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With so many schools going either 100% virtual or offering some sort of hybrid option, teachers are having to become tech gurus overnight and learn to rely on programs that had previously been just something that “those young teachers were using” or things to tinker with to check the “using technology in the classroom” box.

Most schools have selected specific programs and LMS to be used across the district in order to provide some consistency for families. This has meant that teachers and students who may have been comfortable using one program are quickly having to learn something else.

If you are using Google Meets for synchronous classes, you may have entered your Meet to find students who arrived early and may be discussing questionable topics. Or maybe you’re worried about students staying in the Meet after you leave. 

Google will be pushing out a “knock” feature soon so that you will be able to set the Meet up so that you have to let participants in, but since that isn’t an option yet, we want to give you some simple, step-by-step directions for creating a Google Meet that you have a little more control over. We also want to show you how to record your Meet so you can post it to support asynchronous learning, too. 

TIP: If you are having to take attendance during virtual learning, you might want to add the Google Meet Attendance Extension. It will automatically generate a list of everyone who popped into your Meet. Also, if you haven’t added the “Google Meet Grid View (fix)” extension, it’s a good way to be able to see everyone in the meeting on one screen.

Create a Google Meet

While you may have created a Google Meet through calendar invites, students are able to enter the Meet before you and stay after you leave. In order to create a Google Meet that you can shut down when you leave the Meet, follow these directions.

1.Open a new tab.

2.Click on the 9 dot square in the top right corner (Google calls this the “Waffle”).

3.Click on “Meet” (the icon is a green dialogue bubble with a white video camera in the middle).

4.Click on “+ Join or start a meeting”.

5.Give your meeting a nickname (such as “English4”) and click “Continue”.

*The Meet link and code will both change each time you (the moderator) open the Meet, but the nickname will stay the same)

6.You may be asked to give Google Meet Permission to access your camera and microphone - make sure you approve this.

7.Make sure that the mic and camera icons are not red (that means they are off - unless you do not want them turned on when you start)

* Helpful tip: “Ctrl + D” turns your mic off and on; “Ctrl + E” turns your camera off and on (Press “Ctrl + Alt + /” to find other shortcuts).

8.Click “Join Now” (the green oval).

9.The next screen will ask if you want to invite others. If you are wanting to invite students to the class, use the nickname you created for the Meet, not the link. If you are on the school’s private Google network, the Meet can only be accessed using the nickname by participants using their school log-in.

*The link and password will change each time you open the Meet, but the nickname will not.

10.Click the X in the top, right corner.

11.If you are going to show a powerpoint or video or use any other apps during the lesson, go and have that document/video/program open and ready to go.

*If you want to schedule a Google Meet with a parent, since they will not be using your district’s network/log-in, it would be best/easiest to create the Meet by doing a calendar invite.

Record a Google Meet

Many teachers are choosing to record their lessons and post the recording to allow for asynchronous learning. You could record your first lesson and share it to your other classes, or you could use Google Meet to record lessons in advance.

1.To begin recording, click on the 3 vertical dots on the bottom right (“More options”).

2.Click on “Record meeting” at the top of the pop-up menu.

3.An “Ask for consent” pop-up will open reminding you that you should always notify participants if you are recording. Click “Accept”. You will know recording has started when the red “REC” button appears in the top left corner.

4.If you want to share a PowerPoint, document, video, or anything else from your screen, click on “Present now” on the bottom right.

5.A pop-up menu will give you 3 options. Pick whichever you want: “Your entire screen” - everything on your screen will be visible (including any tabs you may not want others to see that you have open); “A window” - if you have multiple windows open, you can select which one you want to be shared (remember that windows and tabs are 2 different things); “A Chrome tab: Best for video and animation” - just select the individual tab you want to share.

6.Depending on which option you click, a pop-up window will open asking you which screen (if you have 2 monitors), window, or tab you want to share. If you are sharing a tab that includes a video, check “Share audio” on the bottom left.

7.Click the appropriate item, then click “Share”.

8.A pop-up will notify you that you are presenting (if something happens and you need to stop sharing your screen quickly, you can click on “Stop sharing” in the pop-up).

9.Now whatever you do in that window, tab, or screen will be visible in the recording. Your camera and mic are still on unless you turn them off by clicking the icon at the bottom of the screen (on the “Meet” tab).

* Remember, “Ctrl + D” turns your mic off and on, and “Ctrl + E” turns your camera off and on 

**Every time you click back to the “Meet” tab then to another tab or window, a pop-up and chime will occur reminding you that you are sharing your screen

10.To stop sharing, either click on “Stop sharing” in that pop-up, or if you left that tab or window, click on the “Meet” tab on the top of the window and click on “Stop presenting”.

11.To stop recording, click the 3 vertical dots (like you did earlier) and click “Stop recording”. You will get a pop-up. Click “Stop recording”

Your video will automatically be saved to your Google Drive, but it may take a little while for it to load (don’t panic if it’s not there right away - it occasionally takes more than an hour). The easiest way to find it is to click in the “Search in Drive” field at the top of your Google drive. Wait a moment, and a pop-up of suggestions will open. Click on the “Videos” icon.

You will also get an email notifying you once the video has processed.

Closing a Google Meet

Follow these steps to keep participants from lingering after the meeting/lesson.

1. Announce that the lesson/meeting is over and encourage students to exit.

2.Remove students who did not exit the Meet on their own.

-Click on the person icon on the top right corner.

-Click on the down caret (arrow) next to each remaining participant.

-Click on the circled minus sign icon.

-Respond to the pop-up “Do you want to remove _______ from this call” by clicking “Remove”.

3.To end the Meet, move your cursor to the bottom of the screen and click on the red phone icon.

Once you have removed everyone from the Meet and closed it, students cannot reenter until you are present again as the moderator (they will get the error message “This meeting has already ended”).

Note that other teachers with your district’s login/on your district’s network can enter your Meet if you are not present which could be helpful when working with a team.

If you want reenter this Meet, you will need to go back to the home screen and enter the nickname.

If you have other helpful tips or directions for virtual teaching tools or apps, please feel free to link them in the comments.