Tuesday, October 2, 2018

Google Drive

As a teacher you are doing a million things everyday.  You have lesson plans that have countless worksheets, rubrics, and handouts that you somehow need to keep track of.  Imagine loosing all of your resources and having to start from scratch?  Luckily you don't have to if you use google drive.  This program acts like iCloud in the regard that it can be used to save all of your files.  This solves the issue of your computer breaking, thus, loosing all your files.  Knowing that everything you work on will always be there for you to use is a great feeling to have.  To ensure that you can have this feeling too lets talk about how you use google drive.

To use google drive on a PC you want to first type in Google Drive on your internet browser and click on the first link.  You will then want to login to your google account.  If you don't have one then follow the simple steps they list on their website to create one.  Once you login you want to go to my Google Drive.  On the left side of the screen next to the create button you can actually upload documents that you already have on your computer to your google drive.  Once you have a document on your Google Drive you might want to share it with someone. You can do this by first checking the little box next to the name of your document.  Next, you click on the icon with the person and the plus sign in order to bring up the options to share your document.  You can change the settings from private to public or to anyone with the link.  This is important to know as a teacher so you can send documents to a fellow colleague or you can tell students about this feature so they can share their documents with you as well.

Ultimately, I would go to the left side of the Google Drive web page you're on and download it to your computer by clicking download Google Drive.  Once you do this it creates a folder on your computer called google drive.  This way the files in the folder are synchronized with what goes in the cloud.  This makes it easy to get to your files no matter what device you are on.  I will post a video below that gives a more detailed account on how Google Drive works and will walk you through it if you have issues.


The great thing about Google Drive is that you get 15 GB of storage free so you can store files on there for years with no issues.  The best part about Google Drive is the fact that you can download google drive on any of your devices so you can always have access to your documents.  Being able to change things in the lesson plan quickly as a teacher is critical for making sure the day runs smoothly.

As a teacher you can have your students use Google Drive as well.  This way students can't lose their work like they always seem to do.  With everything being online today Google Drive is the perfect tool to use and encourage your students to use because they will be able to have one place where they can see years of their hard work and growth.  It will allow them to create a portfolio of their work from the year and show how much they have improved.

When you talk about Google Drive it's hard to not talk about Google Docs, Slides, and Sheets because those are the programs you will be using in order to save them onto your Google Drive.  These programs are great for collaboration with your peers because everyone can work on them as long as you share the document to them through email.  Also, students can take advantage of them too through group projects.  They can all work on the same thing while they sit next to each other on their own devices.

Google Drive should be used by all teachers in order to help them manage their classroom.  The best teachers are well prepared ones and this program aligns perfectly with that statement.  Make sure to give Google Drive a download and enjoy never loosing another paper ever again!

References
Google Drive logo [Online image] Retrieved October 2nd, 2018 from https://www.process.st/checklist/how-to-backup-your-external-hard-drives-using-google-drive-checklist/

Google Drive Basic Tutorial Video [Online video] Retrieved October 2nd, 2018 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCZj5ojxRAA

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