(copy) Google Classroom Parts 1-3

Introduction

Hello!
My name is Dodie Pfeil, Principal at MES Cairo and I work with technology integration on campus. This book will take you through the specific requirements for all teacher pages in the Secondary School as well as some handy settings to use for your pages using Book Creator.

Within this booklet, you will find the following:
1) The Classwork Setup Tab - formatting
2) What should and should not be in your Stream
3) Making your page user-friendly
4) Basic settings and a few hacks

If you have questions or comments, feel free to contact me @ dpfeil@mescairo.com.
Enjoy!

Signing In

You will first go to Google Chrome. In the top right corner, you will select to sign in using your school email address and your school password assigned to you.
Next, you will go to Google Apps Menu and select Classroom.

Class Settings ⚙️

Once you enter your classroom settings, add the following to your course: class description, section, and subject.

Class Settings ⚙️

Scroll down to the General Section and set your permissions:
1) stream - students can post and comment;
2) classwork on the stream - select either to show condensed or attachments with details; choose hide notifications to keep your stream neat and teach students to go to the classwork stream for assignments.
3) guardian summaries should be on;
4) Meet Code - turn off visible to students

General Info

Each teacher has been assigned a Google Classroom for each course they teach. You should see them once you are signed in
The students in each course will be added by the administration at the beginning of each school year [so you do not have to import any class lists].
Each teacher is expected to implement an effectively designed learning experience for students.

Personal Settings ⚙️

Personal settings can be found in the top left hand corner side bar.

Scroll down to the bottom until you find the word settings and the ⚙️ as shown below.

It is important to note that if you are a co-teacher, your personal settings will not affect the settings that someone else has created.

Personal Settings ⚙️

Simply adjust according to your personal preferences here.

Quick Tips

If you have a lot of Classes, I would move your class cards around.

📸 credit - Becky Shorey

Google Magic

Once you begin adding content to your Classwork Tab, Google automatically creates a folder and subfolders in your drive for that specific class.

1) Go to you People tab and add your LDD Teacher as a teacher in your class! They will have access to the Google Drive folder for student work.
2) Use the same tab in parent meetings to view all work assigned in one location.

Quick Tip - People Tab

Classwork Tab

Now we will be moving on to the Classwork Tab in your Classroom. The way you organize the content should stay consistent throughout the year. What works for one teacher, may not work for everyone. However, consider your personal preferences as well as the needs of your students. While there are several ways to organize content, you will select one of the following: by topic, by time frame, or by assignment type. Choose a strategy that works for your content area and grade level. ALL classrooms will have one topic that is the same: Course Materials. Under this topic, you will link/upload your class syllabus, pacing guide, and any Google Site you have associated with the class.

Classwork Tab - By Content Topic

Classwork Tab - By Time Frame

Classwork Tab - Type of Assignment

Classwork Tips and Tricks - for organization

1) Number your assignments - it keeps things organized on the classwork page and in your drive.
2) Keep your classroom materials at the top of your classwork tab.
3) Ctrl+F [Command+F for Mac] to quickly find key words or numbers for assignments on your classwork page.
4) It is helpful and suggested that you move the current content topic or date range to the top of your classwork tab just under your classroom materials.

Classwork Tab - Adding A Topic

Now that you have chosen how to organize your Classwork tab, go to the tab and select topic. Now you can begin adding the topics to organize your tab. Remember that your first topic should be Class Materials and upload the course syllabus/pacing guide. When you add topics, the new title will automatically appear at the bottom.

You can add a topic to multiple classes by adding a fake assignment and then select the topic and add it to multiple classes!

Helpful Tip - To keep your Classwork tab uncluttered, you can create a topic called archive and move topics completed under that title. That keeps your active topic and you materials always visible.

Using the Classroom Google Calendar

Google Classroom Calendar - this should be made public so the parents have access to the upcoming events in your classroom. Currently, all parents are in your Google Classroom as guardians and cannot see the full page. Parents receive a Guardian Summary via email [see sample below]. By making your classroom calendar public, they can see all upcoming events, assignment due dates, dates for tests and quizzes. ***Do not make your personal calendar public or link it to your classroom pages - this has your personal information, your own reminders, and meeting times.**
You must place the dates on your classroom calendar for any major assessment and due dates for homework and classwork.

Sample Guardian Summary

The Stream

The purpose of the stream is to blast messages to your class or to all of your classes at one time. Simply go to the stream, select send a message, at the top of the menu you can select multiple classes or just to that specific class [as well as to all students or specific groups]. Think of the stream as your virtual noticeboard. It is recommended that you keep it uncluttered and teach your students to go to the Classwork tab to see their assignments.

Send Message To...

Here you can select which classes and students to send your message to and you can even add a file or link. Messages to specific students will not show in the Stream, but will be sent as a private message.

Your Post

You can always move your notices you place in the stream and even copy the link and email it to all of your students and to the parents that appear as guardians in your classroom!