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Intro to Google Classroom by Chris Miller | This newsletter was created with Smore, an online tool for creating beautiful newsletters for for individual educators, schools and districts

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Get access to files anywhere through secure cloud storage and file backup for your photos, videos, files and more with Google Drive.

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Google Classroom: "What do kids do first?" from Alice Keeler

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Google Classroom: "What do kids do first?" from Alice Keeler

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I was asked on Twitter what the very first activity 6th graders might do when introducing Google Classroom. There is no "right" answer to this question. Here is my suggestion.

We do not teach tech, we teach content with tech. While I would structure the first activities to acclimate the students to the Google Classroom environment, I would not do it solely for the purpose of learning the tech. Think of the educational learning objectives and create a simple activity around that.

Even when I am working with adult teachers, the first thing that happens when introducing a group to Google Classroom is kids/adults posting in the stream "Waz uuuuuuuupppppp!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" or "Hi." This is normal. Do not get upset when kids act like kids. Plan for this. The student is trying to figure out what Google Classroom does so they are trying it out by posting something.

Knowing the students will do it anyway, just ask them to do it. "After logging into Google Classroom, click on the plus icon in the bottom corner and "Create post." Post something appropriate for school into the stream."

Using digital tools requires that we incorporate digital citizenship lessons into the curriculum. Use this opportunity to engage the students in a digital citizenship discussion. "We are a community of learners, we help each other get better." "Are these comments helpful to the class?" Most likely the students will say "no." Prompt the students to discuss what types of posts are helpful. Possible student responses are "What if we have questions about an assignment?" or "To help answer a question or share a tip."

As the teacher, when you click on the plus icon in the bottom right, the 3rd option is "Create question."

After having the digital citizenship conversation, create a curriculum question or class feedback question for the students to answer. This introduces the ability to answer questions within Google Classroom.

The second option when clicking the plus icon is to "Create assignment." Ask students to create a Google Doc in Google Classroom and to do a simple task that relates to the curriculum.

Sample Directions

Click on OPEN
Click on CREATE
Create a Google text Doc
Brainstorm at least 5 possible topic sentences for your essay on asteroids.
Close the Google Doc.
Remember there is NO save button, Google automatically saves your work.
Click on TURN IN in Google Classroom.

Notice that the directions include the procedural directions for how to create and submit the assignment. I had 3rd graders do this without direct instruction and they did great. Let students get used to reading the directions instead of being told the directions. This helps them to be more independent learners, which frees up your time to work with students one on one or in small groups.

While Google Classroom ALLOWS you to attach documents for students, do not do this all the time! Get students used to "choosing tools strategically." What tool do they need to clearly communicate their ideas. Students can create Google Docs, Sheets, Slides and Drawings right in Google Classroom. Assign them to do this often. Reduce the stress of having to create templates and graphic organizers for everything.
After clicking on the OPEN button in the stream,

Students choose the desired Google Doc type from the list.

Like MAGIC the document is created within Google Classroom, shared with the teacher, named the same as the assignment title and appends the students name to the document title. Hands down one of my favorite features of Google Classroom.

How Google Classroom makes learning better is the ability to give feedback before the assignment is due. Freak the kids out and open their Google Docs while the students are working on them. Insert comments (right click and choose comment or use the keyboard shortcut.)

Have students "Turn In" their document when they are finished. Reminder that ownership switches from student to teacher when students click "Turn In." Students need to click " Unsubmit " if they need to regain editing permissions.

Do not use Google Classroom sometimes, use it all the time! Be consistent about how you distribute directions, documents and links. Use Google Classroom to have students turn in their work.

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Google Classroom: What do Kids do First? - Teacher Tech

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I was asked on Twitter what the very first activity 6th graders might do when introducing Google Classroom. There is no "right" answer to this question. Here is my suggestion. We Do Not Teach Tech We do not teach tech, we teach content with tech.

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Ten Things Every Teacher Should Be Able to Do with Google Classroom

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Ten Things Every Teacher Should Be Able to Do with Google Classroom

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Get access to files anywhere through secure cloud storage and file backup for your photos, videos, files and more with Google Drive.

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6 Tips for Getting Started with Google Classroom

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6 Tips for Getting Started with Google Classroom

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Get access to files anywhere through secure cloud storage and file backup for your photos, videos, files and more with Google Drive.

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Google Classroom - Advanced Tips & Tricks

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Google Classroom - Advanced Tips & Tricks

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Google Classroom - Advanced Tips and Tricks

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5 Ways to Use the Google Classroom About Tab by Kasey Bell

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5 Ways to Use the Google Classroom About Tab by Kasey Bell

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(intermediate /advanced)

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The Google Classroom About Tab

Google Classroom has so much to offer teachers and students, and every day I learn something new that makes it an even better tool! Inside Google Classroom, teachers and students will see three main tabs, one of which is the About tab. The About tab is where you add the details of your class including course description, syllabus, materials, invite co-teachers and more. The About tab also makes a great hub for year-round classroom resources, like schedules, important links and more.

The Stream in Google Classroom is really the meat and potatoes of your class work, but after a semester's worth of creating and collaborating, it may become difficult for students to locate files and links that were shared as resources during the year. This is where the About tab comes in handy. Here you can add and store materials and resources for your students to easily find throughout year. These are files, links, or folders that are not necessarily connected to an assignment, but resources that students need to access. Since you can add file attachments from your computer, Google Drive files, YouTube videos, and outside links, you can make the About tab a rich resource page for your students. I have put together this infographic to help share ways that you can use the About tab in Google Classroom.

**Note: Be careful not to add too many individual materials to the About tab or it will become too difficult for students to find what they need. Consider sharing folder or links to resource pages to keep this page short and sweet!

The Teacher's Guide to Google Classroom is chocked full of step-by-step instructions for using Google Classroom, setting up classes, creating announcements, discussions, assignments, management and tips! You will also find helpful screenshots of both the teacher and student side of Google Classroom. This reference guide is great for new users and full of handy reminders and tips for more experienced users. This guide includes 40+ pages of everything you need to know to get started and to help your students learn how to use Google Classroom. A simple cheat sheet just wouldn't cut it for this robust application that is a must for teachers going paperless with Google Apps for Education. Click here to preview.

Also available from these websites:

© Shake Up Learning 2017. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog's author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Kasey Bell and Shake Up Learning with appropriate and specific direction to the original content on ShakeUpLearning.com. See: Copyright Policy.

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5 Ways to Use the Google Classroom About Tab [infographic] | Shake Up Learning

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PinterestThe Google Classroom About Tab Google Classroom has so much to offer teachers and students, and every day I learn something new that makes it an even better tool! Inside Google Classroom, teachers and students will see three main tabs, one of which is the About tab.

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(intermediate/advanced)

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Three Convenient Google Classroom Updates

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Three new features of Google Classroom that could make your life a little easier.

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Fixing Assignments when You Forgot to Make Copies for all Students - Alice Keeler

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Fixing Assignments when You Forgot to Make Copies for all Students - Alice Keeler

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(advanced)

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When creating an assignment in Google Classroom and attaching documents you have 3 choices for how to attach the file. View, Edit or Make Copies. There have been times that I have published an assignment and accidentally made a file View or Edit instead of Make Copies. I have also accidentally forgotten to attach the document that I needed to Make Copies of. Unfortunately, after assigning you no longer have the ability to add a document as "Make a copy for each student."
Note: In Fall 2018 Google Classroom made changes to the interface of Google Classroom. There are some changes with the screenshots below. The reuse post option is now on the Classwork page. You still use the 3 dots to edit.
To edit an assignment in the Google Classroom Stream, click on the 3 dots in the upper right-hand corner.

When editing an assignment, you are able to add additional documents. However, you only have 2 options for the file: View and Edit.

The trick is to reuse the post from the same course. Click the plus icon in the bottom right-hand corner and choose "Reuse post."

Select the SAME CLASS that you are using. You can reuse posts from current classes, other classes, classes you are a co-teacher in, and archived classes.

This is super important. Make sure you UNCHECK the "Create new copies of all attachments" checkbox. Your files are in Google Drive. You do NOT want multiple copies of the same document in your Google Drive.

The reused post can be edited. Any documents attached, or new documents attached, have the option to "Make a copy for each student."

Delete the original assignment only after you have reused it.

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Google Classroom: OOPS, Fixing Assignments When You Forgot to Make Copies - Teacher Tech

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When creating an assignment in Google Classroom and attaching documents you have 3 choices for how to attach the file. View, Edit or Make Copies. There have been times that I have published an assignment and accidentally made a file View or Edit instead of Make Copies.

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Track Class Events & Assignments on Class Calendar

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Track Class Events & Assignments on Class Calendar

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(advanced)

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For each class, you and your students share a Classroom calendar and a calendar in Google Calendar. If you don't see any calendars for your classes, your administrator probably turned off Calendar for your account.

What can I do with each calendar?

Google Calendar (any device)

Classroom calendar (computer only)

View classwork due dates

View class events

Add personal reminders that only you see

Add events, such as study sessions

Note: Anything you add won't show in the Classroom calendar.

View classwork due dates

Click an item to open it
in Classroom

Note: You can't add anything to the Classroom calendar.

View items on your calendars

Note: Items that you assign to individual students appear on your Classroom calendar. They don't appear in Google Calendar.

View classwork on your Classroom calendar

When you create assignments and questions with due dates, they appear on your calendars. You and your students can view the classwork on the Classroom calendar or in Google Calendar.

To view classwork on the Classroom calendar:

1. At the top, click Menu .

2. Click Calendar.

3. Select an assignment or question to open it.

4. (Optional) To view past or future work, next to the date, click Back or Next .

Note: To return to today, at the top, click Today .

5. (Optional) To see classwork for all your classes, click All classes.
To see classwork for only one class, click All classes and select the class.

View classwork and events in Google Calendar

In Google Calendar, you and your students can see classwork due dates and added events, such as field trips or exam dates.

To see classwork or events in Google Calendar:

1. Click the class

Classwork.

2. ClickGoogle Calendar .

3. (Optional) To review details, click the classwork or event in Calendar.

Add items to Google Calendar

Add class events

1. Click the class

Classwork.

2. ClickGoogle Calendar

.

Add personal reminders

Related topics

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For each class, you and your students share a Classroom calendar and a calendar in Google Calendar. If you don't see any calendars for your classes, your administrator probably turned off Calendar for your account.

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Google Classroom: 9 Tips for Attaching Google Drive Files by Alice Keeler

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Google Classroom: 9 Tips for Attaching Google Drive Files by Alice Keeler

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(advanced)

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Adding files to Google Classroom is not the same as searching for files in Google Drive. Here are some tips to help you maximize your efficiency with attaching Google Drive files to Google Classroom.

In the search box when you click on folders you create a trail of "breadcrumbs." You can click on any of these breadcrumbs to back up to a previous folder.

Click Here for a Sample

Using the search box searches all of your Google Drive. If the number of results are overwhelming, try clicking on the folder you know the file is in. When conducting searches in Google Classroom the search will only look in the folder you have selected.

Google Classroom does not give you the option for "Recent" documents like Google Drive does. To find documents you modified today, type the word after: and YESTERDAY's date into the search. There is no space after the colon and you must place it in year, month, day format.

after:yyyy-mm-dd

Click Here for a Sample

I highly recommend you star your original documents. This allows you to distinguish your original copy of the Google Document from the students copies of the document which will have the same title. When searching for starred documents Google Classroom has an option to filter your search by "Starred." Click on the tab next to "My Drive" when inserting files.

Click Here for a Sample

Alternatively, in the search box type your keywords and also type is:starred to filter the results for starred files.

is:starred

Click Here for a Sample

On the right hand side of the search box is a drop down arrow. Click on this arrow to filter your search by file type. This allows you to only look for spreadsheets or whatever file type your document is.

Click Here for Sample

You may notice that some file types are omitted from the types of files you can search for. If you want to attach a drawing you will need to manually identify the file type in the search box.

type:drawing

type:form

type:script

Click Here for a Sample

Numbering my assignments is probably my all time favorite tip. I number all of my assignments with a 3 digit number such as #002. This makes it easy to direct students to the assignment in Google Classroom but it also makes it a snap to find the assignments I am attaching. Number the documents you are sharing with students the same as the assignment number.

Click Here for a Sample

Documents in the search box are defaulted to sort by "Last modified." Click on the "AZ" button on the right hand size to see documents that were last edited by you or last opened by you. You can also sort the search results by the name of the document.

Click Here for a Sample

Most likely you are searching for a file in your Google Drive that YOU created. Filtering your search for documents owned by you. In the search box type the word owner: with no space after the colon and type in your email address. If your co-teacher created the document, type in the co-teacher's email instead.

Click Here for a Sample

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Google Classroom: 9 Tips For Attaching Google Drive Files - Teacher Tech

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Adding files to Google Classroom is not the same as searching for files in Google Drive. Here are some tips to help you maximize your efficiency with attaching Google Drive files to Google Classroom. 1) Breadcrumbs In the search box when you click on folders you create a trail of "breadcrumbs."

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Google Classroom: Grab & Post an Assignment from Last Year - Alice Keeler

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Google Classroom: Grab & Post an Assignment from Last Year - Alice Keeler

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(advanced)

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Google Classroom users can reuse posts from previous classes. As you create your new classes there is no need to start from scratch. Grab and update assignments you gave last time.

Digital Filing Cabinet

I was warned as a credential student not to be "that guy" who has a filing cabinet where I just pull out the next assignment. It is very easy for digital courses and materials to be the digital version of this filing cabinet.

The Students You Currently Have

When assigning work it is important that the assignment reflects the students you currently have. Reusing unedited digital materials has the danger of focusing on curriculum rather than students.

The Genius of Google Classroom

When reusing a post (assignment) in Google Classroom you can only reuse one post at a time. While this may seem like a burden, this is genius. I have personally found it easy to say "oh, this is good enough" when duplicating a digital course even though I had every intention to update it. By updating assignments one at a time, I am given the opportunity to reflect, update and be intentional about each assignment.

Google Classroom Reuse Post

In Google Classroom, click on the plus icon in the bottom right. Choose the top option "Reuse post."

Choose the class you wish to reuse the post from. You can choose from the current class, other classes, archived classes or classes you are a co-teacher on.

Choose Post (Assignment)

Choose the post you wish to reuse. CAUTION: UNCHECK the checkbox that says "Create new copies of all attachments." The beauty of Google Docs is only having one version of your documents. With extreme rare exception you do NOT want copies of your documents.

Edit

After reusing the post, edit the post. I number all of my assignments so the first thing I need to do is to change the previous number to the current assignment number. Edit the description and update the links.

Old Files

Rather than needing to duplicate Google Docs, simply edit them.

Click on the assignment title of the attached document.

Clicking on the document title launches the document. Rename the document to match the assignment number. Edit the document to make improvements and update the information from the previous time you assigned the document. Note it make take a few minutes for the edited document title to reflect in Google Classroom, but it will update.

Reusing Collaborative Documents

In the case of collaborative documents, simply use the revision history to roll the document back the way it was before students edited it. You do not lose the student edits from previous semesters, they are located in the revision history also.

After reusing the post, click on the document title of the collaborative document. This launches the document. Use the File menu to choose "See revision history." This shows a list of edits to the document.

Choose the revision that was BEFORE students edited the document. Click on "Restore this revision." And your Google Doc is fresh and ready to go for your new class!

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Google Classroom: Grab and Update a Post from Last Year - Teacher Tech

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Google Classroom users can reuse posts from previous classes. As you create your new classes there is no need to start from scratch. Grab and update assignments you gave last time. I was warned as a credential student not to be "that guy" who has a filing cabinet where I just pull out the next assignment.