Trace ships no fixed worksheets. Each chapter ships a bank of questions and a recommended worksheet per lesson, and you build the sheet your class gets from those. This page takes you from opening the builder to reading the submissions.
Start from a preset, or start blank#
The quicker route is a preset. Press Resources in the sidebar, open the chapter, choose the Worksheet presets tab, find the lesson, and press Use preset. That makes your own editable copy and opens it in the builder. The published preset is untouched, so you can start over from it later.
To start blank, press My files in the sidebar and then New worksheet. The dialog says "Starts blank. Add questions from the chapter's bank in the editor", takes a Title, and asks for a Chapter, because the chapter decides which question bank the worksheet draws from. Press Create worksheet.
The builder, panel by panel#
The page has three panels. On the left is Question bank, in the middle the page preview, and on the right the outline and the settings for whatever you have selected.
Question bank has two pools, Worksheet and Assessment, and a search box over the prompts. Each result shows its type and difficulty, and any question already on the sheet carries an In worksheet badge. Add puts a question in after whatever is selected, or at the end when nothing is. Select a question on your sheet first and a second button appears, Swap with selected, which replaces that question with this one and leaves everything else where it is. That is how you trade a question for another on the same concept without rebuilding the sheet.
The middle panel is the page itself at the size it will print, with the name, date and period line at the top of the first page and "Page 1 of 2" at the foot. Two tabs above it switch between Student copy and Answer key. The key is generated from the same question records the student copy uses, so numbering and answers cannot drift apart, and the student copy never contains an answer. Zoom out, Fit, and Zoom in control the view. Pressing any block on the page selects it.
The right panel starts with three buttons that insert a Heading, some Directions, or a Page break. Under them, Page layout switches the sheet between 1 column and 2 columns. Outline lists every block in order, each with a handle you can drag with the mouse or move from the keyboard once it has focus, and a delete button. Selecting a block opens its settings below the outline: Heading text and Directions text for those, and for a written question Answer space (Ruled lines, Open box, or Grid paper) with a Lines count from 1 to 30, plus Start on a new page, which drops a page break in front of it. Multiple-choice and true-or-false questions get no answer-space controls, because their answer choices print automatically.
Saving, undo, and warnings#
The title sits in the header and is editable in place. Next to it the state reads Unsaved changes, Saving…, or Saved · Rev 3, so you always know which revision you are on. Save and Ctrl+S or Cmd+S both save. Undo and Redo step through your edits, with Ctrl+Z and Ctrl+Shift+Z as shortcuts.
Two things protect work in progress. If the tab closes with unsaved edits, the next time you open the worksheet a bar offers Restore draft or Discard draft. If you edited the same worksheet in two tabs, the save is refused with "This worksheet changed in another tab. Reload before saving again."
When the layout would clip text or strand a prompt at the bottom of a page, a blue bar appears above the preview naming the problem, and the block it refers to is tinted on the page.
Export and reuse#
Export in the header offers Download PDF, Download DOCX, and Export for Google Docs. All three follow the tab you have open, so you get the student copy or the answer key depending on which is showing. The Google Docs option downloads an HTML file you then open in Google Docs, and a message at the corner of the screen says so. Any unsaved changes are saved before the file is made.
More actions holds two more. Save as template makes a separate copy named "<title> template" that you can start future worksheets from. Reset to published preset throws away your current draft and puts the original preset back, and it is available only on a worksheet that came from one. It asks first and tells you that earlier saved revisions stay available.
Assign it to a class#
Press Assign, choose a Class, and press Assign worksheet. The dialog reminds you that your latest changes are saved first and that every student in the class then gets a copy.
The dialog asks for the class and nothing else, so the assignment starts with no due date. To add one, open the class, press Assignments, open the worksheet assignment, and press Edit, which carries the Due date field and the Publish now or Publish later choice.
Two things are refused. A template has to be duplicated as a worksheet before it can be assigned. A worksheet containing a draw-or-annotate question cannot be assigned online, because students answer in text boxes, so remove those questions or hand that sheet out on paper.
What students see, and what comes back#
The student opens the worksheet from their assignment and answers in the page, choosing an option for a multiple-choice question and typing into a box for everything else. Their work saves as they type, with Saving…, Saved, or Not saved showing the state, and Save forces it. Submit asks them to confirm, warning that a submitted worksheet becomes read-only and their answers can no longer be changed. Students never see the answer key.
On your side, open the class, press Assignments, and press the worksheet assignment. The header counts submissions ("7 of 24 students submitted"), and Open worksheet takes you back to the builder. Each student's row carries a badge reading Not started, In progress, or Submitted, along with when they submitted. View opens their answers. Mark reviewed records that you looked, and Write a note sends them a short comment and marks the work reviewed at the same time, which they see above their own answers the next time they open the sheet. Neither is a grade, and Trace assigns none.
Your worksheets are kept in My files and listed again under Your worksheets on the Teacher resources page, each with its revision number.
What this page does not do#
- It does not score or grade anything. Student answers are read by you, and Trace computes nothing from them.
- It never puts answers in a student's copy. The Answer key is a separate export that you choose deliberately.
- It does not mark answers right or wrong, even for multiple-choice questions.
- It does not collect draw-or-annotate questions online. Those go out on paper.
- It does not change the published preset or the chapter's question bank. Your copy is yours alone, and no other teacher sees it.
- It does not let students see each other's answers.