Week+of+March+16,+2009

This week, I want to focus a lot of this email on Google Documents. Google Docs are free productivity tools by Google that offers versions of Word, Power Point, Excel, and Forms. All you need to do is register with Google for free, and you can start using this service. I'd suggest using your school e-mail address because sharing documents is what this is about. Since you'll want your students to share their work with you, they will need your e-mail address to do so. More in Teaching Tips below.

=Interesting Web Sites= First, a few sites that aren't related to Google Docs:

[|Shmoop]: Quite possible one of the best web sites I've seen in a long time. Shmoop is created by Ph.D. and Masters students from top universities - primarily Stanford and U.C. Berkeley. Many of them have taught at the college and high school levels. This site has a growing list of literature, poetry, and events in US History for students to use as a study guide to what you're teaching. For example, [|The Great Gatsby], offers summaries, themes, why it's important, quotes, plot analysis, study questions, characters, literary devices, and did you know? For US History, [|World War II: The Homefront], it offers: an Intro, why it's important, timelines, in-depth readings, people, did you know web sites, and citations. For Poetry, [|The Red Wheelbarrow], it offers an Intro, why it's important, the poem itself, summary, technique, themes, quotes, study questions, did you know, and how to read a poem.

For all of these, students can share the pages, cite the pages, and get PDFs of the information. Students can also create folders to organize what they learn. With it being online, they'll never lose their notes.

[|Tatango]: This site allows you to create groups so you can send a text message or voice mail to groups, similar to Henrico's phone system when you get that call about school being closed because of snow. Anyway, I thought this would be useful for coaches. As a **coach**, you can enter your parents phone info in Tatango, and then, when you're at a game/match, you can send one text message using Tatango which will allow all your parents to get the message, like when to pick the kids up from the game!

[|Women's History Month]: TED Talks are great lectures from prominant people. These talks are from Author and activist Isabel Allende, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (former Finance Minister of Nigeria), Nalini Nadkarni (a scientist), and Nellie McKay (a performer). Here is a sample (use your override if it's blocked): media type="custom" key="3496946"

[|The Farm Letters]: This is a journal about the Great Depression written by real folks.

[|Flash Cards]: I'm always looking for sites that are "flash cards" for students. This is a good one for kids to review and study with and also includes flash cards others have already created. What's unique about this is that it tracks when a student gets a vocabulary word correct or not. If they get it wrong, the word will appear again soon. If they know the word, the word won't be repeated again for the next few attempts.

=Teaching Tips= Here is a video that easily explains Google Docs: media type="custom" key="3496990"

Here's why you want to do this as a teacher: =Student Work= Here is an example of students in Ms. Galloway's class that collaborated on this presentation about //Night: media type="custom" key="3497070" Now, I think the presentation is a little too busy (too many words), but, they were all able to work on the same presentation at separate times. They all went home, logged in, worked on the same presentation, and were able to come to school with the updated version for one final edit. They really thought this was easier. Plus, Ms. Galloway was invited on it, so she also had their assignment and could have watched it get created if she wanted to.
 * 1) Word documents can be uploaded, and Google Docs can be saved as Word Documents.
 * 2) Students have zero excuses for work being turned in on time. As soon as it's assigned, they add you as a collaborator. This allows you to watch their entire writing process. On the day it's due, all you do is read the document.
 * 3) It's web based. No more: my printer crashed, my printer ran out of ink, I don't understand SchoolSpace or Virtual Share. They can never lose this document unless if they delete it.
 * 4) It works on any computer, so if their computer crashes, they can get to it on the loaner, a library computer, or any other computer they can get to.
 * 5) You can easily organize the documents by block or assignment.
 * 6) It's a collaboration tool. Students can share these documents and collaborate on projects anytime of the day.
 * 7) It includes Power Point and Excel.
 * 8) It's a 21st Century tool.
 * 9) It saves paper and photocopying headaches.
 * 10) It's the real world. You can teach your kids about how the real world works, or handicap them by teaching them out of date methods.
 * 11) Past versions are saved. So if you want to see what the document looked like 4 hours prior to the final version, you can.
 * 12) You may also want to become familiar with this because our new laptops will probably come with Office 2007. Word, Excel, and Power Point 2007 are VERY different than what you are used to. So Google Docs will probably be easier for you to figure out.
 * 13) All Google Docs can be published as a web page. Furthermore, Spreadsheets and Presentations can be embedded in web pages like this one (see below).

=General Notes= I'll at a meeting March 20 and be at Deep Run High School on March 24 and 25.

Google Docs saves time, money, and resources. It also teaches students about collaborating. It will take a little bit to get used to the format of Google Docs. But trust me, the 30 minutes it might take are a lot shorter and easier than what Office 2007 will throw at you.

I'll say it now, and you can debate me if you want, but tools like this are essential for teachers to learn. Teaching is a profession that changes yearly and it's tough for teachers to keep up with all the changes. Most teachers do try new things each year, but many do not and become comfortable with what they've done for years. I've seen most of the teachers at HHS change how they teach and with the new laptops coming next year (which may be a 6 year deal, I don't know), I don't think any teacher can be technologically illiterate anymore. There can be no more excuses for learning about these new tools and Google Docs is one of the easiest and most useful. Most importantly, it helps our students understand the tools they'll need to use in the workforce or college. Can we really send them from HHS unprepared for their future? =School Space= I'm still trying to get people to think about using Discussion Boards in their class. So, I've set up a discussion board in School Space. It's controversial, so please join in! You can find it in the [|Henrico Faculty Community Group]in School Space, just go to the home page of the group and you'll see the discussion for National Standards on the right-hand side.

=Reminders=
 * Back up your materials!
 * Go to [] for assistance
 * If you had ideas about how to inform new teachers next year about Quality Questioning, send your info to Philip Evans in English.
 * Looking for something to do Friday evening? Head down to your local Borders bookstore for a "special reception" to kick off educator appreciation week at Borders. From March 19th through the 25th Borders is giving current and retired teachers a 25% discount on just about everything in stock. Click here to read all of the details.