Millions of teachers all over the country are now using Google Classroom. But has anyone taught you how to use google classroom features? I have been using Google Classroom for a while and I have discovered some great features. These features will show you how to use Google Classroom to work more efficiently.
There’s an app for that
If you don’t have the Google Classroom app you are missing some great features. In the app you will find features not available in the desktop app. One of my favorites is the Google Classroom name picker. This feature randomly picks a students name. You can use this to call on students as you ask them questions or choose students for virtual classroom jobs.
The Mote App
The Mote app works seamlessly with Google Classroom. This app is an audio recording app, you can use the mote app to record audio messages in google slides, sheet and classroom. This makes responding to students and adding comments to assignments super quick and easy. This app begins with a 30-day trail with all the features like audio transcription. After 30 days you can still have the use of unlimited audio recording.
Google Classroom’s Parent Access
When you invite parents into the classroom, parents get emails of upcoming work,missing assignments, and class activity. Unfortunately parents cannot access classwork or see assignments in real-time. I hope that Google will add this feature soon. You can suggest a feature by clicking the question mark in the bottom corner of the Google Classroom. I would live to see google add this as a feature.
Keep students out of google meets without you
Want to keep students out of a Google Meet without you? Adding a nickname to your Google Meet will keep students from joining a meet without you. I went searching for answers to this question after a group of my students decided to have their own google meet to hang out. I know they miss each other but who knows what they are doing or what they are talking about in their own meet. Some districts may have certain restrictions so contact your IT department if you run into problems.
Hide assignments in the stream
You can keep assignments from showing up in the stream. This way your stream only has classroom announcements. I like to keep all my assignments in the classwork tab so my students get used to going there to find and navigate assignments. You can hide assignments from the stream by turning off the settings. When you enter the classroom from the stream page, click the gear in the top right corner. Then scroll down to the General section. Find “Classwork on the stream” and in the drop down menu select “hide notifications”.
As I have taken a deep dive into Google Classroom, I have learned so much. The app has cool features, the Mote App makes replying a breeze, and use Parent Access to keep students on track. You can easily keep students out of google meets without you and hide assignments in the stream to keep the stream tidy. These features have helped me to navigate google classroom more efficiently. My hope is that this post taught you how to use Google Classroom to work more efficiently in your virtual classroom.
