All of the techie tidbits are wonderful, but I am most intrigued by the Google Books. I would anticipate using it within my classroom to warehouse research information I want to share with my 8th graders. More than that, though, I am sure that I will use this as the Middle School Language Arts Curriuclum Leader. I frequently find myself making copies of articles or trying to attach documents to emails for my teachers. I am excited to use Google Books to store the research I have found about teaching LA and to share the information with the teachers. I also know that the teachers will not have the time to find their own research; I must find it for them. When I am a principal, I know that I would use it in a similar manner, just on a larger scope.
One road block I can see is that some of my teachers in the department are reluctant to use technology and to read on the computer. I frequently have requests for documents in hard copies. Some of my teachers are instantly overwhelmed the moment I ask them to find something on the computer. I would anticipate having the same problems with any staff as a building administrator. I am sure that any staff will bring a wide range of technology skills and comfort levels.
I would hope to overcome this road block by using time in my curriculum meetings (and later staff meetings) to walk teachers through the process of accessing and using Google Books. By providing the time and instruction, I believe that some of them will become comfortable with the tool and may start to access it on their own. I do feel that I will need to revisit the instruction several times before I could ask them to navigate on their own.
For me to use Google Books effectively, I need to take the time myself to learn about the application. I have not used it yet and will need to familiarize myself with how to use it, how to navigate through the site, and how to share it. In addition, I will need to take the time to find the resources I wish to house on Google Books. I am not familar with the resources available through Google Books myself. Before I introduce anything to my teachers, I always make sure that I am very comfortable with it myself.
