My colleague and I both teach the same content (level AND subject). Is there a way we can work on the same assignment together and then just copy it to our own Classrooms?
If you form a Google Classroom course together where all of you in your PLC are co-teachers (no need for any students, except maybe a dummy account to quality check that a student can access links/attachments) - any assignment hosted in that PLC course can be "reused" by any co-teacher in that class! Here's a demonstration.
I'm tired of "adjusting all the dials" from scratch for every assignment. Is there a quicker way?
Once you've made your first of a group of similar assignments (perhaps you just need to change the attachment and the due date), you can REUSE & edit it! WATCH A DEMONSTRATION HERE
I have only a few preps. I'd like a way to NOT have to start from scratch when I create a Google Classroom course for each of my periods.
You don't have to start from scratch. You can copy a whole course!
My colleagues and I are working on a Common Formative Assessment. Is there a way to "reuse" questions from a previous Google Form?
YES! It's called IMPORT QUESTION. It's on the menu whenever you create a new question inside a Form. Learn how to use it effectively and your entire department can have one Google Form serve as a question bank from which to export questions!
In order to see and give feedback or assistance to your students as they work, attach the files you want students to work in as "Make a Copy for Each Student". Doing this will mean you can see their work from start to finish, keeping tabs on possible plagiarism, or struggles in their writing/working process. You can come alongside of them via comments or "suggesting mode" in Google Docs (for example).
What's the quickest way for students to get in touch with me about a particular assignment - without showing everyone else their question?
A student can email her teacher from the People tab, but if the question is about a particular assignment on Google Classroom, she simply clicks "View Assignment" from the Classroom tab in Google Classroom. She will see a cell to the right of the screen to send a "Private Comment." Whatever the student puts in that cell will go straight to her teacher and only that teacher. It will also designate that it was a Private Comment about that particular assignment. This video shows how to leave both public (if your classroom is set to accept public student comments) and private comments. CLICK HERE.
Anyone in the editor's view of a file can see it's "Version History." It's a feature of many G Suite files: Docs, Slides, etc. Here's how to look at a file's full version history, with edits color-coded by user account. Read about it HERE.
I'd like to show a colleague or supervisor my work and get their advice. Is there a quick way to do that?
You can assign a colleague to look at a certain passage in a file you're working on. It automatically let's them make suggestions (not edits). HERE'S HOW.
How do I make a quick comment to only one of my students without first navigating to Gmail?
How to direct a comment to just one of my students: PRIVATE COMMENT
All G Suite file types (except Forms) have something called "Version History". Your peer's work can be recovered!
CLICK HERE to learn how to restore a previous version.
How to set your "Share" rights to a Google file: READ HERE. (tip: as of April 2020, most video tutorials are not accurate. The Share button has changed.) As of 2022-23, Google files in our aztecschools domain are set to automatically be viewed by anyone in our domain.
Teaching via Google Classroom requires the instructor to be aware of file types that block ease of access. Word documents should be Google Docs (for example). Convert your files BEFORE you attach them in your Google Classroom and ask your students to edit them. Here's how to convert individual files. Here's how to change the settings in your Google Drive so everything you upload into it will automatically convert (AWESOME!)
In order to see and give feedback or assistance to your students as they work, attach the files you want students to work in as "Make a Copy for Each Student". Doing this will mean you can see their work from start to finish, keeping tabs on possible plagiarism, or struggles in their writing/working process. You can come alongside of them via comments or "suggesting mode" in Google Docs (for example).
Always click the "Turn in" or "Mark as Done" button on the top right of your assignment (from a computer). This will keep your To Do list accurate.
CLICK HERE to learn more about your To-Do list in Google Classroom.