Google sites ... continued

What ...

This week we did a few things. First, we continued on using google sites. Since I missed class I never received the instruction in the first place. I am grateful to see that the original assignment of creating a lesson/unit plan wasn't to prepare the google doc as its own final website (as was my understanding) but instead to be a part of a larger google site. Then we quickly took a glance at our upcoming assignment which is to begin the short film/slide show project.

So What ...

So -- obviously we learned how to begin attaching multiple pages and projects to a singular google doc (which would be very helpful in creating class websites, assignments, links and so forth). Yes it is a lot of regurgitation from the UEN assignment, but google docs are easier to use and manage (so long as the web is working). It would be feasible to create sites for multiple classes and sessions and readily update them using such a simple tool (especially if I create my lesson plans in google docs in the first place).

Now What ...

I apologize for the redundancy in text, but now I can use these ideas to formulate the beginnings of unit and year plans. I can create templates and pages that later I will be able to formulate according to the needs of my current students. After doing my TWS assignment for the curriculum, instruction and assessment course, I used the website the teacher had. Unfortunately this fell flat. The students weren't accustomed to being referred to the web even though they all said they had access to the internet and personal computers at home. It let me see that to use the web as an effective learning tool; I would need to begin at day 1. Also, many of the teachers I spoke with rarely used technology in their own classrooms because they had not received enough group and individual training in the materials offered them in the first place. I don't want this to be me. I need to be able to frame reference and support work on the web, have my students create assignments that are multi-model in nature. It is one way to try to stay current and build on a foundation that will only continue to engage young minds.