3. Do you ever wonder
what teachers could do
in the classroom if we
could just capture a kid’s
desire for social media
and use it for teaching
and learning?
5. Social Media offers kids…
Creative Collaboration and
Communication with others,
Instant Feedback on their thoughts
and ideas, a Sense of Belonging and a
conduit to make a Meaningful
Contribution to a Greater Community!
Do our classrooms offer that?
6. “If we can get past our fear...and
embrace digital tools...we could build
much more motivating and rigorous
learning environments.”
“Teachers need to stop saying ‘Hand it
in,’ and start saying ‘Publish it,’ instead.”
-Alan November
7. What IS Google Classroom?
Google Classroom was first introduced August 12, 2014. It is a
free web service developed by Google for schools that aims to
simplify creating, distributing and grading assignments in a
paperless way. The primary purpose of Google Classroom is to
streamline the process of sharing files between teachers and
students. By 2016 there were 10 million users. Last year, more
than 20 million students world-wide used Google Classroom! That
number will top 30 million in 2018.
Singer, N. (2017, May, 13). How Google Conquered the American Classroom. New York Times, p.A1.
8. Google Classroom: What it is...And...is not.
WHAT IT IS…
● FULLY integrated and so easy to use even my
mother could do it!
● A way to provide student feedback on work
(in real time) without embarrassing them!
● A way to save student work samples all year!
● A way to get rid of hordes of paperwork!
● Empowering to students! They see progress
and results-many times immediately!
● Empowering to teachers! It allows you to
direct the digital content used in class and
suit it to your curriculum needs!
● It opens a sensible portal and acts as a
conduit to collaboration, communication,
feedback and contribution.
It is NOT…
● A replacement for YOU the teacher!
● A babysitting service!
● Something that plans itself!
● An ‘annoying’ tech ‘add-on’ that the admin
likes to see once every observation
● To be used at the exclusion of all other
approaches! Don’t be afraid to pull out a
paper magazine, act out a scene, make a
drawing, read a book or do an old-fashioned
paper-pencil lesson occasionally. They can
work together in harmony! Kids need
balance and non-tech time for thinking skills
too!
9. My own Google Classroom experience...the
good, the bad, the ugly.
● Rejuvenated me as a teacher!
● Provided me a fantastic, fully embeddable platform to bring interesting, fresh digital content
and interactive tools into my classroom!
● Helped my class became more fun and creative for the students and me!
● Helped me heighten student interest in English and Reading (I wasn’t sure this was possible for
8th graders)!
● Truly made my grading easier!
● Challenged me weekly to put together INTERESTING and MEANINGFUL digital content for my
students!
● Helped keep me organized!
● Google Classroom content MATTERS just as much-if not more- as traditional content does! You
have to plan thoughtfully and creatively.
10. ● Make-up work was easier for my students to find and complete!
● My course of study pacing was better when using it!
● My personal interaction and knowledge of my students increased!
● I was able to get great subs! (Yes! Even teaching English!)
● It made daily formative AND weekly/monthly summative student
evaluations a breeze!
● Earbuds are a must! BUT they must be controlled!
● Don’t SIT on your butt. Using GC IS teaching. Don’t doubt it!
● Controlled tech environments are best! How much visual, auditory
(etc) stimuli do they need in the lesson today? How much
interactivity do they need? Should music listening be allowed with
this assignment?
● USE A TIMER! Best. Advice. Ever. Kids get wrapped up in tech
lessons and have to learn to self-monitor. BTW...isn’t that ACT
thing timed?
● GC helped me to act as a facilitator of learning rather than a
dispenser of information!
11. My digital
classroom
experiences also
taught me...
Students are so very comfortable
with technology that many of them
will often be willing to reveal much
more of themselves to you digitally
than they will in class conversation or
when completing assignments using
traditional classroom methods.
12. Why should YOU use it in your classroom?
● It gives students valuable experience with technology that they will use in college, careers and
life!
● It takes away excuses!
● It covers your rumpus!
● It creates easy parent involvement!
● It allows for a ‘flipped classroom’! Students can read or listen or watch their
classwork/homework directions and examples as much as they need to! Teach the lesson to them
at home- review and re-teach in class!
● It lets YOU give students IMMEDIATE FEEDBACK while an assignment is in progress! (I’ve
even done it while sitting in a doctor’s office!)
● Using GC helps students develop good collaboration skills and become a solid digital citizen!
● Student engagement is heightened!
● It is normal for a child to use all things digital! They will embrace GC as part of their overall
digital experience.
● It helps students take more RESPONSIBILITY for their work and take OWNERSHIP of
their learning! Kids (and parents) ALWAYS know where their classroom and homework
assignments are! They can use it at the beach, while visiting relatives or on their phone (yes,
there’s an app for that)!
14. Once your GC is set up-Do the following:
1. Find a simple starter link
2. Attach it as a link
3. Find a video that goes with the content you want to
teach. Use the ‘YouTube’ button to attach it.
4. Make a simple google doc with a couple of questions and
use the paperclip to attach it.
5. Put anything else in your digital lesson you desire.
6. Invite another teacher in this class to join yours and you
can each see what it would look like to be a student.
7. Ask questions. IF I can answer them, I will. If not, we’ll
see what we can figure out together. : )
15. GREAT starter digital
tools for teachers!
google tools freerice.com (English)
Padlet.com (all) readworks.org (reading)
vocabulary.com (all) http://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/ (english)
journey.cloud (writing) icivics.org (history)
ixl.com (all) smithsonian.org (reading/history)
duolingo.com (ESL) nationalarchives.gov (history)
buncee.com https://phet.colorado.edu/ (SCIENCE)
hippocampus.org/ (all) https://screencast-o-matic.com/screen-recorder
dogonews.com virtualnerd.com (math)
Englishforeveryone.org https://undsci.berkeley.edu/ (science)
https://www.youtube.com/user/crashcourse (Just do it. GO.)
