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Writer's pictureKeith Ozsvath

How to Host a Google Meet with your Music Students


Although teaching your music students online is very new to most every teacher, use these steps below to make your live online teaching experience successful for both you and your students. Hosting a Google Meet helps to bridge the instructional gap by enabling live interaction between the teacher and students to teach a concept, run a sectional, or just to do a simple wellness check. Although anyone can use Google Meet, this article is geared towards teachers that use Google Apps for Education in their district.

Greet your students by name and check in with them during the first few minutes while they’re joining the Meet. For example, “Hi Kate! It’s great to see you. Jacob, glad you’re joining us today!”

Establish a few guidelines if this is your first online meeting or if there are any students that haven’t participated in one before. For example: raise your hand on camera if you have a question or give your best effort just like you would in regular class.

Have all students mute their mics to eliminate outside noise. This allows for a better experience for everyone involved.

Have you checked out Resources for Remote Learning in Band yet?

Use the chat feature (in the upper right corner in Google Meet) to share documents or links with your students. You might also use it as a way for your students to ask questions during a Meet.

Select Present Now to share your screen with the class. This is very helpful if you need to show them music or teach a concept that requires more than a verbal explanation.

How to create & schedule a Meet and post in Google Classroom

  • Open Calendar

  • Create a new event, choose the date and time, and click Add Conferencing. This creates a Meet that can be shared with your class.

  • Right click Join Hangouts Meet to copy the link and share with your class.

  • Login to Classroom

  • Click Classwork, then Create Assignment or New Material to share the Meet link with the class.

Recommended Chrome Extensions

  • Grid View: Allows you to see everyone in your class in a grid pattern, aka “Brady Bunch Style”.

  • Nod: enables students to virtually raise their and and give emoji reactions.

Presenting Tips

  • Camera height: Consider the height of your laptop and webcam before presenting. Adjust the height with an adjustable laptop top stand or even boxes to bring the camera more inline with your face. A good rule of thumb is the webcam should be placed at eye level.

  • Background: Choose an area with a solid, neutral background behind you so it’s easy for the class to see you.

  • Lighting: Make sure the area has plenty of light behind the camera, not behind you. Consider adding a lamp to increase the amount of light.

  • Audio: Use headphones/earbuds with a built-in microphone. This will improve the audio quality for your students by eliminating an echo that can happen when speakers are on and you’re using the microphone on your computer.

Additional features: The teacher can mute participants and even remove them from the Meet. Read for more details on this. It’s also possible for the teacher to record a Meet. Be sure to check your school district’s policy before doing it.

For help with teaching remotely, checkout Google’s Teach from Home resource and the Google Meet teacher resources page.

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