Tool #4 Google Docs & Reader

1. I set up a google docs and brainstormed how I could use it in the classroom in the doc. I shared it with a co-workers and people I trained with this summer.

2. I set up a google reader and am subscribed to the following blogs: Anya's Annotations, Blithe Blog, Bloogers, VTechStudents, & the 11 Tools of Arbuckle.

3. I have always like GoogleDocs though I have not used it in the classroom yet. However, this year in my World History class after the students completed a research project, I wished I had used GoogleDocs. For one, it is good for the environment and saves students from having to print out everything. It also saves me from having to carry stacks of papers. Second, I think that the student groups would have had a better time working together on one final product if each group member had access to the document at the same time.
For my other class, Theory of Knowledge, students have to do several presentations and also editing of sample essays. I played with googledocs to see how the editting would work. I still have to work on this.
GoogleReader is new to me. If students have to follow several blogs for different classes or if they have to follow their classmates' blogs in one class, google reader definitely helps organize the information so that you don't have to search each blog separately. I also like the search feature. If students are supposed to or want to respond on a specific topic, they can type the topic in the search bar and all the posts that mention the topic appear. This saves a lot of time. I think it will be appealing to my high school age students that like to complain that they have so much to read.