Hello fellow classmates!

Last week’s class looked at various LMS systems that are on the market today and we were given the opportunity to look at a couple.  Canvas does sound like a great vehicle to utilize but after some dialogue with my partner Jessica, we both feel it will be an easier transition to Google Classroom to facilitate a blended learning environment for our model.

The classroom prototype that we are looking to build out is based on the Career/Work Experience (CWEX) module which can be found in the Alternative Education Curriculum and utilized in a Vocational Alternative Program.  This program is designed for students in high school who have special or additional needs that cannot be met in a mainstream or modified curriculum.  The academic range is varied – it can be as low as grade 1 and usually max’s out at grade 4 or 5.

I don’t have any experience with Google Classroom so I started with watching some Youtube video’s to help provide me a visual and some real examples of what this tool could do for me in the classroom.  The first video I watched was by Annie Brock entitled, “Creating Activities for Google Classroom”.  It was for the primary grades but I enjoyed looking at how she used the tool.  Anne brought it a lot of picture/symbols and I would see myself using this in the Alt Ed program because we have students who are unable to read.  For example, creating a work sheet that shows time clocks (analog and digital) or money math.  The cool thing is that it is easy to use and once I became familiar with the product, I could easily create a specific work sheet that can tailored specifically for my classroom or group of students!  I was really impressed with this tool!

After being inspired by Annie Brock I switched to another 59 min video by Alice Keeler who many of you spoke about.  She presented a good video but it was a little bit long and I didn’t learn as much because she didn’t show many examples entitled, “50 Things you can do with Google Classroom”

+Jayme Lazorko linked me to Google Classroom Help Center which was helpful because when we start to build out the prototype the Help Center provides a great step by step process for making assignments or whatever you wish to make.

I’m looking forward to learning more about Google Classroom and how it will help me in the classroom!

Kelly