GCE Level 2 Blog - Sarah Gaffney

                I love all of the ideas for student encouraging student voice and student agency agency in the classroom.  Many students struggle with staying organized and staying on task when they are given the time to be autonomous learners and it is so important to have a structure to the class and provide tools that aid in this as well.  Although the term "20% Time" is new, the concept is something that I incorporate into my class to give students individualized practice with concepts and work time on projects.  However many students struggle with staying on task and often get overwhelmed with all of the technology (emails constantly popping up, the chat feature in the gmail, multiple tabs open, etc.)  I love the idea of the time sheet to help students track time in and out of projects.  This is such a practical skill for the workforce too.   I also like the idea of using Google Keep in the research pro...

      Unit 8 captured my attention far more than many of the other Google tools.  As a Spanish teacher, I was very intrigued to learn more about the Google tools that allow students to explore different cultures. It made me re-evaluate how I use some of these tools in my lessons.  In Unit 9, I was surprised by how Google Translate was being encouraged for student and teacher use.  There are so many colloquialisms and idioms that do not directly translate from English to another language, or semantics do not match between the two languages when using translate.   While I agree that it is a tool that can help bridge the communication gap between ELL students and teachers, I don't think it should be relied on as a translation tool for parent newsletters, as one Google Educator teacher suggested in her recording.       I have used some basic features in Google Maps (mostly Street View) to have students explore different Spanish spe...