The Google Teacher Academy in New York #5 - Gleanings

In my post yesterday I wrote a reflection on the latest Google Teacher Academy in New York. The more I think about it, it was a mind blowing experience! We absorbed so much useful information both informally through networking and sharing, and formally from the various talented presenters. Today’s post will mention but a FEW of my take aways from the GTA experience

Something interesting about Google

When you are there walking through different parts of the huge building you see all these young (so it seemed) men and women working intensely at their computers and you know that things are happening ‘out there’ in the Internet. There is a large emphasis on creativity and the 400-800 employees at that particular office are encouraged to relax in various ways after an intense session. Good, healthy food is in plentiful supply and Google provides breakfast, lunch and dinner to its employees. I was interested in their 20% time principle, best explained as “Google gives its workers ‘20 percent time’ so that they can work on projects that they are passionate about. ‘20 percent time’ has been used to develop Gmail, Google Talk, Adsense, Orkut and a few other features that would never have seen the light of day unless this philosophy existed within Google”. (Kevin Mclaughlin) 

Tips and tricks from Google

• Google Chatbot for translation. This is INCREDIBLE for collaboration with those who don’t speak your language. You simply add the chatbot to your chat list as a ‘friend’ and then you create a chat between yourself, the chat bot and the foreign friend. e.g. someone from China. You type in English and he/she will see your words in Chinese and vice versa! Amazing! Read more here.
• Google dashboard. Did you know that you can log in to
  http://www.google.com/dashboard and see all things you have done or created in Google?
  
• Google Lesson plans for students can be found at http://www.google.com/insidesearch/searcheducation/lessons.html

There’s so much you can do with YouTube

• YouTube Search - shared by James Sanders
  You can tailor your search by adding keywords and commas. For example:
  [puppies, HD, short, partners, new] will get you the newest puppy videos in HD, that are short from partner groups.
  
• YouTube Create http://youtube.com/create
  It is quite amazing how many online tools you can now combine with your YouTube account to create videos with your class. Just take a look.
  
• YouTube Editor http://youtube.com/editor
  You can edit and use YouTube videos right from YouTube! The first thing to do is see that they are uploaded with the Creative Commons license.
  • You can add text, transitions, and audio files
  • You can also upload your own video with Creative Commons and tag them.  Once tagged you can have your students find and use them for editing
• Video Manager features to check out in You Tube
  • You can blur faces,
  • You can add annotations and use these to create links to other videos
  • You can add captions. To do this upload a .txt file and YouTube will do its best to add captioning.
• Take a look at this inspiring presentation 'Ten ways to use You Tube in the classroom' http://goo.gl/qs26z created by James Sanders one of the Lead Learners.
• Google Search stories created by a Google Certified Teacher Karen Mensing is an inspiring example of how  the search feature of Google can be used with success in Google. Take a look at her channel.  http://www.youtube.com/user/SearchStories 
  Take a look at this example from Caroline, an amateur astronomer, who became the youngest person to  discover a supernova: Supernova Video

Google Chrome extensions

This needs a paragraph all to itself! If you have never used Google Chrome, please give it  try. It is FAST and there are all sorts of amazing free extensions that you can add to your browser bar so that you don’t have to leave your browser to do certain things. Here are a few examaples:

• The ChromeVox screen reader is an extension to Chrome that brings the speed, versatility, and security of Chrome to visually impaired users. Find out more here.
• Read 5 Best Chrome Extensions for Educators by Amy Mayer (one of the Lead Learners at the GTANY)
  http://www.friedtechnology.com/2012/08/5-best-chrome-extensions-for-educators.html 

Well, I can see the post could go on forever - there is just so much to share! These are just a few gleanings, but future blog posts will contain more highlights.

Google Teacher Academy #4: Reflections - you MUST try to attend one!

A Google Teacher Academy (GTA) is definitely something that every teacher interested in technology integration should strive to attend at some stage of their teaching career. I have just been privileged to attend one in New York and have come back somewhat exhilarated and enthused, and quite amazed at the enormous amount of learning that happened in that short whirlwind of time.
 
So what exactly is a Google Teacher Academy?  
Google holds these popular events consisting of two days of professional development  twice or so a year in different locations, and normally accepts 50 participants from the vast number of applications that are received. Sometimes the Academies are open to the whole world and sometimes they are limited to a particular country or region. An application consists of filling in a detailed online form and then making a one minute video about oneself based on one of the the titles that Google provides. Find out more about the GTA here. 
 

The Google Teacher Academy team

A great sense of community was fostered
The most exciting aspect was the sense of community that developed among the 50+ educators attending. It showed me that the best learning takes place when there is collaboration, sharing, and networking. There were quite a number of technology integration facilitators from around the USA and elsewhere, and it seemed, in my estimation, that they are mostly having an enormous amount of success with their methodologies. However a number of them shared informally the challenges that go with leading change revolving around technology integration.  Many of them have technology blogs which I am keen to delve into. There were also several media specialists at the Academy who are taking on a new role and making their libraries a vital part of the technology happenings in a school. 

This is our team, Team Diesel

So how did we prepare for the Academy?
Before the Academy we joined Google + which I hadn't yet fully grasped, and we were placed in groups of six with a leader so that we could get to know each other via a Google hangout. This was an awesome experience and as a result I can see many uses for  Hangouts (a free video conferencing tool for ten people at a time) in education. We also wrote bios about ourselves so that we could read up about everyone before we started. And of course, there were the technology legends that we already knew about and followed on Twitter. So basically, by the time we started the Academy we had got to know 6 others plus legends and we had the potential of finding out about all the other attendees. The night before at the informal Google dinner at John's Pizzararia in New York we had great fun putting names to faces. Funnily enough when I say names - we always introduced ourselves by our Twitter handles - shows the power and popularity of  Twitter!

Team Diesel on a pre-Academy hangout

The big day! 
On the first day we excitedly made our way to the massive Google building just opposite the Chelsea Market in NYC - all very eager to see what Google actually looked like inside, and not knowing what to expect from the day… 
 

Google is HUGE!

Of course, I don’t want to give too much of the two days away for the sake of future attendees, but they were action-packed, collaborative and great fun to say the least, and we were afforded the most amazing presentations from dynamic presenters. The exchange of ideas was incredible.As JR Ginex-Orinion (one of the attendees) said ‘The quality of educators and leaders in the room was at times intimidating, and yet unbelievably inspiring at the same time.”  I'll be writing blogposts about some of the things I learned at this Academy in the days to follow. One of the things I really enjoyed was hearing from some of the designers of Google products, such as Google Drive etc. Another highlight was hearing from some of the Lead Learners as they are called (those leading the teams). One of them was Kern Kelly who shared his perspective and thoughts about allowing students to lead the process, take ownership of their learning and also help the teachers learn about technology. He brought along several of his students to share their experiences with the rest of us. 

Kern Kelly and some of his students

So the event continued till our brains boggled (and googled!)...but we didn't want it all to end. It was too absorbing and captivating, too engaging…
 
Graduation time
At our ‘graduation’ we were presented with our Google Certified Teacher badges, and certificates. We were officially welcomed into the Google Certified Teachers’ Google group which now has about 750 educators in it. We were also tasked with developing a ‘Personal Action Plan’  outlining a project that we will complete in the days to come, with given deadlines. As far as I am aware I am, to date, only the second South African to have attended a Google Academy, the first being Ariellah Rosenberg from Ort (@Ariellah). I am hoping that statistic will change in the future. 


Well, in order to keep this post at a reasonable length I will be writing a separate post outlining a few of the ideas that I walked away with from the rich sharing that took place at the Google Teacher Academy in New York, in October 2012.

Also read Gleanings from the Google Teacher Academy in New York.  

The Google Teacher Academy in New York #3: Jeffery Bradbury's TeacherCast podcasting site

It is just  day or two before the greatly anticipated Google Teacher Academy, and I thought I would take a look at what some of the other 49 attendees get up to in their daily technology explorations. This podcasting site, TeacherCast http://podcast.teachercast.net/ caught my attention. It is hosted by Jeffrey Bradbury, one of the Google attendees,  and it contains many really interesting educational podcasts, blog posts, app reviews and much more! I follow Jeffrey Bradbury on Twitter (@teachercast) but never thought I would get to meet him in person!

Jeffrey has conducted three podcasts recently that are related to the upcoming Google Teacher Academy in New York. He asked folk to volunteer to be interviewed (but of course I didn't!). Let me tell you about the three posts.

1. TeacherCast Podcast #63 “Welcome to the Google Teacher Academy” (@edtechschools @remedy1978 @dwmalone @MatthewPMoran)

Jeff sits down with Sean Beavers, Tanya Avrith, Matthew Moran and David Malone to discuss the Google Teacher Academy and their recent appointment to the Google Teacher Class of 2012. Read more and/or listen to the podcast here .

Featured topics:
*Google Teacher Academy
*Application process for GTA
*Making a GTA video
*Thoughts on GTA
*Things to do while in New York City
*New school year
*Tech for the school year

2. TeacherCast Podcast #65 “Google Teacher Academy Part 2″ @elh @lthumann #GTANY

Jeff sits down with two of the leaders from the upcoming Academy, Google Certified Teachers Erica Hartman and Lisa Thuman to discuss the 2012 Google Teacher Academy which is to be held in New York.   Read more and/or listen to the podcast here.

Featured topics
*Google Teacher Academy
*Application process for GTA
*What does Google look for in a GTA?
*The GTA commitment
*Instructing at a GTA
*How hasa GTA opened up your educational world? 

3. TeacherCast Podcast Special: Google Teacher Academy #GTANY

Jeff sits down with the rest of his team - Brent Catlett, Cory Pavicich, Mark Coleman, Jenny Kirsch and Kelly Croy to discuss the Google Teacher Academy. (We are divided into teams of 6, each with a leader, for the Academy). Read more about the interview or listen to the podcast  here. 

It's amazing to think that I will soon meet all these people in person at the Google Teachers Academy. New York. 

The Google Teacher Academy in New York #2: Preparing for a New York adventure

In a few days time (on the 3rd and 4th October) 50+ excited educators from the United States, Mexico, Canada, Colombia, the Czech Republic and South Africa (that’s me) will be descending on New York to attend the Google Teacher Academy New York 2012. These educators have been selected from the hundreds of applications from around the world, so undoubtedly many interested folk will be following the #GTANY Twitter hashtag to get a glimpse of the proceedings.

I love the way Linda Yollis one of the successful applicants from Los Angeles,  has involved her Grades 2&3 class in getting ready for the Google Teacher Academy. Take a look at her blogpost:
http://yollisclassblog.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-google-teacher-academy-in-nyc.html

We have been told by Google, “We are working hard to prepare everything to create an inspiring couple of days for you next week in New York, and we can't wait to meet all of you. Your heads are gonna spin with all the great experiences we have in store for you. Get ready!”

We have also been told, ‘We are finalizing a bunch of great activities with a completely revamped agenda from previous academies, and we are so excited to share it all with you next week!’

Can you wonder that we are excited!

What does Google New York look like?

On hearing of my selection for the Academy, my first question was (after I had got over all the excitement at being selected) – 'Whereabouts is Google in New York, and what does it look like?' In my Internet search to answer these questions  I came across two videos, one posted in February 2012 and one posted in 2009 when Google first opened its new New York offices. 

Here is the 2009 video entitled 'Inside Google's New York Office'.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5F-zUPTxMEw

Here is the latest video published by The Wall Street Journal, entitled 'An Inside look at Google’s New York Offices'. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpm_LIyMtMY

Keep watching this space and I will bring you more news of the Academy...

Google Teacher Academy #1: Accepted! Yay!

New York, October 2012
Guess what! I have been selected to attend the Google Teacher Academy in New York in October 2012! Hooray.y.y.y.y!

The Google Teacher Academy is not really all that well known in South Africa yet, but in countries like the USA, Britain and Australia, teachers who are interested in integrating the curriculum with technology clamour to attend. Just as Microsoft has its popular products and free tools, Google provides very useful programs such as Blogger blogs, Google Forms, Google Chrome with its huge selection of extensions designed to make browsing a dream, and Google Reader as a place to read all the blogs you follow - to name but a few.

So recently, when Google announced their next Teacher Academy in New York I decided to apply so as to find out more about Google. To my delight my application was one of the 50 that were successful!  Since then I have started learning more about Google! For example I hadn’t really got to grips with Google +, but as soon as we were accepted we were joined to a Google + circle to communicate privately with one another (as well as on the Twitter hashtag #GTANY which is more public).  The next exciting thing is that we were put into groups of 6 with a leader. 

Our group leader is Lisa Thumann. The leaders also present sessions at the Academy. Lisa is from Kean University and judging by this photo in Google + she is quite entertaining. She told us that there had been 567 applications for this upcoming Academy.

Another Google application I have recently been introduced to is a Google hangout! The seven of us had a hangout last week to get to know one other before the event and I can see that this is an amazing free future tool to use. 10 people at a time can participate in a video hangout. 

In the hangout Lisa took a snapshot whilst one of the group was sharing information so here it is (thank goodness I wasn’t speaking at the time…)

So once I am back on October 8th I’ll keep you posted in case you would also like to apply for a Google Teacher Academy and experience the rich community and inspiration that accompanies an event like this. Our SchoolNet webmaster has posted a Google press release on our website in case you would like to view it and find out more. http://www.schoolnet.org.za/.