Use a screen reader with Classroom on your computer (for students)

This article is for students.

Students who are visually impaired can use a screen reader on their computers and mobile devices to use Classroom. This article focuses on computer screen readers, although mobile screen readers are also supported.

This article has sections on recommended browsers for screen readers, navigating around Classroom, completing common student tasks in Classroom, and related resources.

To jump to a specific task below, click an option:

Navigate around Classroom

When you open Classroom, you’re on the Classroom homepage, also known as the Classes page. The Classes page has 3 main areas:

Main navigation area—Find your classes, calendar and settings for Classroom notifications. You can also open the main navigation area from within a class and return to the Classes page.
Banner—Find general settings and controls, including the Google bar for switching to other apps and user accounts.
A list of your classes—Find all classes you’ve joined and classes a teacher has invited you to join. Each class has a class card with buttons and links on it. After you join a class, the class card includes a Your work link, a class Folder link, and a menu button with options to move the class card or unenroll from the class.

Within each class, there are 3 main areas:

The Stream page—Post messages to the class and find announcements from the teacher.
Note: Student permissions to post on the Stream page depend on teacher settings.
The Classwork page—Find work assigned by your teacher, such as assignments, questions, and quiz assignments, and view the work you’ve submitted.
The People page—Find your teachers for the class and a list of your classmates. Depending on how your school set up Classroom, you might be able to email your teacher and classmates from the People page.

Complete student tasks in Classroom with a screen reader

Join a class

You can join a class in 2 ways: by entering a class code your teacher shared, or by accepting a teacher’s invitation to a class from the Classroom homepage.

To join with a class code from your teacher:

Go to classroom.google.com and click Sign In.

Sign in with your Google Account. For example, you@yourschool.edu or you@gmail.com. Learn more.
Make sure to sign in with the account you use for school. If you’re already signed in and need to switch accounts, on the Classes page, in the banner, navigate to the Google account button and press Enter. Then select or add your account.
On the Classes page, in the Classroom banner, navigate to the Join class button and press Enter to open the Class code text box.
In the Class code text box, enter your class code and press Enter.
You are now in the class, on the Stream page tab.

To accept a teacher’s invitation to a class without the need to enter a code:

Go to classroom.google.com and click Sign In.

Sign in with your Google Account. For example, you@yourschool.edu or you@gmail.com. Learn more.
Make sure to sign in with the account you use for school. If you’re already signed in and need to switch accounts, on the Classes page, in the banner, navigate to the Google account button and press Enter, then select or add your account.
You are now on the Classes page, with all the classes you have joined or are invited to join.
Navigate to the Join class button for the class you want to join, and press Enter.
You are now in the class, on the Stream page tab.

For more instructions, go to Join a class.

Join a class video meeting

If your teacher turned on Meet for your class, you can join a video meeting directly from Classroom. You can join a video meeting in different ways. After you click a meeting link in Classroom, Google Meet opens in a new browser tab.

Go to classroom.google.com and click Sign In.

Sign in with your Google Account. For example, you@yourschool.edu or you@gmail.com. Learn more.
Make sure to sign in with your school account.
On the Classes page, navigate to the class and then press Enter.
You are now in the class, on the Stream page.
In the class, choose from the following page tab menu options:
- On the Stream page, navigate to the Meet link and press Enter.
  Tip: The link is the option after your Account button and before the About section button.
- On the Classwork page, navigate to the Meet link and press Enter.
  Tip: The Meet link is after the Your work link.
- On the Stream page or the Classwork page, in a post your teacher shared for the class video meeting, navigate to the video meeting link and press Enter.
In Meet, navigate to the Join now button and press Enter.
Note: If you have trouble joining the meeting, make sure you’re signed in to Meet with your Classroom account. If you’re already signed in to Meet and need to switch accounts, navigate to the Switch account link, press Enter, then select or add your account. Students can’t join video meetings until the teacher starts them.

To leave the meeting, navigate to the Leave call button and press Enter.

For more instructions, go to Join a video meeting for education.

Check your upcoming work

You can check for upcoming work on the Your work page. Upcoming work is marked Assigned. Missing work is marked Missing.

Go to classroom.google.com and click Sign In.

Sign in with your Google Account. For example, you@yourschool.edu or you@gmail.com. Learn more.
Make sure to sign in with the account you use for school.
On the Classes page, on the class card, navigate to the Your work link and press Enter.
You are now in the class, on the Your work page.
(Optional) To filter your work, navigate to the Filter work items menu and select Assigned, Returned with Grade, or Missing.
(Optional) For details about an assignment or question, navigate to the item and press Enter.
To go to an assignment or question, on an expanded item, click the View details button

Tip: To reach the Your work page within a class, choose an option:

On the Classwork page, navigate to the View your work link and press Enter.
On the Stream page, navigate to the View all work link and press Enter.

For more instructions, go to See your work for a class.

Complete an assignment or question

You can open an assignment or question on the Classwork page. By default, the items are listed in a collapsed view. If you filter classwork by topic, the items for the topic are listed in an expanded view.

For information on quiz assignments, go to Turn in a quiz assignment.

Open an assignment or question

Go to classroom.google.com and click Sign In.

Sign in with your Google Account. For example, you@yourschool.edu or you@gmail.com. Learn more.
Make sure to sign in with the account you use for school.
On the Classes page, navigate to the class and press Enter.
You are now in the class, on the Stream page tab.
In the class tab menu, navigate to Classwork and press Enter.
You are now on the Classwork page.
(Optional) To filter your classwork by topic, navigate to the All topics tab item, and click a listed topic to select it. Only items for the selected topic now show on the Classwork page.
Tip: To return to the full view of the Classwork page, click the All topics tab item.
Navigate to an assignment or question, and then choose an option:
- To open an assignment or question from an expanded view, on the assignment or question, press Enter. You're now in the assignment or question details.
- To open an assignment or question from a collapsed view, on the assignment, select Enter View instructions.

Turn in an assignment

In the assignment details, note any instructions your teacher added.
If you’re not sure how to open the assignment details, go to Open an assignment or question, above.
(Optional) If your teacher included an attachment with your name on it, such as a worksheet, that’s your personal copy to work on. Follow these steps:
1. Navigate to the attachment with your name on it and press Enter to open it. Your personal copy of the attachment opens in a new tab.
  Note: The attachment also has a Remove button. If you click Remove, be sure to click Make a copy to get another copy to work on.
2. Complete your personal copy of the work
3. In your copy of the work, navigate to the Turn in button and press Enter, or navigate back to the assignment details and click Turn in.
(Optional) To add attachments to the assignment, in the assignment details, navigate to the Add or Create menu item and press Enter. Then attach or create your files and click Turn in.
For more instructions on adding attachments, go to Turn in an assignment.
(Optional) If you don’t need to attach any work, in the assignment details, navigate to the Mark as done button and press Enter.

For more instructions, go to Turn in an assignment.

Turn in a question

Your teacher can assign a short-answer or a multiple choice question. For short-answer questions, you enter your answer. For multiple-choice questions, you select an option. Depending on how your teacher set up the question, you might be able to open a summary of how your classmates answered.

In the question details, note any instructions your teacher added.
If you’re not sure how to open the question details, go to Open an assignment or question, above.
(Optional) To answer a short-answer question, in the question details, navigate to the Type your answer text box, enter your answer, and then click the Turn in button.
(Optional) To answer a multiple-choice question, in the question details, navigate to the radio button for your answer, press Enter, then click the Turn in button.
Tip: Make sure you hear that your option is selected.

For more instructions, go to Answer a question.

Communicate with your teacher or class

You can send private comments to your teacher from an assignment or question. And, if your school allows email in Classroom, you can email your teacher or classmates from the People page.

Go to classroom.google.com and click Sign In.

Sign in with your Google Account. For example, you@yourschool.edu or you@gmail.com. Learn more.
Make sure to sign in with the account you use for school.
On your Classes page, navigate to a class and press Enter.
You are in the class, on the Stream page.
(Optional) To email your teacher, navigate to the People page tab and press Enter.
You are now on the People page.
1. Navigate to the link for your teacher’s email and press Enter. A new browser tab opens for your email, with your teacher’s email address added.
  Note: If you don’t have email links on the People page, your class doesn’t allow email.
2. In the Subject text box, enter a subject for your email.
3. In the Message body text box, enter your message.
4. Navigate to the Send button and press Enter.
  The message sends and the Gmail tab closes.
  Note: You can’t get emails in Classroom. To read your emails, if your school allows them, click the Google Apps button in the Classroom banner and select Gmail.
(Optional) To send your teacher a private comment:
1. Navigate to the assignment or question you want to ask about, and open the assignment or question details.
  If you’re not sure how to open an assignment or question, go to Open an assignment or question, above.
2. In the assignment or question details, navigate to the Add private comment text box.
3. Enter your comment, then navigate to the Post button and press Enter.

For more ways to communicate with your class, go to Post to the Stream page.

Check your grades

You can check your grades for returned work on the Your work page. You might also be able to check your overall grade in the class, if your teacher shares it.

Go to classroom.google.com and click Sign In.

Sign in with your Google Account. For example, you@yourschool.edu or you@gmail.com. Learn more.
Make sure to sign in with the account you use for school.
On the Classes page, on a class card, navigate to the Open your work link for the class and press Enter.
You are now in the class, on the Your work page.
(Optional) To check your overall grade, on the Your work page, navigate to the button for your overall grade.
Tip: If your teacher shares your overall grade, you hear it after Google Account and before the Filter work items menu.
To check grades on your returned work, navigate to the Filter work items menu and select Returned with Grade.
The Your work page is now filtered to only list returned work.
Navigate to an item in the list. You hear the item title and your grade.
Tip: To go to the assignment or question details, expand the item and then click View details.

For more instructions, go to View your overall grade.

Take a quiz in locked mode

If you have to take a quiz on a Chromebook managed by your school, the quiz might be in locked mode. Teachers use locked mode so students can’t open other browser tabs during a quiz. In a locked-mode quiz, the following accessibility features should still work as usual:

ChromeVox (text-to-speech)
High contrast mode
Fullscreen magnifier
Docked magnifier

If you can't find an accessibility feature, use its shortcut. Learn more about accessibility shortcuts.

For how to turn on your Chromebook’s accessibility features, visit Chromebook Help for accessibility.

Enable accessibility for practice sets in Google Classroom

Go to classroom.google.com.
Click the class Classwork.
Open the practice set you want to use.
To move through the page, press and hold Search, then press Right arrow .
Stop at the “Enable accessibility” button. At the top left, you'll find a blank cursor in a rectangle.
Activate the "Enable accessibility" button.

Related resources

Chrome extensions

Check out the following recommended Chrome extensions from our partners.

Snap&Read—A text reader (TTS) that simplifies vocabulary, translates text, reads inaccessible text (OCR), and captures and cites sources.
Co:Writer—A dictation tool with word prediction that is grammar smart and inventive spelling aware.
EquatIO—A tool for creating math expressions by typing, writing, or speaking.
Read&Write for Google Chrome—A personalized support tool to make documents, web pages and common file types in Google Drive (including: Google Docs, PDF & ePub) more accessible.

Videos and articles

Was this helpful?

How can we improve it?