Reflection- Everything Google!

This week in class was very eye opening! We worked with gmail documents, calendars, and igoogle. I never knew there was so much to gmail. I usually use my gmail as a basic email. I never explored all the possibilities gmail has to offer. You can use gmail document to write a paper and share it with your friends. Everything is there at your disposal while writing a document so it makes it a lot easier to send than using word processor. We also explored gmail's calendar application. I was very eager to try this because I am not very organized but now my whole life is scheduled out before me. I also set up a igoogle page that we put together in class. Using google has definitely simplified a lot of things for me. I am excited to get my igoogle to the way I want it. I have all the current websites I haunt listed for me. I have my google calendar in sight so I can check on my schedule.

So why is google so important for me to learn, you might ask. It is simply a tool I can use to keep things simple and keep technology in the classroom. I can use the google docs to have my students write papers and send them to me for easy access. I can use google calendar to keep my schedule for my classroom on task. I can also set my calendar so my students or their parents can see what is coming up in the future.

In class we got to watch video on using technology in the classroom today. It was truly astonishing all the uses for technology in the classroom. Most teacher today get frustrated by the use of cell phones in the classroom. The video suggested using the cell phone for pop quizzes. It just seemed to me that what the video was trying to get across is today it is so hard to get your students engaged in what is being taught. So a way to change that is to speak their language, so to speak. Kids today are all about technology (twitter, facebook, myspace, utube, etc.) so why not channel their excitement about technology into a better use? This video really changed my point of view on using technology in the classroom and ideas came to me that I had never thought about. I think it will be harder for me to include all technology has to offer in my classroom just because I hope to be teaching a younger age group but I will definitely try to think of all the ways I can engage my students through technology.