Google Docs is a powerful word processing tool that many schools have adopted. As it's similar to Microsoft Word and other word processing tools, most of its features are intuitive to use. However, in addition to completing many of the functions of a traditional word processor, Google Docs provides even more capabilities that can be invaluable to educators. Here are ten tricks that can make your life easier with Google Docs:

Lesson Overview Students gain a sense of the living history that surrounds the novel To Kill a Mockingbird. Through studying primary source materials from American Memory and other online resources, students of all backgrounds may better grasp how historical events and human forces have shaped relationships between black and white, and rich and poor cultures of our country.

The Horizon Report 2014 K-12 edition is now available. Developed by the New Media Consortium (NMC) and the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN), this is the sixth annual K-12 edition. It describes findings from the NMC Horizon Project, an ongoing, collaborative research activity designed to identify trends and describe emerging technologies that are likely to have an impact on teaching, learning, and creative inquiry.

Investigative reporter Julia Angwin was curious what Google knew about her, so she asked the company for her search data. "It turns out I had been doing about 26,000 Google searches a month ... and I was amazed at how revealing they were," she tells Fresh Air's Dave Davies.

During our professional learning and teaching with iPad day, teachers learnt about SAMR model and TPCK.

Knowing how and when to raise your eyebrows to elicit the kind of response you're after from a student or how to move around the classroom and/or moderate your voice to ensure that students are engaged and 'with you' are just some of the skills that should be second nature to teachers in our classrooms.  But are they?

What type of tools could students choose from to heighten the message of their original writing with sound effects, vocal effects, music and images?

What type of tools could students choose from to heighten the message of their original writing with sound effects, vocal effects, music and images?

There is much more to efficient Googling than what most of our students know. From the specific order of the words constituting our search query to the use of search operators, Google provides all kinds of tricks for users to implement in order to tap into its full search potential. I have recently come across an interesting post shared by LifeHacker in which they outlined a wide variety of Google  tips and tricks that students should know about. They have also shared this wonderful video which I am sharing with you below on how to quickly find exactly what you are looking for.

The SAMR (Substitution Augmentation Modification Redefinition) model is a framework used to evaluate the technology being employed (or that you'd like to employ) in your classroom. Basically, it offers a way for you to look at how technology integration might affect teaching and learning. Accordingly, many teachers and administrators who are in the process of choosing between classroom technology options employ the SAMR model to determine what might be worthwhile and what wouldn't.