Today’s tip comes from the amazing Alice Keeler… and as a parent, I think it’s a fabulous idea.

Alice’s idea takes advantage of Google Classroom’s Guardian Summary emails that are auto-generated and emailed to parents. Guardian summaries are a great way to share what’s going on in your classroom without giving parents direct access into your Google Classroom.

Guardian email summaries include missing work, upcoming work, and recent Classroom activity (including announcements, assignments, and questions recently posted by teachers). read more

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Escape rooms are all the rage! There’s just something awesome about being locked in a room and having to solve puzzles to escape. Escape rooms really require extensive use of the 4C’s – Critical thinking, Communication, Collaboration, and Creativity.

But how do you replicate this experience in your Classroom? Well, BreakoutEDU is a company that sells kits that include locks, boxes, and other items to bring an escape room into your classroom. They have a platform that (for a fee) allows you to download both physical and digital games for use. It’s a great concept and if you have the funds, I totally recommend it. read more

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There are several ways to create a new Google file. You can do it using the plus sign in Google Drive… or start a new document from a current one using the File menu… or go to docs.google.com/create.

Now there is a super easy way to start a new Google file… and it’s (dot) new!

Want to make a new Google Doc? Open a new tab and enter doc.newdocs.new or document.new in the address bar.


How about a Google Sheet? Try sheet.new, sheets.new, or spreadsheet.new.

Need a quick Google Form? That’s form.new and forms.new. read more

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If you are like me then your Facebook feed and perhaps Facebook messenger (if you use it) has been jammed with messages from people like this one.

In short, these folks have not been hacked. They are the victim of the modern day version of the chain letter. The objective seems to be to get everyone all worked up that they have been hacked and generate a bunch of traffic on your social media feeds.

If someone does guess your password and can get into your account. That’s a pretty serious thing and you should log in and change your password as soon as possible. read more

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Guess what’s back?
Back again.
To-do’s back.
Tell a friend.

(with apologies to Eminem)

One not-so-good thing about the new Google Classroom is that you can’t see if students have submitted work unless you click on the assignment on the Classwork page. One of the most requested features was that the To-Do list be brought back and now it has!

Click on the 3 lines in the upper left of the Classroom window to reveal the side menu. Then, choose “To-do” from the menu.

The To-Do list shows assignments from all your classes by default. At quick glance, you can see how many students have turned in each assignment. read more

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