Three Tips for Organising Your Google Classroom

Episode 94 of The Teaching Space Podcast shares three tips for an organised Google Classroom. Introduction I wouldn't usually focus on a single tool that you might or might use for a podcast; however, I think the ideas behind these tips can apply to other tools in a more general sense, so I hope they are helpful. I am dealing with some concepts that will likely be communicated better visually so please pop over to the show notes to see some annotated screenshots: theteachingspace.com/94. Tip One: Organise Your Classwork Area Your Classwork area is where all your resources for lessons are stored, along with assignments and tasks. This area must be straightforward for students to navigate. Here are some tips: Decide on your structure in advance (weeks, units, lessons?) and use topics as headers. Use capital letters consistently for visual consistency. Name topics and containers for resources consistently (e.g. UNIT 301 > SESSION 1 > HOMEWORK). Use emoji to group elements together. Tip Two: Tidy Up the Stream The Stream is the hub of communication. By default, when the teacher posts a resource in the Classwork area, there is a notification in the Stream. These notifications can clutter the Stream. You can change this, though. On your Classwork page, click the settings' cog' and change the settings as follows: General > Classwork on the stream > Hide notifications In addition to this, it is easy to move a post to the top of the Stream. You could move a ground rules or expectations post to the top, for example. Create and post a message then click the three little dots at the top right and select MOVE TO TOP. Tip Three: Notifications Finally, I only found this out recently - you have complete control over the notifications you get from Google Classroom. On the main page where you see all your classes, click the hamburger menu at the top left-hand side of the screen to access settings. Wrap Up And that's it. If you have any questions about this episode or comments you'd like to share, please join The Teaching Space Community: community.theteachingspace.com. The show notes for this episode include any links I’ve mentioned; you can find them at theteachingspace.com. If you have enjoyed this episode, please consider supporting the show by making a small donation towards the running costs on my Ko-fi page which you can find at ko-fi.com/theteachingspace. Alternatively, please consider leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or whether you listen to the show. Thank you. Thanks for listening and I hope you'll join me for the next episode.