Post date: Jun 5, 2017 2:16:11 PM
It is actually June! I don't know whether to be excited or panic. I am still in disbelief at how quickly the end of the school year rolls through.
With the end of the year comes the close of our first instance of the Google Educator Initiative (GEI). So far this year we've had a few teachers complete and pass at least one of the Google Educator Certification exams! Great work! If you are intending to complete any of the exams as part of this school year's Google Educator Initiative you will need to do so before Monday, June 19th. Google has a Training Course to go through to help prepare you for the exams. For each exam you complete you will receive 15 PDPs (assuming 15 hours in preparation and exam taking) and the Google Certified Educator Level 1 and or Level 2 certification. You will also be reimbursed for the exam fee upon passing the exam ($10 for Level 1, $25 for Level 2).
If you were part of this year's Google Educator Initiative, it would be great if you could share a project or assignment your work in the GEI inspired you to take on with your students. If you could share it under the assignment I pinned to the top of our GEI Google Classroom that would be great! For me, this Tech Tuesday Blog was my first foray into Google Sites thanks to what I learned in working through the Google Certified Educator Content.
If you fall into the category of a current GEI participant that will not be completing an exam for whatever reason for this school year or did not jump into the GEI in Year 1, there will be a Year 2! If you are interested in participating in Year 2 of the Google Educator Initiative please complete this one question survey confirming your desire to participate. During this coming year, much of the Tech PD that is provided in WPS will revolve around Google Drive (Docs, Slides, Sheets, Forms, Drawing) and Google Classroom. This will be an optimal time to jump into the GEI as these topics are major parts of the Google Certified Educator exams.
While there is an exam to take, that is not the ultimate goal of the GEI. The ultimate goal of the GEI is to develop a community of teachers that are learning and collaborating together on ideas that will positively impact teaching and learning in the classroom. The exam provides a tangible result of your work and serves to validate the PDPs being offered. It is expected that you complete the Level 1 Exam as part of the GEI.
You can get started with working through the Google Training Courses as soon as you want. Once I have all participants for Year 2, I will create a Google Classroom that can be our learning and collaboration space for the 2017/2018 Google Educator Initiative. We'll meet a few times face-to-face next year to evaluate our progress, review content, and talk about how we're implementing what we're learning in the classroom.
Please let me know if you have any questions.