Day 11: Google Classroom — 10 Tips to Become a Classroom Master (Without the Stress)

12 Tech Tips of Christmas 2025 – Evolve EdTech

Well hello everybody and welcome back to Day 11 of the 12 Tech Tips of Christmas for 2025 here at Evolve EdTech! What a bumper season it’s been. We’re almost at the finish line… which is exciting and a little bit tragic (because it means waiting another 12 months for the next season!).

If we haven’t met before, I’m Tristan Heron, the Future-Ready Teaching Specialist here at Evolve EdTech. Whether you’re a regular or you’ve just popped your toe into the pond today — welcome.

And today’s tool? One you’ve absolutely heard of if you’re in a Google Workspace school…

Google Classroom

Google Classroom is a powerful learning management system that helps you streamline organisation, communication, collaboration, and your day-to-day teaching workflow. It keeps everything in one place:

• assignments

• resources

• announcements

• feedback

• student work

So you can focus on teaching — not juggling 14 tabs, three platforms, and a student who “can’t find the task” (even though it’s been posted since last Tuesday).

But here’s what I’ve noticed: plenty of educators use Google Classroom… without realising the small tips and tricks that make it so much easier.

So let’s fix that.

Below are 10 practical Google Classroom tips that will help you work smarter, reduce digital chaos, and build a calm, consistent learning space for your students.

Tip 1: Use Topics to Organise Your Classwork

If your stream looks like an endless scroll of posts, worksheets, and “Where is it?” — topics are your best friend.

Use topics to organise by:

• units or modules

• weeks or terms

• assessment tasks

• homework

• resources

• revision

This helps students navigate without scrolling forever.

Bonus tip: you can drag and drop topics to reorder them. I bulk-create topics at the start of the year, then move the current unit to the top as we go. Less scrolling = fewer excuses.

Tip 2: Add Emojis to Topics and Assignment Titles

This is fun and functional.

Emojis help:

• students quickly identify what they need

• reduce cognitive load

• make your Classroom feel more inviting

It’s also a sneaky accessibility win — instead of saying “Find the persuasive writing task,” you can say, “Look for the 🟢 green heart task.”

If you need inspiration, Emojipedia is a great place to find the perfect emoji for your unit.

Tip 3: Schedule Posts Ahead of Time

If you like being organised (or you’re trying to become the organised version of yourself you imagine in January), scheduling is a game changer.

You can schedule:

• announcements

• assignments

• questions

• materials

When creating a post, click the dropdown next to Assign and choose Schedule. Select your date and time and you’re done.

And don’t stress — if you schedule the wrong time, you can go back and edit it. Google Classroom isn’t here to punish you for fat-fingering a date.

Tip 4: Reuse Posts From Previous Classes

Stop reinventing the wheel every year. Seriously. Your time is too valuable.

Use Reuse post to pull in:

• previous assignments

• announcements

• materials

• questions

This is perfect for tasks you do annually with minimal changes. You can reuse, tweak, and repost in minutes.

Tip 5: Use Rubrics for Clear, Consistent Feedback

Rubrics aren’t just nice — they’re clarity.

Attach a rubric to assessments so students understand:

• what success looks like

• how marks are allocated

• what to improve next time

Yes, they take a bit to set up the first time… but once created, you can reuse them (and future-you will be deeply grateful).

Tip 6: Add Multiple Teachers to Share the Load

Team teaching? Support class? Faculty Classroom? Add your people!

Go to People and click the person + icon to invite another teacher.

This allows colleagues to:

• post materials

• monitor progress

• support students

• assist with marking

Because teaching is a team sport… even if it sometimes feels like a solo marathon.

Tip 7: Use Private Comments for Targeted Feedback

Private comments are brilliant for quick, personalised support without turning feedback into a public thread.

Use them to:

• clarify a misconception

• give a next step

• prompt improvement

• check in on progress

Students get direct feedback, and you keep the noise down. Win-win.

Tip 8: Clean Up the Stream for Focus

Streams can get cluttered fast — especially when every classwork item posts automatically.

To reduce noise:

• go to Settings (the cog)

• look for Stream and classwork settings

• choose what appears on the stream

• control who can post/comment

You can keep the stream focused on key announcements rather than turning it into a scrolling landfill of old posts.

Tip 9: Create Assignment Templates (Make a Copy for Each Student)

This one is huge.

When attaching a Google Doc/Slides/Sheets file to an assignment, choose:

✅ Make a copy for each student

This prevents confusion and keeps everything tidy:

• each student gets their own file automatically

• files land in their Drive and your marking view

• no “Do I need to make a copy?” drama

Trust me: this saves a truckload of time (and sanity).

Tip 10: Differentiate Discreetly With Assigned Groups

Google Classroom lets you assign tasks to:

• all students

• individual students

• specific groups

This is perfect for discreet differentiation:

• scaffolded version for support

• standard version for most

• extension pathway for challenge

Students don’t need to know who got what — and you can personalise learning without making it a big public moment.

Final Thoughts: Google Classroom Can Make Teaching Calmer

Google Classroom is designed to reduce workload, streamline digital learning, and keep everything in one consistent place. And when you start using these little tips, it becomes less “another platform” and more “my teaching command centre”.

Day 11 done… and that means we’ve got one episode left in the 12 Tech Tips of Christmas 2025!

Before you go:

• Subscribe to the Evolve EdTech YouTube channel (we’re aiming for 1,000 subscribers!)

• Give the video a thumbs up so more educators can find it

• And join us tomorrow for Day 12 — the final episode of the season 🎄