Decide what students can do
Within the Settings gear, teachers are given control over how students can interact with the content in Google Classroom.
students can...
After clicking on the Settings gear, you'll see a menu item titled Stream that allows you to restrict how much students can do within your course in Google Classroom.
Students can post and comment means that any student within your course can create announcements and post them to the classroom stream. It also allows students to comment on each others posts, and leave comments on your announcements, questions, and assignments. This is the most "open" option for student engagement.
Students can only comment removes the ability for students to post their own announcements, while leaving in the ability for kids to comment on any teacher posts.
Only teachers can post or comment is exactly as it sounds: only teachers can create posts, and only teachers can comment on those posts. This essentially closes off students from interacting with the content added to the stream. It is important to note, though, that even with this level of access students can still answer questions that you post, and complete assignments you create.
What if a student does something troublesome?
It is inevitable.
When you create a digital space for learning, it doesn't remove some of the perils of the traditional classroom. Kids like to push boundaries, digital or otherwise.
While being an excellent opportunity to discuss digital citizenship with your class, if one of your students posts something inappropriate to your stream, you have some options for dealing with it:
As the teacher in the course, you have the ability to Delete any comment posted by any of your students. This obviously removes the offensive material from the Stream, keeping it out of sight of your students.
If one student is regularly causing digital disruptions, you can Mute that student, which revokes their right to comment on any posts to the Stream. Muted students are still able to complete assignments and questions within Google Classroom. Students can also be unmuted (perhaps after a lengthy discussion on digital citizenship).
Muting students is also available within the People tab. Just select the box next to the name of the student you'd like to mute, select the Actions drop-down menu, and click Mute. This action can be reversed at any time.
