English teachers are looking at a new and more efficient way of distributing and collecting students assignments. Ms. Smithson and some other underclassmen English teachers have decided to implement Google Classroom in an attempt to be more efficient.

Google classroom is quite literally an online classroom. It has a handy feature where you can share documents, presentations, and spreadsheets with anyone who has a gmail account. You can also allow the person you have shared it with to edit your document as you please. Students don’t have to worry about using their own personal email for these assignments either. The tech guys here have made each student their own Google Drive account to use for school work.

Sandstrom says that he will be doing vocabulary and essay assignments through Google Drive to begin with and see where it leads. He says that this is not only a way to go paperless and stay a little more organized, but it also better prepares sophomores for submitting the scholarly paper next year. Smithson has been using Google Classroom with her seniors since October but she has just recently started to implement it in with her freshmen classes. Smithson enjoys using this program with her classes because it eliminates a lot of paper. “I can put up an assignment and they post to it, I can pull it up, grade it, comment on it, and eventually put a rubric with it without ever having a piece of paper” Smithson said. She also finds it handy because it eliminates the “I turned it in and you lost it” excuse that some students use. Students must also get more used to the online environment since the new state mandated tests are on the computer. It is recommended that all English teachers start to use this program but it is their choice.

Missi Christoferson ‘18 said that she really enjoys using Google Classrooms because you can turn in your work immediately when you’re done and don’t have to worry about keeping track of it until it’s due.

Overall, the use of Google Classroom can really improve students ability to use a computer effectively, and help both teachers and students keep track of assignments. The transition to using this new tool could eventually make a big impact on the way the English program is formatted.