Ways we are Using Google Drive in our Classroom

A couple months ago, my students began using Google Drive and it has transformed the way we work in our classroom.  I keep asking myself, why didn't I set them up with Google Drive sooner??  It has lifted the level of motivation and collaboration among students.

Here are some of the many ways we are using Google Drive in our classroom so far:

• Writing Workshop: We are planning and drafting on Google Drive by using laptops daily. Since we are using Google Drive for our writing pieces, students are able to share their writing with writing partners and other classmates they want feedback from to help them as a writer.  They also share their writing with me each day so I can leave comments and read their writing daily to help inform my future instruction.  I have noticed that since students are able to view my comments on their classmates' writing, their own comments and the feedback they give their writing partners has greatly improved.  

• Writing Workshop:  As part of our current literary essay unit, we wrote a class literary essay using Google Drive.  The students loved being able to all work on one document at the same time and co-author it together - it was so cool to hear their excitement about the experience! 

• Reading Workshop: At the end of each chapter book read aloud, we always have a whole class conversation and I type up the transcript of their conversation on the Smartboard so they can build upon one another's thinking and can work on lifting the level of their interpretation.  One of my students had the great idea this week to type the conversation in Google Drive instead of a word document so we can continue the conversation at home and during the week - it was an awesome idea!  The students were so excited to be able to keep the conversation going - yay! 

• Writing and Reading Workshop: I share different documents with the students during workshop teaching such as mentor texts, lists of thinking stems, planning sheets, and so on.  This week, I set up a group on Google Drive that includes all of my students so now I'm able to easily share documents with the whole class with one push of a button.  The students actually asked me to begin sharing these documents with them via Google Drive so they can have access to them whenever they need them and not have to worry about whether or not they left it at school or have misplace it.  

Stay tuned to hear more about how we are using Google Drive as learners in our classroom!