I teach writing and students work at their own pace, in different documents. Opening multiple tabs with student work can be a challenge, especially when working virtually. I have used the preview feature that Google docs has to help me view student work while conferring with them.

I created a Google doc and shared editing ability with the students in the class. As they created their Google doc, I had them paste the link on the row where their name is (all personal details were deleted from the doc used in the video, including students whose comments were too personal).

Then, as you can see in the video, I can see if the work has been opened and edited recently (something that even in Google Classroom requires a few clicks), and I can preview the document before deciding if I need to open it while conferring.

This way, I can have some student work open in tabs while using the preview to give feedback that doesn’t require modeling; feedback that can just be verbal, or where I can just leave a comment right in the document.

One last thing — if you have a student who is frequently absent, using a conferring document like this is great because they can use it to remind themselves what you worked on together last, and I highlight a few words in the next steps (like, “what will you do next with this?”) click Comment and @ the student in the comment. That sends them an email notification to check the document.