Jul
22
Thing 20: Google Docs
July 22, 2008 | | Leave a Comment
I had started receiving Google Docs this past spring related to my son’s football team. The first time I got one, I was just paralyzed, not knowing what to do. Now, of course, I know what to do. In June, I created a word document as an itinerary for a trip to NY. I knew that my family (with the exception of my 17 year old nephew) would not know how to use it but I pretended anyway.
For this assignment, I created a table in word for participants to add a book they have read over the summer. There is one column for writing how you connected to the book personally. I want voice to be present whenever possible in student work.
I explored the spreadsheet and presentation areas, and was quickly flooded with ideas about how to use them. I think that after we have the students trained on how to use this, we should enlist them to train their parents. Just imagine: if you want to have a particular document signed by parents, why not have them visit Google Docs and “sign”. Then, I can go to one place to see all the signatures instead of going through a pile of papers and using a checklist.
Asking students to put a homework in Google Docs is another way to go. Worksheet type homework can be a Doc to be done online. How easy to check everyone’s homework in one place. No pile of papers without names to go through. No more checklists. Hooray!
