Challenge: Google Docs

I created a Goggle Doc to share with my teaching partners that is a working list of all of our Title 1 Reading groups. While this may seem mundane, I am hoping that this will really help us with organization. In the past, one of us has been in charge of making one list or another which has lead to multiple versions, not knowing which is the most current, and not having access to copies when you need them.

Honestly, I have a decent amount of experience with Google Docs so it was quick and easy to use. Having the time to create this was nice though because we don't tend to do new things at the beginning of the year. The likelihood of us transitioning to Google Docs for all our shared work just went up dramatically!

The only thing I found challenging was the small changes from Word to Docs in the formatting toolbar. I couldn't find where to make the margins narrower and the formatting for tables is also different which was just a little annoying.

I honestly really enjoyed having the time and reason to do this over the summer before the cray beginning of the year rush.

I created this doc with the intention that we start to share all of our docs on Google so that we all have access to the things we create for our team. I think it will streamline a lot of processes for us. I plan to use this with my team. I have also been thinking about using this more with my 6th grade students for shared activities in writing group. They are highly motivated by using their Chromebooks at school so I think they would enjoy having an excuse to do an activity on them in group.

Google

Google Docs Challenge

by Katherine Ramsey

• What did you create, and why? 

         I created a Google Doc to send home with students on the first day of classes this fall. The letter has two main purposes: to give parents information about me and to get information from parents. The letter tells parents what supplies students will need, how they will be graded, and how parents can reach me. I ask for basic contact information from parents/guardians and ask if the student has access to the internet. I also offer extra credit for students if their parents send me an email (the act of sending me an email just about guarantees that my emails to them will not end up in their Spam folder).

• What went well for you?

        Most of this challenge went well. My familiarity with Microsoft Word translated over to Google Docs quite nicely. Formatting was essentially the same as with Word. I found the insert picture to work nicely and had a variety of pictures from which to choose. The fact that the document saves automatically made it to where I didn't need to worry about saving which is a nice feature.

• What was challenging?

         Some of the shortcuts in Word, don't work in Google Docs. In Word I type "--" and it makes one long bold line. In Google Docs, it makes two short lines. Not awesome. I couldn't find an option for inserting a date (in Word it is Insert - Date). I got over it and really decided that I didn't need a changing date - I just changed it to the school year.

• What did you enjoy? 

        I enjoyed using the Insert Picture function. There seemed to be more options for pictures than I had with Word. I enjoyed knowing that I have my welcome letter done and ready to go in September.

• What ideas do you have for using this tool with your students, grade level, staff or to communicate with families? 

         I will use Google Docs to communicate with students, parents, and colleagues. I like the fact that we can have ONE live document and collaborate on the document at the same time. I plan on using Google Docs for assignments - make a copy for each student. I'm looking forward to seeing all the ways I can use Google Docs in class.