Thing # 20

Google Docs

I have already used Google Docs in the past, without knowing what they were or how to create them. When I filled out information or completed an application piece for one of the staff development courses I have attended, I had used this documents believing they were some sort of websites that provided this service to the district or something like that. I did not know that the presenters themselves have created these documents where they later shared the information with all the participants.

So now that I know what Google Docs are and how they work, I think that these documents can be a great source of information for other teachers and students.

1. You could create a document that could be titled INPUT FROM STAFF DEVELOPMENT COURSES, which could include the name of the staff development course that a teacher has taken, the name of the teacher that took the course, a reflection upon his/her learning, and ideas or suggestions to apply their learning in the classroom.
2. You could create a spreadsheet where the teachers can put the results from their students so you could have your ASSESSMENT WALLS online, to plan for strategies to use for the whole grade level.
   
3. You could teach your students how to create a CLASSROOM PICTURE DICTIONARY FOR MULTIMEANING WORDS, that could grow as they find new meanings for those words.

During my Discovery Exercise, I created a Google Doc for FALL PARENTS - TEACHER CONFERENCES. It is very simple, but it is useful to document your communication with parents.