Google Documents: A great tool for any teacher
I have been using Google’s mail for years now. As a very busy teacher, I found it great, and I think that Google Documents is even better. I will talk about Google Docs here in a few posts, covering the things I think most teachers will find useful.
I will explain the simple basic steps to get this wonderful tool working.First, let me talk about the basics. I suppose I should start with the obvious, which is, of course, where to start.First, of course, you need a Google account. This is free of course, so just put “g mail” in to the search box.
Click on create a new account.
Fill out the forms. Easy as pie.
Then, you will see this kind of view:
Here, you need to click on “documents.” It is on the top, on the black bar. See it there?
That will take you to Google Documents.
The view will change to something like this:
What is all this? Well, this is a basic version of Office online. You can type papers, as if you were using Word or Appleworks, you can make a spreadsheet for grading, you can make a presentation for a class, you can make a form, or even a table.I’ll talk about these as we go on, but first, let’s look at the word processing function and see what is so wonderful about it.
Click on the orange button that says, “Create” and choose “Document.” This will give you a screen where you can type. Go for it. It will look like this:
First, go ahead and try it out. It is pretty basic, but it works well for most of your typing. I would not want to try to write a textbook or novel with it, but for most everyday use, it is fine. I frequently use it for typing lesson plans at home.
That, then, brings us to good point one. You can, of course, create a new document, for example a lesson plan, and should you feel the need, type it up at home.
What is the good point? You can go in to your office, get on your computer there, sign into Google, then easily open up your lesson plan and start working on it again. Easy Peazy.
This is the easiest way I have found to work on documents in more than one place. It is easier than bringing it back and forth with a thumb drive (USB stick), or using Dropbox (though I still like for big files and in certain situations.)
You can also upload files from your own hard drive into the word processor. (A word processing file, of course). Click on the same orange create button, but click on the right side of it. You need the icon on the right side that looks like a disk drive, with an arrow.
Anyway, give Google Docs a try.
Next time, I am going to show you how you can share your documents. That is even cooler.
