via Delicious http://www.wired.com/business/2013/10/free-thinkers/?cid=13144914

Casey Finch, 8th grade social studies teacher from Fox Ridge Middle School in Aurora, Colorado, came to our EdTechTeam Rocky Mountain Summit featuring Google for Education and applied for our Student Device Grant afterwards. All attendees of EdTechTeam Summits are eligible to apply, and we've been so thrilled to see the magic transform classrooms around the world so far! We hope you'll attend a 2014 Summit and apply for your own class set this year. Photo by Casey Finch.  Casey's been documenting the process on his blog, and is also sharing his edtech musings on his Twitter @FinchAcademy. We caught up with Casey this month -- in between his teaching, coaching, and facilitating the live Tweet of the President of the United States State of the Union address!-- to see how things have been going since he first piloted his class set of Nexus 7's last fall."I have been incredibly fortunate since my teaching career officially started in 2007. This was right around the time Google Apps for Education (GAFE) was starting to take off. At my first school, we received a training in how to incorporate Google into our classes. I was pretty blown away by the collaboration piece and saw a HUGE potential. I immediately brought this into my classes. Soon enough I was sharing and training my grad school colleagues. In 2009, when I moved to my current school, I made it a priority to fully embrace and teach GAFE to our school.I was lucky to attend the EdTechTeam Rocky Mountain Summit and applied because I knew this would be a great way to test out a new device that was designed to work with GAFE, much like the Chromebook CR-48 I tested. Luckily I was picked and these devices proved to be extremely useful for my students, especially the size. Now are district has just rolled out Chromebooks and our tech department is consulting me about the potential of using Nexus devices at the district level. What a great experience! We also got the chance to meet some of the other winners, including Beth Mossholder and Julie Stewart, and I was invited to attend their "Geek Camp" just down the street from us. Really, it has been a great learning experiment for me. I learn most of the stuff from my kids as they found incredibly unique ways to use the devices that I would not have created on my own. With the 'cohort' that has the devices, we are able to do a lot of cool things in the classroom using Schoology, the web, and drastically reducing paper. The devices provide much more tailored learned that allows kids to work at their own pace and I think there is great potential for these devices." Some of the tips from his blog include his students' favorite cases, apps they used, and how he transitioned from a beta to full-blown integration. Read his blog for more! Google also has plenty of exciting Play for Education options for integration apps into your tablet environment quickly and easily. Our next EdTechTeam Rocky Mountain Summit featuring Google for Education is October 10th and 11th at Monarch High School-- we hope you'll join us then, or join any of our Summits around the world!

Bio:  Sergio Villegas works as the Educational Technology Coordinator in a joint partnership between the Napa County Office of Education and NapaLearns.  Connect with him on twitter at @coach_sv or join him for a Google Hangout at +sergio villegas. The next California event is the 3rd Annual EdTechTeam Flagship California Summit! July 19th and 20th in Palo Alto, California.Working in the Napa Valley (the town that I grew up in), I have noticed a curious formula emerge around Professional Development in my region:Progressive School Districts + Organizations Dedicated to Promoting Progressive Ideas + A Beautiful Place to Visit = LOTS of Educational Conferences.Educators in Napa can roll out of bed and join the following opportunities to learn and grow:  Buck Institute’s PBL World (summer), The NewTech Network West Coast PBL conference (summer), FallCUE conference (Oct), North Bay CUE miniCUE events (Fall/Spring), Napa Valley Education Exchange (May), CUE Rock Star Napa (Feb), and this does not even include a host of Free EdTech Dinner events (twice monthly) that my own County Office of Education puts on!So when I meet some folks from EdTechTeam at ISTE this summer, (after begging and pleading with them and maybe a few glasses of wine) I was able to convince them that 50,000 EdTech Fans can’t be wrong and #gafesummit Napa would be a great place to hold a mid-year Bay Area event...and it was! The EdTechTeam model for Summits really shined at NewTech High School.  I love the way they schedule in 30 minute break between sessions to allow people to decompress, chat with presenters (which everyone should do more of btw...we all LOVE sharing!), and share with each other the best of the ideas they all just learned.  New Tech High School has one of the most enviable common areas you will ever see at a high school and there was a spot of magic in the room as everyone convened around coffee, snacks, and ideas. You can relive the fun they did at the resources site for the event!Although friends from around the Bay Area were sharing with me various compliments about the quality of the event, it was the reaction of my local Napa educators that has moved me to beg EdTechTeam (yet again) to be featured on their #gafesummit Blog. I'm joining the likes of Cate Tolnai who featured another California event, the Roseville Festival, just a week later in her own blog.Educators in Napa are hard to impress since they indeed have seen it all (see opening paragraph) and to see 30+ of them say yes to sacrificing two days of their winter vacation (uncompensated) in order to feel like this for 7 hours a day, learning from/with presenters from the Bay Area and beyond, was a fantastic feeling.  Teachers actually thanking ME for making this happen, as if I had anything significant to do with making the event happen (see wine comment paragraph 2).  My personal favorite was the promise from two principals (both of which have been realized) that they would be doing #slamsessions (a fun end to Day 1 where presenters come up to show 3-minute slams of cool uses of tools) as a regular part of their faculty meetings.  #GAFEsummit Napa:  By the Numbers1504 - miles traveled by a group from Oklahoma traveled that was the greatest distance traveled of the people that I spoke with over the week478 - attendees at two day general event.43 - presenters from the Bay Area and beyond12 - Number of retweets and my favorite, my tweet mentioning this must-read (all of it)  reflection of the event written by Lisa DeLapo, who brought her students to present to teachers (seriously, why doesn’t this happen more?).6 - Teachers that I personally reached out to and encouraged them to present (for the first time) and share the quality work they are doing with a bigger audience. #sharingmatters5 - Teacher, Trainers, Leaders that Google generously allowed to come work with all of us for a few days.3 - Number of Students that shared the "Demo Slam" stage (first ever student slam!)1 - Thankful EdTech Guy in Napa trying to do his part to help all teachers become their own personal version of great.Immeasurable:  Number of students/teachers that will be empowered by the simple addition of GAFE concepts like sharing to already existing great teaching. TY EdTechTeam!

Creating and Editing Video using WeVideo in Google DriveOriginally posted at Follow Molly by Molly Schroeder, Program Chair at EdTechTeamWeVideo is one of my new favorite tools to use with students.  It is an online video editing program that is fully integrated with Google Drive so students don’t need to create a new account. First, students should connect WeVideo to Google Drive.  When in Drive, click on the red CREATE tab and at the bottom click on Connect More Apps.  Search for WeVideo and add it to your Drive.Screencast on how to add WeVideo to your Google Drive When you connect WeVideo to your Drive you can pull images and video from your Drive into your WeVideo storyboard, and your WeVideo movie is saved all right in Drive.Screencast on basic creating and editing of video using WeVideo WeVideo has differentiated storyboards for students to work with based on their familiarity with video editing.  Students can start out in the Storyboard and move on up to the Timeline mode when they are ready for more layers of video, narration and audio. The FREE version of WeVideo gives each user 15 free minutes of export before you have to start paying for the product. Saving Images for your WeVideo ProjectStudents can find and save images from a variety of places on the web.  One site that we like to use for copyright friendly images is Pics4learning.com.  The great thing about using Pics4learning.com with our Chromebooks, Google Drive and WeVideo is that there is a "Save Image to Drive" button on each image. This allows for very easy collecting of images for your WeVideo movie.Another great way to get images into Google Drive to use with WeVideo is the "Save to Drive" extension from the Chrome Web Store.  First, install the "Save to Drive" extension and then once you have found a copyright friendly image you can right click on the image (two finger click on the Chromebook trackpad) and one of the options is to "Save Image to Drive."  This way students will have their imagesin Google Drive and can easily import them into their WeVideo project. Classroom ExampleLet’s say you went on a field trip to the Science Museum and you wanted students to create a WeVideo movie sharing what they learned on the field trip.   Make sure that someone on the field trip takes lots of pictures of the students and all the activities that they were doing.  When you get back to the classroom, download all the pictures from your phone or camera onto your desktop computer. Getting the Image to the StudentsScreencast of Sharing Images with Students Via Google DriveOne of the easiest ways to get all the images to the students so they can use them in their WeVideo movie is to create a shared folder in Google Drive. 1.  Go to Drive and Click on Create>Folder2.  Once you have clicked on that folder, click on the upload button (to the right of Create) and select all the images of your field trip from your desktop so they are upload into Drive.3.  Share the Folder - hover over the folder until you see the little drop down arrow to the right of the name of the folder.  Click on Share and then Share again.  Share the folder with each of your students in your class.4.  HINT - if you have all of their email addresses in a spreadsheet you can just copy and paste from the spreadsheet.5.  Now that the folder of images is shared with the students, each of them should be able to access all the images to upload them into their WeVideo project. WeVideo can also Record from WebCamInterested in some self reflection from students via video.  Have students go to WeVideo, and in the media/video option they can record from WebCam right into their WeVideo project.  Authentic self assessment or reflection, all captured on video!

EdTechTeam Guest Blogger Lisa deLapoDirector of Instructional InnovationHoly Names High School, Oakland, CAPresenter, Napa 1:1 Institute 2014Luisa, Lisa, Eva, and Amanda from Holy Names High School We all talk about getting students to be creative, collaborative critical thinkers and good communicators. But when are we going to start walking the walk since we obviously talk the talk? The Digital Divas student-led tech-integration class at Holy Names High School not only talks the talk, they strut with pride when they walk the walk. Amanda Harris ('16), Luisa del Rosario ('17), and Eva Cole ('15) are from Holy Names High School in Oakland, California, and they represent the Digital Divas. They have presented at two GAFE Summits and the local CUE affiliate events as well. They have also been invited to K-8 schools to present and train teachers and students to use Google Apps for Education. Led by the school's Director of Instructional Innovation, Lisa DeLapo, the girls show their unique ideas about how teachers can use Google Apps in the classroom. These students are dedicated to representing students who don't learn via traditional lecture and textbook ways. Two of them have significant learning differences, and they have utilized technology to help themselves learn and create. Amanda said at the recent Roseville GAFE Summit, "I want to advocate for students like me, students who don't learn by memorizing or by listening to lectures." Amanda, the first student to do a Google Demo Slam at a GAFE Summit, is the creator of the Digital Divas.   The Digital Divas is a co-curricular course at Holy Names High School.  They are the student-led technology team.  Instead of only doing hardware and software tech support, they also train teachers in our local communities on using Google Apps for Education in the classroom setting.  The Divas meet every Thursday afternoon, and we train on new and innovative products in the educational technology world.  We invite guest presenters from CUE, GAFE Summits, and other cool instructional technology events to teach our students new tools used by teachers. Amanda is a pro at using Google Presentations. She has been using them since she was in the 7th grade at St. Joseph Elementary School, where incidentally, Lisa DeLapo was Director of Technology.  Lisa helped the students use Google Apps for Education and was featured in a Google blog about students and teachers using Chrome and GAFE (Google Blog). At Amanda’s GAFE Summit sessions, you’ll learn how to use Google Presentations to help students learn. Luisa’s favorite tool is Google Documents, and she presents different ways students and teachers can use Docs in the classroom.  Eva teaches about using Google Forms for summative and formative assessment and includes some creative uses of Forms for students. On the drive home from GAFE Summit Napa, Eva reflected out loud, "It surprised me that over 400 teachers showed up during their winter vacations to attend a conference on how to better help students learn. It makes me want to try harder in my classes, knowing that teachers are doing this for me."   If you don't think you're making a difference, you are.

EdTechTeam Guest Blogger Nicole NaditzGoogle Certified TeacherEdTechTeam Roseville Festival ft Google for Education PresenterDid you know the Google Art Project can provide a way for your students to gain proficiency in Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for English Language Arts (ELA) in listening, speaking and writing? While at the EdTechTeam Roseville Festival featuring Google for Education this February, I attended fellow Google Certified Teacher Sean William's session on the Google Art Project and the new Google Cultural Institute and found myself updating my own presentation for later that day (below) with new features I noticed in Google Art Project during our "exploration time" in Sean's session. As a language teacher, I already loved the Google Art Project and had been sharing it with world language teachers since 2011. The project includes incredibly high-quality images from art all over the world. For language teachers, this provides a quick, always-available source for art from the countries that speak the target language. Those artistic pieces can then be used for a variety of language activities, and more advanced students can engage in analysis or even create written or spoken works in the target language inspired by the art. To make this easier, users can create their own "galleries" by choosing artworks by theme, artist, time period, or any other means of organization the teachers prefer. What I noticed was that there has been an unannounced addition to the features in the galleries: the user who created the gallery can now add video or text annotations to the art. Teachers can use the text feature to provide written commentary for the students to read or to attach a YouTube video related to the art work for students to view.Depending on the task assigned to students, those written or video annotations can be designed to provide students practice in the skills outlined for reading (informational or literary texts, depending on the nature of the "annotations") and also for listening. Better yet, students can create their own galleries and then add their own annotations to each work. They could even record their own videos and upload them YouTube so that they could be attached to the art works.There are also some very compelling features that could be extremely beneficial as tools contributing to success in CCSS (in ELA and also the College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards expected of all subjects). The most important of these features, in my opinion, is the use of all authentic, primary source documents in the exploration of a topic. To get a taste that will send you on a journey of exploration, try going to the Cultural Institute and in the search bar, type "Hitler" to get a taste of the types of documents available. Most are photos, but there are propaganda posters and other documents as well. Once the search returns results, a new series of options appears on the left, including a way to narrow by year or media type.For language teachers, this will require a lot of additional exploring to see which topics include primary source documents in the target language, but the collection is quite extensive and could be easily used in social science, visual arts, ELA, and world language classes. Students can speak or write about the documents and photos, analyze multiple documents and explain connections between them, and more, helping students grow in their ability to analyze and to communicate their findings, both of which are key aspects of the ELA grade-level CCSS and the College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards in CCSS.

EdTechTeam Guest Blogger: Alfina Jackson Catholic Education Office, Sydney, AustraliaSydney Summit, April 2014Alfina getting Googley at the Sydney SummitThis was my second GAFE Summit and it definitely DID NOT disappoint! I even was top 5 tweeter of the summit! I aim for 1st place next year!I was lucky enough this year to attend the summit with my colleagues and fellow teachers from the Catholic Education Office Sydney, and it was Google-in-action for us! We collaboratively worked on a Google Doc to neatly keep all of our notes together (at one time 75 people were trying to get into the Doc!) and share our insights and "ahhh" moments with each other. My school had just purchased 85 new chromebooks, and as a Chromebook-'virgin', I was looking for innovative new ways to inspire my staff to utilise this great resource with their students. The summit opened up a world of resources for me. I communicated my new-found knowledge of Chrome Apps and extensions with my parish priest (who is a great example of someone who has used Chrome Apps to make his life easier) and my staff at school. I aim to encourage my staff to move away from the 'we are using Chromebooks' approach, to "We are going to...what is the best tool to use?" I want the teachers at my school to teach their students to choose from their 'technology toolbox' to choose Chrome apps, iPad apps or Web 2.0 tools at their disposal to create, imagine and innovate solutions to problems. I hope my own Year 1 students can work towards using their technology toolbox to select the best technology options available to create documentaries on bugs at the end of the term. Thank You, Alfina for sharing your reflection(s) from the Sydney Summit. We look forward to following your updates! You can follow her on twitter too, @GeekyAusTeacherInterested in attending a summit? We have a number of upcoming events just around the corner! And we have a little blog reader/social media promo code for you to use for any event in May or June 2014 (it's not too late to register)! Use promo code gafesm at check out on the registration page for 5% off your ticket! www.gafesummit.com

Guest Blogger Karen Melhuish SpencerAttendee of the sold-out EdTechTeam North Island NZ SummitCross-posted fromKaren Melhuish Spencer's BlogIt’s been a busy week of educational conferences this week across New Zealand - I challenge anyone to say teachers have ‘holidays’! This is the first conference post this week, from the EdTeamTeam North Island New Zealand Summit ft. Google for Education in Auckland where I managed to pop in for a day, connect with some fabulous folk there about Connected Educator Month (more on that soon) and share a wee session on using Google Hangouts for:synchronous learning and meetingsfacilitating and recording blended professional learning approaches - multi opportunities to access learning can help give effect to the principles of Universal Design for Learningconnecting learners to other learners and ‘experts’ in the global communitystarting your own TV channelSlides appear below and a comparison of the two types of hangouts that Google+ offers.  USEFUL RESOURCES Comparison of Video Hangouts and Hangouts on AirHow to run an online workshop or webinarGET INVOLVEDTeachMeetNZ: a regular hangout for NZ educatorsConnected Educator Month: register your interest in being part of this global, national calendar of events - which will include hangouts.)Thanks to guest blogger Karen for letting us cross-post this wonderful post from her blog-- you can see all of North Island New Zealand Summit resources here! Check out when the next New Zealand Summit will be announced and others in your neighborhood here.

'11:59pm last night Pacific time marked the last chance to submit your application for the Google Teacher Academy in either Mountain View, California or Atlanta, Georgia this summer. Google Teacher Academies are intense two-day events with 50 educators from around the globe gathering at a Google office to connect, collaborate, and innovate, and most of the presenters at EdTechTeam Summits are Google Certified Teachers who went to one of these events.We hope you took a shot and submitted yours! If not, fear not, there are still nine more Google Teacher Academies happening in 2014 with applications yet to open, so watch Google for Education's page, Google Plus, the #googlect hashtag on Twitter, and this blog for more announcements.Mark Wagner, Danilo Marrone, Wendy Gorton, Linda Lindsay, Brendan Brennan, and Liz Castillo share on the Google Certified Teacher and Trainer Panel in Honolulu, Hawaii at the 2nd Annual Hawaii SummitHere's just a few of the awesome videos that attendees in our EdTechTeam Summit Google Plus Community shared with us-- put yours in the comments below if you applied as well, and best of luck to you!Hope MulhollandEdTechTeam New England Summit ft. Google for Education Attendee Google Qualified EducatorMary BerelsonGoogle Qualified EducatorMegan BirdEdTechTeam Arizona Summit ft. Google for Education Attendee Connected Classrooms Guru Cori FreadeEdTechTeam Pennsylvania Summit ft. Google for Education AttendeeAs you prepare for your application when the next round becomes available, we love sharing GCT David Theriault's (GTA Chicago) inspiring and thorough blog on the video production process. Here is his video here for even more inspiration!We hope to see you at the next EdTechTeam Summit featuring Google for Education. Check out the lineup here.

Guest Blogger Susan KileyEdTechTeam New England Summit Attendee and Google Certified Trainer Bootcamp Attendee Bishop Feehan High School, MAIn honor of the Google Certified Educator application closing today at 11:59pm Pacific Standard Time, we asked folks in our community to share their experience with the application. The next application period opens June 2nd and is due August 15th, so start thinking now about preparing! A great start is to begin your Qualified Educator Exams.You can also attend a Google Education Trainer Certification Bootcamp before most of our summits this summer! Good luck to Emily Roth, Sarah Kyriazas, Cori Frede, Chad Fisher, and so many more who shared with us on our community that they went for it this go-around! Thanks Sarah also for sharing your portfolio for ideas. Sign up to hold a Bootcamp here! -EdTechTeamI attended the EdTech Team’s Google Bootcamp in Massachusetts this fall to become better acquainted with Google Apps for Education (GAFE) and to learn practical application of all Google has to offer for schools. We are in the process of migrating our entire organization over to a Google EDU domain and as the trainer for my school, I wanted to be sure I was on the right track with the training I had already started with our staff.  My instructor was Kern Kelley, a dynamic and innovative educator from Maine. The most valuable part of the bootcamp was Kern’s experience with GAFE and how he has transformed an entire school district with practical application of GAFE and all it has to offer. The Bootcamp was the highlight of my school year. I left feeling inspired by all of the possibilities Google presents for schools at all levels of the organization. After attending, I first passed all of my certification exams to become a Google Qualified Educator, the first step to becoming a trainer, and have applied to be a Google Education Trainer for this round. My advice to anyone taking the exams is to not assume that you know everything about Google! Even after the bootcamp, I also took the self-paced training prior to each exam to be sure. Application Requirements Once in the exam session, I was very glad I did this. The most difficult exam, I found, was Drive. Receiving my Google Certified Educator certificate was a sweet moment! I then moved on to apply for my Trainer badge, for which I am anxiously awaiting word back. If you apply for the trainer program you first need to have at least 50 hours experience delivering Google training...no problem for me since I’ve been doing this pretty much full time since March. For my 2-minute application video, I created a screencast demonstrating one aspect of Sites. (I actually chose Page types & embedding the Recent Posts gadget in my class website so that teachers in my school could learn how to do this.) For the application Case Study, it pretty much wrote itself as I am fortunate enough to be experiencing a Google migration in my everyday work. (I love seeing people’s faces the first time they see the desktop Drive client sync their files to the web!As the primary Google trainer for my school, I have also invited teachers from other schools to attend my training sessions to spread the word.  I created a site containing offerings for teachers in my school for the upcoming school year, as well as a public one on which I'm hoping to place a Trainer badge. (feedback/suggestions are most welcome!)

There is a manual procedure that works well if there is a new policy that you do not want to wait for or you have a Chromebook that just doesn’t seem to pull down policies from the Google Apps Management console, even after you wipe it and rejoin it to the domain. If you are running into something of this nature, the following will work.Login to the Chromebook that is having the problem and launch the Chrome browser (if it doesn’t launch automatically).In the URL field type Chrome://policy and hit enter. At the top left you will see a button called Reload Policies. Click on that button, wait about 30 - 60 seconds and log off.'Check the Chromebook for the policy that you are missing (i.e. wifi, login screen, SBAC Airsecure browser app, etc.). If you do not see it right away, try updating again or just let it sit for a little longer.

In early 2012 a small team of passionate educational technologists came together with the purpose of producing a "Google in Education Summit" in Google’s own backyard, the silicon valley of California, a place with more Google Certified Teachers than anywhere else in the world. Very soon they realized that the event they were planning was something special and would benefit teachers in many other regions… and the decided to "take the show on the road." The result was the EdTechTeam Summit featuring Google for Education.Then, over a period of 21 months, the EdTechTeam produced 50 summits serving 16,624 educators from 4272 educational institutions, in 15 countries, with sessions in 7 languages, on 6 continents… with 1 goal: to empower and inspire educators to make the future better using the best technology and pedagogy available.Educators all around the world have experienced a "mind blowing," "life changing," and "downright fun" event often evaluated as "the best professional development of my career." Self described geeky educators have said "I didn’t know what I didn’t know." Beginners and technophobes have have shared a "positive hands-on experience" - and been "encouraged" by their ability to use these tools with their students. New teachers have changed the course of their careers and near-retirees have been reinvigorated and excited about their remaining years. Educational leaders have found new ways to motivate and inspire… while technical leaders have found the answers and support they needed to make all of this possible at their schools. Every participant has been invited to "Dream Out Loud" and become "Architects of the Possible" as they become co-conspirators in a new learning movement. #gafesummitEveryone at the EdTechTeam is sincerely grateful to have been a part of the experience… and they want to thank each participant for buying tickets and being a part of the journey.Ticket sales have also allowed us to give away seven class sets of Chromebooks (or Nexus 7s)... with three more class sets going out this quarter - and more to come. Each class set has been put in the hands of a teacher launching a 1:1 pilot with his or her students. Each pilot has been explicitly focused on providing engaging, inquiry-driven, context-embedded, collaborative, and reflective learning experiences for students… with a particular focus on creating, making, and doing. We are grateful to have been able to empower the teachers and students involved in this grant program as well. Thank you.We've produced another 4 summits in the past month, and we are now on pace to connect even more educators in 2014, with over 50 summits scheduled for this year alone (yes, that's one a week - or more some months). Whether you’ve been to a summit before, or have yet to be, we hope to see you at one of these special events in the coming months. See you soon at the summit!Interested in hosting a summit in your region? Let us know!

Guest Blogger Hope MulhollandEdTechTeam New England Summit AttendeeMy experience using Google in the classroom all started last year. I ran an after school Bring Your Own Device program where the students explored what apps and programs can be used across multiple devices. One of the apps that the students fell in love with was Google Drive. They were soon collaborating at home, and I started incorporating what we had learned into my classroom lessons.  I worked with our school Technology Coordinator as we became a Google Apps for Education (GAFE) district with our own domain and deployed Chromebooks in the school. As part of my own learning, I attended the New England Bootcamp and Summit. That experience was one of the best professional experiences I have ever had. Not only did I learn the nuts and bolts I needed to use GAFE effectively, but also innovative ways to incorporate them into my classroom. I was even able to visit the Boston Google offices. Since returning from the New England Summit featuring Google for Education, I have started offering Professional Development to my colleagues. I have led several sessions for other teachers who are getting started using Chromebooks and GAFE in the classroom. I also facilitated my first ever conversation at an EdCamp. Being at the Summit inspired me to take the Google Educator exams and apply to the Google Teacher Academy.  My tips to anyone who is interested in becoming a Google Educator include:1. Attend a Bootcamp and Summit2. Study the courses on www.google.com/edu (especially the advanced courses)3. Leave yourself the full 90 minutes for the exams Learning is a daily part of my life and this has been a great year of growth for me as a teacher. I hope to continue at this year’s Google Teacher Academy. 

Guest Blogger Julie Revell Cross-PostEdTechTeam New Zealand Summit Attendee It has taken more than a few weeks to pare back the explosion of "Google goodness" that abounded at the New Zealand North Island Summit I attended last month at Albany Senior High School. It is really hard not to feel overwhelmed with all of the information and incredible exemplars of learning (N.B: the 'e' is already in there.) I am hoping that writing this will help me pull the strands together! There are so many perspectives to reflect from.@MissDtheTeacher and @digitallearnin #shenanigans My Drive is bulging now with more shared documents. Even looking at the document's titles gives me those instant triggers of "Oh yeah, learnt that in that session, will pass that on to..." I wanted to record many of the sessions - flipping them would be great - and would love to have the ability to rewind. Suan Yeo, Google’s Education Evangelist in Asia-Pacific began the Summit. His keynote prompted us (with the help of Simon Sinek's Golden Circle) to think of our learners. Starting with the Why ensures that we are thinking about why we are doing what we do. Suan spoke of the power of technology - it can change lives. Shift your students from being consumers, enable them to be creators. "Google is great, but it's making our kids dumb." - We need to challenge kids to discover. Suan believes it "is imperative that educators continue to innovate with new teaching models and technological advances, or risk getting left behind." Are you asking the ungoogleable questions? Learning is discovery versus searching. "Google is great, but its making our kids dumb." We need to change this. Discovery is the challenge, focus on the journey. Dorothy Burt's Going Google session was incredibly informative. The Point England/Manaiakalani Cluster journey provides an inspirational exemplar to me as an eLearning leader. From that perspective I was (and am) interested in the big picture they have developed. Their vision, and what they have achieved for their community is remarkable. They chose Google Apps for Education for collaboration, a theme that clearly permeated the summit. It was Point England that provided me with an important shift in my thinking. Point England junior educators are using one app. No surprises for which one it is. I had previously thought that Explain Everything was a bit too complicated for my Year 2s, and have been mainly using ShowMe for the children's response activities. Having Karen Belt share with me a couple of response activities that they created for their NEs was really powerful. I also learnt that they use Hapara's Google Dashboard in the junior school. They are able to create and plan for a week's reading response, and "push out" the Explain Everything activities to all their student's iPads. From a classroom management/workload perspective I am sold on Dashboard. I had fears that Dashboard wouldn't play nicely with the iPads, but these have been allayed. It was great to hear that Hapara's Teacher Planning step for Dashboard is in BETA. 'It's fantastic when the Professional Development that you attend specifically caters to your next steps, and this is certainly what the Summit provided for me. I now need a winter's worth of rainy Sundays to work on my class' (and our school's) Google Sites. Fiona Grant, and Allanah King your resource sites are tremendous! Wendy Gorton's session on Google Sites as a Learning Management System was one that I wish I could have recorded. My colleagues were thinking that I was off-task on this one, as there were few notes recorded! The session was so practical, I was too busy playing. Loved it.And I just have to mention Jim Sill. OMG. He spoke in his Keynote about the internet being a creator of culture. There are 100 hours of video uploaded to You Tube every minute. Amazing educator. Google him.And the best part of the Summit? Seeing my mates, meeting people IRL and making new connections. #geeksrock

Guest Blogger Sarah Kyriazis Cross-Post from Technology for all Teachers Blog New round of Certified Trainer Applications begins in June, so get ready!It's been a couple of months since we hosted the Assabet Valley Collaborative Google Apps for Education Certification Bootcamp at Hudson, HS. We had over 60 educators and a waiting list to attend this bootcamp. Our amazing trainers were +Kern Kelley and +Michael Wacker from EdTechTeam.Two weeks later I attended the +Google for Education Summits by EdTechTeam in Cambridge, MA at the Google Offices. What a great experience. Again, I ran into my new friends and learned so much from all of the trainers +Kern Kelley, +Michael Wacker, +Holly Clark, +Chris Bell and more!It was one of the most educationally enlightening and inspiring experience I have had as an adult. I instantly began applying all of my new knowledge into my coaching with teachers. All of this Googliness is in the attempt to be a better Educational Technology Coach to the districts I serve! It is so great to network with other educators.After these four full days of fun, I started taking the 5 exams. I've been building Google Sites for two years pretty extensively, but I thought that exam was pretty challenging. Chrome was the easiest. The exams were very technical and required fast research skills. I was originally going to apply in August after I deployed GAFE at my Collaborative, but decided that I had enough PD to apply for the 5/16/14 deadline.The most challenging was the screen cast. By attending the  Bootcamp, I learned about different types of screencasting programs and chose one that is relevant to me and my life and the teachers I work with.True Story: I was actually waiting for my daughter to get out of Girl Scouts while I finished the screen cast. I learned a few more things by truly NOT having an Internet connection and was able to work in my car. I tried to get rid of my blended Massachusetts/Maine accent, but couldn't so just figured I'd go with it.I've created screen casts before, but I like this short style much better so I am going to incorporate this style more!For my Case Study, I had the tremendous opportunity to work with educators across programs in the collaboration of lesson plans, so this part was quite natural. I then created a Google Site with my own URL www.sarahkyriazis.com. Since this is my first year in this position, I really wanted to link my work from my previous district to weave it all together.I submitted the application last week after a few long late nights! Rowing started this week on Lake Quinsigamond so my days were quite long. It feels good to have it finished.Thanks so much to EdTechTeam for all of their mentoring!

The EdTechTeam is undergoing an exciting change. When we founded the company in June 2006, we wanted to "do things right" and began by incorporating in California as a standard S-Type Corporation. I know this sounds like boring business stuff, but trust me… it gets exciting. In recent years, new options have become available in California (and other states). Now, in May 2014 we have made the change to a California Benefit Corporation, allowing us to formally make decisions that put our mission ahead of our bottom line.Our core team went on a three-day retreat in January 2014. Among other things we discovered that we were at least as passionate about our mission (and our giving efforts) as we were about selling tickets to events and signing contracts with schools. We knew our financial success would always be tied to the quality of professional development we provide educators, and the impact of the services we provide educational institutions… but we also wanted to be able to provide services to teachers and schools who can’t afford what we offer (in markets where our operations cannot be profitable). We wanted to build a business where we could not only give away class sets of devices for student use, but we could institutionalize giving as part of what what this company is about, and what we actually do. Ultimately, we wanted to establish a business structure that would never sacrifice our ideals, convictions, and social change goals for the sake of making a sale.We already found ourselves in a place where we were were straddling the space between a mission-driven non-profit… and a profitable corporation. Happily, we discovered that California (and a number of other states) now have a new business structure called a Benefit Corporation. By amending our articles of incorporation to establish the EdTechTeam as a Benefit Corporation we have now formalized our commitment to our mission - and made it legally justifiable for our directors to make decisions that serve our mission before our bottom line. In addition, Benefit Corporations are held to higher standards of transparency and accountability. Among other things, we look forward to publishing our first annual impact report next year. Most importantly, as the company continues to grow, our mission will remain the focus and all stakeholders will know this.We also hope this reorganization will help attract more of the kind of people we want to work with, and allow us to serve more educators who want to see the same sort of change in the world. Most importantly, we hope it will better position us to actually effect the positive social change necessary to improve students’ lives and make the future… better.Our mission is to "improve the world’s education systems using the best learning principles and best technologies available." In short, we aim to help the world’s schools be future ready. We know this will mean different things to different people, and we’re sure our own articulation of this mission will change over time. But to us this means that we are helping connect educators with each other and with the best (often free) learning tools available… and that we are helping them learn to use the tools for working with their students and colleagues. We’re particularly passionate about open ended tools that help provide an authentic context for student inquiry, creation, collaboration, and reflection. Ideally, we love to see students engaged in solving real-world problems… and effecting positive social change themselves. We encourage courageous leadership, empowered teachers, and student agency - as well as access to the resources, devices, and infrastructure necessary to fully realize these goals in today’s world... and in the future. To help make all of this possible, we support communities of educators (and institutions) that share these same goals.With all of this in mind, we have re-committed to making this team blog a community building effort aimed at inspiring and empowering readers to play a role in these changes as well. We will share much more about what the team is doing and working toward - and we’ll share many more resources for educators and students. We hope that many of you will contribute to these efforts - in the comments, as guest bloggers, and by discussing these posts elsewhere in social media and other forums, including face-to-face in school staff rooms around the world. 

Guest Blogger Shawn DavidsEdTechTeam Vancouver Summit AttendeeI just finished an amazing weekend at the EdTechTeam Summit ft. Google for Education at Mulgrave School in West Vancouver. And what an amazing conference it was. I have to be honest, I was a little reluctant to go when it was first brought to my attention, let alone present at it. But a "gentle nudge" by a colleague (thanks Victoria Olson) convinced me to give it a try. And boy am I glad I did. What an amazing time.There was so much I took away from the weekend; here are a few of the themes that have jumped out after a bit of time to reflect. Google Gets Education And Learning: This was one of the real pleasant surprises from the GAFE Summit. When I submitted my presentation proposal on Celebrating Success Through Social Media, I actually didn’t even expect it to get a second look. I mean this was a conference about Google. I figured people would be "geeking out" over all that is Google. I should have known better the moment the acceptance email arrived. The sessions offered were about STUDENT LEARNING! Google Apps were simply seen as tools to empower and enhance that learning. And that’s right up my alley. Too often we get caught up on the technology and forget to focus on what’s important, the learning. But sessions like Digital Portfolios by Holly Clark and Sketchnoting by Brad Ovenell-Carter showed me that learning was at the forefront. The technology was merely a tool, no more valuable than a pencil or hammer. It is in the leveraging of these tools that the magic of learning was magnified exponentially.The Future’s So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades: One of the things I came away with was the realm of possibility that exists in education today. And while it’s not really accurate to say the "future" looks bright (it’s already here!), the GAFE Summit was an excellent opportunity to see what was possible in education when we effectively leverage the tool of technology. For example, Holly Clark’s session on Digital Portfolios really had me excited about a system where a child’s learning could be documented and curated for the entire K - 12 journey. I got goose bumps at the thought of sending our West Langley grade 7s to the neighbouring high school with a website that celebrates their learning during their 8 years with us. And even more excited about the thought of a graduate student being ready to apply for post-secondary or the workforce with a digital resume ready to go."Dark Clouds" Are Opportunities: I have to thank Dave Shortreed for this one. In the session I was presenting, we were discussing our province’s Freedom of Information, Personal Privacy Act legislation and I described it as a "dark cloud" when it comes to leveraging social media to celebrate our schools. Dave pointed out that in his situation, he has been using FIPPA as an opportunity to discuss with students, staff and parents the importance of security, privacy and the digital tattoo that our kids are creating everyday. That was an important paradigm shift for me. I have spent much of my energy being annoyed (for lack of a better word) at the wall FIPPA can create in leveraging technology. But instead, I need to embrace it as a chance to implement technology in a way that makes everyone comfortable so they can all benefit from the power of this tool.My Name Is Shawn and I’m a Disruptive Educator: Okay, well maybe that is a bit of a stretch. I would hardly call myself a disruptive educator, but after attending Holly Clark’s session on Digital Portfolios and listening to Yong Zhao’s inspirational keynote, I felt even more strongly about my sense that education needs "different" and not "better." Those who know me, know that I am a ‘ready, fire, aim’ kind of person. And I’m more excited about the possibilities of what technology can do to empower learning than the actual destination. And during the weekend, the things Holly and Yong were describing about innovation were exactly some of the things we are currently implementing or would like to implement at West Langley. It was really empowering to know that I am at least on the path to being one of those disrupters in education that will truly change a system in need of an overhaul. My Name Is Shawn and I’m Also Tech Geek: So apparently I really am a bit of a geek. I think deep down I alway knew that, but thanks to Jennie Magiera, I finally had to admit it. I’ve said this a few times in describing what happened to me at the Vancouver GAFE Summit when it comes to the power of Google … before, I thought I was only scratching the surface in my use of Google Apps, but I’m not even in the water yet. There is so much depth to this tool to make learning powerful for students and workflow exponentially more efficient for educators. I sat through two sessions and a keynote continually having my mind blown by what Google Apps like Forms, Calendar and different scripts could do to make learning authentic for students, connect them to the world around them, all while giving me more time by creating an efficient workflow. I’m not sure if a "tech crush" is actually a real thing, but I may have had my first. Thanks Jennie! I know I’ll be Gettin’ Scripty With It in the very near future.I want to pass along a sincere thank you to MC, Ken Shelton and the entire EdTechTeam for organizing a great event. It was a powerful weekend of learning and connecting. I would strongly urge anyone who has a GAFE Summit coming to their area to attend. They put on a great weekend full of laughs and learning. And a huge thank you to Mulgrave School. You were excellent hosts for this event. I really enjoyed chatting with the teachers from the school who attended. You hospitality was appreciated. I’m already looking forward to next year’s Vancouver GAFE Summit!Check out our next Canada offerings, like the Calgary Summit this summer!

Guest Blogger Christina Pommer2nd Annual CA Summit AttendeeOur school went 1:1 iPad this year in grades 6-12. How many times have I heard the following statement from teachers? "One of the advantages of the iPads is that we no longer have to gather our belongings and go to the library anymore." Way too many to count.As a librarian, part of me cries each time even as I cheerfully nod my response. In the library I still rotate seasonal displays, showcase student work, offer a wide variety of fun fiction reads, and have many nonfiction materials that support the curriculum. However, the ironic part is that the people saying this are using library resources more than ever before and see the concept of the library evolving beyond the physical space. They are teachers who have always supported the library and who are continuing to request my services in their classrooms. Students are accessing JSTOR through the app, filling out web evaluation forms for History class, and checking out books on Overdrive. Other classes are coming to the library for new projects, and I’m as busy as ever! Where does Google Drive come in?I was inspired by the EdTechTeam California Summit ft. Google for Education last year, and we are going as paperless as possible for research projects. I work very closely with the 9th grade Western Civilizations teacher, and she teaches all the freshmen. Our big research project occurs during third interim, and we taught isolated research tasks in conjunction with units of study all fall so the full process wouldn't be as daunting. In September, in about 15 minutes, we taught her students how to set up Google Drive research folders with selected (and at this point, empty) files. We were uniform in our naming conventions, and we asked all students to give us editing privileges in their folders. If you haven’t used Google Drive before, here are some main differences from other word processing programs: • It’s cloud-based, and thus accessible anywhere with Internet connectivity. Files and folders can be private or shared with others. Sharing can involve viewing or editing privileges. It’s easy to collaborate via comment or chat features, and thus it facilitates revision. • Viewers can check the revision history to compare various versions of a document, as well as who made each change and when they did so. It was surprising to me that none of the students even mentioned privacy concerns, and all happily shared. The day that we did this, they were practicing web evaluation and note-taking.• Multiple users can work in a document simultaneously, so I was able to watch exactly what students typed in real-time and assess their speed and skills in paraphrasing. I was also able to jump in immediately and stop them when they listed a url that didn’t meet our criteria for reputable websites. Students quickly got used to seeing the pink bar highlighting that I was "in" their notes, and the quieter students didn’t hide and work under our radar the way they have in the past. Any time librarians collaborate with classroom teachers, it’s important to make sure each person is offering the same advice. Since we can both see the comments we have written on students’ documents and the direction given to them, it’s made us more supportive of each other and a more effective team. If this isn’t enough, I spent two weeks this fall subbing for a teacher on paternity leave. I taught Cannery Row by John Steinbeck, a book I’ve always wanted to teach. I didn’t want to overstep my place and grade his students’ work, and he didn’t want to fall behind while he was out. The students all shared their class folders with me, and I could see how their work for me compared to their work for their regular teacher. Also, when I had a question about an individual student, the teacher was able to pull up their work from home and comment online. Finally, I’m asked to proofread a lot of papers. As more students share their work with me on Google Drive, I’m better able to keep tabs on their progress as they’re writing their papers. I now step in before the final day when they are panicking. I love that they are comfortable sharing works in progress and asking questions throughout the research process. I also love that there is no more concern about losing notecards or leaving a first draft at home. And I absolutely love that a byproduct is that I spend less time adding paper to the printer! What do you think? Other techniques for making Google Drive work for you and your students?Christina attended last year's flagship California Summit which sold out! Will you join us at the third annual summit in Palo Alto on July 19th and 20th? Register here.

Guest Blogger Rolland ChidiacEdTechTeam Ontario SummitCross-Posted from Newfluencies BlogRecently I attended the Google for Education Ontario Summit here in Kitchener. I can describe it using one word: AWESOME. My time was spent 1) meeting people who are part of my professional learning on Social Media (Twitter and Google +), 2) catching up with people I already know, 3) learning new ways of using GAFE to benefit my practice and the achievement of my students, and 4) sharing the learning journey that my students and I have been on. It is so great to connect with people who have impacted me personally and professionally in one way or another. If it weren't for my learning networks on Twitter and Google + I would have missed out on connecting with such passionate and innovative educators who are on the same path as myself - to grow in knowledge and skill to impact the staff and students that surround them. Surrounded by +Ferdinand Krauss, +Jonathan So, +Scott Monahan, +Helder Tavares, +Tanya Avrith, +Julie Millan, +Sylvia Duckworth, +Michelle Booth, +Joe Sisco, +Molly Schroeder, +Michael Wacker, +Michelle Cordy, and many others, I was in excellent company and took advantage of the experience. Here is a great example of one of the many tweets that demonstrates the care and collegiality of the people that I have met and that I hope my colleagues will meet: Sylvia Duckworth, Google Certified Teacher from Toronto. The learning was great - but the sharing was fun and worthwhile as well. It felt so good to give back to the community that has given so much to me. +Ferdinand Krauss and I co-presented "Key Strategies for the Successful Implementation of Chromebooks & Google Apps for Education in Your School Board." Ferdinand did a wonderful job of taking people through the work that goes into making sure things are in place and set up for teachers and students to be able to use the technology and digital resources seamlessly. I shared the work my grade 2 students and I have been able to do because of ALL the work that happens outside of the schools and classrooms. Here is the link to the presentation: goo.gl/r95qY2  Photo of Ferdinand starting the presentation.After a couple of sessions it was my turn but this time I wasn't with Ferdinand, I had one of my students join me to present "Getting Going with Student use of Google Apps for Education: Chromebooks in the Hands of Grade 2 Students." We took people through our blended learning journey. We demonstrated how the technology and the apps have provided the grade 2's with opportunities to blend their learning and become more creative and collaborative. We talked about how we eased into the Google suite of apps in order to benefit my professional practice and student achievement. We provided examples of how students have used Documents, Draw, Form, Spreadsheet, and Presentation to demonstrate the innovation and excitement that Google apps can bring to any class. It was such an honour to be able to speak about our experience and I am grateful that my student and her parents joined us and were so open to the idea. Here is the link to my presentation: http://goo.gl/wC0RSG About to start! Photo taken by +Jonathan SoOne of my students and I presenting. Photo taken by +Jonathan SoPeople attending the presentation. Photo taken by +Julie Millan I had many people talk to me before (anticipation) and after (eyes wide open to what can be accomplished) about my presentation. There was a lot of curiosity about how GAFE and the technology could be used with such young children. These people were definitely curios and interested, but were unsure and a little scared about how to start it up and what it might look like. I too was scared when I started - and still to this day I am frightened by the unknown but I know that on the other side of my fear is success.Whether the outcome is or isn't what I expect, there is learning to be had and the learning and iteration is what builds us up and allows us to continue to try new things and share our experiences. I was honoured to have +Julie Millan (Google Certified Teacher - Toronto District School Board) attend my session. I was happy to have her join us because she was included in my presentation and I wanted her to hear about the influence her work had on me and my practice. It was her presentation in October 2013 at the ECOO conference that really motivated me to get going with GAFE. She would be presenting "Examine the Power of Google Apps throughout the Inquiry Process" on Day 2 of the Summit and I was looking forward to learning more from her. On Day 2 of the Summit I learned that I wasn't going to be able to physically make it to Julie's session. I had to settle for the tweets and G+ posts that would be made public for people to attend in a 'virtual' format. As time was drawing near to her presentation I learned that it would be streamed via Google Hangout and I would get to attend without actually being in the classroom with her and the other participants! Talk about icing on the cake. I was still going to see and be part of the presentation because of people like +Julie Millan and +Scott Monahan (who I believe had something to do with the technical aspects of the Hangout).Part of Julie's presentation Julie had told me that she would be referencing me in her presentation but I was unsure of the details. It was great to see that she was sharing my reaction and subsequent experiences because of her presentation in the Fall. She spoke about the importance of sharing our learning and experiences so that others can benefit and do the same in turn. If we make this part of our practice than others can benefit and then they can benefit others. The sharing grows and ultimately we all build capacity around our interests - ultimately benefiting the students in our classrooms that will lead our world. It was a great message to provide her audience before she talked about Inquiry and GAFE. My excitement got the better of me.Thank you Heather for tweeting me back and to Scott for letting Julie know that I was watching. Julie during her presentation. When I wasn't presenting and connecting with other motivated educators I was learning about Google Forms, Google Draw, Flipping a Classroom via GAFE, Chrome tips/tricks, and the power of Technology and GAFE to enable students to create, collaborate, communicate, innovate, and lead. There is something for everyone - beginner to advanced level presentations on many topics. More often than not, the major problem at these conferences is that you can't physically be at more than one session at a time!! As my School Board continues to implement the deployment of Chromebooks and GAFE across our system, there is no doubt in my mind that my colleagues and their students will soon experience the increase in capacity, engagement, and achievement for all involved. I look forward to having many more of my colleagues join me at future Google for Education Summits to connect with others, share our learning, as well as acquire new learning that we will bring back to our system. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to tweet me, connect via Google +, send me an email, and/or comment below.Obviously Canada has some pretty rockstar educators! Join us at the next event, the Calgary Summit Aug. 18th and 19th and the Bilingual Ottawa Summit, Oct. 4th and 5th!

Guest Blogger Linda LindsayAttendee of 1st and 2nd AnnualEdTechTeam Hawaii SummitCross-Posted from Maui Librarian BlogYes, +EdTechTeam's Second Google for Education Hawaii Summit was FUN! Google selfie with +Molly Schroeder and +Wendy Gorton (IC)Seven delightfully surprising things happened:1. I learned about how education can and should be "uncomfortably exciting."This is a new phrase I learned from Googler (and former Hawaii resident) +Evan Rapoport, via +Larry Page. I think I'm going to use it. Wouldn't it be fantastic if we could get our students uncomfortably excited about learning? Evan Rapoport2. The majority of the attendees were public school teachers. I was thrilled to find out that the majority of the 500+ people who attended the summit were public school teachers. Shout-out to all of these educators wanting to make a difference in their schools! Attendance almost doubled from last year's summit. +Brendan Brennan commented that he would like to see 1000+ next year. Now wouldn't that be something? Hale Kula Elementary School represents!IC: +Wendy Gorton3. Internet was unthrottled. The wi-fi was smooooooooooth and blazing fast at 'Iolani School! A big mahalo to Jim Crum and his crew for an outstanding job. Here's a great article about Jim in the 'Iolani student newspaper: The IT man: Jim Crum hopes to boost information technology at 'Iolani. I hope next year's summit will be at 'Iolani again. 4. Some of my #pln friends were different.It was so much fun to meet members of my #pln in person! +Brendan Brennan and +Lisa Nagamine are much taller than I imagined, and based on +Rachel Armstrong's wonderfully strong voice on hangouts, I expected her to be less petite than she is.5. Jim Sill was FUNNY! --- in a good way :D Humor is so important for engaging students I think, and Jim, also known as Mr. Sill, made us laugh often. I love how Mr. Sill weaves his filmmaking skills into his presentations, too.And his Sillfie Fun! page is pretty awesome. #sillfie / #selfie, get it?6. Three Hawaii Google Certified Teachers gathered together in one room to learn from each other.GCT +Liz Castillo from the Google Teacher Academy 2012 Mountain View cohort and +Michelle Carlson Colte from the 2013 Sydney cohort attended my Curate and Organize Like a Ninja, in Chrome session. I was so thankful for their support.7. I went away to meet up with someone from home. Well, this isn't surprising, is it? It was great to catch up with technology coordinator +Larry McCarty and I'ao Intermediate technology teacher +Pete Hansen (in the back). Lots of good discussion going on here. :)IC +Peter HenrieWhat did I learn that our faculty and students can use? My Hawaii colleagues and I discussed what we learned at the Summit on our weekly Google Rocks! Hawaii Hangout-on-Air:And, I wrote a blog post:5 Tech Tools, Innumerable Possibilities -- from the Hawaii #GafeSummit What does the future look like after the Hawaii #GafeSummit? Stay tuned-- the 3rd Annual 2015 Hawaii Summit is slated for I'olani in March 2015!

2014 Space Odysseyby Guest Blogger Jennie Magiera, Chicago Public SchoolsI’ve been to my fair share of "professional learning experiences." Normally they are chock full of "team building exercises" and someone reading bullets from clip-art-clad PowerPoints. In short, PD Purgatory. This was not the case with the EdTechTeam Space Camp. Instead this leadership workshop felt more like a long lunch date with close friends. To summarize this, I’m borrowing 3 of the EdTechTeam values our fearless leader, Dr. Mark Wagner, shared with us during this experience.Passion: This was the big one for the day. Everyone in the room was bursting with passion for so many of the same ideals. In fact we were all so excited that we were falling over ourselves to share our love for these philosophies or tools.  I call this being "geeked" about something. Not quite as eloquent as "passionate," true. But as I looked around the room, I saw my friends - new and old - absolutely geeking out about everything from a Gmail Labels trick to Future Ready Schools. This wasn’t just work for us - these were projects and concepts that mattered to us deeply. As such we were all engaged throughout what could have felt like a very long day.Flexibility: There was an agenda. There were slides (albeit clip-art free thanks to the artful efforts of Monica Martinez). However, the day didn’t feel scripted or structured. Instead it felt like an organic flow of conversation and idea sharing because the facilitators (Mark Wagner and Molly Schroeder) kept us focused and intrigued throughout the day. When the energy of the room dropped, they initiated "fun breaks." When we needed a change of pace, we moved to another room. When a fellow Space Camper took ill at the last minute, we initiated an 8-hour Google Hangout to bring him into the conversations - even the games - all day long.Synchronicity: Throughout this experience I continually had my affinity with the other people in the room re-affirmed. As professionals we often work in different teams and with different types of people. However, when we find a group of people whose ideals and passions so closely align with ours it’s like seeing a double rainbow. This happened for me yesterday. At the end of the day, we got up from that table not knowing exactly where we were going and not knowing exactly how we were going to get there. Yet we looked from one to another and we all said, "together we will change the world." And with this team of double rainbows, I truly think we can.

EdTechTeam's Top Picks for ISTE 2014 EdTechTeam is excited to have many of our awesome teammates join us this year in Atlanta at our favorite annual get-together this weekend. Many of the fabulous keynote speakers, presenters, and Google Certified Teachers and Education Trainers that you know and love will be there, so be ready! Here's just a few highlights.Google for Education Playground[Explore and Create : Playground]Monday, June 30, 2:00 pm-5:30 pmGWCC Building A, Level 3 (near Room A313) Jennifer Magiera Visit our interactive playground to get hands-on experience with Google for Education through exploration stations, presentations and demoslams led by Google Certified Teachers and Trainers.Photoshop: Unleashing creative magic for kids of all Ages[Explore and Create : Workshop]Tuesday, July 1, 8:30 am-11:30 amGWCC A301 Nicole Dalesio  Ken Shelton Be a more effective teacher with Photoshop by integrating art, creativity, and technology into the curriculum. Fun for kids of all ages.Google Apps: Stories of Technical Deployment[Participate and Share : Poster]Sunday, June 29, 2:00 pm-4:00 pmGWCC Murphy Ballroom Galleria, Table 30 Christopher Craft Thinking of deploying Google Apps? Come hear stories of successful technical deployments from around the world and get ideas for your own implementation.Using Google Tools to Target 21st Century Learning Skills[Listen and Learn : Lecture]Monday, June 30, 12:30 pm-1:30 pmGWCC Murphy Ballroom 1/2 Monica Martinez Come explore Google tools that you can use to build student-centered learning environments that help students exercise each of ISTE's NETS for students.Google Booth at the Exhibition HallCome see EdTechTeamers Tim Lee and Molly Schroeder share some awesomeness at the Google Booth! Molly will be presenting "Chrome Extensions for Teachers and Students" on Sunday, June 29th at 9:40am and Tim will be sharing about the Admin Toolbelt- The Google Apps Admin Console and other 3rd Party Tools" on Tuesday, Jul 1st at 11:30am. Tim,  Peter Henrie, and Mitch Dowhower will also be sharing at the Hapara Teaching Theatre as well. And that's just a small sampling- give us a shout at the Blogger's Cafe, find James Sanders to learn all about Future Ready Schools, or just let us know if you'll be there in the comments below!

Guest Blogger Jason Markey, East Leyden High SchoolKeynote Speaker: Redondo Beach Unified School District FestivalI have had the good fortune to be able to join the EdtechTeam for a few events over the past several months but after the past few days in Redondo Beach working with a district moving 1:1 I had a realization.  The team of individuals that put on these events are some of the most inspiring and amazing educators I have been around.   Jason shares Chrome tips and tricks to Redondo Beach Unified School District Teachers.Often, when education conferences or professional development is put on it is so structured and rigid that it only serves the attendees that happen to fit perfectly into the mold...  Does that sound familiar?This reminds me too much of what our students face all too often, our expectation that our students all need the same thing and so we package it in a standard form hoping they fit into that mold.  Often we hear teachers and students both complain about these situations but let’s face it, it’s hard to do better.  It’s not the easy approach to be agile and responsive based on individual needs.What I see at every event with this group is a relentless approach to making sure everyone is served where they are and with what they need.  It might mean changing the schedule, working with individuals more, or just throwing out the plan all together and sitting and talking about what the learners need.When the approach is focused on the learner and not just a preconceived notion that impact can be dramatic.  Working for two straight days with a few hundred teachers from Redondo Beach it was truly remarkable to see faces and attitudes shift from anxiety and even panic around 1:1 to truly understanding the potential that leveraging technology can have for their students.  What I’m always most excited about in situations like this is that these teachers will start to see beyond the tools and through to the possibilities of thinking bigger than just doing things with technology; making the shift to thinking about those moon shot ideas that can take their students’ learning to a whole new place. At the end of the event a group of about 40 Redondo Beach teachers stayed around almost an hour after a long two days of learning to share their reflections and thoughts, I have no doubt that I will be learning from this group next year!

Guest Blogger Tracy ArnerRiverside Unified School DistrictAll too often in Professional Development we encounter an "expert" clad in professional attire, diligently explaining (or coercing) the attendees to be more like them, follow their path, and subscribe to their philosophy.  The strengths and passions of the audience are not taken into consideration or even acknowledged during the rhetoric detailing the one right way.  SpaceCamp, powered by EdTechTeam was anything and everything, but that. Spacecamp started with recognition and appreciation of the strengths of ALL team members and discovery of how we complement each other and progressed through a fun-filled, inspiring day.  The day was loosely structured with a flexible agenda for the content of the day.  We quickly discovered many similarities amongst our friends, both new and old.  The most striking of which was passion!  Despite our geographic differences, with one team member joining via Hangout, the dedication to improving education and hope for the future was abundantly clear.  The guidance of Mark Wagner and Molly Schroeder inspired a free flow of ideas, building on each other’s comments to reach for the stars and transform the way we think about education and the future. The most inspiring discussion took place while exploring the idea of Future Ready Schools. What does it take to be a Future Ready School?  Courageous Leadership, Empowered Teachers, Student Agency, Inspiring Spaces, and Infrastructure mixed with passion, optimism, and a little daring will take students far beyond standardized education to being significant contributors to a global society. As the day wound down, I gazed out the window (from the 51st floor) to the world beyond and thought to myself, this group of gifted educators will change the world and I am proud to know them all.   "Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world." ~ Harriet Tubman