To think Google classroom is just a new ring of hell

[Pluckedpencil]

When I was 8, 30 years ago now, our homework used to be "bring in five bottle tops" or "make sure your mum signs this school trip form".
We now have a homework diary with stuff to do, a special app with the same stuff, but just enough different stuff that you need to check it daily, and now this morning I get a notification with an "assignment" to watch a video....a video for me...on how to attach homework into Google classroom. Which confirms what I always suspected, that homework is for parents. Aibu to take the handy "if you don't want to receive notifications from Google classroom, click here"?!

This is more likely because the school want to be ready for potential further lockdown than because they actually want you to have to do homework. Daily seems silly though. Our school gives homework once a week only.

I suppose it depends on how old your children are and whether or not you can trust them to manage their own schedules. It might be a bit of an ask, at 8.

You can absolutely turn the notifications off, but more likely than not it will be your kids who get into trouble when things get missed.

Also, i don't think homework being for parents is such a bad thing. My teacher husband is consistently despairing of how disconnected from their children's education many parents are. If a beeping app helps people remember that learning takes place at home too, then that's all for the good.

I have however muted all our school whatsapp groups. There is a line.

Totally agree. Even for high school. Some subjects are not too bad, the problem I have is that the teachers are not all using it the same. Some attach the homework so it is easy for us to complete and hand in, others make it impossible. For a few subjects I have to print it out at work, take home for ds to complete then take a photo and attach it that way.

I see your point but we used Google classroom and zoom in lockdown. DS is 10and I spent my days photographing his homework on his ipad and 'handing it in'.

The best assignments were where a document was preloaded into the assignment and DS could edit it with his finger or type into a Google doc and then when complete all he had to do was 'hand in' and job done.

It did get significantly easier to use and now he has no homework diary, all the homework is in a folder on Google classroom. Also every single lesson that he has at school is now on there daily in case any child has to isolate.

It's actually quite a good tool once the parent gets their head around it!

I like Google Classroom (teacher and parent perspective) but it is a learning curve.

We used it during lock down having only had a 15 min run through. I did spend time during the Easter 'break' and weekends learning how to use it properly though. I also found some things didn't work very well, and from a teacher perspective it was often far more laborious making a worksheet in the format a pupil could answer and turn in rather than a sheet to use in class (especially maths questions with diagrams).

Don't get too stressed if things don't work as they should, but feed back to the teacher if you have problems... the teacher might not realise and I am sure the last thing they want is 30 frustrated families trying to submit work.

For any teachers in here using it, I recommend using (or setting up) 2 google personal accounts; use one to set up a google classroom as a teacher and the second to join it as a pupil. That way you can experiment to see how something works and what the pupils see.

I'm okay with google classroom as it's fairly easy to navigate. But we're using some dashboard thing with a whole lot of other apps which require additional extensions (that only work on Chrome) and additional passwords (which we don't seem to have been provided) and it's TORTURE. Plus, the maths homework app thingy majig is NOT on google classroom so has to be loaded up entirely separately. It's relentlessly boring and annoying.

Been god send for my DC starting high school. Esp with days of having to self isolate. It's much easier for him to see what he has to do as each subject it laid out and a list of things he has to complete with dates. Its helped him get organised so much easier esp since he forgets to write in his hw diary

My teacher husband is consistently despairing of how disconnected from their children's education many parents are

Some parent have little choice as they are working 40hrs a week just to keep the wolf from the door.

No one is good for any homework at 6pm onwards.

Our (state) school used google classroom throughout lockdown and has been well before. My son had been fully taught how it works at school.

I personally hate google and how it interacts with anything non google but the school should be teaching the kids these skills!

Think yourself lucky. We have to use Microsoft Teams at my school..... my kids have google classroom and it is infinitely easier in comparison I reckon!

I’m with you. The stuff our school puts on it is badly formatted, we have to carry spelling lists across from other docs instead of it being pre-done and the comms about whether it’s voluntary or required is v vague. I can see that having it for another lockdown could well be essential and would use it then and appreciate the school’s effort in preparing it. But it’s utility for weekly homework in primary seems over complicated for what is essentially a spelling worksheet or the like. Can’t they just send it home with them instead of multi step online systems which are totally ignored by or inaccessible to a large portion of parents.

I hate it, I dont know how it works. We did 13 sheets of homework that were all submitted last week (primary) and the teacher couldn't see any of the work submitted.

The week before she had he setting wrong and no one could amend any of the document.

This week we are back to paper sheets.

I doesnt help that each class in he school is using a different platform so the teachers don't seem to have much support they are setting up on their own.

Conversely DH, secondary teacher thinks it's great.

Our (primary) school are using it to set homework once a week but they are explicit in saying that this is to make sure that everyone is familiar with how to use the system and can find their login codes etc in case a bubble bursts or we need to self-isolate or lockdown.

They used it throughout homeschooling in summer and it was apparently a administrative nightmare for the school constantly trying to remind people of their passwords and teach people how to access it over Zoom when they only have one device so couldn't follow the instructions at the same time as being talked through it.

I'm actually really liking google classroom. My DS is dyslexic and we ae having far fewer tears of frustration through doing his homework on line.

All tne school is asking you to do is watchband video to help you with Google classroom, be greatfull they are sharing this info with you. In high school my son uses Google classroom for homework and also if a class needs to isolate. They need to know how to use it

@BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz

My teacher husband is consistently despairing of how disconnected from their children's education many parents are

Some parent have little choice as they are working 40hrs a week just to keep the wolf from the door.

No one is good for any homework at 6pm onwards.

You don't get to opt out of parenting because you're tired!

Our school used it during lockdown, didn’t tell us how to use it, we had to figure it out ourselves. Lots of the work needs printing off. We don’t have a printer. I spent many a night copying down the maths worksheets for my dd to then complete so I could take a photo and upload it. It is not user friendly if you don’t have a printer.

DD’s bubble burst a few weeks ago so she had to isolate. Again google classroom was used and it was again, a pain in the arse without a printer. We can’t afford to buy a printer that will only be used for when she has to isolate from school, we already had to spend £250 during lockdown for a laptop to access google classroom and mathletics as it was 10 times harder trying to do it on our 9 year old iPad.

Yanbu. My DC is on their second class isolation since they went back in September. Google classroom has now been thrown into the mix alongside about 5 other home learning platforms.
I'm sure normally it would be a pretty good online platform: it automatically saves work, they can send and receive emails from it and submit work directly to the teacher. But.... I have never used it before and neither have the primary age children. Parents are expected to be able to learn it, navigate it and teach the children how to use it, as well as complete a full days worth of schoolwork. It's hell.

No, it’s much more preferable to random different things being sent home. It’s all neatly contained in one place, you can view a to do list so it’s a lot easier to prioritise on what’s due when, and if you’re lucky the work is in an editable format so doesn’t have to hand written.

It's a brilliant idea but seems quite confusing and the layout isn't intuitive.

But it’s not about the parent being tired - it’s the kids. Many parents both work until at least 6 (my work day can continue well into the night).
If you’ve got young kids under, say, 10 who’ve been at school all day and poss after school clubs, to start homework with them after 6pm is a nightmare.

Arg, quote fail! Was replying to @Itsallrightthen

My point is...why all the homework?! Every night he has multiple things to do and remember, written in three different places, two of which are online and he can't access on his own as he is 8 and doesn't have access to a smart phone and frankly I don't want him wasting an hour of his evening messing about trying to sort out their incompitance. He is at school 8-4pm, he already does a whole working day. I just don't know why he can't just have a read of his book with me!

@FiveGensOfLove

But it’s not about the parent being tired - it’s the kids. Many parents both work until at least 6 (my work day can continue well into the night). If you’ve got young kids under, say, 10 who’ve been at school all day and poss after school clubs, to start homework with them after 6pm is a nightmare.

Since my school has started using class dojo for homework, one thing that has really struck me is how late some children are (successfully) doing (short pieces of) homework. These are 10 year olds and they are handing work in until 9pm most nights of the week.

I'm well aware that all DC are different and experience different circumstances at hone, but there is no 6pm cutoff in my experience.

It's about motivation much more than physical tiredness in most cases. A promise of a reward made some of those who claim to be unable to do weekday homework suddenly full of enthusiasm for it!

Not had the pleasure of Google classroom yet but I can agree that homework is for parents. We live abroad and it's so overly complicated : take this book, refer to page 976 in the other book, cut out this small piece of paper, write XYZ on it, stick it in another bloody book etc ad nauseum.