Google Tools

The Google tools we have learned and worked with over the last few months through this fabulous course has made my personal and professional so much easier.  My top favorite Google tools would have to be Google Docs, Google Forms, Google Calendar, and Google Sites.  These are resources that I use on a daily basis now for my personal life and for my students and their parents.

Google Docs has become such a useful, convenient tool for me in the classroom and at home.  Many of my documents are now on my Google Docs site so that I can access them anywhere, from school, home, and anywhere in between with the aid of my cell phone.  Already this year, I have had to have a last minute substitute teacher in my classroom, and because I have my sub outline uploaded to my Google Docs I can do my plans from anywhere and get them to my classroom by early morning without a panic of how I am going to prepare for such circumstances.   I have done a little collaboration with students via Google Docs thus far.  I foresee Google Docs as being a great avenue for students to share their working pieces of research with me throughout the process. I also use Google Docs to store documents that I want my students to be able to access.  I can attach the document to my website, my calendar, or in emails to parents. This is a sample Google Document that is on my website and we send to parents multiple times a year to remind them of Students In Good Standing.

Google Forms, which is a part of Google Docs, is another favorite.  I will go into more detail with Google Forms in a separate blog.

The Google Calendar is a great way to coordinate all of my activities and meeting for school and home in one place.  I use Google calendar for my personal meetings, activities, and reminders.  Then I can access all them from one place no matter where I am at.  My cell phone is Google supporter, so I also access all of these resources at anytime through it.  I also use Google Calendar for my students.  I post their daily homework assignments on a calendar that is public and posted on my Google site, so they can access it at anytime.  This is nice because all I do is update my calendar and my website is automatically updated.

Google Sites has been another user friendly tool.  My classroom website has given me the opportunity to create a more comprehensive web presence for my students and parents.  I am continually making changes and updating it meet our needs to better communicate.  Google sites makes it easy to create a site to fit anyone's web presence needs.  There are many components to Google Sites, what I would describe as back or side doors to access the different management tools to create a site.  Taking class where someone was available to help me troubleshoot was most effective for me.  However, there are some quality tutorial videos on the web to help people get started with Google Sites.

Google has created an abundance of free, user friendly tools available to anyone. I am currently in the process of teaching my dad how to access and use Google Docs, so he can access his documents and other files when he is on his yearly trip.