#3 Google Sites

How can I start this? I absolutely love Google and once I was shown how to create a Google website, there was no stopping me! I love to play around and create. I guess you could call it my 'scrap booking'-a hobby. They say a hobby is something you do in your spare time, something you do for fun. They also say you should lover your job and do something you love to do. So what's the difference? I have found a way to use my hobby in my career. I have two examples of using Google Sites as a teacher.

First off, I've seen first hand how to create a site from a teacher's point of view. As I continue my work-study with Doc Waters, we create and collaborate with Google Sites. She and I have created three separate sites, one for each course she teaches. It's been amazing to brainstorm and deliberate the many ways of creating a course website. I love the idea of everything living online. Nothing ever gets lost! When you use it in conjunction with Google Docs you can't go wrong. You create in Google Docs, email in Gmail, display on Google Sites, share in Blogger and the list keeps going. Now that I've learned all this and actually created a course website, doing it in my classroom seems obvious.

This brings us to my second example. http://sites.google.com/site/projectclassroom/
This is the site I've all ready created for my English class at my old high school, Pine View. Although the information will change and I'll have a much better grasp of what I'm doing once graduated, this is a great start and a solid base to build from.

Now my classroom has entered the home of my students. They are able to retrieve information and their parents have everything at their fingertips (I hate cliches but seeing as nothing else comes to me at the moment). Parents of students like my brother, can have all the information their child forgets to mention, all of the actual times and dates of school functions, the where's and when's of my classroom. My colleagues have access to my information when I'm not there. They are able to add, critique, and give insight. This also allows me to spend more time with family. The fact that I don't have to live in my classroom while completing lesson plans or grading. I can take it with me, not that I encourage taking work home with you, however if it means more time for children and vacation--well you be the one to decide--to each his own.