Welcome back!  Over the past week I have discovered many new Google Tools.  I had a blast exploring and discovering the applications of these new (to me) tools.  Here is a list of the tools that I learned about this week, however I will only touch on my favorite new tools in this blog.  Google Calendar, Translate, Books, Scholar, Google+Hangouts,  Body, Public Data Explorer, Art Project, and World Wonders Project are very rich resources.  In order to access Calendar, Translate, Books, Hangouts, and Scholar just enter the name in the address bar before the word google make sure you add a . in between the name and google.com.  For example:  if you would like to navigate to the translate feature you would need to type in translate.google.com.  Google Art Project can be found at this link.  World Wonders Project can be reached here.  Google Body, now called Zygote Body can be found at this link, and the link for Public Data Explorer can be explored here.

Here are some of my favorite Google Tools that I learned about this week.

Google Calendar is a wonderful tool that can be used personally and professionally.  Google allows the user to have multiple calendars.  We all have complicated lives and this tool allows the user to keep several different calendars that they can combine or keep separate.  For example, I have a classroom, family, and work calendar.  I do not integrate the classroom calendar with my personal/family calendar, but sometimes I need to integrate my professional/work calendar with my family calendar and my professional calendar with my classroom one.  Google allows this to happen with a few clicks of the mouse.  Calendars can even be shared between colleagues, students, and parents.  Calendars can be personalized and color coded for organizational purposes.  Here is tutorial that will cover the basics of Google Calendar.

Here is also a great link to additional great features.

Google Translate is great find especially for teachers.  It is a fact that we have increasing numbers of students in which English is a second language.  This means that their parents may not speak any English.  This means that we need to be able to send home information in their native language. Translate allows you to copy text from a document and paste it into one of the windows and then it will automatically translate the text into the language chosen.  This can then be copied and pasted back into a document to send home to the parents.  Another great feature of this tool is its capability to translate web pages.  Here is a screen shoot of this tool.

Here is a link to a video showing how useful this tool will be in your classroom.  As with all Google tools they can used on most mobile devices.  This makes traveling in foreign countries a bit easier if there is a language barrier.

World Wonder Project provides students with a street view of the many Wonders of the World.  It allows students to navigate around the site and get up close and personal.  Most students will never get a chance to visit any of these places, but now they can visit without leaving the classroom.  This takes field trips to an all new level.  Information on the sites is also included.  I visited the Taj Mahal and learned that it was originally built as a mausoleum.  I did not know that!  The site also shows where the sight is located on a map.  The possibilities are endless for classroom use.  Click on the bold words above to visit this site.

Zygote Body is a great site for learning anatomy, seeing the various systems of the body, and being able to undo the layers of the body to isolate one particular system.  For example, if you are studying the digestive system, the teacher can isolate that particular system to show more in depth.  Here is a screen shot of the digestive system.  A URL can be copy and pasted for students to access a particular system to study.

The Google Tools are all very useful and are great for classroom use.  Explore them and find out just what great resources can be found.  Enjoy!

My Google Chrome Adventure

Welcome to my adventure into technology.  I do not consider myself as "technology Friendly."  That is why I am now taking some technology courses as I work towards my master's degree in Curriculum and Instruction.

As a teacher it is my responsibility to help my students become 21st Century Learners.  In order to do this I must first become a 21st Century Teacher!  Education is ever changing and technology is becoming increasingly intertwined in all aspects of learning.  One of the newest changes is the move towards using Google Chrome as a web browser.  Recently at a staff meeting my fearless leader, aka the principal, expressed the desire for the staff to incorporate Google Chrome and Google Tools more into our classroom instruction.  At that very moment I was so glad I had decided to take the course "Google Tool for Educators" instead of "Today's Learner."  So this is where my adventure begins.

My first assignment was to download Google Chrome and create an account.  At this point I was thinking, "It's a web browser, how different can it be?"  I watched the video tutorials and began to see many advantages to Google Chrome.  On such advantage is the quickness of the browser.  It is faster.  I also like the fact that you can personalize it with a large variety of free themes.  Who wants a plain ordinary screen anyway?  This browser also keeps track of your most visited sites and places them in a small window on the screen when you open a new tab or start up the browser.  Another great feature on Google Chrome is the built in security.  It quickly gives a warning message if you are about to visit a site that uses malware or other malicious software.  Also, if an app or tab crashes it does not cause the rest of the browser to crash.  In other words it gives you crash control so you can handle the offending app or tab independently.

My two favorite features are the omnibox and incognito mode.  The omnibox acts as a search engine and an address bar.  It is smart and can tell the difference between a term and an address.  This is so cool and is really time saving!  The ease of browsing then leads to my other favorite feature, incognito mode.  I like to do a lot of online shopping especially around Christmas.  I do not like the crowds.  O also have two teenage sons who are good with computers and have found that they can look up my browsing history on the family computer!  It is the new way of peeking at your Christmas presents early!  In incognito mode the browser opens a new window and does not record the browsing history on the web browser.  Sorry Patrick and Brice you will not be able to figure out you presents early this year!

If you feel Google Chrome is the web browser for you then you can click here to download it.  The following video will help walk you through the downloading of Google Chrome and setting up an account.

Thanks for riding along on the first part of my adventure!