Google Classroom is a great way to organize your lessons and resources. However, for new users it can be a little overwhelming. Here are some practical tips to help you get going.

• Use the Topics feature to help students find assignments and questions quickly and easily. Topics act like a filter and allow students to see only the assignments they are searching for and not the entire stream of assignments.
• Post materials that students will need access to throughout the year on the About tab. Be careful not to overload this page with resources, but it is a good place to share links to resources students will need to use all of the time.
• Create all of your discussion questions on individual Google Slides. When you need a question during a unit, just download the slide as a jpeg and post it as an image. This is an easy way to have a bank of questions ready to go that are visually appealing as well.
• Email all or a few of your students at once using the email feature on the student tab.
• Adopt a consistent naming convention for your classes. You can always rename classes if you change your mind. If the classes are not in the order that you want them to appear, simply drag them into the order that fits your needs.
• Create a class in Classroom for your department or grade level. Use it for planning, meetings, and announcements to get a feel for what Google Classroom is like from the student perspective.