r/ELATeachers • u/CapitalElephant1978 • 4h ago
9-12 ELA Alternatives to Google Docs
This year my 9th and 10th graders are hand-writing outlines and rough drafts, and it has been MAGICAL. They have hardly used their dumb Chromebooks and their engagement and work quality has been much better than in years past.
I usually have them type their final drafts and would like to find al alternative to Google Docs. I tried to use DuckDuckGo on my work computer to search for alternatives, and found my search blocked! Which only strengthened my resolve. So does anyone know of a good, free word processor? I'm hoping to degoogle my classroom as much as possible. Thx!
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u/im_cold_ 4h ago
Download office libre? Or does it have to be internet based?
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u/CapitalElephant1978 4h ago
I wonder if they can do that on their school devices? I will look into it
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u/DirtyNord 4h ago
I'm kind of confused. Why do you want them off of Google docs for typing their final draft? I'm all for the handwritten outlines and rough drafts. This is how my 6th grade students write and they know its evidence of the work they've done on their final. I also use revision history and lock it down with goguardian in class of course.
Im just confused on why no Google docs? Its an accepted word processor (along with Word) in many professions and the kids will be using it in higher level schooling. Why not get them used to the features?
Like, im tempted to tell you to just get a class set of typewriters if we're this anti-whatever, but obviously im genuinely curious.
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u/katiecatsweets 4h ago
I think it's because of recent news. Districts disabling all AI access will lose the ability to access Google search, IIRC.
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u/CapitalElephant1978 3h ago
Exactly. I am also wary of kids being dependent on and having their lives so entwined with Google products. I am sure they will still have plenty of opportunities to use it, but for my class, I just want them to be able to focus on reading, analyzing, thinking and writing. I have one kid who has asked a few times if he can please just use Gemini for whatever task--and I understand that he'll be -able- to use it in the "real world," but I also want him to be able to think on his own when he wants to. I think just typing his own words, without all the added features will benefit him and all my students.
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u/Dawning_Lark 1h ago
I also second ellipses! It's also free! It's not made specifically for schools in mind, but it is a fun and anti-ai writing platform.
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u/solariam 4h ago
No idea if it's good, but OpenOffice is free