Organizing My Online Life

As teaching interns trying to develop into leading educators in high schools, implementing new tools that can aid students to reach their full potential should be of high priority for us. With that in mind, we were assigned the task of mastering a certain technological resource, not only for our own use, but also to be able to instruct a couple of our peers to utilize the tools beneficially as well. All the tools served some different uses, and so making the most of this assignment was important for us interns. I was assigned to master Google Drive, a storage/creative resource that I already had some familiarity with, and also is a resource we've seen used at Scarlett Middle School, so we know it has real-world application and benefit.

Leading up to my presentation for my peers, I tried to get more well-versed in the areas of Google Drive that I wasn't as familiar with. While I was pretty capable with the apps Google Drive offers, I was really impressed with some of the features it has to aid users. Things such as offline usage, add-on attachments to apps, and the cooperative abilities of Google Drive are things teachers can definitely utilize to streamline some of the assignments they give to students. Check out this video of Drive (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WTE6pa-EY4). 

On the day of the presentation, I really wanted to make sure my peers knew about the possibilities Google Drive offered. I honestly felt invested in Google Drive to the point that I wanted to compete with those who were presenting other technologies, and show them how Google Drive was superior to any other resource. However, after taming my competitive spirits, I recognized the need for collaboration on this assignment, and did my best to offer my peers tools to make the most of Drive. My handout focused a lot on the features of Google Drive rather than the apps, with the exception of Google Forms, which my colleagues didn't have as much experience with (https://support.google.com/docs/answer/87809?hl=en). Forms can play a huge role in the classroom, with practical usage in surveys and quizzes, as well as other question based learning. 

Reflecting on my presentation, I think that Google Drive was something that my peers already had at least a baseline understanding of, and so it was somewhat challenging to try and keep them engaged with the info while also making sure to cover all that I had hoped. It took some last minute switching of lessons, and some flexibility, but I hope I served them well. One practical idea of practice I thought about was the benefit of hands on use, or allowing students to try the technology out rather than just lecture about it. Doing so can really solidify understanding of the material, and so I hope to carry that over into real-life practice in the classroom.