Embedded Files
Begin with an intentional plan
Begin with an intentional plan
Use the WCDSB Framework for Learning Design to plan for
Building and Maintaining a Learning Community
Communication
Learning Design
Leveraging Digital
The WCDSB Framework for Learning Design aims to support educators in transitioning between learning scenarios (conventional, adapted, remote) as needed. It is a living resource that will be updated as emerging processes, practices, and resources become available. It links to many other resources and provides a list of "Green" digital tools and resources for student use in addition to specific recommendations and guidelines for communication, community building, and learning design.
You can also explore our WCDSB.ca bookmarks GSuite for Edu resource page for more resources, tips, and support.
Step 1: Create/Accept a new class and archive/retrieve any old ones
Step 1: Create/Accept a new class and archive/retrieve any old ones
Create/Accept a new class
Create/Accept a new class
When starting your new class for the year, in most cases your Google Classroom will be automatically created by Little SIS which pre-loads your assigned students and their parent/guardian emails if you turn Google Guardian on. You simply "ACCEPT" these classes to activate them for your students to see and "join" the class. These classes are created just before school begins and students are loaded all at once on a date determined by administrators.
IMPORTANT NOTES:
secondary educators should not decline term 2 classes but may wish to wait to click accept until the start of semester 1 quadmester 2 or semester 2 quadmester 4. It is recommended that secondary educators maintain only one Google Classroom per section (i.e., not create different classes for in class and at home learners) to make it easier to organize and manage the content. Topic labels identifying groups can be used to help the educator and students manage who receives what information.
elementary educators may choose to decline these duplicate Classrooms or begin a fresh class for the second half of the school year, which means educators are likely to work in another space first to plan and experiment with organizational structures. Additionally, if you are beginning a new teaching assignment or teaching split grade levels, you may need to create your own class.
teachers may wish to create their Google Classroom's prior to the creation of classes by Little SIS. In this case, you can create a new class that includes your course code, section, and school in the title and IT will sync it later using Little SIS.
While it may be tempting to copy your class from last year, or copy your entire planned class from the summer months, you will likely do many things differently. Having a clean, uncluttered space to start with is good for both you and for your students. You can always reuse posts from old or experimental classes, even if they are archived.
PLEASE SEE THE NEW INSTRUCTIONS IN STEP 3 FOR BEST PRACTICES IN LOADING YOUR STUDENTS
Creating a new class (video)
Reusing posts from other classes (video)
Archive your old classes
Archive your old classes
Each year in the summer your old classes are closed out and moved to "Archived Classes", which cleans up both your Classroom landing page and your former students' page, making it easier to find their classes for this year. Students and co-teachers can still access the class and its materials under "Archived Classes", but students can no longer post comments or turn in work. You can still reuse posts and assignments from archived classes. Additionally, you can reactivate archived classes; however, it is important to note that this will activate the class, including notifications, for any students and colleagues in the class under the "people" section of the Classroom.
Archiving a class (video)
Locating your archived classes (video)
Step 2: Organize your Classroom
Step 2: Organize your Classroom
Create structure with topics
Create structure with topics
Topics organize your Classwork page into different buckets, and students and families can use the list of topics on the left side of the screen to navigate between different topics. One best practice with topics is to use dates to help students and families keep track of what they need to work on, with the most current week/date at the top and going down the page in reverse-chronological order so that the oldest posts are at the bottom of the page.
Make sure to always put your assignments, materials, and posts under the topic where they belong. You can also drag and drop items in different topics if you need to move them around. Consider using emojis in the topic to make your contents and topics easier for students to navigate.
Remember you can move your topics by clicking and dragging them up or down the list.
Decide on naming convention for posts
Decide on naming convention for posts
Clear assignment/material names help students and families by reducing the cognitive load to "decipher" the page. Older student in particular may be in multiple Google Classroom classes, with teachers that all organize them differently. The more clearly you can title your assignments and materials, the easier it will be for students and families to navigate.
One effective way to name them is like this: "Reading activity due Fri 9/20" or "Math demonstration due Tues 10/27"
You can also add numbers to the beginning of the name for easy reference and navigation such as "020 Reading activity due Fri 9/20", with the numbers increasing as the year goes on and more assignments and posts are added.
Full Classroom? Consider Archiving and creating a new Google Classroom at strategic points in the school year if your Classroom is getting full and difficult to navigate.
Full Classroom? Consider Archiving and creating a new Google Classroom at strategic points in the school year if your Classroom is getting full and difficult to navigate.
Step 3: Add co-teachers & verify student enrollment
Step 3: Add co-teachers & verify student enrollment
Anyone added as a co-teacher can see student work, can view and respond to private comments, can post things in the class, and can edit or delete posts. Only educators who are allowed access to all students in your class should be added as co-teachers. They may include:
occasional teachers assigned to teach your class, especially in secondary where they will teach your synchronous lesson and in short-term remote situations (TEMPORARY ACCESS ONLY. Please remove them following their assignment)
administrators (should be added as a back up in case you are unable to add an occasional teacher)
ECE/teacher partnership
itinerant or planning time teachers
FSL teachers
ESL teachers
teachers in the two teacher French Immersion model
If you would like to share your classroom with a same grade teaching partner, it is recommended that you add them as a student so that they do not have full access to the student work and guardian emails for your class. Only those with an @wcdsb.ca or @wcdsbcloud.ca account may be added to WCDSB Google Classrooms.
NOTE: Educators who no longer want access to a Google Classroom can remove themselves by leaving the class. They should NOT attempt to delete or archive the class. Only the primary (first) teacher of the class has access to delete the class itself.
Add students
Add students
The most secure way to add students is to accept the Classroom Little SIS creates automatically as students will be loaded from the roster and simply have to click "Accept" when they arrive at the Google Classroom landing page. However, since not all classes will be created this way as there are exceptions and additional Google Classrooms are sometimes required (e.g., sometimes teachers want additional classrooms for particular groups of students).
In the case of educator created classes, the most secure way to add students is by inviting them directly by typing in their name and checking that you have the correct student by matching their WCDSB credentials. Teachers can also invite students to join the class via a link--this should be used with caution as students can forward or share this link with students who are not in the class. The least secure way of adding students is by providing the join code. PLEASE VERIFY STUDENT PARTICIPANTS AGAINST YOUR CLASS LIST AND RESET THE LINK OR JOIN CODE ONCE YOUR CLASS HAS JOINED.
NOTE: PARENTS AND GUARDIANS SHOULD NEVER BE ASKED TO JOIN A CLASSROOM EITHER BY A JOIN CODE OR A DIRECT INVITATION. ONLY STUDENTS SHOULD EVER BE ADDED TO CLASSROOMS.
Step 4: Family access to Google Classroom
Step 4: Family access to Google Classroom
There isn't any way to give a parent or family login access to your Google Classroom. A parent or guardian can ask their student to login to their class' Classroom pages if they would like to take a look at the Classroom, but this shouldn't be actively encouraged.
Guardian email summaries
Guardian email summaries
However, you can still include families in Google Classroom by turning on guardian email summaries for each Classroom you have, which sends guardians either a daily or weekly email that summarizes any missing work for their student, any upcoming due dates entered into Classroom, and any activity that has happened in the Classroom since the last email, either yesterday or last week.
Guardian emails are automatically added by LittleSIS to ensure they match emails provided in the Student Information System (Aspen). These email addresses match custodial access in the SIS. It may take some time to sync between Google Classroom and the SIS if changes are made. It is important that families share the most up to date email contact information with the SSDAor school admin assistant responsible for updating the SIS rather than simply sharing emails directly with the classroom teacher so that guardian access to information is correct.
Google Classroom and Google Guardian Startup Information (slides with video)
Step 5: Explore some best practices
Step 5: Explore some best practices
Talk about schedules and due dates with students & families
Talk about schedules and due dates with students & families
Due dates can be challenging to use in Classroom during remote and adapted learning when we are trying to be considerate of family schedules, unreliable wifi, and shared devices. However, when you add a due date to an assignment in Classroom, the assignment is included in guardian email summaries, on the class' calendar, and in the "upcoming work" panel on the Stream page. These due dates can be extremely helpful to keep families in the loop about their student's work and can help students stay on track (particularly for secondary students adapting to the quadmester scheduling); however, some students may also have heightened anxiety around due dates if they are worried about being penalized for not meeting them.
We recommend having open, honest conversations with students and families around what your due dates mean in your Classroom.
Are they goals we are trying to meet?
How long does a student have to turn something in after the due date?
It may also be helpful to talk to your colleagues to see what they are doing with their due dates, especially if a student is in several Classrooms run by different teachers with different systems and rules.
Remember all assessment and evaluation should lead to hope and be in the service of student learning. WCDSB's Assessment and Evaluation Policy and Procedures APC050 Page along with Growing Success (including the Kindergarten Addendum) will be in use for all learning scenarios for 2022-2023.
Using Meet or Teams in Classroom
Using Meet or Teams in Classroom
If using Google Meet with students, use the built-in Meet link in Classroom for added security. When using Meet inside of Classroom, students cannot join until you make the link visible and click on the Meet link in the header to generate the randomized Meet link for that session. Important note: Once you reach the "join now" preview screen, students can start joining the Meet, even if you aren't fully in the Meet space yet.
WCDSB Google Meet Guide (document)
Note: Microsoft Teams is another great option and tool that you can use for video conferencing by sharing a link in Google Classroom. There are several benefits to using Teams instead of Meet such as having students automatically sent to a waiting room and having permanent recordings of the Teams Meeting.
WCDSB Microsoft Teams Guide (document with link to new guide in D2L located here)
Add video and voice instructions
Add video and voice instructions
You can record video and voice instructions with a variety of tools such as Flipgrid, Nimbus, NativeVideo Recorder, ReadandWrite etc., to model an assignment/task and attach or link that recording to the assignment. You can also record and attach a video of yourself to frame the week or to introduce yourself at the beginning of the year.
WCDSB Communication Guide for Remote/Adapted Scenarios (with links to video and screen-casting support)
WCDSB Special Education Resources for Remote/Adapted Scenarios (with links to support A-Tech such as ReadandWrite)
Always use WCDSB email addresses and resources
Always use WCDSB email addresses and resources
Always use your WCDSB email address when communicating with students and their families or working with student information. Personal accounts should never have access to student data or work. You may not create additional class email accounts or use services outside of approved WCDSB "Green Tools" for communicating directly with families. Students should also be encouraged to always use their WCDSB provided accounts and fully access resources by signing in to their WCDSB account and linking data in the Chrome browser.
WCDSB Student Portal Page (website)
Signing in and out of the Chrome browser (technical instructions)
Workflow for multiple classes:
Workflow for multiple classes:
Reuse posts (you can reuse posts from previous classes even if they are archived)
Post to multiple classrooms *New feature April 2022
Step 6: Learn about tools that work with Classroom
Step 6: Learn about tools that work with Classroom
Not all tools that can be integrated with Google Classroom are WCDSB approved for use with students. Nor are all WCDSB approved tools able to integrate with Google Classroom, but rather, they will be accessible with single sign on through the Green Tools portal in D2L. Please see the WCDSB Privacy and Records Information Management site in StaffNet.
While there are many powerful tools available online, it's important to check the WCDSB Approved Digital Tools and Resources List to make sure a tool is approved first. Once you connect any tool to your Google Classroom, that connection transmits student emails and information with the tool's developer, and educators are legally obligated to protect student data and information. GSuite for Edu tools are all approved under WCDSB's licensing agreement and work seamlessly within Google Classroom and with board provided extensions such as ReadandWrite.
Step 7: Communicating using Google Classroom (emails and notifications)
Step 7: Communicating using Google Classroom (emails and notifications)
Emails - Students and Guardians
Emails - Students and Guardians
Google Classroom has several areas where teachers can push emails out to students and guardians either in a personalized or automated fashion.
NOT ALL TYPES OF EMAILS IN GOOGLE CLASSROOM WORK WITHIN THE WCDSB WALLED GARDEN EMAIL ENVIRONMENT FOR STUDENTS.
Additionally, there are pros and cons to the various types of emails that can be sent from within Google Classroom.
Emails from within the Google Classroom environment originate from one of two locations:
a) Emails that open within Gmail and are sent from your @wcdsbcloud.ca account (you can find these in your "Sent" area of your WCDSB Gmail account....this can help you contact parents quickly in the case the Google Classroom goes down as you can "reply all" to a previous email)
b) Emails that open within Google Classroom itself and send from an inaccessible generic Google Classroom account
For emails sent from your @wcdsbcloud.ca account:
PROS:
Students and parents can receive these emails
Batch messages can be sent with users appearing in the BCC line to protect their personal information
Your @wcdsbcloud.ca Gmail account tracks these emails in SENT ITEMS
CONS:
Students and families often reply to the @wcdsbcloud.ca account; so, if you do not check this regularly or if you do not have forwarding set up to your Outlook email, you may miss communications
For emails sent from the Google Classroom generic account:
PROS:
A summary of completed and missing work can be generated and sent quickly to Guardians
CONS:
Student emails cannot receive these updates
There is no record of these summary emails being sent and no way of tracking their receipt
Notification Settings
Notification Settings
How to adjust notification settings in Google Classroom Video
Additional Resources
Additional Resources
Google Meet within Google Classroom
Please see the WCDSB Google Meet Guide and Video Support Resources found on our WCDSB Google Workspace for Education Support Page.
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