(Cross-posted on the Google for Education Blog.)
Matthew Agrall teaches fifth grade at South Elementary School in Des Plaines, Illinois. He juggles teaching all core subjects, leading before-school tutoring, managing fifth grade patrol, participating in student council and playing volleyball in his “free time.”
This is why we created Google Classroom—to help busy teachers like Matt spend less time on logistics and more time on teaching, tutoring and student council-ing. Since we launched Classroom two years ago, we’ve added more than 50 updates to make it easier to manage assignments, communicate with students and stay organized.
Today, on National Teacher Appreciation Day, to show our thanks for the millions of hardworking teachers like Matthew, we’re making it even easier to stay organized and save time with Classroom.
Schedule ahead, post later
Starting today, teachers can plan ahead by scheduling announcements, assignments and questions to post at a later date or a specific time (great for the early birds who want to get a head start on school planning during the summer ;). Just look for the scheduling option when posting new assignments, questions and announcements. You can find scheduled and draft posts in the “Saved posts” section of your class stream, and you’ll get email and mobile notifications when your scheduled posts go live.
We’re also adding new updates to Classroom over the next week—all designed to help teachers save time and stay organized. Look out for easier-to-read email notifications and updates to our iOS and Android apps.
Coming this fall: keeping parents and guardians in the loop
We know parents and guardians are instrumental to student success at school. And to the school leaders and teachers who’ve told us they need an easy way to keep guardians updated with what’s happening in Classroom—we hear you! Later this year, we’ll launch email notifications for guardians so they can stay involved and help to motivate their students.
Guardians will be able to sign-up to receive daily or weekly email digests of their student’s progress, upcoming work and class announcements. Administrators will be able to invite guardians directly and set domain-wide policies for guardian linking and notifications.
To teachers like Matthew who are fueling the future—we thank you. Here’s hoping you get all the appreciation you deserve this week . . . and for the rest of the school year.
