Our teachers officially start next week! We will be rolling out the digital lessons and resources that our teacher teams have been working hard to create for the past month, and all of our teachers will be learning how to use Google Classroom to organize resources and assign learning materials for their students.
While some of our teachers are comfortable using Google Classroom with their students, many of our teachers have little to no experience using it. This got me thinking about some of the most common questions I get and things that confuse teachers about creating and posting assignments in Google Classroom.
So, here are five tips for posting assignments in Google Classroom:
#1 - Making a copy for each student
One of the options you have when creating an assignment is to add files and change the setting to "Make a copy for each student." Students will get their own copy with their name added to the title of the file.
One thing that sometimes confuses people is that you only have this option BEFORE you post an assignment. After you post it, you cannot go back and change the setting to "Make a copy for each student." You'll have to delete the assignment and recreate it in order to choose this setting.
#2 - Editing a linked document after posting
What happens if you link a document (such as a Google Doc), post the assignment, and then you realize you made a mistake and need to change it? Well, that depends on the setting you chose. If you chose "Students can view file" or "Students can edit file," then you can make your edits and students will see them.
However, if you chose "Make a copy for each student," then you're going to have to delete the assignment and recreate it all over again. So, you really want to keep things in draft form until you are SURE that you are ready to post it!
#3 - Posting assignments to multiple classes
I know a lot of middle school teachers like to create multiple classrooms so that each of their "sections" has its own class. Luckily, it's super easy to post an assignment to multiple classes at the same time. All you have to do is click the button under the word "For" at the top of the menu on the right side. Then you can select all of the classes you want to assign this to.
#4 - Adding a Google Form to an assignment
You can add a Google Form to an assignment and push it out to your students. This can be useful to create activities such as surveys or quizzes. You will notice that when you add the Google Form, you don't get the same options you have when you attach other files, such as Google Docs or Slides. Google Forms collect information. Students aren't editing the actual Form like they are with other types of files. They will just fill it out and, as long as you are the creator of the Form, you will receive their responses.
#5 - Adding a due date to an assignment
One great part about using Google Classroom is that each class automatically generates its own Google Calendar. This can be a really great tool for helping students develop time management skills. When you post assignments, you can make sure that students see these on their Calendar and they know exactly when each assignment is due. In order for an assignment to appear on the Calendar, you just need to make sure you give it a due date.
I hope that these tips were helpful, and I'm super excited to support our teachers as they dive into Google Classroom next week!
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