Google for Educators

The tools from Google Educators that I would be most interested in using in my classroom would be lead by Google Earth. It would provide my classroom with the opportunity of seeing large scale geologic features that they would otherwise not have the opportunity to see. I don't see being able to take my students on a field trip to the West-African Rift, but I can take them there through google earth.

Another tool Google Educators offers that I would be interested in using is the Book Search. All text books are expensive. In some classes, you can get away with sharing a book, and in some it is more difficult. If I were able to find study materials on the Book Search, I would be able to offer almost all my students a free way to get their information.

The last tool that I would be most interested in using is Google Groups. With it I would be able to post discussion points online that my students could respond to. I see using it kind of like blackboard, where there is syllabus and assignment information, but there is also a place for collaboration and discussion.

This is my first semester using Google Docs and I am amazed that I have never used it before. A huge advantage of using Google Docs with students is that you can all work on something together at the same time. The students can all work on the same letter, for example, writing and changing what they want in real time with other students. They can also all work on the same assignment on their own time. If one student wasn't able to come to class, that student would be able to go in and see what his peers had done without him and add in his input. I think these are great tools for teachers, and I look forward to using them all.

Jigsaw Method

If I had a classroom that was limited to five computers and was trying to engage the students in a Jigsaw project, I would have to use a little trial and error at first. I think that what would work would somewhat depend on the students themselves. I think that I would start by setting up a timer. Within the groups are "specialists" in their sections of study, and I would try to make it so that each computer could be used by one specialty. Where trial and error would come in, is finding out whether the students preferred to try to share the research within their specialty or work on an individual basis with a timer. The only time I have had personal experience with this type of thing was my first year of college and it did not go well, so I would be interested in seeing how utilizing limited technologies would work out.

The first advantage that I can think of for the Jigsaw Method, is that you can cover more material in less time. If you had a limited time to engage your students in learning about a broad topic, this method would help them all to learn about the subject in a quick way without cutting down the material. Another advantage could be that the students would be simultaneously having a secondary learning experience. They would be learning to work together, as opposed to against each other. They would also learn to count on, and be counted on, for material. Each student would feel equally intelligent when they were able to present what they have learned, as if they were the teachers.

Disadvantages to the method might apply more to older students than younger. Accountability would be an issue in an older group, because if one person doesn't pull their own weight or do their part, then the whole group suffers. In a younger classroom, you can guide what they do, and when they do it, but in a higher grade classroom, you have to deal with students who will not work, as well as students who don't come to class altogether. Another disadvantage might be that, by allowing the students to do their own research and teaching, it could prove difficult to test the students in their knowledge, because they did not all get the same set of information.