Don't want to go back - and don't think I could!

After visiting Selwyn College on Thursday, I left feeling great about the work we are doing to improve writing using Google Apps for Education. As I started to reflect, I realised that Google Apps has not only changed the way I organise and teach my class, it has also changed the way I plan and organise myself. This lead me to thinking - I don't want to go back to how I did things before and I don't think I could!

Planning is easier! I have a planning template with all the stuff that doesn't change week to week and then I simply just 'make a copy' of the plan and add in the current weeks details. Everything saves automatically and I can access it no matter what computer I am on as long as there is an internet connection. I am able to check in on children's work and give feedback and feed forward and see what learning I need to address - informing my planning. I have shifted all of my diary onto Google calendars so that I am no longer bound to having to have a paper version of my events. I can also share dates with the children in my class so they can see what is going on in the year.

Children are more involved in class as well as at home. I am getting documents shared with me that are above and beyond what we are doing in the classroom. Some children are writing just because they want to write. Some children are emailing me photos of hobbies they do or they are adding it straight to their blogs and writing about them. 

Again, everything saves automatically!!! No lost work, time or effort - it just makes sense! My students are accountable for the work they are producing. They share documents with each other and use the comment feature to give feedback or feed forward. Things are more seamless because everyone has a Google account. Logging into new apps and websites supported by Google is a breeze. Children don't end up needing to remember password after password. 

I am hooked on Google and looking forward to what else we can achieve this year using it.