Google Communities in the Classroom:
Google+ is a free social network that can be easily accessed through the app or on the internet. This website is a fantastic tool for educators to utilize because it has several different features and resources to use in the classroom. Teachers can join different communities that share different ideas for various things in the classroom. For example, Google+ communities can be used in the classroom very easily because teachers can not only get ideas for their classroom from other teachers, but also share things that they think are useful for others to know about. Another way Google+ communities could be used in the classroom for upper grade levels is for research and exploring. Students can join communities to find ideas for certain projects they are doing in the classroom. Another great feature of Google+ is groups and hangouts. According to edutopia.org, "hangouts are a great way to connect experts with students all over the world." How awesome is it that students can connect with others from all different states and countries? Hangout allows you to connect to other classrooms. Hangouts can be used to explore research or just simply to connect with others. Another great idea that I read about on edutopia.org is educators holding online office hours and through Google+.
There are communities for just about everything including technology in the classroom, ways to incorporate creativity in the classroom, lesson plan ideas, etc. I recently just created a Google+ account for myself. I am enjoying looking through different communities to see what ideas and resources they have available for me to see. So far, I have joined 15 communities, which you can see in the picture below. Out of the 15 communities that I have joined thus far, two of them really caught my attention. One of the communities that I joined and found very useful is the "Educational Leadership" community. This community is specifically for administrators, professors, and policymakers. While I was looking through the feed on this particular community, I found several educators' blogs attached that had valuable information for any classroom teacher. For example, I found a link to Gretchen Schultek's blog page that discussed "why parents just don't understand." This specific blog talks about why children act/perform differently in the classroom than at school and ways to deal with and address this problem. This is valuable information to understand as an educator, especially if you need are having this issue with a parent in your classroom. I can see this being useful to know when a parent comes into a parent-teacher conference. She also shares other information on her blog about being an educator and helpful tips and hints! In other words, by exploring this specific community, I found other educators that gave me different ideas for my future classroom! Another great resource that I found through exploring this community is "How to Make a Smart Attendance App." As a teacher, sometimes attendance taking can be a hassle, especially if you have a large class. This article teaches you an easy and fast way to take attendance in your classroom. Click on the link above to see just how easy attendance taking can be no matter what grade you are teaching. This is just one of the communities I joined and explored on Google+. There are countless other links to explore about what other educators found useful to know about educational leadership on this community's home feed!
Another community that I explored is "Teaching Resources." I found so many resources that were shared in this particular community that I cannot wait to use in my future classroom someday. On this community's home feed, I found several resources from articles, to songs, to videos, etc. I really enjoyed listening to some of the songs that were shared on this website to teach Kindergarteners colors and numbers. The song that I found about colors was ver catchy; it is called "Learn Colors with Wheels on the Bus Finger Family." Another song that I listened to on this feed page was called "Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed." My favorite part about this song is the pictures that go along with it. These two songs would be fantastic for a kindergarten teacher to show to his/her class before a lesson as a HOOK. The teacher could also teach them these songs to help them with colors and numbers. This google+ community also has a lot of articles and blogs for fellow educators to utilize and learn from. For example, I viewed an article called "How to Cultivate A Growth Mindset in Your Classroom." This website showed "five key factors for teachers and students to consider that can create a powerful synergy for improving engagement, motivation, and learning. I highly recommend clicking on the link to read more about it! As you can see, there are all kinds of different teaching resources available on this community. These teaching resources are for all different content areas and grades. I encourage you to sign up for Google+ and join this community! It can benefit you greatly and help make you an effective teacher.
Don't miss out on all the free resources you could be using in your classroom! Click here to download this Google+ to your device for FREE! Start joining communities that interest you and following other people today!
There are communities for just about everything including technology in the classroom, ways to incorporate creativity in the classroom, lesson plan ideas, etc. I recently just created a Google+ account for myself. I am enjoying looking through different communities to see what ideas and resources they have available for me to see. So far, I have joined 15 communities, which you can see in the picture below. Out of the 15 communities that I have joined thus far, two of them really caught my attention. One of the communities that I joined and found very useful is the "Educational Leadership" community. This community is specifically for administrators, professors, and policymakers. While I was looking through the feed on this particular community, I found several educators' blogs attached that had valuable information for any classroom teacher. For example, I found a link to Gretchen Schultek's blog page that discussed "why parents just don't understand." This specific blog talks about why children act/perform differently in the classroom than at school and ways to deal with and address this problem. This is valuable information to understand as an educator, especially if you need are having this issue with a parent in your classroom. I can see this being useful to know when a parent comes into a parent-teacher conference. She also shares other information on her blog about being an educator and helpful tips and hints! In other words, by exploring this specific community, I found other educators that gave me different ideas for my future classroom! Another great resource that I found through exploring this community is "How to Make a Smart Attendance App." As a teacher, sometimes attendance taking can be a hassle, especially if you have a large class. This article teaches you an easy and fast way to take attendance in your classroom. Click on the link above to see just how easy attendance taking can be no matter what grade you are teaching. This is just one of the communities I joined and explored on Google+. There are countless other links to explore about what other educators found useful to know about educational leadership on this community's home feed!
Another community that I explored is "Teaching Resources." I found so many resources that were shared in this particular community that I cannot wait to use in my future classroom someday. On this community's home feed, I found several resources from articles, to songs, to videos, etc. I really enjoyed listening to some of the songs that were shared on this website to teach Kindergarteners colors and numbers. The song that I found about colors was ver catchy; it is called "Learn Colors with Wheels on the Bus Finger Family." Another song that I listened to on this feed page was called "Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed." My favorite part about this song is the pictures that go along with it. These two songs would be fantastic for a kindergarten teacher to show to his/her class before a lesson as a HOOK. The teacher could also teach them these songs to help them with colors and numbers. This google+ community also has a lot of articles and blogs for fellow educators to utilize and learn from. For example, I viewed an article called "How to Cultivate A Growth Mindset in Your Classroom." This website showed "five key factors for teachers and students to consider that can create a powerful synergy for improving engagement, motivation, and learning. I highly recommend clicking on the link to read more about it! As you can see, there are all kinds of different teaching resources available on this community. These teaching resources are for all different content areas and grades. I encourage you to sign up for Google+ and join this community! It can benefit you greatly and help make you an effective teacher.
Don't miss out on all the free resources you could be using in your classroom! Click here to download this Google+ to your device for FREE! Start joining communities that interest you and following other people today!