An Introduction to

Google Classroom

April 2024

The best thing about Google Classroom is its simplicity and the power to do so much within that simple design.

The goal of this post is to introduce you to the basic features of Google Classroom.

There are 3 Parts to this Post:

Part 1: Creating a Class and Adding Students
Part 2: The General Layout of Google Classroom
Part 3: Adding Items.

Part 1: Creating a Class and Adding Students

Creating a Class

Go to Google Classroom
Sign in using your @sd61learn.ca Google Workplace for Education account
Go to the ‘+’ sign at the top right of the screen and select “Create Class”
Give the class a name > section, subject area, and room are optional
Tada! - You have created your first class

Adding Students

To join your Google Classroom students will need to do the following:

Go to Google Classroom
Sign in using their @sd61learn.ca Google account
Go to the ‘+’ sign at the top right of the screen and select “Join Class”
Type in the class code - this is shown in the header of the Stream in your view *see Part 2
- You will need to post or project this code for them to see
- NOTE: You can also email this code with instructions to Parents and Students. See this page for support.
Students are now enrolled in your class

Note: you can also add students manually by using the Invite Students button, searching their for their GAFE accounts, and sending them an email request.

PART 2: The Layout

The STREAM Tab

The Stream shows a chronological list of the activity of the Classroom such as assignments, materials, etc. that have been posted on the Classwork page.

You can also use it to post announcements or facilitate and respond to student posts and discussions.

Warning: Be careful of deleting posts from this page. If you delete a post that is linked to an item on the Classwork page, that item will also be deleted.

The CLASSWORK Tab

This is where all assignments, materials, quizzes and questions are posted for your students.

You can create Topics to organize work by Unit, Chapter, Module or Project and can easily organize items by clicking and dragging them.

The PEOPLE Tab

The People Tab displays all teachers and students enrolled in the class.

Use this to easily view all the work submitted by a single student in one place.

Simply select any student on the list and Google Classroom will display all that students activity and participation in the classroom.

You can also invite students via email and/or parent guardians in this section.

PART 3: Adding Items

When in the Classwork tab you will notice a Create button at the top of the screen.

Clicking on this button will provide you will the following options:

Assignment
Quiz Assignment
Question
Material
Reuse Post
Topic

Assignment

Use this option when you want students to hand something in to you

As with announcements you have the options of attaching files from your computer, files from Google Drive, inserting YouTube videos and/or links to other websites to you assignment posts.

What makes Assignments special are these two features:

It creates a place for students to hand in items to you.
It allows you to set options for how students receive documents (see details below)

You can also choose to distribute an assignment to all students or just select ones and add it to multiple Google Classrooms if needed.

Options for how students receive documents include:

1. Students can view file - students can view the document only
2. Students can edit file - this will let students edit your ORIGINAL document. Great for "Sign Up" Sheets.
3. Make a copy for each student - Google Classroom will automatically make a copy of the document for each student AND put their name on it! THIS IS OUR FAVOURITE FEATURE OF GOOGLE CLASSROOM!

Note: Assignments can be categorized by creating and assigning TOPICS.

Make a Copy Resources for Google Classroom:

IMPORTANT: With "Make a Copy" you'll need to ensure that you have enabled this prior to posting an assignment. You cannot switch to "Make a Copy" for each student after an assignment has been posted.

Solution: Duplicate the whole assignment, enable "Make a Copy" and post again. Delete the original, unwanted assignment.

Quiz Assignment

A quiz assignment automatically creates and attaches a blank Google Form for you to use for a Quiz to a Google Classroom Assignment.

You will need to click on the Blank Quiz to add you questions and create the quiz in Google Forms.

If you are tracking numerical marks in Google Classroom you can select Grade Importing from this Google Form. If you are not, you will need to turn it off.

You can also choose to distribute an assignment to all students or just select ones and add it to multiple Google Classrooms if needed.

Question

This option allows you to post a short answer or multiple choice question to the entire class or a group of students.

Options include:

Short Answer Response
Multiple Choice Repsonse
Attachments from Google Drive or your Computer, YouTube Videos, or Links to external websites.
Allowing students to respond to each other - great for facilitating discussions

The Question option is a great way to assess prior knowledge or use as a form of Exit Ticket.

Material

Use this option to distribute materials or provide resources that are for student reference and are not necessarily attached to a particular assignment.

Students only have the ability to view items posted in Materials. They cannot submit anything or comment on the post.

Reuse Post

The option allows you to repost an assignment, question or material post from any class you have in Google Classroom or the Archive.

This is an invaluable time saver if you create a new Classroom each year!

Once you select "Reuse post" you will see a list of all of your current and past Google Classrooms.

Select the class you want to reuse a post from.
Select the assignment/announcement post you want to reuse
If you would like to make new copies of any attachments, select the "Create new copies of all attachments" box in the lower left
Click on REUSE

Your old post will now be in your new Google Classroom, links, docs, videos, etc. included.

Additional Google Classroom Tips & Tricks

For more information and helpful tips and tricks check out the great videos featured in the Google for Education Teachers Lounge.

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