In the fast-paced world of teaching, where every second counts and student engagement is paramount, finding quick and effective tools to spice up your classroom is essential. Google Sheets holds a secret weapon you might not have even realized existed. The power of randomization in Sheets. It is easy to randomize lists in your spreadsheet and so many reasons a teacher would want to take advantage of this feature.
Randomization in Sheets
Randomize range is available in the “Data” menu or by right clicking. Sorting the selected text randomly is easy in Google Sheets.
Highlight Your Range of Text
When you highlight a selection of a sheet, that is the known as the range. When you highlight a range of cells and choose to “Randomize range” only that highlighted range will randomize. The rest of the spreadsheet will remain untouched. If you highlight multiple columns, the rows will randomize together. In other words, if you have first name, last name, student ID number and randomize this list, the names and ID numbers will remain matched together. You are randomizing the rows within the selected range.
Why Randomize in Sheets?
With a classroom full of students there are so many reasons that randomly choosing something in a list will be helpful. Who presents next? What review question should we come back to? Gamified test practice and many others. Randomize in Sheets to do so many classroom activities and tasks!
Digital Popsicle Sticks: Call on Students Randomly
Remember those trusty popsicle sticks you used to pull from a cup to randomly call on students? Well, it’s time for a digital upgrade. With a simple Google Sheets spreadsheet, you can create a virtual popsicle stick system that’s even more versatile and efficient. Say goodbye to fumbling with sticks and hello to effortless student engagement!
How to set it up:
- Create your list: In a new Google Sheets spreadsheet, create a column for each class you teach. List your students’ names in the corresponding columns.
- Highlight and Randomize: When it’s time to call on a student, simply highlight the column for the relevant class. Right-click on the highlighted range and select “Randomize range.”
- Engage and Interact: The randomized list instantly provides a fair and unbiased way to choose a student. No more predictable patterns or hesitant hand-raisers – every student has an equal opportunity to participate.
Multiple Classes, No Problem
Teaching multiple classes? No worries! Simply add each class list to a separate column in your spreadsheet. When you randomize the range, you’ll only be shuffling the names within the highlighted column, ensuring each class has its own randomized selection.
Quiz Shuffler
Inject some spice into your assessments with a randomized quiz! Create multiple versions by randomizing the questions. Try my Add-on TemplateTab to create a quiz per student.
How to set it up:
- Create your quiz: In a new Google Sheets spreadsheet, list your quiz questions in one column and the corresponding answer choices in another column.
- Select the range: Highlight the entire range of questions and answer choices you want to randomize.
- Randomize: Right-click on the highlighted range and select “Randomize range.”
- Quiz time! Your quiz is now shuffled, presenting students with a fresh and challenging assessment experience.
Exit Ticket Surprise
Add a touch of unpredictability to your exit tickets and gain valuable insights into student understanding. Instead of using the same questions every time, create a “Question Bank” column in Sheets with a variety of exit ticket prompts. Then, use the =RANDBETWEEN() and =INDEX() functions to randomly select questions for each student, providing a more personalized and comprehensive assessment of their learning.
How to set it up:
- Question bank: Create a column with a diverse range of exit ticket questions.
- Random selection: In a separate sheet or area, use the
=RANDBETWEEN()function to generate random numbers corresponding to the row numbers of your question list. - Question retrieval: Use the
=INDEX()function to pull the questions associated with those random numbers into your exit ticket template. - Personalized exit tickets: Now, each student receives a unique, randomly generated exit ticket, ensuring a more accurate representation of their individual understanding.
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Energizing Brain Breaks
Combat those mid-afternoon slumps with a touch of spontaneity! Compile a list of quick and energizing brain break activities in Sheets and let the randomizer choose the next activity for your class. This keeps things fresh and exciting, ensuring students return to their tasks refreshed and ready to learn. Try my add-on Doc to Slides to send each of the brain breaks to a Google Slides, but in a random order.
How to set it up:
- Brain Break Ideas: In a column titled “Brain Breaks,” list a variety of quick activities like stretching, dancing, riddles, or mindfulness exercises.
- Random Selection: Highlight the “Brain Breaks” column. Right-click and choose “Randomize range.”
- Surprise and Delight: When it’s time for a break, simply reveal the randomly selected activity and watch your students’ energy levels soar!
Student-Led Discussions
Foster student leadership and engagement by randomly selecting a discussion leader for each topic or question. List your students’ names in one column and the discussion topics in another. Randomize the student names and pair them with the corresponding topics, empowering students to take ownership of their learning and share their perspectives.
How to set it up:
- Discussion Leaders: Create two columns: one for “Student Names” and another for “Discussion Topics.”
- Randomize: Highlight the “Student Names” column and right-click to select “Randomize range.”
- Assign and Discuss: Pair each randomized student name with a discussion topic, fostering meaningful conversations led by your students themselves.
Project Topic Selection
Give students a randomized selection of project topics. Create a column with a variety of project ideas and let the randomizer choose a few options for each student or group.
How to set it up:
- Project Ideas: Compile a list of diverse project topics in a column titled “Project Ideas.”
- Random Selection: Highlight the “Project Ideas” column and right-click to choose “Randomize range.”
- Student List: Paste the list of student names next to the randomized project topics.
Literature Circle Roles
Enhance collaboration and critical thinking during literature circles by randomly assigning roles to students. List different roles like Discussion Director, Summarizer, Word Wizard, and Connector in one column and your students’ names in another. Randomize the student names and assign them roles, ensuring everyone gets a chance to contribute in different ways and develop various skills.
How to set it up:
- Literature Circle Roles: Create two columns: one for “Roles” (e.g., Discussion Director, Summarizer, etc.) and another for “Student Names.”
- Random Assignment: Highlight the “Student Names” column and right-click to select “Randomize range.”
- Role Distribution: Pair each randomized student name with a corresponding role, promoting active participation and ensuring everyone contributes meaningfully to the literature circle discussions.
Classroom Job Lottery
Foster a sense of shared responsibility and fairness by randomly assigning classroom jobs. Say goodbye to favoritism and ensure everyone gets a chance to contribute to the smooth running of your classroom.
How to set it up:
- In one column, list the various classroom jobs.
- In another column, list your students’ names.
- Highlight just one column.
- Right-click and select “Randomize range.”
- Assign jobs based on the new randomized order.
Instant Group Formation
Tired of spending precious class time manually assigning students to groups? The “Randomize range” feature in Sheets is your solution. In a matter of seconds, you can create balanced groups, promoting collaboration and ensuring everyone gets a chance to work with different classmates.
How to set it up:
- Create a column with your students’ names.
- Create a column for group number. If you want three people in a group put each group number 3 times.
- Highlight the range of names.
- Right-click and choose “Randomize range.”
- Students are now assigned to a group.
