Lemon Tech Tidbits

Just a few tricks I wanted to share with all of you about Google Classroom. Missing assignments: A teacher assigns an assignment to all students in Google Classroom but it doesn’t show up for one or two students. It looks blank even though things look okay on the teacher’s side. A trick is to type in a private comment to those students. The assignment will then show up for those students. Help organize information by using Emojis: This is something built in to Google Chrome and can be used not only in Classroom but can be used almost everywhere. When you go to type in a name, at the beginning of the title, do a right click. You will notice a choice to select Emoji. Click on the Emoji you want to use and select it. Here is a video to show you how.  Create a Google Classroom Shell: This tip was shared by Adam Juarez . A Google Classroom Shell is a class with no students invited to join. The purpose is to allow you to create assignments, posts, topics, forms, etc. ahead of time as...

Yesterday, during our technology session, Mrs. Thornton shared information she had learned in a TikToc about how to use the Google Classroom phone app to randomly pick a student. It is a virtual popsicle stick. The video can be found at https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMJUotYoX/ If you are worried about watching the video on TikTok, I noticed that Alice Keeler’s new blog post is about the same thing. You can find it here. I did notice that lately, there seems to be a lot of ads on her blog. So if you would like to just see her video, you can click here .

This article comes from the blog titled Teacher Tech by Alice Keeler .  If you are like me, you use Google Classroom all the time and may feel that you know everything there is to know about it. But, it is always good to have a reminder about some things you may not know or have forgotten. This is why I was excited when I saw this blog post by Alice Keeler. Alice Keeler quickly shared five different features about Google Classroom that is important to keep in mind. These include: Student View is Different than Teachers View: It is important to realize students may not see everything you see as a teacher. No Attachments: Google puts everything in your G Drive. This includes files you add to an assignment from other sources. You Can Not Edit Make A Copy for Each Student: Just like using a copy machine, once you make a copy, that is what students receive. Students Lose Editing Permissions: When students turn in an assignment, they lose all editing permissions unless you ret...

Earlier, Google announced you could easily add Rubrics to any assignment in Google Classroom. The problem though is you had to type in a new rubric each time until now!  Google just announced they are going to allow users the ability to reuse a rubric they have already created. It doesn’t matter if the rubric was created in the same class or in another one. If you have created it somewhere in your Google Classroom account, you will be able to reuse it. When you reuse or create a rubric, it will be in a preview mode allowing you to quickly see if any changes need to be made before you use it. This new feature will be rolled out to all users in the next few days who have signed up to use the beta rubric program. Google announced pro-tip: If you'd like to share rubrics you've set up in Classroom with other teachers, simply add co-teachers to a shared class with multiple rubrics. All teachers and co-teachers will see those rubrics for assignments in other classes in the new ...

It is finally here! You can now easily create a rubric within an assignment in Google Classroom and lock down a quiz. Before you can start on the rubric, you will need to enter a title to the assignment. Once you do, you will be able to create a rubric by clicking on the plus sign located in the bottom right-hand corner. In the rubric, you can add up to 10 different categories and 10 different performance levels. For more information on how to set up a Rubric for an assignment, click here: http://bit.ly/2Of04Nl Once you have a rubric attached to an assignment, it will show up on the right-hand side whenever you click on a student's completed assignment. For more information, click here: http://bit.ly/2O47H92 But that isn’t the only new feature to Google Classroom, you can now lock down students Chromebooks when you assign a quiz! For more information on how to use locked mode for quizzes, click here: http://bit.ly/2O28U0u

I am so EXCITED to announce Google will soon be releasing an upgrade to Google Classroom called Originality Reports. “When students turn in a document, Assignments will check students’ text against hundreds of billions of web pages and tens of millions of books.” (Google)  “If you enable originality reports on an assignment, students can also check their work for authenticity (a limited number of times) to correct issues, turn in their best work, and save instructors time grading. Since both you and your students can see originality reports, they’re designed to help you teach your students about authenticity and academic integrity.” (Google) For more information, check out this announcement from Google itself: http://bit.ly/2U9XpVY An article in Educational Technology and Mobile Learning explains how to use this new feature. You can access this article here: http://bit.ly/33ZBPbc

Google announced earlier this summer they were looking at making two huge improvements to Google Classroom. One that had many teachers at USD 473 excited was the ability to have student Chromebooks “locked down” while students take a quiz or test using Google Forms. This feature is now available in Beta form. Teachers can enable locked mode by clicking a simple checkbox in Google Forms. Click here to learn more about this new feature: http://bit.ly/2B8DnlK Another change is you can now create the Google Forms directly from Google Classroom . The best part? You can have it import your grades from the Google Form directly into Google Classroom. Another new Beta feature is a new built-in Gradebook. You can find all the information about this feature here: http://bit.ly/2Uye1GB

A little bit of warning - If you look in the Stream tab in Google Classroom, you will see all of the assignments, questions, and materials mixed in with posts from students.  You might be tempted to clean this up by clicking on the three vertical dots and hitting delete without realizing if you delete an assignment, question, or material from the Stream tab, it disappears from the Classworks tab as well. And sadly, there is no easy way to undo what you just did. But don’t panic. Google Classroom is linked with Google Drive which means that nothing is truly gone, it’s just not where you want it to be.  You may be able to use the Reuse Assignment feature and have students re-submit their work from Google Drive using the Attach Items to your Assignment feature if you are lucky. If not, then the only option is to have a complete redo.

Updates to Google Classroom Google has recently announced a few updates to Google Classroom. Some of the updates will excite you and some will be of annoyance.  To see the updates, you have to create a new class. If you have a Google Classwork from last year, the updates and tabs will not show. There will soon be another update released very shortly that will allow you to copy  an existing class so this issue can be resolved.  Classwork Page : one of the most talked about new features is the Classword Page tab which replaces the About tab. All assignments and questions will now be on a separate page in Google Classroom while the Stream will focus on announcements.  All assignments on the Classwork tab will be organized by topics. You can only add one topic per assignment. Once you have a topic, you can add as many assignments as you wish.  You can change the order of the topics by moving them up or down.  You can reorder the posts in a t...

G SUITE TRAINING APP From the blog Free Technology for Teachers - Richard Byrne comes an excellent short article about a Chrome extension called GSuite Training. This extension provides you with a searchable list of tutorials over many of the different apps such as Docs, Sheets, Sites, Classroom, Gmail, calendar and more. Like Richard Byrne says, it is “ almost like having a Google coach sitting right next to you. “ Click here to read the blog post: https://goo.gl/lpXB Click here for the extension: https://goo.gl/rgs0hC

DocHub and Google Classroom

PRIVATE COMMUNICATION IN GOOGLE CLASSROOM One of the things that I like about Google classroom is the ease in communication between the teacher and the students by creating a post. But whenever a post is made, it is placed on the Stream where everyone in the class can see and read. There are times though when you want to encourage students to make a comment that is private so you can provide individualized feedback. But how do you do it? Alice Keeler has a solution. She recommends teachers create an assignment in which the task is to post a private conversation.  In this blog post, she provides the step-by-step instructions: http://alicekeeler.com/2016/08/24/google-classroom-private-comments/ Now, let’s take this a step further. We all know of a student or two that may have general questions over a concept or two but are too scared or nervous to ask, especially in a classroom setting. Why not make a general assignment with the title Questions and allow students to post pr...

Every month, it seems like Google comes out with more and more updates to all of its apps. Some of this updates apply more for the business world than education and others apply more for those that handle Administration of the site than teachers. However, there does seems to be a few updates every time that applies directly to teachers and students. Here are a few of them: Google has a search feature called  Google Cloud Search.  This is an app you can download on your phone that will search across all of your G Suite applications to find the exact file you want. Before, this was only available for android phones but it is now available for iPhones and iOS devices. For more info:  https://goo.gl/RfbtHU Google Classroom is now available through personal accounts (i.e. you don’t have to have a Google Account to create and use Google Classroom). For more info:  https://goo.gl/KMBsp4 Google Accounts login page will have a new look at the end of this month. F...

Google EDU Google Tips This site was created by Google Edu as a way for teachers to share how they are using the features available on G Suite for Education. It is updated with a new “slide” every Tuesday. Much of the tips revolve around using Google Classroom efficiently and effectively but occasionally, there are tips for Docs, Slides, and more. Today’s tips include: Integrating current events into Classroom by use of third-party apps Why setting up a class just for all of the Seniors in your school can be extremely useful Ways you can use rubrics within classroom. Check out the site yourself at: goo.gl/7UH8vB

Google Classroom ... .now with  Differential Learning  and  Better Teacher Notification . Recently, Google released some new updates to Google Classroom that teachers all over are celebrating. The changes were: Individual assignments —Teachers can post work and announcements to individual students in a class.  New teacher notifications —Teachers receive email and mobile notifications when a student submits late work or resubmits work.  Classroom user metrics — Administrators can view Classroom usage reports in the Admin console.  Coursework improvements for third- party developers —Third-party applications can programmatically create questions, modify coursework, and add materials to coursework.  New Android feature : Teachers can edit the class description and add materials to the About tab.  One of the new updates teachers are raving about is the new ability to differentiate classroom instruction right within the same class by utilizi...

Newsela and Google Classroom Newsela  is a wonderful site to find up-to-date news articles in a students lexile level. New articles are provided daily in 5 different lexile levels to chose from. There is even an assessment at the end for students to take to check for understanding. Recently, Newsela has teamed up with Google Classroom . It is now easy to share news articles with your whole entire class.  Before you begin, you and your students must have accounts set up in Newsela. But even this step has been made easier as you can upload your entire Google Classroom. To find out how, click on the  Quick Start Guide for Teachers:  https://goo.gl/lwsSv0 For more information, click on the Newsela support pages: https://goo.gl/89FrBP 

Create Fillable Text Boxes in Google Docs  From  BetterCloud Monitor  comes a post on how to create fillable text boxes when you are creating a worksheet in Google Docs. "If you’ve ever tried to make a worksheet or form in Google Docs, you’ve probably created lines for people to enter their information on. But all too often, this: Name: __________________ turns to this: Name: ______Hermione Granger______” BetterCloud Monitor then provides step-by-step instructions, complete with small little video clips, on how to insert and use the table function instead. To see how, click on the following link:  https://goo.gl/r5MWwh 

I love when I discover a new technology blog / resource person, especially if their blog is full of really good stuff that can be used right away. I would like to introduce you to..... Tammy’s Technology Tips for  Teachers. Tammy Worcester Tang, who incidentally is married to Greg Tang, has over 25 years experience in the educational world. She is currently retired from ESSDACK as an Instructional Technology Specialist but continues to provide staff development and training in the field of tech integration.  Her blog is full of wonderful technology tips such as Google templates ready to be used, step-by-step instruction for student activities and a link to her favorite website and iPad apps. One of my favorites is her post over  Self-Check Quiz Templates. These templates can be used to share a quiz through Google Classroom with your students to self-check their understanding. It even automatically grades the responses giving immediate feedback. Try it ...

The Definitive Guide to Google Classroom "Parent View" aka Guardian Summaries In the blog titled  friEdTEchnology, Mike Wallace and Amy Mayer have created a guide to be used by classroom teachers and parents over the new feature in Google Classroom called Guardian Summaries. In this guide is everything you need to know to successfully use this new feature. There are step-by-step instructions on how to set up the Guardian Summaries. There are even short little video clips to visually guide you through the process. Just go to: http://goo.gl/ TG51wq

Protect Your Google Form by Adding A Password Google Forms can now be used to create a quiz for students and then seamlessly distributed through Google Classroom.  But ... .how do you make sure only students who are suppose to access the quiz are the ones who do? Simple ... ..add a password. Here is how: In GoogleForm, add a question at the very top and call it “Password.” Make it a required question.  Change the type of question to Short Answer.  Click the three dots on the bottom right- hand corner and select Data Validation.  In Data Validation-pull down the boxes and make sure it says Regular Expression - Matches - (whatever your password will be)  In Custom Error Text, you can add a message you want the viewer to receive if they type in the password incorrectly.  Add another section and carry on with creating the quiz.  *HINT: you can put in the password yourself and not tell the student or you can share the password with one class ...