So happy to have been asked to write another guest blog for The Underdog Kids Foundation

​Students today are immersed in a sea of stressfulenvironments. Whether at home or at school the number of stress inducing events that happen to children is on the rise. In 2014 The American Psychological Association released findings that over 50 percent of students felt stress was affecting their physical or mental health.

So, what are the impacts of stress in school age children? The study points to sleep, students 
​To continue reading: www.underdogkidsfoundation.com/single-post/2019/06/23/Stress-Students-and-The-Classroom

We are all familiar with Google, it is synonymous with the term internet search.  While Google is a company it has also become a verb, a term used when referring to looking up something online.  Now it seems Google has taken a big plunge into education by offering G-Suite for Education.

G-Suite for Education is a set of tools built by Google to help teachers by encouraging various forms of communication and collaboration techniques for their assignments.  The tools are totally free and extremely easy to learn.  Let’s take a look at what Google has to offer education.

First, there is Google Classroom, which is an online classroom that a teacher can build using Google’s classroom template.  You can create, share and grade assignments very easily.  It isn’t difficult to set up, however; teachers must go through their schools’ administration to use it for an actual school.  This is a security issue and must be completed.

Next is Google’s answer to Microsoft’s Suite of productivity tools.  G-Suite consists of the following:

1. Google Docs – A free online word processor.  It is compatible with MS Word or any other common word processor.
2. Google Sheets – Can be compared to MS Excel, and is compatible with Excel documents.
3. Google Forms –  A powerful information collecting tool that can be used for many tasks such as surveys, testing, and other data collection needs.
4. Google Slides – Create, edit and collaborate with others on presentations. You can even import and edit your existing Powerpoints!
5. Google Drawing –You can create and edit drawings with Google Drawings. ... Insert shapes, lines or text with the editing tools.
6. Google Sites – Allows you to launch a website for your class, team, or project.  No coding required. 
7. Google Drive – Teachers and students have unlimited storage when using Google for Educators/Google Classroom. Easily share documents and collaborate effortlessly.

In addition, Google education users have access to Gmail and Google Calendars, 
Consumer products outside of G-Suite for Education are also available to the educator, but must be used with caution as they are not protected to the same extent as G-Suite for Education.  Examples of these programs are Chrome, YouTube, Google Maps/Earth, and Google Blogger.

There is such a vast amount of possibilities when using Google to enhance your students educational experience.  As with any other technology only the individual teacher can determine which products can best benefit their students.  Recall the basics of where to begin, choose a tool or two and become familiar with all it can offer you as a teacher.  If you find it doesn’t work for you, that’s ok! Perhaps the next tool will work better.  Remember it’s about finding what compliments and works for you as a teacher, not about using technology for the sake of using technology.