adapted from Clif Mims

1. You need a Google (Gmail) Account.

• Start here: https://www.google.com/accounts/NewAccount?continue=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Fwebhp%3Frls%3Dig&hl=en

2. Sign in and Choose Google Documents (Apps) from the "more" menu in the top left.

3. Here's a quick video about using Google Docs.

4. Collaborating

• View this School House Rock Video.
• Then I'll share a Google Docs with some of you to see how the collaboration piece works.  Look for an image to reflect/represent the elements of the preamble to the Constitution.

5. A couple of important tips with using Google Docs/Apps.

• If you're going to use the collaborating (sharing) feature, then you need to ask about a Gmail account and what the email address attached to the Gmail account is.
• Google Docs is feature rich but cosmetically bare bones.  I think this is a real advantage to teachers and students, because it reduces the distractions of thinking about "pretty" on the front end.
• It is possible to download your Google Docs file as a Microsoft Word file.  Go to File >> Download file as...
• Google Docs word processing files can be published publicly as a Web page and linked to like any other Web page.

6. Some Ideas and Resources

• Teacher Tom Barrett describes how he is using Google Docs/Apps in his classroom.  He's an elementary/middle school teacher, but a lot of his ideas would be appropriate for higher grades too.  He's pretty advanced in his thinking.  But don't be scared.
• Google Docs has also published some some official and unofficial templates.  These are a great place to begin before starting from scratch.  The presentation templates are much better than the ones included by default.
• Not exactly part of Google Docs, but Google Sites allows you to create Web pages and a site.  So if you're looking for an easy way to do that and have it feel like a word processor then Google Sites is a good option.  I haven't used it much at all.  But I'm told it's very easy to be successful.  You still need a Gmail account.