GMail Uses

     My situation is a little different.  I was able to use Google Apps the last two years I was in the classroom before retirement. I barely scratched the surface in terms of making integration inroads for my content area.   I currently only work as a sub for two local school districts.  My primary goal for improving my Google skills is so that when I am subbing in a classroom, if the instructor had a lesson that would employ use of Google tools, I will have a comfort level with being able to execute the plan.
     The other primary benefit for me is being able to communicate directly with the teacher when he or she is available while gone from the classroom.  When I try to communicate with my home email account, I often can't send or receive messages when behind the district's firewall.  Having my own Gmail account has helped me bypass that issue.  In one case, the teacher actually had me pull her up on the Smart Board in her room and she clarified some things for students that I probably would not have been able to do on my own.  It made the entire day go much more smoothly because she was able to answer questions for them that I may not have been able to.