Google Communities in the Classroom
Google+
This week I explored a really amazing resource: Google+. With Google+ you can discover amazing things created and shared by passionate people. You can explore your interests, group things you love into collections, join communities of people around ANY topic, connect with people who share your interests, and build a home stream filled with amazing content. You can visit Google+ from your web browser, safari or chrome on your iPad or computer, or you can install the Google+ App. This week I am focusing on Google+ Communities and the benefits of teachers using it as a resource for their classroom.
This week I explored a really amazing resource: Google+. With Google+ you can discover amazing things created and shared by passionate people. You can explore your interests, group things you love into collections, join communities of people around ANY topic, connect with people who share your interests, and build a home stream filled with amazing content. You can visit Google+ from your web browser, safari or chrome on your iPad or computer, or you can install the Google+ App. This week I am focusing on Google+ Communities and the benefits of teachers using it as a resource for their classroom.
What are Google+ Communities?
Google+ Communities are super easy to access and are great resources to learn something new each day. The communities are also great because you can help community members solve problems. You simply need a Gmail account to login, and then you have access to endless communities! You can go through the recommended communities, or search for specific topics that you are looking for. Once you find a community that sparks your interest, you can join to get updates, notifications, or alerts to learn new information everyday! I joined three communities that I thought would help me become a better educator:
Google+ Communities are super easy to access and are great resources to learn something new each day. The communities are also great because you can help community members solve problems. You simply need a Gmail account to login, and then you have access to endless communities! You can go through the recommended communities, or search for specific topics that you are looking for. Once you find a community that sparks your interest, you can join to get updates, notifications, or alerts to learn new information everyday! I joined three communities that I thought would help me become a better educator:
1. Teachers Helping Teachers
This community is dedicated to sharing ideas, tips, and strategies for teachers. It has over 30,000 members, which shows how much information you can access if you join the community. It is full of research articles, lesson plans, and even inspirational quotes that teachers may need to get through the school year. It has a lot of great tabs that you can click on to find advice over a specific topic you may be looking for. Some of the tabs that I found most useful were:
This community is dedicated to sharing ideas, tips, and strategies for teachers. It has over 30,000 members, which shows how much information you can access if you join the community. It is full of research articles, lesson plans, and even inspirational quotes that teachers may need to get through the school year. It has a lot of great tabs that you can click on to find advice over a specific topic you may be looking for. Some of the tabs that I found most useful were:
- Introductions: This is a tab, which allows you to introduce yourself, talk about what you are doing, and ask any questions that you have. It is a great way to get involved and meet other teachers!
- Discussion: Pictures, Videos, Books, Announcements, about what is going on in education. A tab that opens the door to discuss with other teachers on anything they are interested in.
- New to Teaching: This is the tab that I am most excited about, since I will be student teaching pretty soon. This tab has information from experienced teachers on how to tackle the first year of teaching. I found helpful resources on parent teacher conferences, how to prepare for my first day, and more! I think this is especially great because you have a community of colleagues that are there to support you when you take the first leap of solo teaching.
- Tips and Teaching: Tips for not just new teachers, but tips for everyone! How to manage your classroom, successful lesson plans, how to stay motivated, and more!
- In Over My Head: Stressed out? Don’t know what to do? Visit this community and go to the tab “In Over My Head.” You are not alone and can ask any questions you need by joining this community.
2. Gamification in Education:
This Community is dedicated to exploring game mechanics in education. I thought this was interesting because gamification is an approach to education that is growing, especially with the growth of technology. Like the Teachers Helping Teachers community, this community has a lot of helpful tabs. Some of these tabs include: examples, principles, and strategies. After exploring the different tabs, and scrolling through this community I learned two cool things.
First, I learned what gamification is. It is the teaching above the test, or using project based learning and gamification to encourage students to become lifelong learners in the age of technology. Using gamification, teachers can turn many types of activities into games. For example, think of Pokémon go. It got kids outside and moving around while also playing Pokémon. They took a traditional game that is usually done sitting and exchanging cards, and made it influence physical activity, nature, and also historical places. I learned that using games to teach students the information is a good way to use all of the skills that students use while playing games, and combining it to their learning process.
Second, I learned about a cool game that a teacher used in their High School classroom called the Alliance Game. This is a Political Science game that is designed to get students to role-play as world leaders in a political science simulation. This game was created and introduced by Shaun McMillan and he has produced a YouTube video that explains all of the details and how the game evolved into a successful gamification strategy. This game allows students to divide up into international teams and learn what it takes to be a president or prime minister, a secretary of defense, or even an economist or mad scientist. By exploring trade and getting introduced to new conflicts, each nation will learn about infrastructures or labor, armaments or weapons, civil things like national institutions, fossil fuels or natural resources, and finance by making large loans or developing currency. This game helped students be actively engaged in their learning and really understand what it takes to be a world leader. By using gamification, the teacher was able to get the students to apply what they knew about political science to a larger level and in context with how it affects the whole world. To learn more about the game, visit Shaun McMillan’s YouTube video and see how cool it is!
This Community is dedicated to exploring game mechanics in education. I thought this was interesting because gamification is an approach to education that is growing, especially with the growth of technology. Like the Teachers Helping Teachers community, this community has a lot of helpful tabs. Some of these tabs include: examples, principles, and strategies. After exploring the different tabs, and scrolling through this community I learned two cool things.
First, I learned what gamification is. It is the teaching above the test, or using project based learning and gamification to encourage students to become lifelong learners in the age of technology. Using gamification, teachers can turn many types of activities into games. For example, think of Pokémon go. It got kids outside and moving around while also playing Pokémon. They took a traditional game that is usually done sitting and exchanging cards, and made it influence physical activity, nature, and also historical places. I learned that using games to teach students the information is a good way to use all of the skills that students use while playing games, and combining it to their learning process.
Second, I learned about a cool game that a teacher used in their High School classroom called the Alliance Game. This is a Political Science game that is designed to get students to role-play as world leaders in a political science simulation. This game was created and introduced by Shaun McMillan and he has produced a YouTube video that explains all of the details and how the game evolved into a successful gamification strategy. This game allows students to divide up into international teams and learn what it takes to be a president or prime minister, a secretary of defense, or even an economist or mad scientist. By exploring trade and getting introduced to new conflicts, each nation will learn about infrastructures or labor, armaments or weapons, civil things like national institutions, fossil fuels or natural resources, and finance by making large loans or developing currency. This game helped students be actively engaged in their learning and really understand what it takes to be a world leader. By using gamification, the teacher was able to get the students to apply what they knew about political science to a larger level and in context with how it affects the whole world. To learn more about the game, visit Shaun McMillan’s YouTube video and see how cool it is!
3. History and Social Studies Teachers
The last community I decided to join is History and Social Studies Teachers because I thought it help me strengthen my knowledge of my content area. The community I joined has tabs over all different types of history: U.S. History, Government, Geography, and Economics. Within these, teachers have posted lessons, articles, or just fun facts about the content that you could use to engage your students. There is also a tab that is resources and tools specifically for those who teach Social Studies, helpful right? Going through this community, I learned some new things.
One thing I learned is about a resource called ThinkLink, which is a great way to create interactive images in the history classroom. One teacher provided an example of a ThinkLink that her and another teacher created over Westward Expansion. This teacher also discussed how they are starting to promote that students create the ThinkLinks they use in class.
The second thing I thought was helpful was information on how to use social media in the History classroom. According to one of the teachers in the community, giving students an authentic audience can motivate them to take more time in creating and reviewing their work. I learned some fun ways that social media can be used in a history classroom:
- Twitter: I could use the 140-character limit on twitter to get students thinking and writing with precisions. I could have my students write a twitter essay to focus on careful word choice while also reflecting on something they learned in my class.
- Facebook: Create a project where students create a Facebook Profile for someone we are learning about. This would be done with poster board, paper, markers, and other crafts. Students would have to give the person a bio, fill in the about page information, create a given amount of statuses, and add a profile picture.
How to use it in the Classroom:
Now that you have seen multiple examples of some awesome communities that google+ has to offer, lets look at different ways that Google+ could be used in the classroom:
COMMUNICATION! A Google+ is a great and safe social media tool to communicate with your students. You can create a profile and post statuses about course information, updates, and more. You can also use the Hangout to communicate with students, parents, or other teachers.
COLLABORATION! Google communities allow for the sharing of a variety of Google docs so that students and teachers can collaborate on projects at any time and can even access straight form their phones. Teachers can create a community for their class and post videos to the community that students can view. This could help students have extra resources, or if they need a refresher on what they learned. This can also be a good way for students to submit digital projects they have completed, for example having students post a video project they were assigned.
Google+ communities allow students to post videos, documents, or other materials. These documents posted to the community by students can become resources that future students of the course can use as references and study tools.