The Big (Google Drive) Picture

So...apparently my students aren't as versed in Google Drive as I thought they were.  Yesterday I had that moment when you think you've got a great plan and suddenly you realize 75% of the children are looking at you like you're speaking a foreign language and asking them to make sushi while doing cartwheels.  

Well, we got through the whole making-a-copy-of-a-google-doc, renaming-it, sharing-it fiasco that ensued.  As the startling questions kept coming, I learned, among other surprises, that my students don't really have a good understanding of file naming - something I totally take for granted.  Name your file so you can find it later! And use some sort of system!  Folders!  Key words!  OMG.  Then I realized...these kids are looking at my comments in their documents and just leaving them all there!  Were they even addressing them?  What a messy blob of yellow comment boxes.  

Frustration level 10.  I thought they've been using their Google accounts for two years now?  Have we totally failed them?  So it's hot outside.  And we don't have air conditioning in our second floor classroom.  And quite frankly, in the heat I get a little short of breath from talking so much despite the number of miles I run per week.  So, I created a screencast that explains how to "resolve comments" in a Google Doc.  

Check it.  Use it.  Make fun of how simple it is.  Accept my apology for the blurriness.   

Besides venting about my drama, my bigger point is this:  Students still need some direct technology instruction.  Too often we say "they're natives" and "naturals" and "they pick it up faster than we do."  But the things is... they don't really look at the bigger picture.  They do what they do, but they have no idea why they're doing it.  They might not need 40 minutes of Technology class every day, but we absolutely have got to take the time to incorporate this direct teaching as we integrate the tools.