Digital Maestro Magazine

Google Classroom
with Google Sites

Build an instructional site and reference it from Google Classroom every year.

A pragmatic combination
digitalmaestro.org May 15, 2018
Google Classroom with Google Sites

A major drawback to google classroom is that a classroom must be created every year and assign-
ments must be re-created every year. As teachers, we don’t teach the same way each year but the
materials and resources remain fairly consistent. It would be nice if we could refer to these resourc-
es without the need to re-create the classroom and assignments.

A way to work around the limitations is to have a Google site that accompanies classroom assign-
ments. It doesn't have to be a Google site, but a Google site provides ready access to resources
which are probably already on your Google drive.

Ale Reyes

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Google Classroom with Google Sites

Table of Contents

Creating an instruction site . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Creating pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Inserting images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
An overview of Google Docs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Inserting Google Docs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Embed Google Drive folders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
YouTube Content. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Embed Google Calendar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Google Classroom. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Parting Thoughts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Digital Maestro Magazine • digitalmaestro.org – 3

Google Classroom with Google Sites

Google sites in combination with Google Classroom is one way to integrate technology resources
in a Blended or flipped classroom. Google Sites is part of a Gmail account. We create an account
by going to google.com and using the sign-in link in the upper right-hand corner of the search page.

After creating an account, you will have access The site service link takes us to the old version
to the Google Apps launcher. The Google Apps of Google Sites. This version might be old but
launcher is an icon with nine small squares. it is very good. It provides a great deal of flex-
Some people say it looks like a waffle. ibility and many advanced options. We will not
be using this older site. There is a new service
Click the Apps launcher to access some of the that is much easier to use. The new site creation
free Google applications and services. Find the service has drag and drop tools that make the
Sites icon and click on it. If you don’t see the site creation process quick and easy. A link to
Sites icon there is another way to access the the new Google Sites service is found in the left
service. In the address bar, type https://sites. menu panel. Click the New Google Sites link.
google.com and press the return key.

...
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My Sites
 Classroom Projects
lsitwclassroomprnjec t sa le>CI
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Deleted Sites

New Goog le Sites II

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Google Classroom with Google Sites

If this is your first time accessing the new
Google Sites service you won’t see any content.
With Google Sites, we can create multiple sites.
I have created dozens of sites and have not
encountered any limitations.
To create a site we click the Plus button in the
lower right corner of the page.
The options below the Google Drive link allow us
to embed content from YouTube, Google Calen-
dar, and Google Maps. Each of these options will
take us to services where we can find a YouTube
video, select a calendar, or find a location using
Google maps.
l.l From Drive

Google Embeds ""

D Youlube

~ Calendar

9 Map

- The Google Docs options in the last section of

the panel are filtered options for adding content.
A blank site will be created for us. The site The Docs option will list Docs in Google Drive.
includes a banner at the top for the title and The Slides option will list Slides. The Charts
a banner image. The white section below the option will find charts that have been generated
banner is where we assemble our web content. with Sheets and display the charts. A chart must
be created with Sheets before it will be generat-
• ed on a page.

Google Docs
Your page title
Eil Docs

c::i Slides
GI Sheets

The tools for assembling our site are located in II Forms

the panel on the right. The first four icons are

services to create text boxes, add images, embed
web content, and upload content. I recommend
uploading all content to Google Drive before
adding it to the website. Adding content is much
easier once it is on Google Drive.
At the top of the panel, we have sections. We
are currently in the Insert section. The Pages
section lists all pages created within the site. We
click the Plus button at the bottom of the Pages
panel to create our first page. This would actual-
ly be the second page on the site. The first page
is the home page currently on the left side of the
panel.

Digital Maestro Magazine • digitalmaestro.org – 5

Google Classroom with Google Sites

The themes section has basic site templates While stretching the box you will notice faint
with banner images and basic colors. There vertical lines in the background. These are
aren’t many templates. We can easily modify column layouts. There are 14 columns with a
our site with our own banner image and colors. I small gap between each column. These gaps
begin with the simple site template and use it to are called gutters. The number of columns and
develop a custom site. their width cannot be adjusted. The columns
are here as guides. They are used to help align
content. They are also used to help resize and
ii'H·Nii INSERT PAGES THEMES
crop images.
TT !!
Text box Im ages

<>
Embed
a
Upload
,stronomy
Creating an instruction site
ss
There are many ways to develop content. I will
cover the broader content options. These should While stretching content to the edges you will
get you started and help guide your develop- notice that we cannot stretch the text box all the
ment of a useful classroom site. We all have our way to the edge. The last column serves as a
teaching style and the site should reflect that border or padding between the content and the
style. Your students will come to expect it. edge. Think of it like the margins on a page.

The first step is to give the site a title. Click once On my banner, the name of the class wraps onto
on the page title text box in the banner. Provide a second line where it ends with the word class.
a title like, Mr. Reyes Astronomy Class. Click once before the word astronomy and press
the return key to force the word astronomy to
~
Title • C-J j
the second line.

Mr Reyes' The basic formatting options for text in Sites

includes standard text styles for websites. These
Astronomy Class styles include titles, heading, subheading, and
normal text. The title for our site is using the title
style. This style can be selected and changes
using the toolbar above the textbook.

The title will be longer than the available text box Above the site banner and to the left is the site
width. Circles appear to the left and right of the name. The site name is currently in a light grey
text box. These are handles to resize the text color. Click once on the site name box. Type
box. Use them to stretch the box. Astronomy Class 1A.

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Google Classroom with Google Sites

,_
Normal text .... B I ·­
,- c-::>

Above the site name is a blue icon for Google
Sites. Click once on the space to the right of the
icon. The title we just entered for the site will be
placed here by Google Sites.
This is the document name. A site in Google
Sites is referred to as a document. This docu-
ment name is part of the link that will be used
to access the site. We don’t have to accept this
name. It can be changed. Change the document
name to astronomy.
Iii Astronom
Type an introduction to your class. It can have
instruction for navigating the site and finding
content. You don’t have to put a lot of informa-
tion here in the beginning. The information you
want to include here will become evident as
the site is developed. Type anything you want
and the text box will grow to accommodate the
information. Don’t press the return key to go to a
new line, the text will automatically wrap. Press
the return key once to insert a new paragraph.
Paragraphs on web pages are usually formatted
using the block style. We can indent paragraphs
by pressing the space key twice. Don’t press the
tab key to indent paragraphs. A tab is too much
for an indent.

Okay, let’s review. We have learned that a site

can have one name for the banner, another for
the site title and another for the site document
name that is used for the link.

Our first text box

Go to the panel on the right and click the Insert
section. Click the text box button. A text box will
appear below the banner. This text box has a few
more options because it is used in the body of
a page. This box has the options to bold or ital-
icize text. It has the option to create numbered
and bulleted lists.

Digital Maestro Magazine • digitalmaestro.org – 7

Google Classroom with Google Sites

Hover over the main page title again and add

Creating pages
other subpages. Title each subpage Venus,
The main site page is often called the home Earth, and Mars. Each subpage is created and
page. We create additional pages to organize added below the previous. Repeat the same
and group content. Content is grouped under process with the other pages.
pages with sub-pages. We will create several
pages and sub-pages.
Organizing pages
I find it useful to set up pages in a structure that The pages on our site are nicely organized. The
mirrors the content to be taught. In astronomy, order of these pages is easy to change. Click
I will begin by covering the inner planets. After and drag a page up or down to change its order.
that I will cover the outer planets, constellations, Release the page when a blue line appears at
and galaxies. the location where you want it to be placed.

Click on the pages section and click the Plus ...I Inner Planets
button near the bottom of the panel. Title this
page Inner Planets and click the done button. I Mercury

Repeat the process to create the other pages for

outer planets, constellations, and galaxies. I Venus

I E 71

11::. JI ... ,,.,,

II,

To place a page as a subpage we drag the page

above another page and release when a rectan-
+ gular highlight appears around the page title.

To promote a subpage it has to be dragged out

Create subpages to organize content within
each category. Hover over the first page we
created. Three vertical dots will appear to the
right of the page title. The is the actions menu.
Click the actions menu and select the option to
add a subpage. Title the page Mercury and click
the done button.
1 1
Make homepage
of the main page.
Hiding pages
Created pages are viewable by anyone once a
site is published. We don’t always need pages to
be viewable. Sometimes we need to hide pages
while they are being developed. To hide a page
we click the actions menu and select the option
to hide page. Repeat the process to un-hide the
page.

Duplicate page

Propert ies

Add subpage

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Google Classroom with Google Sites

Inserting images
Click the images button. There is a variety of
ways we can add images to a page. The option
to add an image through a URL will link to an
image located somewhere on the Internet. Be
careful of copyright when linking to images from
other sites. Linking to images from other sites is
not always the most reliable. The owner of the
site could decide to remove the image at any
time. I recommend placing all images in your
Google Drive and then linking to those images.
Select images
content.
Find a photo and double-click the image. You
can also click on it once then click the select
button.
We can insert multiple images. To insert multi-
ple images we click on each image then click
the select button. This is a good way to insert a
handful of images. This is not the way I recom-
mend inserting an image gallery. There is anoth-
er way to do this and I will cover the process
later.

By lJRL Search Yam albLJms Google Drive Organizing and formatting images
Images are placed within image boxes on the
page. Use the handles to resize images. Bring-
Paste an image URLhere:

ing the handles inward too close to the image

The search option is similar to linking to an
image on the Internet. The search option is
good if you do not already have an image saved.
The option, in this case, is useful because the
images returned in the search are in the Creative
Commons or in the Public Domain. Images in
the Creative Commons or Public domain do not
violate copyright law.
will result in distorting the image or cropping the
image. Cropping occurs when edges of an image
are hidden or taken away. Use the handles to
resize and crop the image as needed.
Images can be moved by clicking and dragging
the image around the page. The column guides
help align the image to other sections on the
page. Use the column guides to space and tile
images.

The option to insert images from your album will

display images uploaded to your Google Photos
account. Images can be added to this account
from smartphones, tablets, and computers. The
albums option is a good way to collect and insert
images provided by students. Google Photos
has an option to share albums for contribution.

The option to add photos from Google drive will

access all the folders and files in your Google
Drive. This is where we need to be organized
with folders for content we intend to share. I
recommend creating a main folder for all your
instructional content. Create additional folders
within this folder to organize documents and

Digital Maestro Magazine • digitalmaestro.org – 9

Google Classroom with Google Sites

Click the Docs icon in the Google drive section

An overview of Google Docs
near the bottom of the panel. Google sites will
Google has a suite of applications called G filter for word processing documents. Click on
Suite. This suite of applications includes a word a document and click the insert button at the
processor called Docs. The application for bottom of the panel.
presentations is called Slides. The spreadsheet
application is called Sheets. There are other
applications but we will stick with these for now.
:stMllirshtld P"Sel:1 coE.M.h In ne311Y
60,000 ye.811"1 two
, NASA 1811.ll'ICtlied

Google Docs is a web-based application for word

Spirit and Opportunity, ~ explored differan; reg:ons of the Martian
fou nd signs that welet once tlmi.'edon the plane t's surlace .,

processing. Docs have many useful features. All captured our c:ollec1lveimagin ation qu :e e Mars.

documents are stored online in Google drive.

er':s&ljoume r RoveJ"(torma Rilffi ed the M1crof'O';'Br Ftighl Experime nt)
rtla n ,urf11Ceon July 6, 1;1t:Elbol.l!0$ :40 Un1\'e:~ l\m e.2

They can be accessed and edited from a variety ed the.r planned ml:!!!lbnsof 90 Martian solar days: M.EA-A.Spirit was
hile MCR•B OJ)portU'lf1y is Still ac,jyt, in 2018, 11'11:1
h0k1Sthe record for tne

of devices. The share option included in all G

rtvenby anyoff-E.arth ~ed ..-ehlde.'

Suite applications allows us to collaborate with

others in real-time. Documents can be shared This document has been embedded within the
with anyone and with the world in a variety of page. This is a convenient way to display one
formats. They can be shared online as web or two documents but can be difficult when we
pages or can be distributed for easy download. need to display several documents. Stretch the
box that embeds the document to view more of
Google Slides is a web-based presentation the document on the page. Without stretching
application. The slides are stored online in the embed box, visitors will need to scroll within
Google drive and can be shared for collabora- the document to see the rest of the content.
tion. We are able to publish slides as interac-
tive web pages. We are able to generate links to Hover over the document we just inserted. Three
distribute and download presentations. icons will appear to the left of the web page.
Click the trash can icon to delete the document
Google Sheets is a web-based spreadsheet from the page.
application. Documents created are stored in
the cloud and are shareable like the other docu-
ment formats. We are able to share and collabo- Ma·,
rate on sheets in the same way.
I[)
• In 2003, hi close
nickn
1

Inserting Google Docs  and

Inserting Google Docs onto a page is a useful No olh r pl n

way to display information. This information
can be updated by editing the document. This
avoids the need to log into the site. Let’s see Another way to delete the document is to click
how to add individual documents from Google the document once and then to click the trash
Drive first. can icon that appears above the document.

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Google Classroom with Google Sites

Inserting slides Inserting Google Sheets

Inserting slides may make more sense than Click the Sheets icon in the Google Drive
inserting full-length documents. Click the Slides section of the panel. Select a sheet to embed on
icon. Click one or more slides. The selected the page. The sheet is inserted as a read-only
slides will be tallied next to the insert button. document like the word processing document.
Click the insert button. Displaying Google Sheets on a web page is a
good way to display information that needs
The slides are arranged on the left side of the tables. In this example, we are able to display
page. Each slide is placed on a section below the planetary information for the inner planets. This
previous slide. Click and drag a slide up and to provides a handy reference for students on
the right of an existing slide. The slot where the assignments.
slide once was, will be replaced with an existing
slide that might have been added below.
Inserting Forms
Forms is an application that is part of the G Suite
Mercury Venus of applications. Forms are designed to collect
information from polls and surveys. They are also
used to provide assessments. Forms include an
option to turn any form into an assessment that
is graded for teachers.
Earth
7 Click the Forms icon and find a form to add to
the page. The form is like a word processing
Each slide on the page is represented by the document where most of the form cannot be
first slide in the slideshow. This is referred to as easily seen. The form can be opened in a sepa-
the poster image for the slide. The slides have rate tab.
controls to play the slide on the page or to set
the slide to full screen. The controls include Forms save all the responses to a spreadsheet.
options to skip to specific slides and show As we saw earlier, Sheets display information
speaker notes. in table format when embedded on pages. The
Sheet information is live and we are able to see
the results from polls or surveys as they are
submitted.

We can display the results of polls or surveys by

embedding the responses spreadsheet below
the form or on a separate page. Placing the
responses sheet on another page allows us to
hide the page until all the responses have been
collected.
This is a useful way to distribute presentations to
students and to include notes about the presen- It is often better to provide a link to a form rather
tation. This is definitely very useful in Blended than to embed a form in a page.
and Flipped classroom environments.

Digital Maestro Magazine • digitalmaestro.org – 11

Google Classroom with Google Sites

Click the gear icon that appears above the

Embedding Charts
section. Change the view type from list to grid.
Charts are part of Sheets. They are created from A thumbnail of each file will be generated and
information created or generated on Sheets. displayed. The grid view is very useful when
Click the Chart icon to insert a chart from a sharing media files like images and video.
Sheet. The chart must be created from data first
before it will be available to embed on a page. [Zl 0 
Sites will prompt us to select a chart before it TITLE
is embedded. The embedded chart is live. The
chart will update as information on the sheet is C Earth
changed. Charts are a good way to display form
C Me rcu ry
information. This is especially useful when using
forms to collect student assessments. We can f""!I '

select the information that is displayed on tables

and charts. We can easily add or remove documents from
the folder. We don’t need to update the site
because the site will automatically update the
Embed Google Drive folders
folder view with any changes.
We have been embedding documents from
Google Drive onto a page in a previous lesson. We can add a folder that contains subfold-
Adding one document at a time gets difficult ers. With this structure, all I need is one page
when we need to quickly add lots of documents. that provides access to all the files and folders
There is a better way add multiple documents needed in my class. Try not to add too many
onto a page. folders because this can be difficult to navigate
when finding files.
Click the From Drive icon in the panel. Find a
folder with documents and click it once. Click Organizing folders within folders don’t have
the Insert button. Files inside the folder are to be an all or nothing option. Create folders
shown in list view. Click once on the section with within folders and share one of the subfolders

-•
the folder we just added.
desi gn elemen1s

digit alm aestro

Apr 30, 201 5
at a time. This works very well when setting up
folder permissions. Let’s look at folder permis-
sion when sharing documents.
Feb 23, 2018

Folder and file permissions

• docu me n1s-expo ,rt-2014-02-0 5 Au g 25, 20 17

When sharing files and folders it’s important to

• ebooks Au g 25, 2017
make sure you have given permission for those
folders and files to be viewed by others. Begin
by creating a master folder that will hold all fold-
ers and files. Share this folder with everyone in
your district or with the world. Assign view only
permission to the folder.

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Google Classroom with Google Sites

Google Classroom to easily place links to the

-•
c-e,
On - Anyo ne willh the link
Anyon.e who has the link cari access _No sign -in required _
video in an assignment.

@
• On - Ys1eta ISD
Anyon.e al Ysleta ISD can fin.d and access.
I highly recommend Edpuzzle. It has tools for
embedding instructions and audio to the video.
•
c-e,
On - Anyo ne a! Ys leta ISO willh the link
Anyon.e at Ysleta ISD who has ttle lirik can access _
The assessment tool is a good way to get infor-
mation from formative assessments. The inte-
-- Off -
• Sha red with specific people.
Speci fic people
gration with Google Classroom makes it easy
to distribute content and get feedback. Edpuz-
zle generates a link to share. This link works in
That’s all I have to do. Any new folders or docu- Google sites to embed the video on a page.
ments created in this folder will have the same
permission. This is called inheritance of permis- Safeyoutube is another option designed to
sions. Folders and documents placed in this provide a link to the YouTube video with no
folder are referred to as child folders and files. advertising or link to other videos. The service
As such, they inherit the permissions of the provides a Safeyoutube link for sharing. This is
parent folder. Copy or move documents into a good alternative if you are not interested in
the folders and they will inherit the permission anything as elaborate as Edpuzzle.
of the main folder. I will still be able to edit and
modify anything within the folder because I am
Embedding YouTube video
the owner of the folder and documents.
Click the YouTube button under the embed
Students make copies of these view only docu- section in the panel. A YouTube search page
ments by choosing the option to make a copy. will open. Search for a video on Mars. A list of
This option is available from Google Drive. results will be listed below the search box. Click
Shared items like images and PDF documents the play button over the video thumbnail to get
are copied to the student drive using a similar a preview of the video. Click the select button
process. to add the video to the page. The video will be
embedded on the page with a poster image.
Click the play button to play the video on the
YouTube Content
webpage.
YouTube is a great way to bring instructional
content from a variety of professionals. Teachers
Embedding YouTube from Edpuzzle
are often reluctant to use video from YouTube
because of the possibility of inappropriate Go over to Edpuzzle and create your account.
content and advertisements. Edpuzzle integrates with Google so all you need
to do is select the Google option when creating
There are services that can help remove some of an account. Provide your Google account infor-
the annoyances. These services include Edpuz- mation when prompted. Select your instruction-
zle.com and safeyoutube.net. al content and search for the campus where you
teach.
Edpuzzle is squarely aimed at educators. It
removes advertisements and prevents other Search for a video on Mars. Hover over one of
videos from playing. The service allows teach- the videos and click the Use It button. Edpuz-
ers to add their own audio notes and to include zle will take us to a configuration page. There
assessments. The whole services integrate with are steps to add annotations, voice over, and

Digital Maestro Magazine • digitalmaestro.org – 13

Google Classroom with Google Sites

assessments. Skip these steps for now and click

the Save button in the upper right corner of the llink PtlrfBctfor sharingwith your cc:41sa-;iues!
page. Click the Edpuzzle logo on the upper left
side of the page. Click the My Content button in I https: / / edpuzzle.com/ media/ 5ae9ff19be3b9240d15
the button bar.
!EmbedCodeFarembeddingoo yoor wstisiteor blog
Q Search ® IMyContent 18' My Classes

I <iframe width;;;;;'"470"' height;;;;;""402"

<:::rf'=" httn<:::· / / t;:arlni177lt;:a0nm I t;:amh~ti /m~rl i~ / ~::i~Qff 1Q
0 Creat e

Click the embed button at the top of the panel.

Paste the link into the link dialogue box. Click
the Insert button. A poster image of the video
will display on the page. The user will be taken
to the Edpuzzle site when the image is clicked.
Click the video in the My Content section. Click
Text box Images
the assigned and share button above the video.
There are two share options. The button on the
left will assign the video to a class and help
<>
create an assignment. The button on the right
Embed Upload

will generate a link. We will use this link to place ..,

the video on our web page.
Compo e s
"
Divider

Assign I Share • (~
@iii Dupl icate )

Using Edpuzzle embed code

Go back to the Edpuzzle page with the links.
This is Mars 2018, Curiosity IRover

Highlight the link option to embed the video.

Copy the link to computer memory. Return to
your site and click the embed button. Above
the field where we placed the previous link is an
Click the share with anyone button. A dialogue option to display embed code. Click the embed
with two link share options will open. Highlight code button and paste the embed code into the
the first link and copy it to computer memory. code box. Click the Next button and then click
Leave the Edpuzzle page open and open anoth- the Insert button.
er tab to return to the site. If the site is open,
click that tab.
BYURL EMBEDCODE
-------

Paste the HTML code from the site youwant to embed.

<i fra me 1,,i dth =" 47 0'" e ig ht ="402 "

s r c ="h ttps: // edpuzzle . corm/embe d /media/Sae9ffl9 be3 b9240d
' r amebo rd e r =" 0 " allowful lscree 11) </i ' r ame >

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Google Classroom with Google Sites

Preview the page and click the video play button. ed to repeat year after year. Repeated events
With the embed option, the video will play on the can be updated if the dates or times change. It
page. is much easier to update a repeating event than
to create one from scratch.

SafeYouTube links
Safe YouTube provides a link but we need to
do a little more work. Go to YouTube and find a
video on Mars. Click the share option and copy
the link to the video. Return to Safe YouTube and
paste the link. Click the Generate Link button.

The generated link is used the same way we

created a link with Edpuzzle. SafeYouTube does
not provide embed code to use the embed
option so we can play the video on the page.

Embed Google Calendar

With the Calendar embed option, we can embed
a calendar created under our account or one
that is generated with the creation of a Google
Classroom. Click the calendar icon to select a
calendar for display. Calendars associated with
a Google Classroom will be titled with the class-
room name.

There are two things to consider when embed-

ding a Google Calendar. Embedding a calendar
from a classroom ties all the events related to
the classroom and students in that class. This
calendar is available from the website and from
within Google Classroom.

Creating a separate account has some advan-

tages. Calendars not associated with Class-
rooms will remain available after a classroom
has been archived or deleted. These calendars
can be reused year after year. There are many
events that are part of every school year and
using one calendar avoids the need to create a
new one each year.

Google Calendar automatically deletes old

events so they are not visible to students in the
following year. Events that repeat can be creat-

Digital Maestro Magazine • digitalmaestro.org – 15

Google Classroom with Google Sites

to use the term period instead of section. This

Google Classroom
is in reference to the period in which the class is
Google Classroom is an entire lesson on it own. available. The subject section provides an addi-
In this section, we will cover the fundamentals tional field if the title of the classroom doesn’t
of creating assignment as they relate to Google correctly identify the course. Provide a class-
Sites integration. Anyone can use Google room title and click the create button.
Classroom. This service is part of a free Gmail
account. To go https://classroom.google.com to Astronomy
begin your first classroom.

Google Classroom is a portal for the distribution

and collection of assignments from students.
Assignments are manually created by teachers.
Teachers select to assign an assignment imme- CANCEL

diately or schedule it for release at a future date

and time. Assignments include an option for
a due date. Assignments may include links to
resources. These resources include documents
from Google drive, links to videos, and links to
web pages.
The first step is to create a Classroom. A circle
button to create a classroom appears in the
button bar section of the site. The button looks
like a plus sign. The button is used to create or
join existing Google Classrooms. Students join
Classrooms by entering a code provided by a
teacher. Click the Plus button and choose to
create a new class.
HoUday!ExchangeSum...
Support Leaming in all Contents
Teresa Barragan Turpin
A class setup box will open so we can provide
information about the class. There are sever- The display version includes a full-screen button
al options but only the name of the class is so the code can be displayed even larger.
required. The section is useful when teachers
teach several sections of the same content. For
example, English Section 1, English Section 2,
and English Section 3. Some teachers choose
Google classroom has three main sections.
These sections include Stream, Students, and
About. The Stream section is where the major-
ity of the activity takes place. This is where we
create assignments.
The Students section is where we invite students
to join the class. The invitation can be done with
an email or with a code. With email, the teacher
must manually enter each student email. This is
time-consuming, most teachers choose to use
the invitation code.
With the invitation code, students join the class
by selecting the join class option in Google
Classroom. The invitation code is displayed to
the class from within the Students section. The
code is next to the invite students button.
To display the code so more people can see it,
click the triangle to the right of the code. Click
the display option to display a larger version of
the code.

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Google Classroom with Google Sites

name and subfolders with assignment names.

Class code 9c730 ,.. INVlni"E
STUDENTS These folders are within the main folder titled
Classroom.
Include t Disp lay

Managing so many folder and assignments can

Copy
be difficult without Google Classroom. It takes
Reset care of displaying submitted assignments with-
out the need to navigate hundreds of folders.

The About section includes a link to the Class-

The About section is very useful. In this section, room Calendar. This is a calendar especially
we provide links to resources. These resourc- created for the class. The calendar is accessible
es are available all the time. This is where we from here or from the teacher’s Calendar page at
include the link to the Google Site that supports https://calendar.google.com.
the assignments distributed in Google Class-
room. In this section, we can invite teachers to the
classroom. Invited teachers have the same
The About section includes links to the Google access to students and assignments. Invited
Drive Classroom folder. Every classroom that teachers cannot archive the class unless they
is created includes a folder created just for the are made owners of the class.
classroom. This folder is created within the main
folder titled Classroom. The Classroom folder
Assignments
is accessible from here and from the teacher’s
Google Drive account. The option to create assignments is in the Stream
section. Click the Plus button in the lower right
corner of the page. Click the Create Assignment
• Class Drive folder Astronomy1A button.

t;l Classroom calenda r

0 iii-•1-fri:::i-:ii
Google Calendar
+ ADD CLASS MATERI.

0
Each classroom folder contains folders that are
created in response to each assignment that is
created. These folders are used to store distrib-
uted documents and collected documents from The create assignment box has several options
-
students. and settings. At the top, we see the classroom
name and a student selector. Assignments are
The assignment folder includes folders from available for distribution to several classrooms.
each student that submits a digital assignment. This is very useful for teachers that teach multi-
The folder structure is mirrored on the student’s ple sections or periods. Assignments are avail-
Google Drive account. Students do not have able to all students or to select students. With
access to the teacher folder or to folders of the student selector, we choose which students
other students. They have a folder with the class will see the assignment in their classroom portal.

Digital Maestro Magazine • digitalmaestro.org – 17

Google Classroom with Google Sites

Click the classroom selector to see a list of all
classrooms under your account. These class-
rooms include ones created by you and ones
where you have been invited as a teacher. Place
a check next to each class that will receive the
assignment.
Some teachers will write an assignment title that
reads, Math assignment fractions. The prob-
lem is that we are likely to have multiple math
assignments for fractions. A better title is one
like this, Math class assignment: Multiplication
of fractions: proper and mixed.

LI e Astronomy
lA
A title like this might be verbose but it provides
a lot of precision. This precision is important



•e Astrn nomy 1A-3

Astrn nomy 1A-2

when looking for assignments. If you have been
teaching for any length of time you know there is
always a need to pull up information on student
performance. This information is often for meet-

 e Astrn nomy 1A-1

ings where we are discussing the need for modi-
fication of student assignments.

When we choose to distribute an assignment to Google classroom does not have a search func-
other classes we lose other options. We cannot tion but we can use the search option is the
select specific students to receive the assign- Chrome browser. This is a little off topic but I
ment and the assignment cannot be scheduled. think you might find it useful. Press the Control
key on Windows or Chrome and press the letter
Click the student selector. All students enrolled F. On Mac press the Command key and the
in the class will be listed. Students enrolled in letter F. This combination opens a search box at
other classes will not be listed. The selector is the top of the page. Use this search box to look
not available if the assignment is going to be for the assignment. Use keywords in the assign-
distributed to other classes. When we select ment. These keywords would be something like
other classes, the assignment is automatically math or fractions. Use both at the same time to
sent to all students in all the distributed classes. find the exact lesson faster.

Distributing assignments to other classes works

best when the assignment is to be distributed
and available at the moment to all students.
Distributing assignments to other classes does
not work when the assignment includes a sched-
uled release date.

Assignment title and instructions

The assignment title is very important for a vari-
ety of reasons. The title is a clear indicator of the
assignment. Is the assignment for homework?
Is it a project? Is it an assessment? What is the
assignment about?
In the instructions area, we should provide as
much detail to help the students understand the
assignment and to help us find the assignment
later. The instructions area does not have to be
the location where we provide all the assign-
ment instructions. These instructions are part of
an instruction document. The instructions area
might read something like this.

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Google Classroom with Google Sites

Use the link below to open the instructions

Topics
document. That’s it. The title takes care of any
search needs and the instruction document After to the due date, we have a topic option.
takes care of all the instructions needed for the
I use topics like categories. For example, class
assignment. assignment, homework, quiz, test, or project.
These topics turn into filters used to organize
assignments. These filters are useful when look-
Due date
ing for assignments. They are also useful when
Click the arrow for the due date. Click on the looking at student performance on assessments.
due date field. A calendar selector will open.
Click the topic arrow and create a topic for the
assignment. Create topics that are consistent
and can be used for all assignments during the
Due date & time

year.
May 15, 2018 X ideo

May 2018 Instructions (optional)

S M T W T F S
2 3 4 5 Due May 19 .., opic No topic

Create t opic
Click on a due date.
a Create Video

After selecting a due date we will see an option

to include a time for the due date. Click on the
time field and enter a time value in hours and
Providing resources
minutes.
The last row at the bottom has buttons to add
resources. The icons from left to right include
an option to attach files. With this option, we
Due date & time

have access to content on our computer and in

May18 ,20 18 X ideo Google Drive. The Google drive icon to the right
Time (opti onal)
of the attach icon provides the same options
to attach content from our computer or Google
Drive.

The due date and time option does not prevent

Instructions (optional)

the student from submitting an assignment after

the due date. This will mark the assignment as Due May 19 .., Topic No topic ...
late when it is submitted after the due date and
time. This allows us to impose late penalties on
a C-:J
grades if they apply.

Digital Maestro Magazine • digitalmaestro.org – 19

Google Classroom with Google Sites

The third link opens a search panel. In this

Resources and Google Sites
search panel, we are able to search for videos
on YouTube. Not all videos are on YouTube so We shouldn’t be providing many resources for
there is also an option to paste links to other the assignment. All the resources should be on
video sources. the Google site. The only resource should be the
one to the Instructional Document. An instruc-
The fourth option is an option to provide a direct tional document goes by other names. This
link to any web-based resource. We need to document provides instructions, information,
copy the link to our source and paste it into the and links to resources.
link field.
The instructional document should direct
There is an increasing number of web resourc- students to resources on your site. The whole
es that provide a Google Classroom integration point is that your assignment should be as mini-
option. Some of these sites include Mindmeis- mal as possible so you spend less time creat-
ter, Canva, and Newsela. There is a Google ing the assignment and more time facilitating
Classroom extension that takes any web page student instruction.
link and uses it for a classroom assignment. This
extension is available in the Chrome web-store.
The extension is called, Share to Classroom.

Share to Classroom
§] offered by lm p s://c lassroo m.goog le.corr

Share to Classroom Get your class on the same (w eb)page, i

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Google Classroom with Google Sites

Assigning and Scheduling Parting Thoughts

Once we have the basic information for the This process can easily be repeated with any
assignment, we can click the assign button. This assignment. We don’t have to reinvent the wheel
will make the assignment available to students every year. Updating content on our site and in
immediately. Google drive is easy.

We can schedule the assignment for a future

date and time. This option is not readily visible.
We need to click the arrow next to the assign
button.

There are two additional options for the assign-

ment, schedule, and draft. The draft option will
save the assignment but not make it available to
the class and the students. Drafts are saved and
accessible at the top of the Stream page. Click
the schedule option.

Saved 
Ass ign

Schedule

Save draft

The schedule option is much like the due date

option. There is a field for the date and one for
the time. Select a date and time then click the
schedule button.

Digital Maestro Magazine • digitalmaestro.org – 21

Google Classroom with Google Sites

"Everybody is a genius. But

if you judge a fish by its
ability to climb a tree, it will
live its whole life believing
that it is stupid"
~ Albert Einstein

22 – Digital Maestro Magazine • digitalmaestro.org