Google

Once you have decided to create a Blog, you will easily start finding yourself reading other blogs. It happened to me. Google Reader provides a way for you to store, organize, and read the blogs that you follow. Setting up a Google Reader account is very easy. Adding Blogs is as easy as Copying and Pasting. For a quick tutorial, watch Google Reader in Plain English

When you are using Google Reader you are using a feature called RSS; or Real Simple Syndication. The idea behind RSS is that it “feeds” the internet to you instead of you accessing the Internet and checking the sites you look at regularly for updates. To get a better understanding of how RSS works, watch RSS in Plain English.

Google Map

Maps are obviously useful for Social Studies teachers, but did you know that you can also use multimedia maps to tell a story? Google Maps and Google Earth can both be used to create a multimedia story. Try having your students write the biography of a famous person by plotting points on a map and adding text, images, and videos about that person to each placemark. Visit Jerome Burg's Google Lit Trips to learn more about using Google Earth in a literature course. Visit Tom Barrett's Maths Maps to get ideas for using maps in mathematics lessons. Need some general directions for using Google Maps or Google Earth please consult my free publications Google for Teachers and Google Earth Across the Curriculum.

Google Docs

Google Docs is an easy-to-use online word processor, spreadsheet and presentation editor that enables you and your students to create, store and share instantly and securely, and collaborate online in real time. You can create new documents from scratch or upload existing documents, spreadsheets and presentations. There's no software to download, and all your work is stored safely online and can be accessed from any computer.

Teachers are using Google Docs both to publish announcements about upcoming assignments and to monitor student progress via an interactive process which allows you to give guidance when it might be of maximum benefit – while your student is still working on an assignment. Through the revisions history, you can see clearly who contributed to what assignment and when; if a student says he or she worked on a given project over the last two weeks, it will be documented (no more "dog ate my homework" excuses)

Students will find that Google Docs can help them stay organized and keep on top of their assignments. They never have to remember to save their work; it happens automatically. It's easy to collaborate online with fellow students, even when they aren't in the same place, and they can get feedback easily from teachers, parents, relatives and tutors, and enter updates anytime from anywhere. And kids can go back to the revisions history to see how their assignment has evolved, and who has helped.