, we never realized how literate that would become!