I am including my blog post for the workshop on Google Maps & Google Earth as my signature assignment for this course.

902 CUE Workshop - Google Maps & Google Earth, 12/13/16

The reason I am highlighting this blog post as my signature assignment is that I am most inspired to transform my classroom and my teaching by using the suite of Google Geo Tools.

The other Google tools that we learned about in these workshops are extremely beneficial regarding improving workflow and classroom management, but I feel the Geo tools are least used in classrooms today and the most powerful for students. My school district holds Summer Learning Academy PD sessions, and we have had opportunities to learn about Google Classroom, Sites, Drive, Drawing, Docs, Sheets, and how to conduct Google searches efficiently. I haven't seen any opportunities for training in Maps or Google Earth. I want to change that. I believe all our teachers should be made aware of the possibilities within Google to create custom maps, view images, and create tours using Tour Builder. I plan to use what I am learning in this course as well as my personal research and classroom applications to teach a summer learning academy session this year for other teachers in my district.

I intend to continue blogging about how I am using the Google Geo tools in my classroom to help inspire other teachers to enhance their knowledge of these tools, and use them to reach their students. 360-degree street view images found in Maps allow students to gain a better understanding of the word around them. I can also imagine many ways to teach Math in practical and engaging ways by using the measuring tools in Google Maps.

Thanks to technology, our world has become so much smaller. It is more important than ever for our students to be globally minded and have an understanding of their place in the world and how we fit into the global world system and economy. I love how these tools allow geography to come alive for students.