We are currently experimenting with Google Docs in the classroom. Google Docs allows us to create documents, spreadsheets, and presentations online. This means that we can access our work from any computer that can access the internet. No more forgetting our USB keys in lockers. No more having to send our work using email.
- For more information about Google Docs, please visit the Google Docs tour.
- Students can log into our LDHSS Google Docs site here.
Here are some of the ways we hope to use Google Docs in our classroom:
Using Google Docs is not a requirement of our class and will not affect student assessment or evaluation.
- E78, R7C and R7F LA classes will be making our jot notes for our reading homework in Google Docs. Eventually, we will be publishing our reading responses on iread.LDHSS.ca.
- R7C and R7F History and Geography classes will be creating a KWL chart (Thing I Know, Things I Want to Know, Things I Learned.) As a class, we will be updating and collaborating on this page as we work through our unit on New France.
- Depending on access to the computer lab, we will eventually be doing collaborative writing online, including peer revising and peer editing.
Internet Safety
With Google docs, it is possible to share your files with a few people or publish it for the world to see. We do not want students to accidentally publish information online so the most important thing right now is for students to not add any personal information anywhere. For example,
- do not add phone numbers, addresses or email address to your contacts
- do not add birthdays to the calendar
- do not type in your name in a Google document. (Your name will automatically show up when we invite our classmates to work on the same document.)
Although the Google Apps suite comes with several features (gmail, calendar, docs, websites, and videos) at this point the only feature that we are using in the classroom are the Google documents.
Inappropriate use of school technology can lead to having your Google Docs account suspended as well as other more serious consequences.
- Students are not allowed to use the mail feature.
- Students are not allowed to create sites. (We will discuss websites later on in the year.)
- Students are not allowed to add personal information to their Google accounts (i.e. phone numbers, addresses, birthdays, names, etc.)
If students are interested in exploring these features, they should ask their parents/guardians about creating their own personal Google doc account.
How to hand in work to the teacher electronically
To hand in work to the teacher, open the Google Doc, click on Share > Invite People and type in Michael.Fuchigami at LDHSS.OCDSB.ca
(Please replace at with @ and remove the spaces. If you need help, please see me.)
This is an experiment-in-progress.
Using Google Docs as a literary tool in the classroom is cutting edge stuff. It will be a steep learning curve and we appreciate your patience as we develop some best practices.
We will be discussing Google Docs more in class over the next few weeks. Parents / Guardians, if you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact me at 613.843.7722 or via email at michael.fuchigami at ocdsb.ca
