Introduction to Google Classroom

Annie Brock

• Publisher: Ulysses Press
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781646041428
• Topic: Éducation
• Subtopic: Éducation inclusive

Learn to take your classroom curriculum digital using Google Classroom's unique file sharing features. Introduction to Google Classroom will help teachers of all grade levels master the basics of communication and education using the Google Classroom file sharing service. Learn how to connect with students, control access to lessons, distribute assignments, and update your class calendar. Google Classroom newbie? No worries! Experienced educator and author Annie Brock takes readers step-by-step through the most common Google Classroom features and terminology. Packed with tips, tricks, troubleshooting, helpful screenshots, and activity ideas to keep students of all ages engaged, this book is indispensable as the future of teaching continues to evolve.

Part 1 The Google Classroom Advantage

As a twenty-first century teacher, you are facing a set of opportunities and challenges that no other teachers in the history of education have encountered. In the last ten years, an explosion of technology has radically changed the educational landscape. This technology has brought with it incredible benefits like more efficient communication, better access to knowledge and resources, and increased student engagement. But because of its relative newness, it’s likely your pre-service teaching program did not adequately prepare you to effectively use technology as part of your teaching repertoire.

Today’s teachers are poised to change both teaching and learning through integration of technology in the classroom. The business sector thrives on technology—in fact, many of the world’s largest companies, like Apple, Microsoft, and Google, produce it. The world has seen massive globalization thanks to the newfound ability to communicate instantaneously across the planet. Just as technology has transformed the way you live, it has the capacity to transform the way you teach. As the paradigm shifts in other industries, emerging technologies are also offering powerful alternatives to traditional methods of education. Despite these advancements, however, many of today’s classrooms look virtually identical to the classrooms of fifty years ago.

Utilizing technology in new and interesting ways in the classroom isn’t just important to keeping your teaching style fresh and relevant, it’s essential experience for your students who will one day venture out to work and live in this technologically driven world.

Blended learning is the practice of combining face-to-face instruction with online learning experiences. Many school districts are encouraging teachers to incorporate blended learning techniques into the traditional classroom model, in an effort to provide students with a more diverse educational experience. No longer are your students limited to learning only what you know or what the textbook says; rather, they have a limitless amount of information at their fingertips. Thus, the goal of teaching should not only be to impart knowledge, but also to assist students in effectively seeking it out for themselves. In the blended learning model, the teacher acts as a facilitator who guides students to ensure that they access new information in a safe, responsible, and purposeful manner.

As we consider ways to meaningfully incorporate technology in our classrooms, there is no better place to begin than Google’s G Suite for Education. You undoubtedly already have a handle on what it means to “google.” After all, the company’s powerful search engine is the most popular in the world. However, Google has also developed a sophisticated suite of productivity tools and made them available, free of charge, to schools around the globe.

From Gmail (Google’s popular email service) to a host of other products like Google Docs (a word processing program), Google Calendar (an electronic scheduling and calendar solution), and Google Drive (a cloud storage service), Google’s suite of communication-driven tools allows teachers and students alike to work smarter. Collaboration is king when it comes to Google for Education (GFE). No longer do meaningful learning experiences have to be bound by the four walls of your classroom. Using G Suite for Education, students can work collaboratively with you and each other and access information any time from any device.

For K–12 educators, the built-in creativity, productivity, and communication tools, increased efficiency, and cost-saving capabilities offered by Google provide an incredible opportunity to meet digital natives where they are and prepare them for life in the modern world. No single tool in the suite is better suited to meeting educational needs than Google Classroom.

At its most basic level, Google Classroom is an app that helps teachers easily and efficiently assign, collect, and return work to students. Of course, you could simply replace these once-analog processes with their digital counterparts, but truly harnessing the power of Google Classroom creates an opportunity to do much more. Classroom can serve as the foundation of your blended learning integration strategy. Google refers to Classroom as “mission control” for your classes; used purposefully, it can be the touchstone for all of the online learning your students will do throughout the year.

You likely already have a system in place to accomplish the tasks of assigning and returning work to students, so why replace that system with Google Classroom? Sure, it can streamline your workflow process, but utilizing Classroom can also enhance your ability to communicate with students, differentiate instruction, and share new concepts and tools in real time. Embedded in the fabric of Google Classroom are new ideas and approaches to education. The focus on a partnership between students and teachers, the tools to access and disseminate valuable information in real time, and the ability to evaluate student progress and give instantaneous feedback make Classroom a game changer.

Aside from these larger implications, Classroom can also impact simple tasks and minor issues by helping to prevent them from becoming major headaches.

Imagine receiving this email:

To: Ms. Brock

From: Frustrated Parent

Re: Sam’s Essay

Dear Ms. Brock,

Sam told me he turned in his essay on time and you docked him 10 percent for it being “late.” Can you explain this?

Thanks,

Frustrated Parent

You’ve probably received an email or phone message resembling this one—an annoyed parent pointing out a discrepancy with the grade you’ve given and the one they believe their child has earned. This can be a source of irritation for both teachers and parents. But now imagine being able to simply respond with this:

Dear Frustrated Parent,

Attached you will find a time-stamped screenshot showing when Sam uploaded his assignment; it was submitted at 9:17 p.m. on Thursday night—unfortunately, it was due the prior Monday morning. I understand Sam has a lot going on, but if he’s unsure about due dates in the future, our class syllabus and calendar can be accessed 24/7 via our Google Classroom. Please let me know if you have further questions!

Ms. Brock

Or imagine receiving this note:

Ms. Brock,

I was out sick Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. What did I miss?

Stephanie

These types of requests can be exasperating for a teacher. Consider the time it takes to stop what you’re doing and look back through lesson plans and calendars to figure out exactly what a student missed, not to mention the time required to gather the necessary resources for makeup work. Now, multiply that by the number of absences in your class every year. Think of how much time it could save you to be able to respond like this:

Stephanie,

All lessons, readings, and assignments are posted on our Google Classroom. Scroll down to locate the dates you were absent and complete the work as indicated. Email me if you need any clarification. Hope you’re feeling better!

Ms. Brock

Google Classroom may not be the cure for every common teaching headache, but the paper trail it leaves behind can be invaluable. Think of the hundreds of times you have had to stop what you were doing and look back at old paperwork to solve problems or retrieve information for individual students. Google Classroom has the potential to alleviate common organizational problems that plague teachers.

So, who can use Google Classroom? Many mistakenly believe it is limited to middle and high school students and teachers, but it has a place in elementary schools as well. Truly, if your students can master the art of logging in, they can use Classroom. As with all educational tools, modification is key. Start slow and figure out how to best use Classroom with your students. A first grade teacher may simply post a link to a primary-friendly online spelling game. A third grade teacher may post a question and ask students to answer it, and then ask them to respond to one another’s comments. A high school teacher may use Classroom as an exclusive portal for collecting and grading assignments. No matter how you put Google Classroom to work, it has applications at every level of education. The sooner students learn how to operate competently in the digital realm, the better.

The Benefits of Google Classroom

There are many advantages to using Google Classroom, but let’s talk about some of the most beneficial reasons you should make the leap sooner rather than later. Google Classroom helps you:

Go paperless. At some point in your career, an administrator has probably encouraged you to use less paper, and rightly so. Paper, ink, and toner are costly consumables that school districts must constantly replace. The costs associated with purchasing and maintaining copy machines can quickly eat away at thinly stretched budgets. In addition, using large quantities of paper has environmental consequences. Google touts the paperless nature of Classroom’s workflow as one of its primary advantages. Think about how much paper is wasted in your class each year, and consider whether or not it’s a necessary or thoughtful use of those resources. Taking your classroom digital means using less paper, which is good for everyone.

Reduce student organization problems. Using Google Classroom means both in-progress and completed work are in a single place. We’ve all seen it before: a bewildered and frustrated student riffling through an unkempt backpack or locker, desperately trying to find a missing page of homework. Utilizing Google Classroom means students always know where to find their work. Everything is automatically stored in a file on Google Drive. With easy-to-use search options and intuitive folder organization, it’s rare for something to get lost. The students’ work is safely tucked away as soon as it’s created. In addition, since Google tools automatically save with every keystroke and provide a revision history, they make it nearly impossible to accidentally delete something. Everything is right there in the cloud.

…And teacher organization problems. Disorganization isn’t exclusive to students; teachers can lose things, too! Sure, there are those who might have a perfectly maintained color-coded filing system, but most teachers have a few chinks in their organizational armor. Keeping track of late work and makeup work is enough to throw even the most organized teachers for a loop. Using Google Classroom, you can set clear due dates and have an up-to-the-minute record of all the work that has been turned in. Plus, Classroom automatically stores everything in Google Drive, so copies of every original assignment and all student work are kept in Google Drive folders. If anything goes wrong, it’s a simple process to go back, find the problem, and make it right.

Evaluate better. Because a copy of student work is saved in Google Drive, teachers effectively have a built-in system for storing everything a student does throughout the term. This system can be used in a variety of creative ways. At the end of the year, you could help students select their best work for a portfolio. Or, you might share a few projects from a student’s file with curious parents at a conference. A student with an IEP (Individualized Education Program) or specific learning goals can have a clear record of work from which you and other educational professionals evaluate progress. These files may prove invaluable when determining new educational goals or implementing instructional scaffolding, a process based on tailoring learning to each student’s needs and goals. There is no end to the potential uses of an on-demand record of every student’s work.

Talk more. Google Classroom allows for a constant two-way stream of communication between students and teachers. You can use the Classroom stream to post announcements on which students can comment, or pose questions for them to answer. Even students who were absent from school can get in on a discussion. There is an opportunity to leave remarks and send comments to students at nearly every phase of the workflow process. As most teachers know, leaving lengthy comments on paper-based student work takes time and often results in some serious hand cramping, but utilizing the communication features in Google Classroom is far less time consuming (and completely cramp free). A lot of student communication in their private lives is done electronically, so they are adept at communicating in this manner and appreciative when you take the time to send a digital note or comment. It doesn’t have to be in red ink to mean something.

For these reasons and so many more, Google Classroom can be a game changer for an educator. The innumerable ways this digital portal can open the doors to our physical classrooms 24/7 can make a significant impact on the student learning process. The increased opportunities for communication with students can positively impact accountability and engagement. In addition, using technological tools in the classroom offers students experiential learning in this new domain.

It is critical for today’s students to become l...