January 20-Google Part 1

This week we learned about many different components of Google. We focused mostly on Google Docs and how it can be useful to teachers in a collaborative effort. We also started on our first assignment with our partner in which we will be evaluating teacher tools we could use  in our future classroom.

There are so many things in Google Docs that make it useful for me currently as a student. I am using Google Docs outside of our class and sharing documents with other classmates to write lesson plans. I can also use it to create presentations I may have for my current classes. The tools within it make it so easy to collaborate with others which is key in our cohort. I also didn't know about the chat abilities when multiple people are using the document at the same time, that was really cool. The documents tool will be the most helpful to me because I don't own Microsoft Word so I will be relying on Google to accomplish most of my school work.

In the future I hope to teach my students how to use Google Docs. I think this would be a great tool to students that can't afford programs and need to become familiar with a word processor and power point program. I currently work with Title 1 students and they barely have enough money to eat every day. I think this tool would be key for their future success in the classroom so they could be familiar with it enough to use it later in their education experience. I look forward to using the translate tool as well for students and parents alike that can't speak English and need to know the information I send home. This feature will be so nice so I don't have to run to a school translator for everything and I'm actually going to show it to my current colleagues. ( I think they will love it!) I also think I could turn using Google Doc forms into a very fun assignment for students to create surveys and learn to take surveys and also how technology can help them record results. I think it would give them a safe way to express themselves while learning good tools.