GCE L2 Unit 8 & 9 Review

 In Unit 8, we were shown the crazy amount of interactive sites and tools that Google provides for the classroom! There were the known ones, like Google Meet, YouTube, and Google Earth/Street View. These have been around for a while, yet not always made useful in the classroom. For me, I didn't know that Google Street/Earth have been upgraded to be used in the classroom for students to really understand the world around them. Knowing that my school uses Google Meet daily, I know the benefits of using it to make sure that students are signing into class, attending lessons, and understanding material from a distance. Lessons have been recorded and played back or sent to students who missed class. YouTube live was not something I had thought of. This might be more useful for when we have people coming to teach the class. Google Earth will be useful in social studies! We are talking about the world around us and students don't always know how big the Earth really is. This can put things into perspective. This can also be used for science when we are talking about rotation and what is happening on the other side of the Earth. I am excited to try and use Google Maps to track character movements in stories. We read "The Watson's go to Birmingham" and "Bud Not Buddy", both have characters that are moving around a lot. This will help the students actually see how much ground is really covered. I am excited to play with these tools in my classroom!

Unit 9 excited me the most!! In fifth grade we write a fairly large research paper. This is the largest and most complex paper they have ever written. I showed the students Google Scholar, but I was not familiar with all of the new criteria that can be added. I was so interested in this that I actually spent time looking into what it looks like so I can share what I have learned with the teacher that plans our writing units. The other thing that interested me was that students are now able to search from their document! This is phenomenal! My mind was literally blown! Knowing that my students STRUGGLED with staying focused on their paper and finding information this is a huge help. Not only that, the ability to cite right there on Google Docs is INSANE. Students also struggled with citing their work. Works Cited pages are hard in general and trying to explain what is needed and how to put together a proper works cited page virtually is even harder. The ability to cite in Google Docs and even add a footnote made me so excited that I texted my co-teacher right away! (I know that I will be using this feature when I am getting my masters!!) I can't wait to use this next year and to show that this is a resource that is free and easy to use. Everything we need in one place! Currently we are having to use multiple sites and put it all together. Now it is neatly put there on Google!

I am also excited to use Google Translate! For the past 2 years, I have had the pleasure of teaching students who have limited to no English. Using Google Translate has come in handy recently, however I have always known I can use it more. Now that I know it is embedded in Google Docs, I will be using it more! I will also be showing my students who need it that it is there and they can type answers in their own language and translate it. They can take a worksheet and translate it to their native language and understand it better! One of my students always has Translate open in the background, showing him this, will change the way he does his work! I can't wait to use it! 

Units 8 and 9 have opened my eyes to new ways to use the apps that I have been using. I can't wait to explore these applications more. My students have no clue what I have planned!!