A Week of Lists...

Week two of my Google Tools adventure engaged me in exploring some additional tools (including MANY of which I was entirely unaware) and reflecting on the best ways to use the tools in the classroom and for professional development.  One of the first critical-response assignments was to read two articles (found here and here) and make a list of changes I can make immediately to begin using Google Tools in my classroom.  (Obviously, since I'm not currently teaching, this assignment required a bit more reflection for me than some of my peers...but it wasn't difficult to recall some of the challenges I experienced as a classroom teacher and imagine how my practice could have been improved using a few of the Google Tools discussed.)

I hadn't previously considered:

Idea #17 about using Hangout to facilitate presentations/lessons with author experts.  I'd imagine the tricky part to this would be finding a children's author who might be willing to collaborate free of charge.

I also appreciate idea #12 - using Google Photos to document student work for portfolios and student conferences.  It seems like the time commitment could be significant, but it would be so much more useful than benchmarking tests/scores to show a student's growth over the course of the semester and year.

And idea #7 - YouTube for Teachers.  Holy Cow!  Who even knew this existed?  I can see tremendous potential for not only using it myself, but teaching the children how to use it to find instructional resources during Writer's Workshop.

The next listing assignment asked that we rank the Google Tools in terms of utility for classroom use.

My Top 5 list of Google Tools would include:

1. Google Docs - One of the main draws of using Google Docs in the classroom is that it provides an easy and engaging way for students to collaborate.  As a Writing teacher, I appreciate the Comments and Suggestions features and their utility for facilitating peer conferencing experiences.  On a basic level, Google Docs works well as a word-processing application and makes publishing written work a snap!

2.Google Classroom - I'm still learning the capabilities of Google Classroom, but I appreciate the utility for communicating and connecting with students.  It's a great organizational tools that allows stakeholders (which could include parents and other teachers, as well) to access and keep track of assignments and view announcements.  And it affords the teacher the ability to provide feedback (which is easily documented.)

3. Google Drive - This tool is great for teachers and learners!  Not only does it allow easy sharing of electronic files, it keeps me from having to go to the trouble of emailing documents back and forth to myself or take the risk of using and transporting an external storage device (which could be lost.)

4.  Google Search - I'm not sure there's anything that's more impactful than giving students access to entire worlds of information through Google Search.  Useful for conducting research on a huge range of topics, it also helps students develop critical thinking and evaluation skills.  While I feel like it somewhat negates the critical thinking piece, I appreciate the Custom Search feature for keeping students focused on a set topic (and safe in the online world!)

5. YouTube (YouTube for Education) - Not only does this help me as I prepare for lessons, it gives students - even those who may have learning differences - the capability to explore hundreds of thousands of different topics to extend learning.  As opposed to text-based options, videos are motivating and engaging, and address student needs in a way that is both meaningful and familiar.  Creating videos could also be a fantastic way for students to demonstrate understanding!

An activity that was parked squarely between the two above was identifying the ways that Google Tools can be used to facilitate teacher professional education.  As I was poking around trying to make up my mind on this topic, I ran across something amazing...Poll Everywhere!  I'll just admit, I'm currently smitten with this app.  It allows the user to poll an audience - in real- time - and converts the results into an attractive, live-feed format that can be displayed through Google Slides (or another presentation package).  Most of the basic features of the app are free, however, you can pay to upgrade if you so desire.  (Luckily, the K-12 basic package met my needs.)  

I used the app to poll my classmates in response to the assignment.  Results will be revealed in a later post!