I mostly use these for my openers and alternate between the green tools on the list above. They provide an active way for students to participate during live virtual classes and the option to reattempt or complete them later. All the green tools provide automatic scoring of assignments and grade transfer into Google Classroom. The red tools do not import scores automatically to Google Classroom. If you have a favorite tool that integrates well with Google Classroom or can update us about a red tool, please share it with us at contact@sharingtree.net.
The Tools: Short how-to’s for each green tool
A few tips to help you keep your sanity in 2021
a) Limit manually graded assignment to 1-2 per week. I highly recommend using the “Each student will get a copy” and + Rubric options for manually graded assignments.
b) Use Google Classroom grader, Sort assignments by “Status” is really helpful for assignments you grade manually.
Two additional tips for secondary teachers
c) For secondary teachers with multiple identical sections: Merge all your sections into one Google Classroom. PRO: One Google Classroom can be more efficient for grading in a virtual learning environment. CON: It is harder to see who has completed an assignment during a live session in a particular period.
d) Use a virtual meeting software that supports private chats with the presenter or establish a private communication method with students. Google Meet and Zoom both have their pros and cons, but only Zoom allows private messages to the presenter/host. You can also use another messaging service like Google Chat or Remind to facilitate private conversations during a live session or try adding comments to a shared Google Doc if your meeting software does not support private messaging.
Zoom provides a number of options for chat and if you do allow private messages between students you can get a transcript if you record the meeting.
If you are not seeing all these options you can enable them in your Zoom profile.
If you have other tips for how you facilitate participation and communication with students during a virtual session, please share them with us at contact@sharingtree.net.
Leave a Reply