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Featured Content From Patti Young from Cornwall, NY: Hi Kasey and Matt, I love your podcast and look forward to every new episode. This year has been a struggle for teachers and their traditional ways of teaching. I am a 5th-grade teacher in middle school. My district is using a blended learning model. We have 2 cohorts Tuesdays and Thursdays and Wednesdays and Fridays. I see 2 groups of students per day. I really miss putting the kids into groups to share their learning. I love group work and I am really struggling with how to make it work this year. If you or your listeners have any ideas on how to do group work, I would love to try it. Can't wait to hear some new ideas!

Simple answer: collaborate on the assignment within a doc.

  • Set up sections with steps that you want students to progress through. (Kind of like Hyperdocs)
  • Discuss in the comments.
  • They can work on an assignment in a different app (Slides, Drawings, even outside G Suite)

Use voice comments with a tool like Mote (justmote.me) for comments for a personal touch of voice

Other tools that integrate nicely with Classroom that can foster discussion:

  • Flipgrid (flipgrid.com): Video replies.
  • Synth (gosynth.com): Audio discussion tool. Audio replies.

What’s your purpose? Group work, collaboration, cooperative learning?

Group Doc Add-On (From Alice Keeler)

Collaborative Notes with Google Docs

Small-Group Instruction with Google Meet Breakout Rooms and Jamboard

  • Google Meet breakout rooms for differentiated learning (by Esther Park)
  • Prioritize facilitation and 1-on-1 conferencing touchpoints

Station Rotations in a Hybrid Model (Catlin Tucker)

  • More details in e85 of Shake Up Learning Show

Google Teacher Podcast Mailbag Jen Giffen (Ontario, Canada) -- On the show: about integrating a Zoom link into Google Classroom. (Like Kasey said, no integration.) Workaround: Go to gear (class settings), if you put under “subject” Zoom link and the link, it’ll show up in the header. Not a live hyperlink, but could be copied into another tab. Students have quick easy access. Not perfect but a workaround!

On The Blogs * Matt: + 20 virtual field trips for your classroom + 40+ FREE digital escape rooms (plus a step by step guide for creating your own) + NEW mini online course: Getting Started with Digital Escape Rooms * Kasey: + Google Classroom Comments - All You Need to Know + FREE Google Lesson Plans for Teachers + New Books Coming Soon! BlendedLearningwithGoogle.com