Google Apps for Educators

The technology supported by Google offers an exciting way for educators to help their students. After reviewing some of the things that they offer educators, I've discovered three tools that I really like.

• Google Earth's Sky feature. This feature is just like Google Earth, but it deals with astrology. It also affers an option for looking at the stars with the mythological symbols and their myths explained. I would use this feature in the classroom to help me prepare lessons about outer space, or even just constellations. I could also assign a child or groups of children an assignment to find a constellation and get the picture and tell the story about it. Because I will be working with fifth graders I will be able to use this app to help me introduce planets and the other parts of the solar system.
• Google News. This feature allows students to view contemporary headlines from around the world, or to search through news archives. It would be easy to use this with students who were doing reports. For an essay I would require one source from the time period that it took place. This would be easy for things from the 1950s on. This tool would really help the students understand what people were saying when their event happened.
• Google Notebook. This feature lets you save information you get from the internet, as well as commenting on the things you do clip in there. You can keep your notebooks private, or you can share them with the other people you want to contribute to it. This means that if I am making lesson plans on something specific and will need to bring in other information, I can put it all in one place. I can also have each student collect one piece of information on a certain topic and then put it in a notebook that I am sharing with all of them. This will allow them to all be a part of the learning that is happening in the classroom.

The apps provided by Google are amazing tools that can easily be used in the classroom to increase the learning and participation that students do. Another great app is Google Docs. This applications is the word processor for Google. It has a lot of the same functions as Microsoft Word. A great way to use this application with the students is in collaborating on a project. If they have to write an essay together, they can easily put it into Google Docs and edit it in real time with each other. It is also great because if they go home and edit it, the changes they make will be made in their partners paper also. Then, they can share the document with me when they are finished. This would allow me to edit the paper electronically, and they will instantly have a copy of what I edited. Google Docs allows a lot more freedom for editing in groups, and also for teachers who want to get the edited copies back to the students as soon as possible.

Technology has changed the way educators teach and interact with their students. There are so many tools out there for educators, there is no reason why educators should not take advantage of these tools.