Classroom+Use

Below is how our group has been able to use Google in our classrooms:

**Please provide the following information in your post:**
Name: Subject/Grade Level Google product you used Description of the activity Reflection

Name: Marlinda Beachy Subject/Grade Level: High School Google product you used: Google Sites Description of the activity: I set up a googlesite for my high school classes, so that I can post assignments there and kids can check there to see what they missed. Reflection: I hope to post assignments here on a daily basis. []

Name: Sue Schweinfurth Subject/Grade Level: English 10, Adv. Comp 11-12 Google product you used: Google Sites Description of the activity: Posting weekly lesson plans for students to use Reflection: I am creating a site for students to use to find weekly lesson plans if they are absent or forget assignments. I hope to update this weekly so that students and/or parents can keep track of what is happening in my classes.

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 * Name**: Briana Goodenbour
 * Subject/Grade Level**: Geometry, 9-11th grade
 * Google product**: Google Presentation
 * Description**: With a partner, students created review presentations to prepare for the midterm. I gave students 1 1/2 days in class to work on the presentation and they were required to share the document with their partner and myself. Here is the assignment and rubric I gave the students:
 * Reflection:** I felt the students did a great job with the project. I ran into a couple of issues with the computers. In order for students to create a presentation, they had to use Google Chrome, however that was not installed on the computers. So students had to download Chrome (which took 5-10 minutes) at the beginning of both classes. I also had a few issues with log-ins, but that is to be expected the first time. Once students got working, they had some questions, but most were able to troubleshoot for themselves. The sharing feature worked wonderfully and the fact that students were able to work on the project at the same time and at home really helped with getting the projects completed faster and of better quality. I will definitely use Google Presentation again.

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 * Name:** Leane Yoder
 * Subject/Grade Level:** Algebra/8th Grade
 * Google product:** Google Forms (Survey)
 * Description:** The students were to take this "survey" to review the topics of one of the units I taught. My goal was to score the surveys and group students according to how they did so I could do some re-teaching to small groups of students that needed it. I have included a link to the survey I gave.
 * Reflection:** I did not have the students login to an mphawks.org account. Instead, I posted the link on my school website and asked them to include their name on the survey. This worked fine and all of the students that completed the survey included their first and last names. The problem I had was that I gave students some time in class to do these surveys, but they also had other tasks to do. Some students did not give themselves enough time to complete the survey within the class period. When it was time to close out of the computers, many of them lost the work they had completed on the survey and could not submit their work and restart because I made it requirement to answer each of the questions. Another problem I ran into was that many students did not get it finished in class and then they said it didn't work on their computer at home or they did not have internet, and they had no study halls. If I were to do something like this again, I would plan to give time in class and have everyone do the survey at once.


 * Name:** Tamara McClintock
 * Subject/Grade Level:** American LIterature 11th grade
 * Google product:** Survey
 * Description:** After reading philosophy excerpts by Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, I created a survey where the students had to answer the question: What is your philosophy of life? Here's a sample of one student's answer:

// My purpose in life is to always stand by my family and friends no matter where life takes me. dont ever give up on what you believe in. always believe and never give up. Dont ever give up on your dreams. always stand by the ones that love you and care for you the most. Live your life to the fullest and dont take one day for granted. I personally want to live my life for god. he has always been there for me and i dont want to let people down. live your dreams and go as far as you can go. // The next step was to take their initial thoughts and write a coherent, well-organized essay.


 * Reflection:** When the students were logging into the survey, there was a problem with some students not getting their password to work. At one point, I just let them do it without a password if they could. To be honest, I'm not sure that the technology component added much. I usually just have them write the answer to the question in their journals, then discuss it with others before writing the paper. That method worked just as well. I won't be here next year so I won't be doing this survey again. Maybe my successor will want to do it!

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 * Name**: Jodie Cue
 * Subject/Grade Level**: FLASH/7th grade
 * Google product**: Google Forms (Pre and Post test)
 * Description**: The students will take this test the first day of class to see what they know about Family life and Sexual health;then give the same test again the last day of class to see growth and gaps of learning.


 * Reflection:** I am using google docs to organize and keep the tests in one spot.

Description of the activity: The students had finished taking notes for a research paper. They were to take this survey before starting their first draft, as a formative assessment. []
 * Name**: Kym Kral
 * Subject/Grade Level**: 6th gr. Language Arts
 * Google product you used**: Google Forms (survey)
 * Reflection**: I had the students log onto mphawks.org with their account passwords--all worked except for 3 students. Beth Swantz fixed by the next day so they were able to quickly catch up with the rest of the class. Since the students hadn’t started their first draft yet, this survey was used as a formative assessment. After answering the questions, it prompted them to decide if they needed more notes, needed more reliable websites, or were ready to begin their first draft. I could then see how many students were still researching and how many were starting their drafts. I liked being able to quickly access this information.


 * Name:** Jenna Grout
 * Subject/Grade Level:** School Nurse
 * Google product:** Health 504's
 * Description of the activity**: I plan to use google docs to incorporate health 504's at Kalona Elementary, Washington Township Elementary, and the middle school for the 2012-2013 school year. This is something we want to incorproate as an at risk group to keep consistency among the schools. We also want the members of our at risk group to be able to access the 504's as necessary.
 * Reflection:** I haven't had the opportunity to work on any of the 504's yet, but plan to incorporate some of them in the fall. This will give me an opportunity to use this information with staff and parents. I will be able to access all 504's in the same location by having them on my google docs.

What I would really love to be able to do is to embed a smart document into a google site, enabling them to use the smart board for review activity options, I don't even know that this is possible.
 * Name **: Jessica Jones
 * Subject/Grade Level **: AP Biology 11-12th grades
 * Google product you used **:Google sites
 * Description of the activity **: I plan to have my AP Biology students work in pairs to create a review website for the national exam in May. I am planning to give them 2-3 1/2 blocks to work on this assignment.
 * Reflection: **I have been looking for a way for students to help with the course review process. I think a google site will work well for this because I can require certain pages, overview, helpful diagrams, review activity or quiz etc..., that I want the students to create and they can work together with their partner to create it and can access it from anywhere when they have time to review. Once I create my example site I will roll out the assignment to them.


 * Name**: Erin Cavanagh


 * Subject/Grade Level**: Practical English/ 11th-12th


 * Google product you used**: Google Presentation


 * Description of the activity**: With a partner, students will be planning a vacation. They will research the city, find prices for airplane tickets, find lodging, research activities to do, and find places to eat. They will have around five 1/2 blocks to work on the project. They will present their vacation plans with the class.


 * Reflection**: I am hoping the project will work using Google Presentation. I am worried because these students do not have much experience/expertise with technology compared to other students. They do not troubleshoot well on their own. I am looking forward to the partners adding to the presentation at the same time. Before, students both researched, but one took charge of the PowerPoint. Eventually, one student ended up sitting there while the other one inputted the information. Hopefully using Google will help keep all of the students involved.

Name: Elsa Schmidt Subject/Grade Level 10 grade/District Ag Teachers Google product you used: Google Presentations and Google Docs / Google Survey Description of the activity: With my Natural Resources Class, I have them do a presentation and paper on different crops each year. The students usually work in pairs and it is difficult to share information back and forth. Google Docs and Presentations solved this problem. Students could work on multiple items at a time, Presentations and Docs, as well as share their most recent copy with each other. For the survey, I am asking fellow ag teachers to let me know how we can change the process for evaluating Iowa FFA Degrees. It allows me to get feed back with out necessarily having to contact all of the teachers one by one. Reflection: I really appreciated that I could at any time look at the progress of the students to see what they still needed to finish. It also made it easy to present the materials. Students liked it that they could work from home or on the project from anywhere without worrying about needing a flash drive or email. For the survey, I had some problems getting the survey sent out correctly so that advisors could take it. I think that I have this solved now. I am looking forward to making more surveys in the future.


 * Name**: Krista Stutzman
 * Subject/Grade Level** Freshman Seminar (through Senior)
 * Google Product used**: Google Sites

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 * Description of Activity**: I did sort of a pilot project with my freshmen seminar. The idea was to create digital/online versions of their seminar binders. Anything they were asked to put into their binders throughout the year, I also asked that they put on their websites in digital form (for example, PEP and Silver Cord forms, Fitness Testing Results, etc). Because the students' sites are not available pubicly (only I, their parents & the students can view them for now), I can only share with you the site I created to guide them through the creation of their websites.


 * Reflection:** As is always the case when using technology, you have to go into this with some added flexibility & patience. When we started, the kids did not have their MPHawks accounts, so some struggled with remembering their passwords to Google for several sessions. Also, I had to do some trial and error to get some documents that I created and shared (using Google Docs) to be able to be edited by individual students (they must first save their own copy). Also, there was difficulty in getting the students' grade documents in a digital form from Power School as individual documents (vs scanning each one individually). But, in the end, I decided not to have them put their grades on the sites for confidentiality reasons. However, I will have them do reflections on them. These are still very much a work in progress, but I see great potential in the use of Google Sites for digital portfolios. The kids can individualize them (adding photos, text) and can also do some reflection on everything they add to it.