The Work After The Work: GAFE Outside of Instructional Time

My students have been using Google Apps for Education on their own time to create, communicate, collaborate, teach, and continue the work they start in class. I recently overheard them talking about sharing their work with each other to simply share what they are up to and in some circumstances, to collaborate. Simply fantastic.

Student reflects on the Lego movie she recently saw by using the Draw app to draw some characters.

A student works on a "Diamonds" project because that is what he is interested in.

Two students write me a note during indoor recess.

Google Draw app used to write/draw about good times with friends.

Letter written to me from a student who is at home sick. She is also working on an assignment that was started in class.

Parent wrote me note to let me know that her daughter helped her create a Google Document for her work.

My students tell me that they like using GAFE because they can 

"write without using paper, it's free (open with lots of possibilities [images, research, colours, shapes, etc] - you can do different things with it, you can use your imagination with it and you just don't have to write, you can do what you want". 

They have moved past using GAFE exclusively at school. They seem to really like using the apps and are constantly digging deeper within the apps to make the most out of their experience! With this type of interest and motivation the sky is the limit and I am quite excited to see how high my students will go. 

If you have any questions or comments I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to contact me me via email, Twitter, Google +, or by leaving a comment for me here.