This course has been quite a journey for me.  I came in thinking that I already had a good understanding of using Google tools in the classroom.  However on the first day it was clear to me that how I was using Google tools was only the foundation for the endless possibilities I could explore over the time spent in class.

I have to say that I really enjoyed reading and responding to the "Think About Its".   I appreciated how meaningful and thought provoking the instructors posts were.  I really enjoyed the mix of their personal comments and questions, video selections and linked text.  I do plan to use some of the shared materials in the future with my team and students.

The work in this class really pushed me out of my comfort level and got me to be more confident with asking questions about using Google Tools.  At times the work on the practices and challenges felt pressing to me.  Although I have to say that I truly enjoyed working at my own pace, teaming up with other colleagues and fielding questions one to one with the instructors.  This model of learning got me to dig deeper into the challenges and to get excited about my final project; to improve my team's Google Site.

The class work really inspired me to rethink the possibilities with have a learning community Google Site.  I realized that the Google Site was a way to make sharing information more collaborative and that should be the nature of our site.  With that in mind it was exciting to work with my team mate to develop the "bare bones" of a new Team Google Site.  We worked hard to make the site more student friendly and be a site that the students would be more invested in using on a regular basis.  We were also inspired by  the methods used in this class.  We created short "Practice and Challenge" tasks for the students to complete to understand all of the components of the Google Site as a way to introduce the new Google site.  Some of the tasks are planned to be done at home to show parents as well.

Overall I found the class to be very useful and I am very excited to walk away from the course with meaningful work.  Thank you so much to our instructors for being flexible and sharing all of your knowledge with us.  I am really glad we know where to find you, both.  Not to be a kiss a@@ BUT I just wanted to say that you both are a tremendous resources for our school and our students and staff are so fortunate to be able to work with you!!

Here's to the last few days of summer!

Ethan's zoo

It was great to learn about the blogger gadgets today.  I was really excited to see that I can set my blog up to email my parents when I make a post.  The students really enjoy the blog I created at the end of the year.  However I found that not many parents were viewing my blog and no one commented on the posts.  I'm hoping that the email will encourage parents to take a look more often.