Google Classroom - Topics

 Google Classroom - Topics

One of the new features that I think has been overlooked in Google Classroom is the ability to give each announcement and assignment a TOPIC.

The feature is easy to use - just create a topic and it will be there for you to reuse over and over again.  So what happens next?  Well - both you and your students will be able to filter your Google Classroom stream to only show specific Topics.  This will become very helpful especially after you have been posting announcements and assignments all year long.

You can see the Topics on the left side of the screen

For example - I am starting off with the following topics:

Do Now - each day there is a Do Now for the students to complete - this will allow me to see a nice clean flow of my days with my students

Classwork - this topic will allow students to view the work that was supposed to have been completed entirely in class - hopefully this will help students who are absent see what they missed even easier

Projects - this topic will be for the larger scale projects we complete in and out of class - my big ticket items

Homework - pretty simple here - but I hope this will help my students stay organized!

Some other ideas I have been tossing around - maybe you just want to have your Google Classroom organized by Marking Period?  So make 4 topics - Marking Period 1, 2, 3 and 4.  This way everyone can see very easily what work belongs in which marking period?

Add a School News Topic so that students can separate your class announcements and assignments from other news like Spirit Week information or Upcoming dates  (school dances etc).

Use your Gradebook to guide you - my Topics line up with my Categories in Gradebook - this way there is no confusion as to what assignment will end up in which category.