Thing 21

Wish I was there!!!

I had fun with all the Google extras. The calendar was a nice tool. Even though I do like my calendar on Entourage. However, this could be a great way to organize information. And this would be a tool that if you were willing to share with others could help parents and students. Especially int the older grades teachers could use this to mark assignments and due dates. When I was having to organize TELPAS I could have shared the calendar with other teachers and our principal. 

Google book search is a great teacher tool. Once you are teaching a subject you can find all types of resources. For example, I typed in rainforest and got a pretty good list of books.  Personally I was thinking that you could combine this with Library thing. If you find something on Google Book Search that you could like to remember place it in your library account. 

The picture sharing is also a great tool. While I enjoyed making photo albums I also liked searching through the pictures available. It seemed easier that Flicker to me. You could have students look up certain topics and see what pictures they find. In keeping with the rainforest theme I did find this:

Pretty amazing tree, huh? 

I will admit I am having some problems with Google Earth, both on my school computer and at home but I will keep trying. This was a great activity because I did not know all the features that Google had. I wish MISD would loosen their restrictions on Google. 

John