Teaching With Google Docs

Yes, this is another ICT post.

Yesterday I conducted my first lesson with Google Docs, and I must say, I am smitten with this technology.

It was a class of 26, VCE 3 & 4 Literature students, and we were looking at Unit 4, Outcome 2 -  Close analyses.

The text we were analysing was the The Lion's Bride by Gwen Harwood - a beautiful and iconic poem thick with imagery.

Here is how I taught the lesson

1. Created a google document of "The Lions Bride"

2. Changed the "share" setting on the document so that it was visible to those with the link, and could be edited

Then I read through the poem with my class, letting them close their eyes and visualise the words. 

I split students into table groups and gave them two sets of instructions (these were included in the google doc for them to refer to). 

They were to brainstorm any views of values that the poem addresses. They were to write these in their allocated tables in the google doc:

The great thing about Google Docs is that is allows for visible learning. As students are editing, the teacher gets a live view of the action happening from the comfort of their own computer. Without circulating and peering over shoulders I can see which tables are contributing most, which ones the least and the content of said contributions. This was handy during this lesson, as table 3 needed a bit of gentle encouragement to get on task. 

Next, students were asked to conduct a close analysis of the text in the same table groups. This is really where google docs really shows its brilliance. 

As students make comments, underline and highlight, the document comes to life before your eyes:

Students (if they have a google account) can log in, and their name is displayed with their comment. If they don't have a google account then they are automatically assigned an anonymous pseudonym 

This is a fantastic, interactive way to have students collaborate on documents using ICT, and with their work visible to the teacher for the duration of the process.

After the class or activity has finished, the teacher can lock the document by changing it's share settings to view only.

I use this often at university with my classmates when we are working on assignments or texts in class together and don't all want to crowd behind one computer. It is a fantastic collaboration tool, and I am thrilled at how well it it managed a larger class.

For more information on google docs, check out this video