Last year at about this time, I started a spring survival series on my blog. And that seems to be necessary. The weather is warming, the student’s wardrobes are pushing the limits, and so are their attention spans.
And why not? Down here in balmy Georgia, we only have six more weeks until that glorious moment in time called summer break that comes and goes so quickly each year, but without which we surely could not survive.
When the weather is gorgeous, so few among us actually want to work. During the dreary winter months when the rain wouldn’t stop, I woke up at 5:30 each morning to drink coffee and get some work done. But now that it’s pretty outside and glorious summer is within reach, I hit snooze until 7:00 and roll out the door at 7:30, yelling at my son to, “Hurry up!”
If I am struggling–I know my students are.
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| When I look up and see this, I struggle to focus. |
The point is, I know it happens every year at about this time, so my goal is always to make it as painless as possible for my students and me without sacrificing the vital instruction time remaining. Last year at about this time, I wrote all about giving in and going outside and gallery walks for my spring survival tips. I even wrote about making grades the star (in order to remind students that they are still accountable).
I still do all of these things; however, this year, I have made quite a change in my classroom. As my district is rolling out the 1:1 model (one Chromebook for every student), I am blending my classroom (mixing technology with traditional instruction).
So, my spring survival tips this year will take the form of “Google Classroom Hacks.” And with that said, here goes number 6 (I’ll be counting down to 1):
Grade at a Glance with Colors
Well, if you have a simple one-page assignment that is matching or drag-and-drop, wait no more! Remember the color pattern, and open nothing. Just click on the assignment title from your desktop, and you will see small thumbnails of everyone’s submission lined up.
Glance at each thumbnail. If all of the colors are lined up, it’s a 100. Mark down for incorrect answers from there.
I am currently working on more color-coded drag and drop Google Drive activities, but I have a few on TPT now. And here’s a special just for this week. I have this French Revolution Timeline that is a one-pager and color-coded for “grading at a glance.” I will be adding interactive Google Drive notes to go with it, but until I add them, the timeline will be over half off–just $1.50.
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| Go on and snag it HERE |
It’s a steal because if you get the timeline now, in a week you can download the notes, too at no additional charge.
What Google Classroom Hacks do you have? What Google Classroom problems would you like to see solved? Let me know in the comments below.
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| Read the next hack in this series–CLICK HERE. |
