Thing #20

GoogleDocs is something I have only become familiar with in the last few months. I have found it very useful throughout this course to be able to keep track of my progress. Today, however, is the first time that I have actually created a document of my own using GoogleDocs. It was very easy! The format is so similar to Microsoft Word and Excel so I was already extremely familiar with the tools on the toolbar. It was really quite a seamless transition to using GoogleDocs today. I did find one thing that I was unhappy with as I was working and experimenting. I do not like that you cannot see margins and where your page actually stops in terms of printing. I created my whole word document and then clicked print preview. It was completely off! Because I couldn't tell where the page stopped my document took 2 full pages instead of 1. That was a bit frustrating. Is there a way to actually see the margins and where your page stops on GoogleDocs? Despite this setback I still think that GoogleDocs will be extremely beneficial to me professionally. I thought of several ways that I could use this collaboratively with my teammates already. I am in charge of doing the weekly newsletter for our grade level. I, of course, always want feedback and contributions from my team as well as extra sets of eyes proofreading for me. This always consisted of attaching in an email to my team or printing it out and waiting for feedback. GoogleDocs will be a much more effective way to share this task from now on. Also, the end of the year becomes quite crazy for our sixth grade activities. (I know this is the case for every grade level!) We have multiple events where we are coordinating parent volunteers, donations, and keeping track of permission slips, money paid, etc. GoogleDocs is going to be a great way for us to see as a whole grade level how we are doing and to keep each team member informed easily. I love that we can compile all the important info in one place. This would also work well for teachers or students working on a project together. They can work from different places but have all of the information in one place that everyone can easily access. I know that this is a thing I will be putting to good use next year!