BP4_Google Docs

My Challenge Based Research(CBR) project is reducing paper use in the classroom.  So naturally, I began with looking at the assessment generators.  As I looked through them, I began to see the work that they would take and began thinking about the materials that my district provides me with.  Almost every textbook that we have has an online component which also has an online assessment tool.  I've utilized the quizzes that came with our reading series and have had great success with it.

So I thought about the other areas that we use paper.  My mind turned to the writing process.  Kids need to learn the writing process and also the skill of handwriting.  What they do not need to do it go through several sheets of paper in the process.  (I have had kids go through 10-15 sheets of paper for writing one story!)

In the beginning of this masters program I was introduced to many of the Google account features, one of which was Google docs.  It kept popping up in my searches for Web 2.0 applications!  Many brain started working through how I would teach 2nd graders to use this in the classroom.  This is definitely a skill that I will be teaching towards the middle of the year due to my students' ages.

I am fortunate enough to have daily access to a class set of laptops.  Most kids know what google is...in fact, it is a common verb in schools.  I also have a class website through our school webpage, so I would post a link there for easy access.  Once the basics of teaching students how to get to Google Docs, would come the steps to creating a document.  This is where a projector/whiteboard would come in handy.  I can guide my students through the steps to create a document.  Then model how to share the document.  And this would come in handy, so my slower typing students would be able to work on the document at home.


By the end of a typical year, my 2nd graders have produced several Word documents, at least one PowerPoint presentation, and several other computer based projects.  This application will allow those projects (document and presentation) to be accessible where ever they are, be it at home, school, the library, or grandma's house.  It will also allow me to check the writings from the computer marking any changes, just as our instructors have done in this program.  Other advantages are that the writing is less likely to get lost and students are more interested when you say it is going to be done on the computer.  I can't wait to try it out this year in conjunction with my CBR project.