GAFE--I'm all in

Image source: http://www.gafeinaction.com.au/

When I first heard the acronym GAFE (Google Apps for Education), I felt a little turned off.  After all, a GAFFE is a mistake or blunder.  Why would we want something named that?!?! But now that I'm more familiar with all the wonderful educational uses of Google tools, I'm not so bothered by it. What else could we call it?

• Teachers Discovering Google Apps (TeDiGoAp)
• Google Simplifies Teachers' Lives (GSTL)
• Students Love Google (SLG)
• Google Dynasty (GoD)
• Google Tools Take Over Education (GoToTOE) -- this one's my favorite!

None of these are any good! I guess we'll stick with GAFE.  I have to admit it--I usually have feelings of disdain when thinking of big companies taking over our lives.  Think Disney and Times Square... Monsanto and farming...  Pearson and testing... and initially I may have felt this way about Google.  But the truth is, the things that Google is designing for teachers and students have changed my life! And in a good way.  I am in, Google Dynasty (GoD), I am all in.

Anyway, none of this really answers the question posed to us for class this week.  Since this is an established blog of 13 years (!), I have a pretty good idea that I use it as an online journal.  When funny things happen (which is what most of the posts are about) or when terrible things happen (like when I left my old job for my new one), I want to remember them.  I'm pretty amazed when I look back posts from long ago and remember all the details because they've been written down.

So many times as teachers, we tell funny stories about our students and say to each other, "We should write this stuff down!" or "We should write a book!" That's what my blog is--a remembrance of those important events that have made us laugh or cry.

My next post will be about seventh graders laughing at me today because I called a MacBook a MacIntosh.  Literally--they giggled to each other and looked at me and laughed! I had to inform them that the first computer I used was a MacIntosh, and that's what they used to be called! Boy, do I sound old.  :(