A fourth grade teacher came to me in tears one day about her frustrations with technology. Her concerns were justified and we talked at length. The more we talked the more I started to smile. I thought, I know how to solve her frustrations and, better still, enhance her experiences. It all centered around an app called 'Google Drive'. As a district we have been using Google Apps for Education (GAFE) for a few years. Students are issued a Gmail account when they are registered, and it is used for various purposes related to the instructional goals of the teacher, and the individual needs of the learner. Google Drive is something teachers are fairly comfortable with: they use it to share documents with each other; they fill out forms online, and have a general sense of its function and flow. One step they sometimes miss is that they can use the Google Drive app, directly on the iPads, to collaborate with their students. Fourth Grade is a big year for writing. Teachers spend time building engaging writing curriculum ,and attempt to help students feel more comfortable with the writing process. Peer editing is a big part of this, and what better tool to use than GOOGLE DRIVE! So, we opened their pages document; copied and pasted the text in to a Google Document. We shared it with the teacher (giving her full editing rights), then shared it with a editing buddy (allowing commenting only). We then sat and watched... THE ROOM COME ALIVE! It was an incredible scene. The students were quite literally buzzing. And the teacher? Glowing! Positively transformed by the experience. Nothing can beat that look. Thanks Ms. Bailey for letting me be a part of it!
1 Comment
Laura
2/5/2014 03:58:21 am
I saw it in action today! Peers helping each other edit for punctuation on various narrative pieces!
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AuthorJanet Couvillion Archives
August 2016
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