Professional Learning Community

Wow, Google is even more amazing than I thought!  I learned so much in the Google Workshop today.  Thanks to all the members of the Tech Cohort, you did an awesome job!

I see numerous uses for Google in the classroom that I can use and for this reason I decided to blog about it.

Poplet: http://popplet.com/
As seen above, Popplet is an awesome Web 2.0 tool that is extremely easy to use and very suitable for the classroom.  As a teacher I can use this tool to create unit plans, providing a graphic layout of what I need to teach and how I want to go about doing so.  As a classroom tool, students can use this program to create graphic organizers when working on an individual or group projects.  It is a great way for students (and teachers alike) to organize notes, as you can insert text, pictures, and even links into your mind map.  It is a great collaboration tool.  The name of the user creating the Poplet populates the bubbles they are creating and there is also the ability to change the colour of text bubbles, which makes it very easy for a teacher to assess the work being done.

Google Sites: https://sites.google.com
Who knew creating and maintaining a Google Site could be so easy?  With the capability to insert pages containing lessons, using a classroom calendar, having a classroom blog and adding Web 2.0 tools like Google Docs, a classroom site provides a great forum for students to collaborate and share ideas, as well as keep organized.

Google +
Before this workshop, I saw the benefits of using Google + to communicate and gain resources with other teachers and teacher candidates, but I never considered its uses in the classroom.  For me, the most exciting part about Google + is the hangout.  Not only can students email pen pals from other cities, provinces, countries, they can now talk face to face with one another.  The possibilities are endless.   Think of the collaboration that can go on from one classroom to another.  Google circles as a form of communicating with parents is also an idea I had never considered.  What an easy way to keep the parents in the loop of what is going on in the class.

Blogger
As much as it pained me to start blogging, I must admit that more and more I am seeing the benefits of using it in the classroom.  It can be a great tool to help keep students organized (posting home work assignments, test dates etc.), but even more excitingly, it is a great way to encourage collaboration.  Posting questions and asking students to reply allows students to communicate with one another sharing their own thoughts, ideas, and even further questions.