Final Reflection...

The Google Tools For Schools course was extremely helpful to me.  I came into the course with some outdated skills that needed to be brought up to par.  I've always been technologically savvy, but have fallen behind since I had my kids. This course did an amazing job introducing me to so many great tools I can use, then I was allowed to play and explore and create. For me, that was the most valuable part.  I spent a lot of time doing this.  I feel like I'm back in the techno world.

My original goal to create a website was a good one, and I think the final site is going to be a powerful tool for me, my students, and their parents.  I'm really happy with the quality and content I included.  When I finished this, I realized I wanted to play around with a few more tools, so I started exploring forms, groups, and google docs in greater depth.  Then I made assignments under the "materials" tab for both my classes.  This was a bonus:  above and beyond the original plans for my project.

I feel like the work I did shows a lot of depth of learning.  I didn't know anything about the Google tools when I began this adventure.  I believe my work went beyond the basics because I didn't just use the templates and copy someone's format.  I took a template and really worked with it to make it my own.  I experimented with different types of pages and gadgets, inserted a variety of different types of things, and ended up with a very useful tool that is completely mine.  The assignments I made are exciting and unique.  Honestly, I spent a lot of time on this- and it was worth it!

I just ran across a tool called "Flubaroo", which is a basically a program that piggybacks with Google spreadsheets and forms.  If you make a test or quiz on either of those programs, flubaroo corrects it for you if you take the test yourself and enter the correct answers.  Check it out at www.flubaroo.com.  I was thinking this would be a great way to reduce your paperwork, allow you to give more standardized testing type of questions/situations, and even differentiate quizzes you are giving to students.  Now I have to figure out how to make tests and quizzes using the google tools....

This is a hysterical article that will get you thinking about why schools ban ipods and iphones.  It's worth reading if you're thinking about increasing the technology you use in your classroom.  It could be used by anyone who wants to convince their school to consider allowing kids to use their technology for classroom learning.
http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/columnists/johnson/johnson004.shtml

I've been browsing different sites looking for more ideas, and I found this great site that has a whole list of links you can use if you're looking to start blogging with students.  The links are all incredibly helpful, including a list of reasons to blog, such as differentiation, connections, and tracking student progress.  There's also a list of step you can take to help students have more meaningful experiences blogging.  This is a big winner for me because of the step by step lessons that will prepare students to get the most out of the blogging experience.  My big fear is that students will post inappropriate or pointless comments, but these frontloading activities will help avoid that.  This site contains many more articles and resources, and I'm finding it the best place to go to get myself started.  http://digitalwriting.pbworks.com/w/page/17812820/Using%20Blogs%20in%20the%20Classroom

I'm looking for ideas that might be useful as I start using blogs in my classroom.  I'd love to find out how teachers have used blogs with students, tips that have been learned along the way, and cautions that might help me use this successfully.  


One thing I like is the list of rules for student comments that is posted at http://comments4kids.blogspot.com/.  I think this would help establish a set of expectations and maybe prevent students from publishing inappropriate materials.