If you teach like me, you love it when students are engaged. I found that when students began learning in Google Meet, many of them suddenly got shy! I’m not sure what it is about the screen (though I’m sure there are plenty of psychology and sociology articles that could tell me if I looked), but I really wanted to get my students talking to one another again. Cue in: break out groups!

Step 1: Download a Chrome Extension called “Mute Tab.” It does exactly what the title says it does– it mutes the tabs in your browser window! Using this, I don’t have to hear all of my students talking at the same time in different groups.

Step 2: Make several Google Meet room links. This is easy- just go to Google Meet and make as many “rooms” as you need to accommodate your breakout groups. I prefer groups of 4, so I needed 4 or 5 links depending on my class.

Step 3a: Label those Google Meet links! You can call them “Discussion Group 1” and then put the link next to it, or maybe you want to be creative and name them after historical buildings: “Capitol Building: [insert link here].” Any way you decide to do it, make sure they are CLEARLY LABELED and accessible to students.

Step 3b: Assign the groups ahead of time and make the list accessible to students! Ideally, you’re putting their names AND the link next to one another so that everything they need is In one spot. This is a recurring theme for distance learning: the fewer places kids need to go to get what they need, the better! It also doesn’t need to be complicated or overly beautiful. The information you give to students just needs to be clear and easy to understand. See the picture below.

Step 4: Have students go into their meet links. Then you enter all of them, too, but all must be in the same browser window using different tabs. Turn on Mute Tab for all of them, and then turn OFF Mute Tab for the group you’re checking in with.

Step 5: Watch the discussion magic happen. Toggle between the groups and run your class!