Everything Google In the Classroom

I had no idea how amazing Google is! WOW, this week I have learned how to integrate so much technology into my learning. Looking back on my elementary education I feel like we never really used technology, it was just starting out and all my teacher's were old school. Since then I have been in many different classrooms and I have seen how as young as Kindergarten, technology plays a huge role in their learning. Google has so many components that will help me be organized as a teacher and help my students and their families know what is going on in our class room, with just a click of the mouse. By simply staring a GMail account, you open the doorway to so many new and fun tools that are free to use, which is huge for teachers. I never thought I would be making websites and blogging, but look at me go. This class has really shown me how user friendly computers are and that they will be a huge help to my teaching career. If I utilize the websites, calendars, Google Docs, and my blog, I will have more time to teach my students because I will be more organized and less stressed in my teaching. Not only will these tools benefit me they will also play a huge role in my students learning. Computers even though they didn't play a huge role in my elementary years, they will be to my future students. They are growing up in a more technological world, and I have to prepare them for that. Google Docs. is a great way for my students to collaborate and work together on stories and we can make a Calendar for everyone in the class and then put it all together and see how busy we are as a class and what we like to do after school, who is involved with what extra curricular activities and then we could even tie math into it and make a graph of our hobbies. As teachers you need to know how to share ideas and work with your cooperating teachers and Google Docs as we learned is a wonderful way to do that, and it is so simple. If you take the time to really learn what Doc Waters is saying you will see how it will help you with creativity in your teaching, increase your student/teacher time, and finally integrate technology into every aspect of learning.