Here come the Googlers!

April 21, 2008

We’ve begun going to talk to the current Sophomore Honors students about AP English & American Studies. Mostly the course curriculum they disregard until we get going because there’s just too much, and typically they can’t wrap their minds are AP vs American Studies vs AP Exams vs Dual Enrollment. I get a lot of the same questions each year, and I should start an FAQ or something! Anyway, this year we decided to start them on the technology early early… Like Now. Students are required to log into Gmail and create an account. My goal is then to reply immediately so my email is in their address book. I then add them to gTalk and open their contact book where I add them to my APES 0809 mailing group. Some of the students are also NHS now, so I add them to that, too. This way in July, I don’t sit for hours doing this. I’ve begun finding some on chat and one even thanked me for forcing the classes to use this set up!

This student also wanted to know when I would set up a Google Group for the 08-09 APES. I told him to remind me tomorrow night and I would do it. The group’s main purpose is to be a space where the students can begin dialogging about the course, the summer reading, the teachers, etc… I think it’ll really help.

Posted in AP Lang, American Studies, Summer Reading, google docs, google groups, nhs