Thing #16 - Get Organized with Web 2.0 Tools

Since I use Google Docs, Google Calendar, Google Reader, it only makes sense I should continue the pattern and choose iGoogle as my home page.  Here I can organize everything I use the most and have it even more at my fingertips!  This way I can access it at home or work and have all the sites I readily use without having to copy my bookmarks to other computers.

In a previous post, I stated that I use Google Calendar to make my weekly classroom plans and communicate those with students and parents.  I have it embedded into my class website.  It can be found at the following link:  http://mrsbundesfifthgrad.weebly.com/weekly-planslessons.html.  Google Calendar has many options such as color coding or reminders.  By checking my calendar, I am able to use my cell phone to schedule doctors appointments, as well as any other appointments I may need to make.  This calendar makes it possible for me to not schedule two things at once, and I can access it anywhere!

I thought the Ta da list looked really helpful!  It seems like I never have my list when I make it to the grocery store.  This tool seems like it might alleviate that problem.  Hopefully, my husband and I can edit and share this as well.  If so, this will be a huge help to both of us.

Any of the tools I have discussed on my blog, I would recommend for home, office, and school use.  Many of these I have implemented 100%.  I consider many of the tools very user friendly, even for those people that are not too technology-savvy.  Other tools I hope to look into more are the Web 2.0 gradebooks.  I think having a gradebook accessible from any computer sure beats having to either bring home your work laptop or use a flash drive to keep updated versions on each computer used.  However, since its online, I will have to get it cleared through our school before I can implement its use.