Progress to Date

It is hard to believe that our first quarter ends October 29th! Our entire student population received Netbooks about three weeks ago and I have been learning about Google Docs, slowly. So far I am very impressed with the program, though I still have lots to learn.

I started by taking each of my classes to the library computers because that way I had the aid of staff members and the library computers were a little more reliable for all students. My son, Logan, and I had set up a Google Docs account and composed instructions. This also required all students having a First Class account and that proved to be the first challenge, since I have several students who are new to our school district this year. Students set up their Google Docs accounts and put all necessary passwords in sealed envelopes in case passwords were forgotten. Those envelopes have been lifesavers on several occasion already!

The first assignment was to send me a document with research on the author, Shirley Jackson. Then I gave each student one of our vocabulary words and they had to set up a three-slide slideshow and share that with me.

From there I realized I had a huge mess. A document and a slideshow from nearly all of my 85 students. Thankfully a colleague helped me to create folders for each of my classes and in each folder is a separate folder for each assignment. This organization works wonderfully and I am already realizing how much more organized Google Docs is going to make me - let alone how much less paperwork I am hauling around!

Yesterday and today I paired students up to collaborate on a slideshow presentation, and they are getting the hang of how the sharing works! Last year it was the Netbooks that put all of my students, the haves and the have nots, on the same page as far as being able to word process documents, conduct Internet research and create slideshows. Now students are able to collaborate using Google Docs and there won't be excuses about losing work or their computer crashing as these documents can be accessed via Google Docs from any computer.

I still have so much to learn, but I'm very pleased by how well things have gone so far. I'm also pleased that the students are buying into the use of Google Docs and its features.