Check attendance before the draw
Who is here today? Paste one student label per line. Open Attendance and uncheck absent students. The count separates present students from the full roster. Editing the roster resets everyone to present; check attendance again afterward. Blank lines are ignored. Repeated names remain separate entries.
Choose a group count and role set, then generate. Check the cards before displaying them. Only present entries join the draw, and group sizes differ by at most one student. The tool does not assess skill, friendships, access needs or preferred partners.
Rehearse with thirteen invented labels
Try the sample: thirteen synthetic labels, Student / 01 through Student / 13, and an activity prompt. They do not describe a real class. Use three groups and Discussion roles: Facilitator, Recorder, Timekeeper, Reporter.
All thirteen present? The sizes are 5, 4, 4. Each group has the four named roles. The fifth student in the larger group is Participant, a membership label rather than an invented duty. Define their contribution before starting.
Uncheck Student / 13 and generate again. Twelve present entries make three groups of four. Student / 13 is absent from the cards and downloads, but the roster still contains thirteen entries. Check both counts before showing the board. Attendance does not delete the roster entry.
Now uncheck Student / 12. Eleven present entries make groups of 4, 4, 3. The three-student card shows Reporter as unassigned; its members receive Facilitator, Recorder and Timekeeper. Combine reporting with another duty or change the role list before starting. The tool does not invent a fourth student.
Rotate jobs, keep classmates
Rotate roles keeps the draw fixed. In the twelve-present rehearsal, each student's job moves forward one slot: Facilitator to Recorder, Recorder to Timekeeper, Timekeeper to Reporter, Reporter to Facilitator. After four rotations, the four-student groups return to their starting assignments.
The five-student group has a Participant slot too, so it returns to the start after five rotations. In a three-student group with four configured roles, only the first three roles rotate; Reporter stays unassigned. Rotation uses each group's actual size. It does not track duties across lessons or promise equal workload.
Reshuffle groups makes another draw and resets the role round to 1. Classmates can repeat. Changing attendance, group count, roles, activity title or task clears the cards and files. Generate again after an edit.
Display and save one classroom plan
For the twelve-present rehearsal, use Explain your method as the activity title. The sample task asks students to compare two solutions, record one reason for their choice, and have the reporter share it. Show classroom board hides the input roster and instructions and enlarges the cards. Exit board or Escape restores the controls. It is a page display mode, not browser fullscreen.
Print groups opens the browser print dialog. The print layout includes the activity, task, current role round and cards. It omits the input roster, absent entries and page instructions. Check preview before printing; paper and printer settings can change pagination.
Does your saved plan match the board? Download CSV and TXT before reshuffling. CSV has Activity,Task,Group,Name,Role columns. The twelve-present rehearsal has twelve member rows, not thirteen. Match each name and role to its visible card, including after rotation. TXT includes the activity, task, role round and unassigned roles beneath each group heading.
Set duties for today's activity
Discussion and Lab each provide four role labels. Custom accepts one role per line. No roles makes everyone Participant and disables rotation. Extra students get Participant slots; extra roles stay unassigned. Review the duties with the group before starting.
Roster and results stay in this browser, without an account, cloud history or names in analytics or sharing URLs. Reloading clears them. Downloads contain your names and activity text; keep those files where you intend to use them.
CSV quotes commas, line breaks and double quotes. Text fields starting with =, +, @ or - receive a leading apostrophe for spreadsheet formula protection. TXT keeps the entered labels. Use the group generator for sizes only, the pair generator for partners, or the worksheet guide for a fuller handout.