Google Photos

Melissa Holt

Assignment 13

EDT 5372

Dr. Zhang

After completing the readings and tutorials this week as well as reflecting on my own personal experience in using Google Photos three ideas for using Google Photos for teaching and learning are listed below:

Idea #1 for using Google Photos

One way that Google Photos could be used to facilitate teaching and learning in the classroom, is by using Google Photos as a way to gain instructional ideas that correlate to specific content areas.  An educator could search through Google Photos in order to find images that could help facilitate lessons in various content areas.  Educators would have the added benefit of selecting images that can contribute to deepening student’s understanding of various concepts. In my 5th grade science classroom, I would use this approach by providing students with an image related to the science concept we are learning about for that unit and have students write a paragraph about the image using content specific science vocabulary words.

Idea #2 for using Google Photos

Another way that Google Photos can be used in the classroom setting as a way of learning would be to have students create their own Google Photos after each Unit is taught.  This would be a great way to complete a formative assessment on students’ learning.  Students would all follow the classroom requirements set forth in a teacher created Google Photos rubric and would be able to share their learnings in my 5^th grade science classroom through the use of images from the internet and/or images that can be uploaded from classroom devices.

Idea #3 for using Google Photos

A final way that Google Photos can be used in teaching and learning would include the use of Google Photos to archive lesson, activities, and events that take place throughout the school year.  Not only could this approach benefit students, but it could prove to be beneficial to parents as well.  This approach to using Google Photos in the classroom setting would be especially beneficial for the parents of student at my campus because our student population is composed of approximately 99% military students who have at least one parent who is in the military.  Therefore, since many parents are often deployed and/or sent out to field trainings that last 2-3 weeks, Google Photos can provide parents with multiple opportunities to see all that their students are learning which will help keep parents connected to students' education even when they are in a another city, state, or country.  While this approach would prove to be very beneficial for my 5^th grade science classroom, this idea could be used at all levels of educational instruction and in all content areas.