Imagine you have a class of 30 high school freshman who are beginning their first foray into learning a foreign language. You know that some of them may think that it will be fun and are wanting to learn but there will probably be students (more than you want to admit) who are only there because it is required and they could really care less if they know anything more than Hasta la vista baby or hola. How can you engage them? How can you tailor some of the language they learn to their interests? I think one small way is by using a Google Doc, a form to be specific to grab their attention and find out about their interests.
In class we created a form and then our classmates filled it out for us. It was amazing to get the real time information from them and have it all summarized for me. Not only was it easy for me to get the information I needed but it was in a simple, easy and interesting form for them. Many of today's students are more comfortable with technology than paper and pencil so by having them communicate their interests in a digital form will be more natural for them. Plus Google will tally the responses for you and give them to you either in a grid sheet with each students' name or with pie graphs.
I would post my form here but after it was working for an hour or so in class it is not working right now. I am communicating with Weebly about this. So of course technology is great but isn't perfect!
We also worked on using Google Power Point. I think what I found coolest is that if I make a presentation in Google drive and then link it to my blog any time I change or update it will automatically send the new presentation to my blog. That way if I have my students read information I have already prepared and posted online but tweaked I know they are getting the most up to date information. It seems to me that this will eliminate the need to reinvent the wheel.
The final beauty about using Google for documents is that you can collaborate with anyone, anywhere in the world on your work. In fact right now a friend from class and I are collaborating on work for next week's blog. I am able to type my notes and then she can view them or correct them. This has endless potential for students and teachers. As teachers we can collaborate with experts in our fields and other teachers to provide our students with the most up to date information. For our students they can easily collaborate on projects for class or even work with experts too.
Here is a link to my form online. It is a corrupt form!
In class we created a form and then our classmates filled it out for us. It was amazing to get the real time information from them and have it all summarized for me. Not only was it easy for me to get the information I needed but it was in a simple, easy and interesting form for them. Many of today's students are more comfortable with technology than paper and pencil so by having them communicate their interests in a digital form will be more natural for them. Plus Google will tally the responses for you and give them to you either in a grid sheet with each students' name or with pie graphs.
I would post my form here but after it was working for an hour or so in class it is not working right now. I am communicating with Weebly about this. So of course technology is great but isn't perfect!
We also worked on using Google Power Point. I think what I found coolest is that if I make a presentation in Google drive and then link it to my blog any time I change or update it will automatically send the new presentation to my blog. That way if I have my students read information I have already prepared and posted online but tweaked I know they are getting the most up to date information. It seems to me that this will eliminate the need to reinvent the wheel.
The final beauty about using Google for documents is that you can collaborate with anyone, anywhere in the world on your work. In fact right now a friend from class and I are collaborating on work for next week's blog. I am able to type my notes and then she can view them or correct them. This has endless potential for students and teachers. As teachers we can collaborate with experts in our fields and other teachers to provide our students with the most up to date information. For our students they can easily collaborate on projects for class or even work with experts too.
Here is a link to my form online. It is a corrupt form!
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