Tools for Teachers

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Tools for Teachers
Margo Flege, Technology Coordinator St. Susanna
School http//stsusanna.swoca.net flegem_at_stsusann
a.org stsuetech_at_gmail.com
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Agenda

• Search Tools
• Personal Productivity Tools
• Google for Educators

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Search Tools

• Search Guides
• Explore Google Search

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Book Search

• Scholar

• Video

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Book Search
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Scholar
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Video Search
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Custom Search
Custom Search Example
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What is Google Labs? Google Labs is a playground
where our more adventurous users can play around
with prototypes of some of our wild and crazy
ideas and offer feedback directly to the
engineers who developed them. Please note that
Labs is the first phase in a lengthy product
development process and none of this stuff is
guaranteed to make it onto Google.com. While some
of our crazy ideas might grow into the next Gmail
or iGoogle, others might turn out to be, well,
just plain crazy.
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Personal Productivity Tools
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Ideas for Gadgets to Add for your Classroom

• Class calendar (set up through Google Calendar)
• Bookmarks to recommended web sites
• Science News
• Dictionary/Thesaurus
• News headlines for current events
• Bible verse of the day
• Word of the day
• Math puzzles
• Use the search to find something for your subject

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Google Reader
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Google Toolbar
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Calendar
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G-Mail
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Docs, Spreadsheets Presentations
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Instructional Ideas

• Elementary Assign Buddy Book Reports where two
  students read the same book and collaborate on
  their ?nal book report in an online document.
• Middle School Partner with a class at another
  school, enter data from the same science
  experiment in a spreadsheet, and compare the
  results online.
• High School In Economics, students can monitor
  and calculate their investment portfolio in
  spreadsheets when playing the Stock Market
  Game. Students can track speci?c stocks at
  different times of the day and share the data.

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Google Earth
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Classroom Ideas for Google Earth

• Create a tour of places (ex. Famous cathedrals,
  Battles of the Civil War)
• Look at the Google Tip sheet from the Google for
  Educators classroom ideas page
• Do a Google search for Google Earth classroom
  ideas
• Join a Google Group for additional ideas

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Classroom Idea
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• Google SketchUp is modeling software that
  empowers students to be 3D designers.
• SketchUp is a great tool for easily teaching kids
  to construct 3D models of buildings, trees, cars,
  and the like.
• You can use it as a stand-alone tool, or in
  conjunction with Google Earth and the 3D
  Warehouse.
• Students can use SketchUp to
• Visualize geometry and other mathematical
  concepts.
• Create models to learn about architecture.
• Design full-scale 3D environments.
• Easily share designs with others via the Web.

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Google Sites

• Blogger

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Blogger
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Using Blogs in the Classroom

• Classroom ManagementClass blogs can serve as a
  portal to foster a community of learners. As they
  are easy to create and update efficiently, they
  can be used to inform students of class
  requirements, post handouts, notices, and
  homework assignments, or act as a question and
  answer board.
• CollaborationBlogs provide a space where
  teachers and students can work to further develop
  writing or other skills with the advantage of an
  instant audience. Teachers can offer
  instructional tips, and students can practice and
  benefit from peer review. They also make online
  mentoring possible. For example, a class of older
  students can help a class of younger students
  develop more confidence in their writing skills.
  Students can also participate in cooperative
  learning activities that require them to relay
  research findings, ideas, or suggestions.
• DiscussionsA class blog opens the opportunity
  for students to discuss topics outside of the
  classroom. With a blog, every person has an equal
  opportunity to share their thoughts and opinions.
  Students have time to be reactive to one another
  and reflective. Teachers can also bring together
  a group of knowledgeable individuals for a given
  unit of study for students to network and
  conference with on a blog.
• Student PortfoliosBlogs present, organize, and
  protect student work as digital portfolios. As
  older entries are archived, developing skills and
  progress may be analyzed more conveniently.
  Additionally, as students realize their efforts
  will be published, they are typically more
  motivated to produce better writing. Teachers and
  peers may conference with a student individually
  on a developing work, and expert or peer
  mentoring advice can be easily kept for future
  reference.

This article was published in Teaching Today
contributed by Mollie Crie, from Bedford County
Schools in Forest, Virginia.
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• You can organize photos of your class and special
  events, and make each of your students a photo
  CD.
• You can also create Web Albums for students to
  access from home, and integrate photography into
  your courses by having kids take lesson-related
  photos, post them to their Web Albums and present
  oral reports.
• Journalism students can keep all photos for each
  edition of their newspaper or magazine in one
  location, so they're easy to see and find.
• Students can use Picasa and Picasa Web Albums to
  supplement their research and presentations in
  almost every subject they study.

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Google Apps Education Edition

• Gmail - Offer email to your faculty, students and
  staff
• Google Talk - Teachers and students can call or
  send instant messages to their contacts for free
  -- anytime, anywhere in the world. Imagine the
  possibilities for people collaborating on
  projects from different locations.
• Google Calendar - Everyone can organize their
  schedules and share events, meetings and entire
  calendars with others. You can even publish the
  school calendar on your website to let families
  know about events like back-to-school nights,
  homecoming and vacation days.
• Google Docs - Students and teachers can create
  documents, spreadsheets and presentations and
  then collaborate with each other in real-time
  right inside a web browser window.
• Google Sites - Create a class site and edit it
  the same way you'd edit a document -- no
  technical expertise required.

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Other Resources

• Web Search Lessons
• HELP resources

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SUMMARY

• Sign up for free Google account
• Customize your home page
• Explore the tools in Google for Educators
• Download the crib sheets from the Classroom
  Activities section
• Checkout the NECC presentations for more ideas
  (in Classroom Activities)
• Start Googling!

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