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Resources, ideas, and printables for effective use of Chromebooks in the Classroom!!

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You can do more with your classroom Chromebooks.

Chromebooks are powerful. They're fast. They give us easy access to the vastness of the Internet.

But when you open a Chromebook for the first time, it can be underwhelming. "This is it? Where are all the features?"

It can also be overwhelming. "How do I even figure out how to use this in a lesson tomorrow?"

In the end, you're just trying to answer one question: "What am I going to do with all of these Chromebooks?"

You're in the right place! This page is your home base for all things Chromebooks. You'll find:

Creative activity ideas to use in class right away

Top features you and your students need to know

Tips and tricks to make the most of your Chromebooks

Helpful resources you can use with students

Our top Chromebook posts for even more ideas

Our top Chromebook posts

Students can do powerful remote learning with Chromebooks. These five tools can help make learning amazing.

No internet at home? No problem. Set up Chromebooks and laptops with offline access to G Suite. Your elearning day activities just got a lot more interesting!

Seesaw lets students create, reflect and share. It's not just for elementary classes and iPads. See how K-12 classes can use it with Chromebooks as well.

Chromebooks are powerful. But nobody seems to tell you about some of their best features! Learn some of the things you never learned before in this post.

©2022 Ditch That Textbook by Matt Miller.

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You can do more with your classroom Chromebooks. Chromebooks are powerful. They're fast. They give us easy access to the vastness of the Internet. But when you open a Chromebook for the first time, it can be underwhelming. "This is it? Where are all the features?" It can also be overwhelming.

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5 easy strategies to organize your Google Classroom

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Is your Google Classroom a mess? An organizational disaster? Use these five strategies to get a handle on it!Let’s be honest. Your Google Classroom is a

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Example of Middle School Policies for iPads, but could be easily modified for Chromebooks

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Find Chromebook lessons to use in your classroom. Sort lessons by Subject and Grade Level.

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Teaching with Chromebooks? Check out more than 30 Chromebook lesson from teachers like you. Use the search to find a lesson for your subject area and grade.

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Read about the lesson and copy the quiz to modify and use with your students.

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Chromebook Lesson Ideas

About the Project

How well do your students know their Chromebook?

It's tough to use a Chromebook to do fun, interesting classroom projects if your students' don't know how to use them!

This Google Forms Chromebook quiz will assess how well your students can navigate their Chromebook.

Lesson Overview

This Chromebook quiz for students contains 20 questions that will assess basic Chromebook navigation. This quiz was designed with for middle or high school students, but can be simplified for elementary students.

Make sure you review the sample questions on the form template linked below. You may decide that some of the questions on this Chromebook quiz aren't necessary for your students.

Make a copy of the quiz and delete or modify any questions that aren't a good fit.

The final question on this Chromebook quiz asks students to describe your technology rules and policies. Make sure that you discuss your expectations with your students prior to assigning this quiz. Here are a few things you may want to discuss with them:

Can students listen to music while they do their classwork?

If a student finishes early, what are they allowed to do on their Chromebook?

What are your guidlines for getting Chromebook in/out of your classroom cart?

What happens if a student forgets to charge their Chromebook and it dies during class?

What happens if a student notices that they Chromebook they are using is damaged?

Tips and Suggestions

Before you assign this Chromebook quiz to your students you should spend at least one class period reviewing the parts and features of your Chromebooks. Here are some of the key things to review:

Managing tabs

Bookmarking a website

Installing and managing Chrome extensions

Accessing Chrome apps through the app launcher

Logging ou and restarting a Chromebook

Accessing the settings for your Chromebook

Taking a screenshot

Mouse skills (scroll, right click, etc)

Enabling/using accessibility features (dictation, select-to-speak)

This is also a good time to explain a how a locked quiz works and your guidelines for taking a quiz on a Chromebook.

Lesson Resources

Do you have Chromebooks in your Classroom?

Download a free chapter of my book, The Chromebook Classroom!

by John Sowash
January 15, 2018

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Chromebook Lesson Ideas How well do your students know their Chromebook? It's tough to use a Chromebook to do fun, interesting classroom projects if your students' don't know how to use them! This Google Forms Chromebook quiz will assess how well your students can navigate their Chromebook.

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Amazing lessons created by teachers using Chromebooks. Searchable by grade, activity, subject etc...

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Apps with seamless integrations

Learn about the apps that connect with Google for Education, to find ones to help enrich and enhance teaching and learning. Beyond our latest integrations, we have hundreds of apps integrating across Chromebooks and Google Workspace for Education, whether through our APIs with Slides, Docs, Drive, and more. Find out about all of the apps below.

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Explore Apps for Learning & Teaching - Google for Education

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Enhance and enrich education with our apps for learning and teaching. Explore our app hub to find apps that connect with Google for Education.

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8 Strategies to Manage the 21st Century Classroom

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8 Strategies to Manage the 21st Century Classroom

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Screen Features, Can you find these on your Chromebook Screen?

Launcher

Shelf

Shortcuts

Bookmarks

History

New Tab

Keyboard Features - Can you use these keys>

Search

Refresh

Full Screen

Ctrl+ window switch for screenshot (add shift key to select)

Trackpad Features - Can you utilize your trackpad?

2 finger scroll

3 finger swipe down to show all apps and back down to collapse

2 finger tap is a right click - spelling, cut, copy, paste, etc…

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Telling the story of Google Chrome and how it inspired an operating system. Produced by Epipheo Studios. Sign up to get updates about Google Chrome OS: https://services.google.com/fb/forms/googlechromeossignup/ More info: http://www.chromium.org

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Tips for Classroom Management with Devices

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Tips for Classroom Management with Devices

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Classroom management is something that defines professionalism in the classroom as teachers work tirelessly to meet and address student learning needs and goals. It is an art that is learned, refined, and reinvented over and over throughout a teacher's career as new technology and teaching methods are implemented within the classroom.

Enter the most recent form of technology to come into classrooms the Chromebook. A new challenge now awaits as teachers are engaging students with technology, but may struggle with aspects of classroom management surrounding them. To keep it short and to the point one of the new challenges that I hear all the time from teachers is "How do I know if they are doing what they are supposed to be doing?" Many times I am also asked if we can get one of those monitoring services that would be an expensive cost to our 1:1 program.

My response to these questions and concerns comes from meeting these challenges within my own classroom, and getting to observe other teachers implementing similar strategies. In short we can save a lot of money, time, and get better instruction by using a few simple strategies that I use all the time in my class and with teachers that I work with. Here are the top 5 things that we recommend to make classroom management easier with better learning outcomes in our 1-1 Chromebook environment.

One of the biggest things that a teacher can do to alleviate some of the management aspects of the Chromebooks is to change what the physical space of the room looks like. Not all teachers have the luxury of changing the room because of space limitations, furniture that doesn't mesh well with technology, or too many students to accommodate seating within the room. One of the ways to free up your room and get a better management outcome is to move the furniture completely out of the way. Teachers who utilize this strategy find that they have more flexibility in activities within the room, lower behavior issues, more on task behavior, and better proximity to students. This setup also allows the teacher to teach from anywhere within the room by simply purchasing a very inexpensive wireless presenter mouse. Simply push the desks, chairs and anything else to the outside walls of the room. The picture shown gives a glimpse into one way that this can be done.

One of the ways to keep students on task and reduce behavior is to let them know when, and how, the technology is going to be used in the classroom. One way to quickly and easily set this expectation is with a stoplight sign on the outside of the room with a clip. Red indicates to students that they will not be using technology in the class today. (AND THAT"S OK) Yellow indicates that they will be using the technology, but that it should remain closed to start the class because the teacher will be giving instruction. Green lets students know that it is time to take the technology out to start the class along with any other class routines that you may be using. Teachers that utilize this find that they are not fighting the common question " When are we going to use the....", or are not battling students about inappropriately trying to sneak the technology when they should be engaged in the lesson. When students know when, and how, the tech will be used they are less likely to be off task. This is an easy task to assign a student to help you with at the beginning of the day or hour of a class.

A great way to gather some formative assessment data and to keep students on task is the" what I did today email". This works especially well with Chromebooks as students can "print" their browsing history to a PDF and then include that in an email to their parents or guardians and the teacher. At the end of the hour have students respond with a short "elevator" summary of what they learned in class that day. This is a great technique as it gets students to reflect on their learning, practices summarizing skills, and increases accountability to be on task during self-directed learning times within the class. As a parent myself it also saves from this conversation

ME: What did you do in class today?

Daughter: Nothing

ME: What do you mean nothing? I am sure that there was lots that you learned.

Daughter: I can't remember

Parents will be grateful to be part of the learning process, and to be able to see the growth of their child over time. This technique can also be use with student blogging as well if parents are connected to the blog.

Greater conversations can ensue when students have little to say about what they learned in class that day, or their browsing history has large gaps within it as it is reviewed by both teachers and parents. This allows for more in depth conversations around the learning that took place and gives a great way to gather formative evidence. In addition teachers can give parents the gift of insight into what their student is learning without looking at just a grade in an information system or report card. Finally, it will take almost no additional effort on the teachers part to implement.

This is really a simple strategy that allows for a lot of management aspects within the classroom. When giving instructions, or doing some direct instruction this is a great strategy to get students off the keyboard and focused on what the teacher is saying. In addition it also allows for the ability to do a quick check to see if students are on task, on appropriate sites, or need additional help with the lesson. If teachers are using this strategy they really need to be firm and consistent that if students continue working, or are not on task, that it leads to a "technology timeout". Teachers who are consistent in this find that it leads to a great way to have a flexible learning environment with the ability to meet a students needs no matter where they are standing in the room.

Both students, and adults, are consistently called by the siren of technology if it is near. If it is within arms reach and you can see it the the likelihood of wanting to do something with it and be distracted by it is pretty high. Everyone thinks that they can multitask, but more often than not it goes in one ear and out the other. The best way to get students attention is to have them put their lids at 45 degrees-something we model and teach- or have them close their lids completely. The great thing about Chromebooks is that they restart really quickly. The best way to make sure that your instructions have been heard is to eliminate the call of the technology siren so that they are not distracted by what they are doing, or their neighbor. This goes for adults too.

As with any management ideas within a classroom you need to make them your own and adapt to your students. However, with a few small changes it can make a world of difference for both you and your students in a technology rich environment.

Author: Tim Mortensen

Tim is a Digital Learning Manager in the Sun Prairie Area School district. He was a classroom teacher for 14 years before entering a position as a technology integrator. You can follow him at @tamoten.

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5 tips for classroom management with Chromebooks in a 1:1

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Classroom management is something that defines professionalism in the classroom as teachers work tirelessly to meet and address student learning needs and goals. It is an art that is learned, refined, and reinvented over and over throughout a teacher's career as new technology and teaching methods are implemented within the classroom.

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Blog Post for inspiration

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This year we deployed Google Apps for Education for all staff and students in my district, and I was given the opportunity to pilot 1:1 Chromebooks in my classroom. To say that I am ecstatic is to put it mildly.

Why? Because Google Apps and Chromebooks are truly a winning combination. First of all, Google Apps for Education (GAFE) is entirely free for schools and districts. Secondly, Chromebooks are inexpensive and with the Management Console, very easy to manage. Paired together, it is a good solution for schools on a tight budget. For me, it gave me the means to put a device into the hands of all my students and the ability to bring my classroom into the 21st Century.

Yes, I understand that Chromebooks are largely Internet-dependent and are not laptop equivalents. At the same time, everything I need my students to create in an English language arts classroom could be accomplished with web applications - and the 10 seconds it takes to boot up these devices are probably less time than how long it usually takes for students to unpack their backpacks and take out their learning materials.

We've only been using Chromebooks for a couple of months, but here are some ways in which Google Apps have made my classroom more efficient, collaborative, and rigorously demanding.

My students use Google Docs to...

Work on a project together - Its real-time, group collaboration capability is fantastic. Students love seeing their contributions fly across the page alongside their peers.

Brainstorm and organize ideas together - Students use one document to build on each other's ideas and knowledge.

Peer edit each other's work - Students invite their peers into their documents, and these extra pairs of eyes are extremely helpful in pinpointing simple grammatical and mechanical errors.

Collaboratively annotate a text together - Students read short texts in groups and insert comments as they read, asking each other for clarification and posting analytical questions to scaffold each other's understanding.

Motivate each other - All my students' work are "public" within my classroom. By expanding beyond a one-teacher readership, my students have learned to step up their game. I regularly ask for peer nominations on assignments, and students love to be nominated and recognized in this way.

My students are building Google Sites to...

Showcase their work and share it with their friends and families

Write to an authentic audience

Embed multimedia on webpages

Learn digital citizenship and create a web persona

With Google Apps, my students are far more prolific than those from previous years. It is very motivating for students to produce work for a larger audience. The collaborative nature of Google Apps is what sets this suite of web tools apart from the competition. It's only been a couple of months, but my students and I are having a great time. And this is just the beginning.

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This year we deployed Google Apps for Education for all staff and students in my district, and I was given the opportunity to pilot 1:1 Chromebooks in my classroom. To say that I am ecstatic is to put it mildly. Why? Because Google Apps and Chromebooks are truly a winning combination.

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Sharing in an app allows educators to pose problems and investigations for students by using an 8-character code or link. Students can share their thinking with their teachers and classmates. Share codes remain available for continued use for 18 months from the date they are last accessed.
Watch the video to learn how sharing works.

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Sharing in an app allows educators to pose problems and investigations for students by using an 8-character code or link. Students can share their thinking with their teachers and classmates. Share codes remain available for continued use for 18 months from the date they are last accessed.

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A ton of information and links

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Copyright: Kathy Schrock. All rights reserved.
Republishing of these lists of links without express and written permission from this site's author is not allowed.
Links to this page  may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Kathy Schrock and Kathy Schrock's Guide to Everything with appropriate and specific direction (via the URL) to the original compilation of information on this page.

Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available by emailing the creator.

Page created: 11/23/2012
Last updated: 01/13/2022
Kathy Schrock (kathy@kathyschrock.net)
URL of this page:
https://schrockguide.net/chromebooks.html

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This page will provide links to online information about the use of Google Chromebooks in the PreK-12 classroom. There have been many successful pilots of these devices and 1:1 adoptions, and this...

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A few of these lessons go a long way... Lessons are ready to use with student worksheets and parent handout.

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Interactive lessons and activities for all students!

Use digital citizenship lesson plans to address timely topics and prepare students to take ownership of their digital lives. Browse lessons by grade and topic below, or see an overview of the curriculum.

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Digital Citizenship Curriculum | Common Sense Education

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Use digital citizenship lesson plans to address timely topics and prepare students to take ownership of their digital lives. Browse lessons by grade and topic below, or see an overview of the curriculum.

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From Venn Diagrams to Bio Cubes, all sorts of great and easy to use tools.

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We welcome links to ReadWriteThink.org from school, classroom, educational, and personal websites that are freely available to the public. You do not need to formally request permission for these links, but we ask that you abide by the terms below.

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We welcome links to ReadWriteThink.org from school, classroom, educational, and personal websites that are freely available to the public. You do not need to formally request permission for these links, but we ask that you abide by the terms below.