Thing #20 Googly Goop

Well...I really don't know why I kept putting this off. I knew it would be fairly easy, but for some reason, I just wasn't in the mood. I have to admit that I like the idea of being able to create a document, spreadsheet, or presentation and then being able to access the file from anywhere -- no more lost thumb drives...no more bad emails with attachments. What a wonderful concept. Even so, I kind of feel like it's just another forced assignment that I really don't need at this particular moment. Okay...enough whining.

As far as three ideas for using Google Docs in the classroom... hmmm... well... I do several collaborative activities when my juniors study the Harlem Renaissance. One activity is that they have to review several court cases and some Civil Rights Acts, and then they document their findings in a court notebook that I create for them. I'm sure this is something that we can do with a Google Docs spreadsheet. I could, also, have the students research at least one artist, poet, author, or musician (do this in groups of four) and then have groups create some kind of presentation over their findings, a presentation that they can share with their peers. And finally, I see this sharing thing being useful for the English department in general. Since we have to create a common assessment for every grading period, maybe we could do this through Google Docs. We could each be responsible for creating 5-10 questions, and then, we'd have a nice little test ready to go.

At this point, I'm really just thinking out loud. Sometimes, when I'm in my tired stupor, I come up with good ideas. Sometimes, it's garbage.