What to do with my Google Classroom

 

As we move forward into a new semester, many teachers have questions about what to do with their Google Classroom.  There is no one right answer to this question. The answer will vary depending on the grade you teach, the subject you teach, and just your own preferences. Below are some suggestions that might help you decide what to do with your Google Classroom for the 2nd semester.

Do Nothing

If you teach a year-long course and you feel that your assignments and materials are laid out in a way that is easy for students to find,  then you don't need to do anything. You and your students are both accustomed to the current layout. So, as long as you aren't running into issues of cluttered assignments or hard to find materials, don’t change something that's working.

Start a New Classroom

 This is a great option if you meet one of the following criteria:

• Your teaching a new subject

• You teach a yearlong should object and want to keep the content from 1st semester separated from 2nd semester

• You only want to reuse specific assignments in material from the 1st semester

Duplicate a Classroom

Duplicating a classroom is a great option if you are going to use most or all of the resources and assignments from a previous semester.   When you duplicate a Classroom, Google will create a draft of all your assignments in materials. All you have to do is set the due dates and you are ready to post them for students. 

A duplicated class can be overwhelming if your previous class was not well organized or you are only reusing a few assignments. For a lot of teachers, it's easier to make a new class and reuse posts from previous classes. 

Archiving Classes

Once you are finished with a class, it's always a good idea to go ahead and archive it. Even if you want to reuse posts from those classes, you can go ahead and archive them. This helps to keep your classes page from getting cluttered with classes you no longer teach.

 

Ultimately, what you choose to do with your Google Classrooms is a personal choice and there's really not a right or wrong way to do it.  Just ask yourself, "is this going to benefit me and my students?" If the answer is, "yes," go for it, otherwise just keep doing what you're doing.

One last note.  

Most schools require that you share your Classroom with an administrator. So, if you create a new Classroom  make sure to administrators as a co-teacher.