Final reflection GTFS

Participating as a student in the Google Tools For School class has at times felt like being one of my students. At times it was overwhelming, frustrating, exciting and fascinating. Overwhelming because it felt like there was so much that I didn't know. Frustrating because while I was trying to be productive and work on something that I could use in school, I was messing with the annoying details of how to fix a page or get into an account or find something among a myriad of information! More than once I thought about the importance of organizing information...just like keeping my office or house organized. I'm certainly not "there" yet, but I am more familiar with how to negotiate my the information and the many sites I want to use in my work.
   I think the biggest area of growth for me has been overcoming the emotional frustration and insecurity about what to do when I'm stuck. I don't know how to get out of all difficulties, but am more willing to try, try again, again and again....maybe then I get frustrated :) I often felt like what I imagine some of my students who struggle must feel when they are overwhelmed. I hope that my experience can help them.
   Finally, I have really enjoyed the thought provoking blog posts, videos and presentations. There is so much to think about regarding making leaning relevant, fun and useful for students. I am still overwhelmed by the wealth of information and resources that I now have at my fingertips thanks to this class. I am glad to be able to continue learning by tapping into those resources.

Helpful hint

I have been frustrated this week to read directions and flip back and forth between tabs. I prefer to have the directions and what I'm working on side by side. I will try to explain how to do that here. Matt showed me how to  right click on one of the links and "open a new window". I can then move the window to the left or the right. I think the next thing I did was move the other window that was already open to the other side of the screen and voila! I can follow the directions AND do the tasks.
   I think "Google" will hire me for writing such detailed and comprehensive directions!

First post!

My first Blog Post! I am inspired by my fellow Google Tool users. Thinking about ways to use this in school and can imagine posting questions for students to read and respond to. I can imagine that it might be easier for some students who don't speak up in class.