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What’s new in Google Classroom for 2026?
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✨ Earn your Gemini Certification...Join me for Wednesday webinars! ✨ Hi Reader! After a busy back-to-school travel season, I'm taking a vacation with my family to explore Disney World in Orlando! I was able to type up this month's EDU Update right before we left. As you return to your schools and start the new school year, you might have noticed a few changes in Google Classroom. I decided to share a summary of some of the big updates and features that you can use this year. Everything listed below is 100% free for all Google Workspace for Education users. 🥳 Let’s dive into the August updates! A (Controversial) Home Page Update — The updated Google Classroom home page features dynamic modules: Recently Due, Class Insights, and Feature Spotlight. Early teacher feedback is not great. 😵💫 If you prefer the classic class-card layout, simply click the arrow in the right corner of a module to hide it! Standards-Based Grading with Learning Goals — You can now select state or national standards in your class settings, tag them on assignments, and track student mastery on a dedicated dashboard instead of relying strictly on traditional points. Check out my video walkthrough to see it in action! Google Vids Integration — You can easily assign a Google Vids project through Google Classroom. Vids supports the "make a copy" feature which lets you share a video template. Try replacing a traditional written book report this semester with a 1-minute student-created movie trailer! Read Along is Free for ALL Districts — Google’s speech-based reading tutor is now 100% free for all school districts. It provides real-time reading feedback for elementary students and ELLs while generating fluency and accuracy insights for teachers without manual running records. Check out my in-depth video on how to use Read Along with your students. Your IT admin may need to enable Read Along before you can see it in Google Classroom. Create Rubrics in Seconds with Gemini AI — Stop writing rubrics from scratch! Click Chat Directly with Classroom via @classroom — Type Share Gemini Resources Directly to Students — Created an interactive study game or practice activity in Gemini? You can now generate a direct Share Link and post it straight to your Stream or Classwork page. No need to embed your vibe-coded activity in a Google Site. 🙌 Gemini Study Tools for Students — Students now have age-appropriate study tools directly inside Classroom, including step-by-step homework help, flashcards, and essay brainstorming. (Note: IT admins can easily toggle access on or off for your domain). Those are the big updates for August 2026! I'm off to enjoy the Magic Kingdom 🏰, but I'll be back in September with more updates for your classroom! John R. Sowash 📨 Did someone forward this email to you? Click here to add your name to my monthly email list!
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The Google EDU Update
Tired of missing out on the coolest Google updates and new features? Join thousands of other teachers who rely on my monthly newsletter to stay ahead of the curve. Get the top 10 updates, teaching inspiration, and time-saving links delivered straight to your inbox.
Hello Reader, For over two decades, our job as IT admins has focused on managing human users—provisioning their accounts, assigning their licenses, and locking down what they can and cannot do. We are now crossing into an entirely new era of domain administration: managing AI agents that act autonomously across Google Workspace. Google recently rolled out a new Agent Control section in the Admin Console. Here is a plain-English breakdown of what these policies do and how to use them. 🍁...
✨ Join me for Wednesday Webinars with John! ✨ Hi Reader! As July wraps up, the start of the school year is right around the corner. This week I am in Honolulu, Hawaii to provide some back-to-school training for a school (rough assignment, I know 🌸). This trip kicks off my 2026 back-to-school tour! I’ll be heading to schools all across the US helping teachers just like you get ready for the 2026-27 school year! This month’s EDU update is full of FREE resources to help you prepare for the new...
✨ I'm going on tour this summer! Join me for the Gemini Academy! ✨ Hi Reader! It's time for the April EDU update! I'm following all of Google's AI updates very closely because I'm getting ready for my Gemini summer tour! Trying to finalize this workshop in the midst of constantly shifting features and updates is a challenge! I'll be learning right alongside you! I'm also trying to prepare our campground for the 2026 camping season which starts in mid-May. So, it's been a full month on all...