Missed a Step

Friday. Sixth period. 

This is the ninth grade ELD class (English language development), and they're reading Of Mice and Men. Friday, it was chapter five. 

In case you are unfamiliar, chapter five is where Lennie does a bad, bad thing... 

I mean, perhaps I could have warned them. But nah. More of an impact if they don't see it coming. 

After we finished reading the chapter, they had questions to answer. Like a prepared teacher, I had set up the assignment before class. I added it to their Google Classroom. I didn't release the assignment until after we finished doing the reading, as I had done for chapters one through four. 

They got to work. But then, a hand... 

"I can't type on the assignment..." 

And I instantly knew what had happened. 

When one uploads an assignment, one "attaches" it to the specific assignment. Then, one has a choice of selections. Either the uploaded doc can be "viewed", "edited", or "make a copy for each student". The correct answer is "make a copy for each student". That way, each student gets their very own digital copy that they can modify in any way, like by adding their answers to the questions. 

Sure enough, I had not chosen "make a copy for each student". 

There are like a dozen choices one must make when uploading an assignment. Points. Due date. Title. Instructions. Attach the assignment. And others. I try to be very careful when doing this as to not miss a step. But sometimes... 

The worst part? I can't go in and edit it to make a copy. The only thing I can do is delete the assignment and reupload a new one. (Yes, I found this out the hard way.) 

Well, it wasn't like anyone had started the assignment, anyway. They couldn't. They couldn't type on it. 

Now, do I forewarn them about chapter six? Of course not. Better if they don't see it coming...