GCE L2 Units 3 & 4 Reflection

 Unit 3 was all about maximizing what Gmail and Google Calendar can do for you! The appointment slot option will be super helpful when setting up meetings! This paired with the template emails will make communication easier! Not only is it streamlining how you schedule and communicate, it is ensuring that you are not double booking yourself, or forgetting something important in an email. Unit 4 was helpful for a reminder of all the ways that you can use Google to contact parents. How you can use Google Sites, Forms, and other summaries to communicate needs with parents. Google Classroom can share with parents automatically but it can get to be a bit much. 

My school uses Outlook instead of Google for email. Honestly I can only see the possibilities of switching to Gmail. The biggest upside I see is for parent teacher conferences! Having parents sign up with a unique meet code and using the appointment slot would be great. The templates would be great for reminder emails!

I use Google Classroom Guardian summaries to communicate missing work with parents. The one flaw is that there needs to be follow through on the parent's end too. I have used Google Forms to collect interest on things that we might do in the classroom or better ways to communicate with parents. I have yet to try Google Groups as my school uses Outlook, but I can see that this will help with the weekly communication to parents. 

Comments

  1. Lissa BrunanFebruary 22, 2021 at 6:46 AM

    KeriAnn, great summary. It's a bit unfortunate that you can't immediately utilize some of what you learned b/c you're using Outlook, but if there ever is a discussion to switch, you'll definitely have some added benefits for teachers/parents ready to put on the table! I agree that there should be some sort of parent follow through element in Guardian Summaries. Any suggestions/ideas? I know Google is ALWAYS looking to update and make things more user/friendly for the education community! Don't be shy in sharing your feedback: https://support.google.com/edu/classroom/answer/10011324?co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop&hl=en

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