Classroom Set-up:

 Virtual vs. Brick and Mortar 

Let's start off with the general look and feel of your Google Classroom.  Whether you are a seasoned user or a newbie, the Covid-19 shut down required all teachers to re-evaluate their organization and use of Classroom to better fit the needs of their students. I found an excellent video by a High School English teacher talking about changes he made to his Google Classroom setup during the closure. He brings up several great points, one of which I don’t think we’ve communicated very clearly to everyone:  the ‘best practices’ guidelines for Classroom are specific to the Covid-19 closure and are not necessarily all applicable during the regular school year.  In other words, you may have to make some changes to your Google Classroom’s structure and organization that usually worked for you and your students during normal school operations.  Again these are not mandatory changes, but rather recommendations to help you and your students transition to online learning more smoothly.

Our tenative plan for the beginning of the 20-21 school year is for all teachers to prepare new Google Classrooms as a contigency plan in case there is a need for remote learning throughout the year.  Next we'll take a look at ways to organize and use your Classroom during a traditional brick and morter school environment vs. the remote online learning we've just experienced in Spring 2020.  You may want to prepare both types of Google Classrooms for Fall 2020 but at a minimum you'll need to set up the virtual Classrooms following the Fleetwood Area School District's School Closure Google Classroom Guidelines found here.