Google Apps for Elementary Age Students

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Rodney Collins on March 21, 2015 at 10:10am

Hi, Jennifer!

I have had a little bit of success incorporating Google Drive in my grade 4 classroom. It was really easy for me to design a pre/post assessment using a form in Google Drive. My classroom has three desktop computers, and I was able to access the form on all three computers at the same time to get the entire class through the assessment while students were working to complete independent practice work.

While I would like to incorporate even more Google Apps in my classroom, I think that it is going to take some deliberate planning to get it done, and since I teach in a TAM classroom, my teaching partner must also be able to weigh in and contribute to the discussion as to what gets used, how it will be used, and when it will be used.

Hope this helps a bit,
r.

Permalink Reply by Jennifer Spicer on March 27, 2015 at 5:09pm

Thanks Rodney!

I also would LOVE to incorporate more apps within the classroom. I feel as though at the elementary level it will take a lot of modeling and time to get the students where they need to be to successfully use the apps in the appropriate manner. This summer I plan on reviewing many apps and the effectiveness of it supporting the instruction in an elementary school classroom.

Thanks for sharing your experiences,

Jennifer

Permalink Reply by Rodney Collins on April 5, 2015 at 9:19pm

Jennifer,

I think that you've come up with a great plan for strategically implementing the use of more apps within the classroom.  One thing that I think you'll find in working on this plan in the upcoming summer is that you will gain expertise yourself in showing students quality and worthwhile apps that will make a lasting impact in their learning, and you'll be able to anticipate where sticky or difficult problem areas may arise.

You are so right in feeling that it will take lots of modeling to make it possible for the students to successfully use the apps, but just imagine that the hard work that you put into helping them master the use of apps in the classroom will have a very positive ripple effect as they progress from your classroom to more advanced and complicated learning experiences in later grades.  You will have set them up for success, and they'll be in exactly the right position to build upon what you will have taught them.

Go for it!  I'm certain that you'll learn as much, if not more, than your students will throughout the process of helping them to use apps in the classroom.  Have a great spring break!

r.