Google Apps: Docs

Last week members of the FCPS community attended the Google Summit. Two days of keynotes, breakout sessions, and networking. The focus was Google Apps for Education. If you are unfamiliar with these tools watch this short video to get a glimpse into their genius.

The Fairfax Summit was full of great sessions demonstrating how to incorporate these apps into the classroom but, the task of implementing can be overwhelming. Where do we start? Before we get started, let me say, in my opinion due of the sheer size of Fairfax, larger technology initiatives take a bit longer to take shape. So, the advantage for us is to preview, collaborate, brainstorm others' ideas until our county gives us the green light. Believe me, there are tons of people all over the world using these apps to collaborate, research, present, and share ideas in an efficient way. In my opinion, Google Docs changes the game for teachers and students. So, back to my original question: where do we start? The answer: start small. This post will explore practical uses for Google Docs in the classroom.

My expectation is that students in grades 4 through 6 should be using Google Apps for if no other reason than to prepare them for what they will be using throughout their education. In fact, some students may already be using them. It is our job to develop their skills early so we teach them the right way to use these magnificent tools.

Google Docs is one application within a core of several apps Google offers. The other apps include Google Forms, Sheets, Presentations, and Drawing. We will cover these application in future posts.

Practical Uses for Classrooms
Create and share a documents

1. Write a collaborative story. One student writes the beginning...second student writes the next paragraph...and so on...
2. Write a Choose Your Own Adventure Story
3. Collaborative brainstorming- every idea is included.
4. Classroom newsletter
5. Reading Response Journals

Practical Uses for Staff

1. Staff meeting agendas
2. Grade level notes
3. School plan document
4. Create a Google Doc for a lesson plan, share it with other teachers.
5. Try translating a document to give to non-English speaking parents.

In summary, I hope this post gets you thinking about the possibilities of Google Docs. This is an amazing piece of technology that will motivate and engage students to write, think, and learn. If you aren't convinced yet, take a look at this video that shows the power of collaboration.