Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Welcome
Google Tools For Schools is a network of Google Tools Experts working with schools to help their students and staffs learn how to use Google Tools most effectively for teaching, learning, and completing their professional responsibilities. In this blog you will find post that are filled with artifacts to help you think about teaching and learning in a digital age, along with tips and tricks for making the most of Google Tools. We hope you you join the conversation through your comments or by connecting post on your own blogs. If there is a topic you hope we will cover in these blogs, please let us know by adding a comment on this post.
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It might be useful to be able to see a variety of different types of blogs used by teachers. I liked the few we saw in class, but more "interactive" blogs where students share would be appreciated. Could people post links to their different types of blogs on the blog?
ReplyDeleteMary Ellen - It seems there are great resources, exactly as you've requested, linked on the "Challenge 6" doc under "Practice Tasks"
DeleteThank you, I will check that out.
DeleteI agree. I would love to see blogs that are interactive vs. one person's thoughts...
DeleteI hope we will cover using Google Groups and Blogger as effective tools for developing student voice and complex thinking.
ReplyDeleteThe structure of this course is great. It accommodates all of our learning levels and styles.
ReplyDeleteI agree.
DeleteI would like to see more with Google forms, groups, sites and Picasso applications.
ReplyDeleteDo I really need a Blog, when I have a Google site? Do I really need to hear from the online world?
DeleteI second the Picasso apps part of the comment! I am not well versed in this at all.
DeleteMaybe the first attempt should skip the blog until you see or develop a need for it.
DeleteI would also like to learn Piccasa to be able to use student pictures...or another method to share pictures.
DeleteHow do we keep all those photos organized in a useful manner?
DeleteI would like to know more about communicating with parents utilizing blogs vs. social media.
ReplyDeleteI'd like more of our parents to have access to the internet so we can communicate with them!
DeleteI like this suggestion as well. I'm not in the classroom, but my son's teacher had a blog last year. It was great, but I think more interactivity with parents would be better (he was in 1st grade).
DeleteI would like to learn how to monitor what people say before it gets posted on my blog.
ReplyDeleteI would too! I'm worried about doing this with high school students.
DeleteYes, me too!
DeleteI would like that to. I worry about trying to do all this monitoring in my FREE TIME....
DeleteMy interest is around the difference between having a forum versus a blog. What are the benefits to either for a classroom learning tool? This is very important as I create my new Google sites.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this. As a relatively inexperienced user with these tools IN the classroom, how do we best and most effectively use each of them as classroom learning tools? What criteria do you use to make decisions about which tool is most effective given various circumstances or need?
DeleteI'm with you Briana. As I learn about the different tools and think about which ones are best suited to certain units and lessons, I go back and forth on whether to use Folders or a Blog to house my project materials and products, for example. And I picture myself in my classroom and what my level of competence will be in teaching and using the tools with a group of students at the same time that I manage the class and try to attend to their individual learning needs. There is one of me and there are many students who will potentially need me to re-teach and guide them again and again through the acquisition of skills in using these tools, just as I have required re-teaching and guidance through my google tools learning journey. My conclusion at this point is that I should not try to teach/use too many of the tools in a single learning unit so we get less bogged down in learning the tools and spend more time using a few tools well to facilitate and enhance content learning. As I have done as a learner, as a teacher I will concentrate on teaching students to use a few tools that I feel I have a handle on early in the school year and build on those with students as both they and I become more adept at using them. I can start out by finding places where Documents, Presentation, Forms, Folders fit with and improve the learning experience, and hopefully build my skill and that of my students to a place where we can use Blogs or Sites with a high rate of success. I will concentrate on using those tools I realistically think I can use EFFECTIVELY and gradually extend the list of those tools I can effectively and appropriately incorporate into learning units. It can't be just about teaching the tools. It has to be about successfully using the tools to learn the content.
DeleteI would like to know more about Google groups and how to use the Dashboard to help me keep student work organized. I would also like to work on Google sites to make our team website easier to navigate. And my final wish is to work on our current student portfolios, which I guess is a website, so that wish was already written.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you about student portfolios. Ours aren't digital yet, but that is our goal over the next year. How are yours set up?
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteI plan to work on an ePortfolio for this course. Students will need to have their own Google Site setup, but I will provide them with the template. I learned last year that it was tricky to allow students to create their own sites using a template they liked. It made finding work difficult. However, I will allow them to develop a blog and insert the link on the site. This way, they can customize their blog, but keep their site and collection of work in a similar format. As the teacher, a similar format will be helpful, but more so for other students from in and outside to the school. This is my plan for all students in my school.
DeletePlease help ease my fears. I worry about student privacy. This is open, though not easily accessed. Do I need to worry about kids if I expect them to comment on things for discussion?
ReplyDeleteSometimes a Blog is not the way to go, but Google forms is better if you only want to read the information form the student and not have it shared. I don't think you can privatize Blogger, but that is something that I am looking into right now.
DeleteI work as a Special Educator so I do not have a classroom but a caseload of students I work with on an individual basis. I have never made a blog before and wonder how I can use this in my job. The names of my students have to stay confidential so I could not make a blog with my specific students.
ReplyDeleteI would like to see other blogs form support teachers, special educators or Title I teachers.
ReplyDeleteThis is a good idea. I am always looking for feedback from special educators and support staff in regards to how to improve the overall practice within our department. I wonder if this type of forum would encourage folks to speak up more and share their ideas.
DeleteJulie,
DeleteIt might, but I think that folks would have be prompted with an email containing a direct link and question. As with students, adults are also engaged by technology (think FB). However, it is difficult to remember to go some place extra. The temptation is great to ignore and not do.
I'm excited to try using blogs with my reading students, perhaps I'll start with a few book recommendations.
ReplyDeleteI love that idea! It could certainly spark some great conversations about books.
DeleteI would like to do this too. I would love to see if I could get town and city students blogging back and forth as to what they are learning and the similarities and differences in their learning.
DeleteToni,
DeleteI am also thinking of starting out by blogging about books for my middle school readers. My hope is that my blogs will sound so incredible there will be a stampede to the library to check them out!
I as well am concerned with students privacy and which will work better for me blogger or google groups.
ReplyDeleteI am interested in blogs for support staff; should it be established with questions regarding what RTI looks like and why?
ReplyDeleteI am still struggling with the advantages of blogging over having a web site, or using Blogger instead of say a Voice Thread.I liked using Voice Thread a great deal, but I think I will try to dabble with a blog.
ReplyDeleteI want to figure out if I can add the blog to my existing library website, which is not a Google site.
DeleteI'd like to know that also, Kim. Our OPAC is online, so has a built-in website, and I don't think I have time to maintain 2 separate places on the 'net. Especially as they'll overlap so much
DeleteI would like to learn how other teachers are using google tools in their classrooms. I also hope to learn more about Twitter and RSS Feeds and Google+
ReplyDeleteI would also like to learn how others are using it in their classrooms!
DeleteBlogging seems to be quicker and easier. I'm all about instant gratification :)
ReplyDeleteI agree - I need something quick and easy that I can do right from my teaching space - the gym.
DeleteOur previous library website used Goodreads as a book discussion format. I have to decide whether to continue with that on my new site, or use something like Blogger to encourage discussions instead.
ReplyDeleteI will need to review more examples of blogs and think about what communication vehicle makes sense for different audiences. I need to make more use of our team website.
ReplyDeletei'm liking the ease of posting through the blog app on my iphone.
ReplyDeleteI've been using the iphone and ipad for a few months in the classroom. It is a sweet way to post instantly without the need to rethink "where did I put that?"
DeleteI'm not sure, as of yet, what I would like covered in these blogs. There are so many topics at this time that I think are covered in the class at this point. Maybe more info about other apps that are useful that may not need as much instruction could be included in this blog.
ReplyDeleteLove to blog! Just started using it at the end of the school year. However- recently I had someone ask me if I knew that when students go into to see my classroom blog that they have access to seeing all the blogs on Blogger and some are not appropriate!
ReplyDeleteI would like to know the benefits of having a blog vs. a website where you can add posts like a blog.
ReplyDeleteI wonder the same thing. I don't know which one would be more beneficial for students and parents. I would prefer to just do one but not sure which would be better. Any suggestions?
DeleteI'm wondering if this could be used as a type of classroom community communication tool. For example, if kids had questions, concerns, issues that related to classroom norms, rules, procedures, etc... they could leave a comment on the blog.
ReplyDeleteI would love to use it as a community classroom. What a great idea!
DeleteBlogger is a great tool for generating a conversation that can continue forever and ever!!!
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure about blogging yet. Hopefully, I will have time to practice and decide how I can use it in kindergarten.
ReplyDeleteI am looking forward to creating my own blog! Fun!
ReplyDeleteI would like to know how other teachers are using Blogger in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteHmm...I wonder if I can use Blogger for student reading journals!
ReplyDeleteI tend to take a "wait and see" approach. Before diving into blogging, I am wondering about balancing it with the other social media I am involved with - Twitter, Facebook, etc., as well as maintaining my school library web site. What is the advantage of blogging?
ReplyDeleteI agree - there are so many tools to juggle that I want to make sure I'm using the one that makes the best sense!
DeleteI am wondering how to manage a professional and a class blog along with personal/professional twitters, emails etc...
ReplyDeleteI would like to better understand blog's use vs. site - especially inside the school domain and the implications for student safety online.
I am excited to think about the possibilities of a classroom blog that included input from all members of the class or showed off our burgeoning math problem solving skills or provided a forum for persuasive commentary with an authentic audience.
I have used a few blogs with small groups of students, but as a school librarian I am wondering how I can get the entire school involved with book discussions. Since it is part of our google apps package, it seems it would be easy to get our students involved. I currently have students remark on books directly in our library catalog interface, Destiny Quest...so I am wondering if they would even want to go elsewhere.
ReplyDeleteAs A front office staff member I am trying to come up with a creative way that blogging could be used and be helpful to improve the work load of the day. Possibly it is a way to have conversations with parents about questions they have and many other parents could read the comments and get their own questions answered. I'm not sure if this would really be advantageous over the questions being answered on the phone or by parents reading the weekly principals letter that is both on line and a hard copy travels to the homes in students backpacks. I'm still weighing the options here, any ideas??
ReplyDeleteI am wondering about blogging on the school web page things happening around the school that week.
ReplyDeleteIn addition, I am wondering about having students blog within classrooms responses to literature or on demand prompts...authentic audience with classmates.
I think a few of us a City School are going to advocate for our primary kids to get them an email address!
ReplyDeleteI'm always interested to see different and creative ways that teachers are using blogging with students as an educational tool
ReplyDeleteI am interested in figuring out those nuances about some of the different apps we have mentioned and how they would affect my decision to use a blog, site, group, etc. in my classroom - when would I want to use one over the other and when would it not matter?
ReplyDeleteI would love to learn about ways to make blogs more exciting/useful. Sometimes the thought of reading a blog, no matter how interesting it sounds, just seems like too much on top of all of the other information we're processing on a daily basis.
ReplyDeleteI think I would like to start a blog with my class. Would it be more appropriate for me to have one blog and all of my students contribute (their pieces) to "the blog" or for each student to have his/her own blog? I worry about keeping track of multiple student blogs
ReplyDeleteHello.
ReplyDeleteI get very confused... Do you use sites? Do you use Blogger? I have unsuccessfully tried Blogger. I am looking for a format for students to journal on a topic, share their entries with the other students in the class and then respond. We had a very hard time to get to each others blog.
ReplyDeleteKaty Farber, a 5/6 teacher at Rumney School, is a veteran blogger. Check out her site to see all the wonderful things you can do with a blog.
ReplyDeleteYou can find her at www.katyfarber.com
DeleteA 3-4 teacher at my schoolhad great success with a personal reading blog last year. Formerly reluctant writers enthusiastically wrote posts and interacted with their peers. Lovely!
ReplyDeleteAt one point in the class it was suggested that perhaps it is better to use a blog for classroom updates and information. Later, sites were recommended. While I think that blogs might be faster and easier to use, I am now leaning toward a site for my classroom. I am a middle school teacher and I think that there may be more links (documents, websites, homework, etc.) that would be easier to organize on a site verses a blog.
ReplyDelete