How can I link my planner to my Google account?
While the planner can help you organize your lesson plans and school schedule in one place, there are ways to integrate it with other apps you may use. If you use a personal or school Google account, you can link it to your planner in order to share lessons to students in Google Classroom, export your schedule to Google Calendar, or link your Google Drive to add attachments directly to your lessons.
To learn some useful ways you can link your lesson planner with your Google account, keep reading below.
Share to Google Classroom
This is a feature available to Chalk Gold subscribers and teachers whose schools are subscribed to the Instruction Solution. You will not have this option if you are a free user.
This article will show you how to share lessons from your planner to your existing Google Classroom. The lessons will be added as a public link, and any saved changes made to the original lessons will be viewable by the students in your Google Classroom.
Please complete your Google Classroom setup before attempting to share lessons through the lesson planner.
Note: You can share either single lessons, a day's worth of lessons, or a week's worth of lessons for all subjects to Google Classroom. If sharing a day or week's worth of lessons, you can select which subjects are visible by editing the Public Link settings for each given day or week. Please be mindful not to include information in your lesson plans that you don't want others to access.
Step 1:
The first step to sharing to Google Classroom depends on how many lessons you wish to share.
To share a single lesson: Navigate to the lesson you wish to share to Google Classroom from any Planner view. Open the lesson and click the Options drop-down menu in the lesson editor, then click on Classroom.
To share a full day of lessons: Navigate to the day you wish to share to Google Classroom from the Day Planner. Click the Share button next to the date, then click on Google Classroom. For more information on how to edit which subjects are visible in your Public Link, read this support article.
To share a full week of lessons: Navigate to the week you wish to share to Google Classroom from the Week Planner. Click the Share button next to the date, then click on Google Classroom. For more information on how to edit which subjects are visible in your Public Link, read this support article.
Step 2:
Select which type of post to make on Google Classroom from the drop-down menu and add any additional information, such as the title or instructions for your post. Click Share to move on to the next step.
Note: Don't worry, you will still be able to review and edit this information before it posts to your Google Classroom.
Step 3:
In the pop-up window, log in to your Google Account with your credentials. If you have browser cookies enabled, you will not need to log in each time you share a lesson to Google Classroom.
Click Next to continue.
Step 4:
Select the class you would like to share your lesson to from the Choose Class drop-down menu.
Step 5:
Here you can edit the details of your Google Classroom post, such as the title and instructions, which students can see the post, or the due date and point total if you are posting your lesson as an assignment. Your lesson will be attached to the post under "Materials", and the information you entered in Step 2 will already be filled in for the appropriate fields.
When you have finished entering the information you want to send to your Google Classroom, click Post.
Optional: You can schedule your lesson to be posted at a particular time by clicking on the three dots in the top-right corner of the window, then clicking Schedule.
Select the date and time you would like your lesson to be made available to your students, then click Schedule to finish.
Step 6:
Your lesson has now been posted to your Google Classroom! Students can click on the attached link to view the lesson in their browsers. You can click the "View" button to open a browser tab to see your Google Classroom post.
Export to Google Calendar
This is a feature available to Chalk Gold subscribers and teachers whose schools are subscribed to the Instruction Solution. You will not have this option if you are a free user.
This article will show you how to export your timetable to an existing Google Calendar. You'll be able to see your scheduled classes alongside your personal daily calendars, and have quick access to your scheduled lessons.
Note: Changes made to the schedule of your exported calendar from Google Calendar will not be reflected in your planner. You will need to update your Timetable to reschedule the classes in your lesson planner.
Step 1:
Open the Lessons menu at the top of the page, then click Timetable.
Step 2:
Click the Export button in the top-right corner of the page, then click Google Calendar.
Note: You can export your calendar for other semesters by selecting them from the drop-down menu in the top-left corner, then clicking Export Calendar. You can only have one semester's calendar exported at a time, and will be prompted to unlink the previous calendars before proceeding.
Step 3:
Sign into your Google account, and click Allow to grant permission to access your Calendar.
Step 4:
Click Export to begin the export process.
The export process may take upwards of several minutes, but you will receive a notification in the top-right corner when it has completed.
Step 5:
The exported schedule will appear on your list of calendars in Google Calendar with the title of your semester, as shown below:
You can update the name and colour of your calendar from within Google Calendar, but any scheduling changes will not be reflected in your planner.
Step 6:
You can click on the events on the calendar to view a link to your lesson. Clicking these links will take you to the editable lesson in the Week Planner, and allow you to quickly view your planned content for your classes!
Step 7:
Once your schedule is linked with Google Calendar, any changes made to the Timetable or any custom daily schedules in your planner will automatically be sent to Google Calendar.
The syncing process takes some time, so don't be alarmed if your updated timetable doesn't immediately appear in Google Calendar.
Add Google Drive Attachments
You can attach almost any file type to your lessons.
To learn how to minimize lesson plan attachments, click here.
Step 1:
- Attach files from your computer by clicking the paperclip button and using Upload File
- Attach files from your Google Drive using the Google Drive icon button
Step 2:
Select your file and upload.
Step 1:
First, open the attachments screen from your Planboard day view or from inside a lesson.
Step 2:
On your iPhone, tap the Paperclip button in the top right corner. This will present you with a pop-up file with multiple options. Tap the type of attachment you would like to include in your lesson plan. For this example, I will be "Choosing File[s]".
Step 3:
The attachments will automatically appear in your Attachments page after you select them.
Step 1:
First, open the attachments screen from your Planboard day view or from inside a lesson.
Step 2:
From your Android device, you will tap the + icon in the bottom right corner. The app will then prompt you to select where you would like to import your attachment from. Select the one that is applicable to you.
Step 3:
The attachments will automatically appear in your Attachments page after you select them.