A-Level Maths Google Classroom: Day One

I have had several hours of training on Google Classroom and, like many maths teachers I initially discarded it. The first problem was (and still is) with Google Docs, which has an equation editor worse than that from Word '95. Google Slides doesn't even have an equation editor, so I certainly won't be using it anytime soon. Google Sheets is probably the most useful of all three, but we use it mainly within the department for results analysis and it isn't something we incorporate into lessons (maybe next year with the new specification).

So without the collaboration side really being any use for us at the moment, Google Classroom looked like all it could be was a dumping ground, i.e. another Moodle. But there are restrictions even on that idea as there is currently no option to copy a class as a template, so each teacher would have to recreate the same environment for each of their classes, which seems like a complete waste of time.

So maybe it's a bit of a surprise that I have set up two Google Classrooms over the weekend, one for AS and one for A2, and have enrolled all of my students in them today.

Once I was told you could set up topics and Classroom organised them neatly down the side, this got me interested again. It doesn't sound very interesting, but if Classroom could be organised, I thought, it might be worth using. The idea of just having the Stream as just a stream of consciousness of things sounded horrible.

In each topic, I created an announcement that included all of my teaching videos on that topic.

They also have an announcement that includes each of the Powerpoints I made for that topic that we used in class.

I then downloaded each of the Integral worksheets and their solutions and posted them in the relevant topics as assignments without a date. This would allow students to complete them as and when they wanted to and keep track of what they've attempted.

I can now set the weekly homework as an assignment on Google Classroom, and I now won't have to take in a mountain of bits of paper each week to check through.

My students won't be using Google Docs to turn in their weekly homework of course. It would be pointless to get them to type up all their equations - they're sitting a pen-and-paper exam at the end of the year, after all. So students will take a picture of their work, either on their phone or tablet, or by scanning their work in, and then upload it to Classroom.

I have also added links to Desmos, Mathway, textbooks, calculators and revision guides. It may feel like something that can be done with Moodle, but Classroom looks and feels a whole lot better.

There are still deficiencies of course. There's still no gradebook, but then the real grades I care about during the year are three summative assessment points and the final grade at the end of the year. If it makes the juggling from my end easier and it improves my students' outcomes, I will keep at it. After all, it's only Day One.