Even if a Device Dails, Google Classroom is Adaptable!

One of the concerns I hear from teachers is this, "I want to use the technology in my classroom, but several devices are broken, not charged, or missing."  Sound familiar?  Most teachers WANT to use technology to engage their students at a higher level, but when you have pockets of students without devices it becomes difficult to accomplish this feat.  Google Classroom is your answer!

One great feature of Google Classroom is the opportunity to ask questions of the class which could lead to some lively discussions.  Students can respond to a question stem, but also go further by responding to other students, or even starting their own posts.  Teachers can maintain this discussion in a safe online forum.  But what about those students without devices . . . this is where Google Classroom is so easily adaptable.  Students can pull out, get ready for it, a sheet of paper and write a response.

When I am teaching, I don't have time to print out a page for students, instead the alternative is participating via handwritten comments.  The same could be said for any Google Doc, Form, or other file you wish to have students complete.  Obviously, if you can anticipate missing devices soon enough, you can prepare paper copies ahead of time, but for spur of the moment inconveniences, handwritten responses on paper will do.

Easy to say though, but what will you do when you have most of the class turning in digital copies and you have a few, scattered notebook pages?  The simple solution is scanning the student's work. By scanning a few notebook pages, teachers can drop the PDF in the Google Classroom folder later. This way, there is a digital copy for the student to archive.

There isn't a perfect answer when devices fail, but we as teachers know at some point they will.  The key is to plan for when the devices do go ca put?  My answer -  "Get out a sheet of paper!"