All educators understand the key role of empowering students to shape future success. By teaching students to take ownership of their learning, we strengthen their involvement, critical thinking, confidence, and academic outcomes. English Arts teacher Mary Saylor has mastered this approach effectively. She used nothing but Google tasks to significantly increase her student’s sense of empowerment.
Hack: Use Google Tasks to enable students to take charge of their studies
Miss Saylor Student Accountability Hack leverages Google Tasks to help students set, monitor and reflect educational goals. Miss Sayler’s strategy helps students get involved in learning, recognize their strengths and weaknesses, and increase their confidence. This method promotes independence and a reflective learning environment, encouraging students to see progress and understand the impact of their actions. This is a checklist that Miss Saylor uses with her students.
Mary Saylor
How to implement Google Tasks with Students
Here’s how teachers can implement this hack in their classroom:
Setup: Allow all students to access their computers with their Google account. Teachers also need a Google account and a projector to demonstrate using Google Tasks. Create Task: Students log in to Google Calendar, create tasks and set them as learning goals for the day or unit using student-friendly language and clear deadlines. (See Miss Saylor images created for the following!) Reflection and review: Deadline, students review tasks and add details to the task notes section to see if they have achieved their goals , reflects how you achieved it. Continuous engagement: Students check and archive tasks if their objectives are met. If not, it remains active until it completes. Enhanced Reflection: Provides a structured self-reflection checklist to analyse performance and allow students to understand the link between behavior and outcomes. Feel free to use the Miss Saylor checklist provided to the We Are Teachers team! Mary Saylor Mary Saylor
Benefits of Google Tasks
My former 8th grade student would have loved this cyclical goal setting throughout his math lessons. They were always looking for more ways to use technology. What’s more, who knows themselves better and wants to be in charge of their own learning than teenagers? ! There are even more benefits:
Enhance student engagement: Students are involved in goal setting and accountability, and they are more invested in learning. Promoting reflexive learning: Continuous self-assessment helps students recognize learning patterns that are essential for academic development. Building confidence: Regular achievement of set goals increases students’ confidence and positive feelings about school, as evidenced by Miss Thaler’s findings. Miss Saylor found that her students showed a 46% increase in positive feelings towards school and a 69% increase after consistently reflecting using Google Tasks in the first semester . oh!
Google Tasks Additional Tips
Miss Saylor suggests starting small, except for just one task, to allow students to get used to technology. First, try explaining how to use Google tasks step by step and highlighting the importance of reflecting your work. She knows the power to share the ups and downs in achieving personal goals. This helps students realize that it’s okay to be not perfect. That’s about trying to get better every time. Furthermore, this hack can be adapted to any grade or subject, not just in English classes. Start your grade with a rapid Google Task demo and allow teachers to incorporate planned reflection and accountability into their lessons. This hack can be a regular moment for reflexes throughout the year.
I think you and your students need this hack!
By blending technology with self-assessment, Missailer’s Google Task teaches student accountability hacks and responsibility and reflection on all learning goals. This increases student engagement and a positive shift in attitudes towards education. What teachers don’t want both in the classroom? Try this hack yourself and shake up the dynamics of your classroom!
