Blog post 18: Using Google Photos for teaching and learning

As a 5th and 6th grade Science Teacher I know that Google photos will definitely be extremely useful to use in my classroom, pictures help me in my Science classroom all the time.  Students respond and understand things better with pictures and videos, they get a view of how things look and act or react.  One that I've I've always like to do as a child is draw pictures, as a teacher I see that my students like the same things I did when I was young, they like to draw as well.  Through pictures students tell me what they see and know about what we are trying to learn at that time, this helps me gain a better understanding and if the students are learning the lesson.  I always have my students create anchor charts to assist them in the process and understanding of what we're learning, they can also take ownership of the project and share ideas and prior knowledge of the subject.  Google photos is a great link for me to use with my students, it is free and very accessible to me and my students.  It is available to use along with the other google links, which are very useful as well.  The first idea that I have to use Google photos is the ability for me to upload pictures and share with my students during class, or through links that I share with them for class.  Uploading pictures for my students will also allow me to have them place them in chronological order, share their ideas about them, share them with others and write down definitions.  The second idea I have for using Google photos is to give my students a lesson and have them download photos to share with me and the classroom, they are to gather these photos and explain to me and the classroom how they relate to the lesson and where they found their pictures for future reference and for other students to be able to use.  The third and last idea I have to use Google photos is to have my students create a photo album with pictures of themselves, they can share it with the class but they definitely need to share them with their parents.  They are to add pictures of things that define them, what they like, what they want to do with their life, favorite thing to do, sports, teams, etc.....   This project will allow me to see who their are and get to know them better, I think this project will be extremely fun for my students and they will definitely Love to share it.  Google photos is a great link and I plan to use it in class this school year.