I am challenged by what to try to accomplish because I have students for ONE semester and then it changes. My thought is that I need to become proficient in the first semester, do some trial runs and then teach THEM to be proficient when I have a new group in January. I don't know...it is all I can dare to accomplish. My question is this:
Will the use of GOOGLE DOCS ultimately improve writing output by doing the following: allow greater ability to dialogue/conference about their writing, allow a chance to edit with them, make comments and help them to really zero in on their writing, thus allowing me to use the classrooom time for direct instruction?
WHAT DO I NEED? I need to learn Google Docs...I know nothing! I need a Docs Coach...desperately.
WHAT IS MY PLAN OF EXECUTION? First, I need to learn Google docs, then get my class set up with accounts to use it with me. My hope/goal would be to end THIS semester with using this format to edit/conference with them on at least ONE final paper and then determine if this has relieved me of classroom conferencing time to allow more direct instruction.
Maybe you could approach a small group of students, or as you said, one class. i feel your frustration concerning time in the classroom with students. i like your idea with classroom conference being done using google docs. also, have you asked them if they are familiar with google docs, maybe they are and could teach you.
ReplyDeleteI have the same project in mind and many of the same questions. I did take my students to the library to set up gmail accounts this past week and it went very well.
ReplyDeleteI had some general directions for setting up accounts and I added a small assignment so that students could send me their first document. I had a very strong student complete a trial with my directions, then he helped me in the first day of classes to set up student accounts. I also had the help of a tech staffer in my library who is using Google Docs with an adult education class that he is teaching. After the first day, my student offered to rewrite the directions for extra credit! Yay! He created very student-friendly directions. It helps to have support when setting up accounts.
Also, I required students to write down their user names and passwords. These were put into sealed envelops which I am keeping. This is because I teach freshmen and they will often forget this needed information.
I'm in the beginning stages with this, but also require the same coaching that you requested. I'm excited about this.
Kristi
I used google.docs quite a bit at the end of last year with my 8th grade students. Quite a few of them enjoyed using this format to conference with peers. It was nice that they could share with friends in other sections. I found it easy to use as well and generally tried to followup my comments by checking in with students to make sure they understood. While google.docs was very useful for making comments about substance, message, etc., it is not a very efficient tool to use for editing for mechanics.
ReplyDeleteYou will probably find that many students enjoy using this forum. A number of them will probably still prefer pencil and paper.
Kristi, could you send me the directions your student wrote up for google docs? Then I'll send them to everyone in our cohort-it might be useful to some other people! Thank you so much in advance.
ReplyDeleteI just ended a lesson with my college students and I am so frustrated, I could scream. We spent the ENTIRE class of 75 minutes trying to figure out how to set up accounts for them.
ReplyDeleteFirst, to do it WITHOUT an email with Google is a nightmare...not easy at all, and so we resorted to getting them to set up accounts.
THEN, some would just not go through at all. I worked with a poor kid from Vietnam and we tried over a dozen times to get it to go through and it would not. Kept saying your are not meeting the age requirement, your password does not work, or you are typing in the wrong security word at the bottom...which is almost impossible to read, BTW. I was ready to throw the whole idea in the toilet. We never got two of them set up. What the heck...
Then, they all use a different email for me and when the notice comes to me with their writing, it says, "sorry, Rosemarie is not authorized to use this" and I can't figure out why...I am lost, frustrated, and overwhelmed by this. If I can't get it straight, how can they?