I have been playing with Google Classroom for the last year. I was first introduced to Google Classroom through my Digital Fluency workshop that I attended last summer hosted by Region 10. I found at that time that it had not been turned on in my district and talked my boss into turning it on. From that time on I have "played" around with it. We didn't push it out in our district this last year because our students didn't have Google accounts. Without an educational Google account our students cannot access Google Classroom. However, my colleague and I have been using it this year to help facilitate our teacher trainings. We have decided that we are going to offer two different methods of trainings this next year. We are going to offer face-to-face trainings. Our other method is going to be through Google Classroom. We are going to post our video for the staff member to watch. We are going to require that the staff member create a product and submit it through Classroom and then they will take a quiz. Once the staff member has completed these then we will award them a badge.
We are going to be able to push Classroom more this year. In fact, we will be able to push all of the GAfE. Our students will have Google accounts. This is really going to propel us into the current instructional technology age. One of our goals is to move our teachers towards being Google Certified Educators.
One of the nice things about Google Classroom is that it does allow for the flipped/blended classroom. Students can work outside of school. They can pose questions to the teacher or even other students. It allow for a rich discussion with the discussion board. The nice thing about Classroom is that it allows for the teacher to post a discussion question, students can respond to the teacher and they can also respond to other students that have responded to the teacher. Some CMS don't allow for that. I also like the aspect of being able to create an assignment and to create a copy of whatever I might attach for each student. When I have tried to use other CMS the student has had to download a copy, work on that copy, save it on the computer, and then upload it. With Google Classroom each student has their own copy and it is saved in their Google Drive. It cuts down on many steps and makes things easier on both the student and the teacher.
One of the main questions my teachers ask me is: How can I use these different apps with my students? That is going to be one of our main trainings this year, integrating GAfE into the classroom. For me, I come at GAfE from the secondary perspective. My colleague comes at it from the elementary perspective...just our different backgrounds.
Google Forms
One of the apps that I have "latched" onto is Google Forms. I have been completing SO many tasks with Google Forms. One of the things I have discovered is the "choose your own adventure" form. The way that I have chosen to use this is not necessarily "choose your own adventure" but as a way to differentiate instruction. It is a quiz over the story that they have read. If they answer the question correctly it moves them on to the next question. If they answer incorrectly it will take them to a video they need to watch to help them in answering the question correctly. Here is a sample quiz: Paul Revere's Ride. Another way that I have suggested that teachers use Google Forms is for student reflection. The teacher can pose questions to the students to reflect on their learning and on the lesson.
Google Docs
This is one of the easiest apps to incorporate in the classroom. The teachers can make an assignment through Google Classroom. One of the students in a group can be the "owner" of the document and can share with the other members of the group. The students can create a product by using Docs. Students can be working in different parts of the document at the same time. Or if students are having to write essays the student can share the document with the teacher and the teacher can make comments to help the students in their writing. One of the projects that I would have students do is create a children's book based off of a poem (Paul Revere's Ride). They are to keep the important events. The students can use Docs to create the book. They can assign different events in the poem and each student can be working their section.
Google Sheets
I can see many possibilities for Sheets in the classroom, especially the secondary classroom. I can see this being very useful in the Science classroom. As they are doing experiments and need to keep track of data they can use sheets to keep track of it. It could be used in the Math classroom when it comes to graphing.
Google Hangouts
This is one of the GAfE that I haven't played with too much but I do know it's possibilities. One of the biggest advantages to Hangouts is if a student is having issues they can message (chat or video) someone in the class or even the teacher to help them answer the question. It is good if the student can go to another student. Sometimes the peer-to-peer is more effective than student-to-teacher. If teachers can connect to other classrooms around the country even the world it would give students a new look on the world. Take them places they may only dream of going. One of the things that I think of is my Holocaust unit I used to do in my classroom in connection to The Diary of Anne Frank play in our textbook. How richer/authentic would my unit have been if I had been able to connect with a museum in the United Kingdom that has a display dedicated to the Holocaust? Or to be able to connect with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C. and visit with a survivor? If Google Hangouts on Air is used that interview would be saved to YouTube and the students can go back at any time and watch it again.
I am very excited for our district this year with us fully supporting GAfE. We are going to have much more dynamic classrooms. I am hoping that we can work closely with our curriculum department to help push out GAfE. If we are able to work closely with them we know what they are wanting to accomplish and we can help our teachers reach that with GAfE.
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