In my previous field experiences, my CTs had set up Google Classrooms for their students to access important course material, submit assignments, receive grades, and be notified about announcements posted by the teacher. Since I came into my host school at the beginning of the year this time, nothing was set up by the teacher so I had the chance to start the process from scratch. I first asked my CT if they had considered setting up a Google Classroom for the class. They told me that they did not usually but if I thought it would be a good idea then I could absolutely make one. In order to make the Classroom, the school created an e-mail account for me to use. This e-mail address is the one I would use to communicate with students for the entire field experience (and the one I would have used to communicate with parents had the need for e-mail communication with them come up). After discussing what other teachers in the school typically put on their Google Classrooms, I created mine and invited my students to join (competencies 8, 9, 10, 11). I posted announcements with important information I felt students needed to know for the class, I created “assignments” for tests so that students could see the dates and receive their grades afterwards (Google Classroom does not yet have the ability to post grades for assignments which are not done through the platform), and posted electronic copies of worksheets and homework solutions. Everything that I posted was appropriate and everything that I wrote (either to the class or in response to students’ questions) was written professionally (competencies 2, 12). I wish I had started using it more regularly from the start of the field experience but I learned from what I did and will build on it to improve for my future students.
Screenshots of the Google Classroom for one class I taught are shown below.
Kevin Paquette 