How do I prepare my manually created classes for a new school year or semester?
The beginning of a new semester or school year can mean a whole new set of classes and students or some basic updates to existing classes. How you prepare your classes will depend on how they have changed.
In this article, we cover how to prepare your classes:
If all of your classes and students have changed:
For entirely new sets of classes and students, or classes for a brand new school year, CommonLit does not recommend reusing old classes. Instead, we recommend archiving old classes and creating new classes with new assignments. There are a few reasons for this:
- Students are automatically exempted from assignments with a due date 30 days or more prior to joining the class, so you will need to manually add students back to an assignment if it was created in a previous school year.
- Reusing old classes may cause difficulty scheduling an assessment for your new batch of students.
- CommonLit updates texts and lessons over the summer for fairness and validity. If you use old assignments, then new students will get outdated versions of the assignments, which means they will not get the benefit of accessing vetted, improved, fairer assessment questions.
- By archiving classes, you can still access assignment data for your previous students and retain student data for your school's records.
This might seem overwhelming, but you can follow the steps below to easily transition to a new year or semester.
Step 1: Archive Old Classes
To archive a class, go to your Manage Classes page. Then, click Options for the class you wish to archive and select Archive Class.
This will move your class and all of its assignments will then be removed from your active classes and saved on the your Archived Classes page. If you change your mind, you can restore the class by clicking Archived Classes in the bottom right on the Manage Classes page and then clicking Undo Archive for the class.
Please note, only primary teachers can perform actions that can archive or delete a class. Secondary teachers cannot archive or delete a class.
Step 2: Create New Classes
To create a new manual class:
- Click on My Classes (the teacher) in the menu on the left
- Select Manage Classes
- Click on the Create a class button
- You will see the option to manually create a class or import a class from Google Classroom. Select Manually.
- Fill out the information about your new class, including the class name, grade level, and subject area. (Note: You can use the same names for your new classes as your archived classes. The system will recognize the them as separate classes.)
If you have a Google Classroom account and want to import your classes from Google Classroom this semester, you can read more on how to do so here: How can I import classes and students from Google Classroom?
If your classes and students are mostly the same:
If a few students were added or removed between marking periods, you can continue to use the same classes but update the rosters following the steps below:
Step 1: Remove students who are no longer in the class
Primary teachers can remove students who are no longer enrolled from a class in CommonLit. To remove a student, go to your Manage Classes. Then, select the name of the class where the student is enrolled. Finally, click the Remove icon next to View Data in the Actions column and confirm by clicking Remove Student.
Please note: This action will not delete students' CommonLit accounts. You will still be able to view their data from their former class by clicking the View Data button in the Removed Students table.
If you are unable to edit your classes, this might be because you are the secondary teacher. Only primary teachers can perform actions that can lead to data deletion. Secondary teachers cannot remove a student from a class or change a student's class.
Step 2: Add new students to the class
If you are adding new students for the semester, go to your Manage Classes page and click on Options > Add students for the desired class. You will be provided with the class code. You can then instruct students to join in one of two ways:
- For students without a CommonLit account: Provide them with the designated class code and direct them to go to www.commonlit.org/enroll. There, they will enter the class code and fill out their profile information to sign up.
- For students with an existing CommonLit account: They should log in and go to their My Account & Classes page. Then, students should select "Add another class code" and enter your class code.
For more information, see: How do students create their accounts if they're not imported from an integration like Google Classroom or Clever?