Powerpoint As a Collaborative Classroom Tool

I had never thought of using powerpoint or any other program for that matter and having students collaboratively create a project. The program that I will use to create such a project will be google docs. I am pretty sure I will approach parents with the idea of their child setting up a gmail account at curriculum night in the fall.

One of the third grade social studies units that we study at the end of the year is First Americans. At the end of the 6 week unit, the students are assigned a powerpoint presentation to create. For some students I have a template of slides already set up that they can use. Other students choose to create their own presentation from scratch. There are 4 main regions that are studied: Plains, Northwest Coast, Eastern Woodlands, and Southwest. Once the kids choose which region they will research, I will have those students work collaboratively on a powerpoint presentation.

Google docs is such a great program to use because all the kids can have the document open and can be working on it at the same time in the computer lab. I am excited to get started using google docs.