I preach Google. After I took the Google Docs for Educators class last fall, my life changed. Seriously. I started slowly, just barely dipping my toe in the Google ocean by uploading many of my Word files and folders. (I was tired of looking like a geek with my flash drive lanyard around my neck.) And then I tried one essay with my kids and I was sold. It literally changed my teaching life--and I know that sounds over-the-top but it's true. I am more efficient and organized: no more stacks of essays paperclipped together. I make student comments Ctrl+Alt+Del that are much more detailed ... and legible! This year I took it a step further and had my AP kids comment on my comments--a bit of dialogue about their writing that was easier (I think) for them so early in the year. I can check on student revisions. . I had kids pair up and write a Twitter feed for characters in a novel. I actually discovered the templates last year and used a newsletter template for a project. I know I'm cheating a bit by not using a template myself, but I have, and above is a great example of the first page of one student's project. I personally found the template easier to use than Word templates. I ventured out this year myself with the 'form' function--I got kids' gmail addresses so I could make groups for class communication and assignments. Then, it dawned on me I could try a form to get parent and student info (name, email, cell, etc.) I was a little worried it would be too techy. Pshaw! Nothing to it. I quick emailed a few teachers to evangelize--but they were already collecting index cards with student info ... arrrgggghhh.
I sent a form to some of my 21 Things classmates--hopefully, they'll use them in their classroom, too.
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