I had heard a lot of positive comments about Google Docs, but I had never really had a chance to explore. This summer I had signed up for a session on the app at a summer institute, but then I got sick and was unable to attend. This semester while taking my writing class, I decided to explore a bit on my own. Just as I had hoped, it is going to be a great tool to make my writing process more transparent for my students.
Before it always felt superficial when I would try to write out a rough draft and then model revisions and a published copy. The problem was, as many resources explain, the writing process is not a lock-step sequence. When I am writing naturally, I am revising all the time, not just when I get to the end of my first draft.
The real excitement came when I had typed for a while on the first draft that I was working on in a Google Doc and decided to hit save in order to show changes later. However, I realized that I didn't have to stop at various points along the draft, but rather the application automatically tracks ever single revision. When I got to the end of my first draft I already had around 50 revisions tracked. There is an option to click on any two revision numbers and compare.
I was ecstatic. Now I can more accurately show my students what I do as a writer. That alone was enough to get me excited about Google Docs, but there is still so much more to the tool. The tech at our school put in a request for the education edition of Google Docs right after I asked him to, so next week I am expecting to have my students' accounts up and running. Then I will be able to explore a bit with the powers of utilizing Google Docs for student collaboration and peer revision.
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