Google Docs and Spreadsheets - FREE

Stacy A. and I have been emailing back and forth for quite some time now trying to find something that would not be filtered by her district, and yet provide a collaborative writing opportunity for her students. I have been introduced to a large number of new tools out there, but they have all been blocked by her ISD. Maybe this one will get by the filter:

Welcome to Google Docs & Spreadsheets!
With Google Docs & Spreadsheets, you can:
* Use our online editor to format documents, spell-check and more.
* Upload Word documents, OpenOffice, RTF, HTML or text.
* Download documents to your desktop as Word, PDF and more.
* View your documents' revision history and roll back to any version.(handy when working with students; ssf)
Plus, since its online, you can:
* Invite others to share your documents by e-mail address.
* Edit documents online with whomever you choose.
* Publish documents online to the world, or to just who you choose.
* Post your documents to your blog.
To learn more about Google Docs & Spreadsheets, click here.

Google Docs & Spreadsheets

If you are in one of those districts where seemingly everything is blocked on the Internet, I think many of you will find this exciting. Google, which most schools do not block, is now offering online, collaborative word processing. This is in addition to their online spreadsheets that works the same.

So if you have been wanting your students to do a collaborative piece of writing, set up a free account and invite them to work on the document. As you can see, documents are downloadable in many different file types. And for those who have Macs with no Office, this is another option for documents and spreadsheets that you can share with the PC world.

For me, this is another tool my students use to be able to work on at home and at school without the concern of a flash drive, disk, or whatever. We use it with our Model United Nations program since we have so many students in a group attempting to have input on single documents while working at different times. It is a life saver.

Here is another idea I found on Tim Lauer's site about using the spreadsheet part of this site to collaborate with other teachers on reading achievement documentation for their students:

For the past few years we have been using Excel spreadsheets to keep
track of student reading data. Our school district prepares the spreadsheets for each primary level teacher. The spreadsheet includes cells to record various reading achievement data based on our reading assessments. These include DRA (Developmental Reading Assessment)
reading level, phonemic awareness assessments, spelling assessments and a phonics survey among others. Three times each year I am required to distribute and then gather up the assessments from teachers and then email them to the central office. We also utilize the data internally to make support decisions and to deploy support based on classroom need.

I know… Some type of web application would make this process a lot easier for everyone involved. Well, rather than wait for one to be built we are going to use one “off the shelf.” We are utilizing Google Spreadsheets to collect and share this information within our building staff.

It is very easy to import the existing Excel spreadsheet into Google Spreadsheet. The Google Spreadsheet interface is pretty spartan, and since it is saved to my Google account, I can not only share it with the individual teachers, I can also share the sheets with our reading support teachers. Thinking in a larger view, I could also share the data with school district specialists. Using RSS, I can keep track of
student data as it is entered.

Once again, there is now another FREE resource at your disposal to make your teaching job more efficient and enjoyable while saving the district money.