GOOGLE CALENDAR - First thing I played around with was the Google Calendar. As a whole, I have seen the use of this cloud device increase more and more the past two or so years. I would consider myself a passive user...I would have people's calendars listed that I needed to see for different purposes (the schedule of our Sped dean, general MVHS school calendars for field trips/meetings, school testing calendar) and would also receive the emails from other active users inviting me to things (reminders for department meetings, school emergency drills, etc. where I would simple click 'ok'). I had never set up any activities or added things for personal reminders.
I set up my calendar and added an fictitious IEP meeting for a date in August. It was easier than I thought. It was easy to input the emails of those who needed to be reminded.
I liked this as a meeting option. However, in Student Plans (the Sped program we use for all due process paperwork) there is already an 'email' option that attaches the official meeting notice to necessary parties. I'm not sure which I would use at this point....maybe both? I like that an automatic/default reminder could be sent out to parties in the Google Calendar.
I'm also not confident that I would use the Google Calendar for all my activities...maybe I'm a little more old fashioned in this respect, but I still like the old paper yearly planners...I like going to Target in the summer (all school supplies are out now, sad!), getting my fresh planner, and writing in things to see. I don't know if that will ever change for me! Perhaps if I had a smartphone with my electronic calendar more readily available, I would be more apt to use Google Calendar to organize my work and life?!
After taking the time to play around with it, I found it quite easy and I am no longer intimidated by it.
I created a document that I shared with 2 co-workers centered on a calendar for our 4th hour activities. In the past, we printed out a calendar, hand wrote in notes, and photo copied to share. For this activity, I created a chart document and typed in things. There is no need to photocopy and have paper copies of this, as we would all have access on our computers when shared.
REFLECTION - Overall, I think it was really useful for me to learn more about these cloud computing tools. They are gaining more and more use in our workplace. For "PROS", I see using them in a my personal work in terms of professional organization (calendar, meetings, collaborating with coworkers, creating documents to share as a department). We are frequently creating things that need to be shared with people in our department and this is an easier way to do so. For "CONS", I really can't think of ways this would directly impact my daily teaching or interaction with students. Most, if not all, of my students don't have the computer knowledge or skills to work with documents or interact in such a manner. I'm not sure how I this would be part of work directly with students...any thoughts?
Honestly, I don't use Google Calendar a ton either. I still use an old fashioned planner for most appointments. However, I'm so pleased you are no longer intimidated by google docs! And it looks like you found a really practical use that will save you time and energy. Well done! I have a feeling you are going to be using google docs this school year more than you think...
ReplyDeleteGoogle Calendar is a great tool to use if you have a classroom blog. It does take some getting used to, but if the calendar is embedded in your blog, it updates automatically and you don't have to go into your blog separately to change anything.
ReplyDeleteI look at Google everything as a new way for students to do the same thing, while also making it easier on me. Especially with their own Google email accounts, you can make separate folders for each student and basically have an online portfolio for each student. I use Google Forms as an introduction or closing assessment to see what they know. I agree with the drawback of students not understanding how to fully use the technology, though, I have run into that as well.
Good Post!
I like you love hitting up Target for that new calendar. It really is a beautiful thing. I would agree with Noah with how great it is to embed into a classroom blog with due dates and links to attachments which is what I used it for last year. My husband has been after me to create one that we would share with all both of our schedules on it....I can't quite get there and love the family calendar : )
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