Google Teacher Academy: Chicago

The next Google Teacher Academy (GTA) has been announced. I've said this before, but I’m thrilled to be involved with this project - and to share it with you here on the this blog. As with all previous GTA events, tech savvy educators and professional developers in the local area can apply to participate in the special full-day workshop. And as with the last GTA, the application process is also open to anyone, including educators out of the area, out of the state, or even out of the country (with the understanding that Google doesn’t cover travel or lodging). In other words, any of you who feel you meet the criteria for application are invited to apply!

Below is the official announcement and invitation to apply:

Google Teacher Academy - Chicago

Chicago, IL

September 24, 2008

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Applications Due: August 24, 2008
http://www.google.com/educators/gta.html
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We are pleased to announce that another round of Google's FREE training program for K-12 educators is coming to the windy city! Outstanding educators from around the world are encouraged to apply for the Google Teacher Academy taking place on Wednesday, September 24, 2008.

The GTA is an intensive, one-day event (8:30am-7:30pm) where participants get hands-on experience with Google's free products and other technologies, learn about innovative instructional strategies, collaborate with exceptional educators, and immerse themselves in an innovative corporate environment. Upon completion, GTA participants become Google Certified Teachers who share what they learn with other K-12 educators in their local region.

50 outstanding educators from around the world will be selected to attend the GTA based on their passion for teaching, their experience as leaders, and their use of technology in K-12 settings. Each applicant is REQUIRED to produce and submit an original one-minute video on either of the following topics: "Motivation and Learning" or "Classroom Innovation." Applications for the event in Chicago are due on August 24, 2008. If possible, please use Google Video or YouTube to post these original videos. Participants must provide their own travel, and if necessary, their own lodging. Though we will give preference to K-12 educators within a 90-minute local commute of an Academy event, anyone may apply.

Learn more about the program and the application at http://www.google.com/educators/gta.html

The GTAs have been a wonderful experience for everyone involved, with 97% of all attendees rating the GTA as "outstanding."

Here are a few quotes from GTA participants:

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"The academy was everything I hoped for and more! I can't wait to plan out ways to use the tools we learned about, to share my experiences with my colleagues and to re-connect with the other academy participants!"

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"The focus on innovation in education, and not just about the tools, was right on target."

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"I appreciate the opportunity to be connected to a group of educators that are passionate about preparing students for the 21st century. I feel inspired and able to meet the challenges that lie ahead!"

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"Until now, I had never attended a conference where I was so engaged and loving every minute of it."

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"This was easily the most important professional development experience I have ever had as an educator. World-class tools demonstrated by world-class people at a world-class facility. THANK YOU!"

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"I love [the Google Certified Teacher community] for the ideas and inspiration that comes flowing to and from it...folks share professional development strategies (technology or otherwise) that have worked. It's nice to have a variety of ways to assist others and having that variety also provides spice for those of us responsible for doing the providing."

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Feel free to send any questions to "gteachers@gmail.com", and please spread the word to anyone who may be interested in joining us.

We're looking forward to another great event!

- The GTA Team

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Google Teacher Academy

September 24, 2008

Chicago, IL

Applications Due: August 24, 2008
http://www.google.com/educators/gta.html

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Note: Another GTA is currently being planned for New York City in November 2008. Sign up for the Google Teacher Newsletter on the front page of Google for Educators site to receive more detailed information soon.

I'm excited that Google has continued it's support for this program and that we've been able to announce another GTA so soon after the last one. (And, as you may have noted, there's one more coming before the end of the year!) Thanks goes to Cristin Frodella for making this happen at Google, and to the folks at CUE (particularly Mike Lawrence) and at WestEd (particularly Allison Merrick) for making this a reality. Thanks also go to fellow ITM blogger Lucy Gray for her role in planning the Chicago event.

See you in Chicago! ;)

UPDATE: By the way, Google for Educators announced two other cool projects today, Letters to The Next President and Google Elections Video Search.

Audience Matters

It’s that time of year again. The end of the year frenzy is in full swing -- - the field trips, the yearbook deadlines, the sports banquet, the concerts, the report cards! The computer lab is buzzing. The eight grade yearbook team is asking for help trying to convert Photoshop files to a PDF files so they can rush them over to the printers. Students and parents are learning how to convert their Photostory slideshow for the sport banquet tonight. A group of sixth graders are using Audacity to edit the recording of the end of the year concert. A classroom teacher calls to cancel her computer lab reservation because they have to finish another pencil and paper assessment. The spot is quickly filled when another teacher calls begging for any available computer time because they have two more writing portfolio pieces to squeeze in to meet the state requirement.

Some of the frenzy makes me smile; some makes me sad. I think about the stress our system puts on teachers and students this time of year. I wonder about the validity of test scores gained from students this time of year. I wonder what the teacher comments will look like on those last writing portfolio pieces? Will the students get to see them? Will they learn from them?

But then I smile again, thinking about the seventh grade student who eagerly shares with me the latest statistics from Google analytics of the viewers who have read his latest blog post. I think about how the ‘rap’ song '802' composed by two Vermont student about their state capitol caught the attention of thousands of You Tube viewers, The New York Times and other news sources. I think about the third graders who posted a description about their town on Wikipedia sparking a series of related articles. I think about the 4th graders exchanging their music scores electronically in the Vermont Midi Project’s online space getting feedback from real music composers. I think about the DVD of short movies produced by the fifth graders at Waitsfield Elementary School and the premiere held at their local movie theatre.

And suddenly I know exactly what my Google Teacher Academy video entry about Motivation and Learning will be about! Producing the video contributes to more ‘end of the year’ frenzy for me – the type that makes me smile. I start to brainstorm possible lyrics and images on a wiki. Throughout the day, my son in New York State, and I were collaborating on music and lyrics using the wiki, cell phones, and the ability to compose and share music electronically. Within the next day, his brother in Connecticut, was using different software in the production process, adding the voices of young children. Meanwhile, Mom was collaborating with hundreds of photographers she had never met from the Flickr community who post their images with Creative Commons licenses. By the end of the week, the words, images, music, and videos had been edited in 3 different states (hundreds if you include the Flickr community) and was ready to be published in a venue where the audience could be from many different countries.



This is the type of “transformative” application of technology 21st century classrooms are filled with and that Grappling’s spectrum speaks of. It makes me smile to think of all the teachers who have moved beyond focusing on a checklist of technology skills; it makes me smile to think of the teachers who have moved beyond the “do something; do anything” with technology model; it makes me smile to see examples of teachers who are redesigning learning in transformative ways that would not have been possible without today’s technology.

The fact that Google Teacher Academy designed an application process that goes beyond ‘written applications read by a panel’ and included a product with a real audience models using technology in transformative ways.

Thank you to Google for giving hundreds of educators an opportunity to step back from our end of the year routines and feel the excitement of reflecting, creating, producing for a real audience. Thank you to all the teachers whose experience, passion, insight and creativity matters to the audience that watch your one minute videos on motivation, learning, and innovation. I invite readers to share stories stories and links of examples where audience matters to you and your students.

Google Teacher Academy - So Cal

As a native of "The OC" and a "Son of Westwood," I'm proud to announce that the next Google Teacher Academy will be held in Santa Monica, CA, on May 23, 2007.

With two successful Academies under our belt, Google's FREE training program for K-12 educators is "going Hollywood." The Academy is an intensive, one-day event where participants get hands-on experience with Google's free products and other technologies, learn about innovative instructional strategies, collaborate with exceptional educators, and immerse themselves in an innovative corporate environment. Upon completion, Academy participants become Google Certified Teachers who share what they learn with other K-12 educators in their local region.

50 outstanding educators from Southern California (within 90 miles of Santa Monica) will be selected to attend the Academy based on their passion for teaching, their experience as leaders, and their use of technology in K-12 settings. Each applicant is REQUIRED to produce and submit an original one-minute video, and applications for the event in Santa Monica are due on April 23, 2007.

> Learn more about the program and the application

So far the Academies have been a wonderful experience for everyone involved with 97% of all attendees rating the Academy as "outstanding."

Here are a few quotes from Academy participants:

"The academy was everything I hoped for and more! I can't wait to plan out ways to use the tools we learned about, to share my experiences with my colleagues and to re-connect with the other academy participants!"

"The focus on innovation in education and not just about the tools was right on target."

"I appreciate the opportunity to be connected to a group of educators that are passionate about preparing students for the 21st century. I feel inspired and able to meet the challenges that lie ahead!"

"Until now, I had never attended a conference where I was so engaged and loving every minute of it."

"This was easily the most important professional development experience I have ever had as an educator. World-class tools demonstrated by world-class people at a world-class facility. THANK YOU!"

BTW - In case you're new to the ITM, my colleagues and I at WestEd coordinate the Google Teacher Academy program with our friends at Google. Cristin Frodella leads Google's K-12 education efforts, and she's the guiding force behind everything. WestEd and its partners, like CUE and Discovery Educator Network, are proud to work with Cristin on this program, and we're excited to see the program reach more educators across the country.

Please spread the word to anyone who may be interested in joining us!

A Great "Mashup:" Mapping Literary Journeys

Jerome Burg wants his students to "chew on" the really, really important ideas of a novels. Take, for instance, The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck--which he says, "may have a lot more relevance than any of us should feel comfortable with."

By using Google Earth, he and an associate (Matthew Hart) at Granada High School have actually plotted out three-dimension versions of the journeys made in The Grapes of Wrath, Candide, Macbeth, The Aeneid, and others novels on the site GoogleLit Trips. Jerome says the idea to do this "exploded" in his mind, and he feels these Google Maps projects can draw the students into really studying literature in a way that the authors would have wanted. For example, in The Grapes of Wrath, you can see the flatness of the land, watch a video of a dust storm, see photos or art of the time period, and read chapter notes and questions from the teacher.

In addition to the Google Earth file that has been created for each book, there are short podcasts and screen shots for each one that give a brief description of what you will find when you open it in Google Earth. And talk about being "Web 2.0"--Jerome invites both teachers and students to see the site as a place to contribute "Lit Trip" mashups of their own.

Listen as Jerome describes this Google Certified Teachers project in an Infinite Thinking Machine "Take 5" recording: http://www.edtechlive.com/audio/JeromeBurg.mp3.

Google Teacher Academy NY

It's official! The next Google Teacher Academy will be held in New York City on February 15, 2007.

After a successful pilot program in Silicon Valley, CA, we're taking Google's FREE K-12 training program on the road. The Academy is an intensive, one-day event where participants get hands-on experience with Google's free products and other technologies, learn about innovative instructional strategies, receive resources to share with colleagues, and immerse themselves in an innovative corporate environment. Upon completion, Academy participants become Google Certified Teachers who share what they learn with other K-12 educators in their local region.

50 educators from the NY Tri-State area will be selected to attend the Academy based on their passion for teaching, their experience as trainers, and their use of technology in K-12 settings. Applications for the New York event are due on January 21, 2007. NOTE: Each applicant is REQUIRED to produce and submit an original one-minute video.

Learn more about the program and the application process here. And please spread the word to anyone who may be interested in joining us!

BTW - My colleagues and I at WestEd jointly coordinate the Google Teacher Academy program with our friends at Google. Cristin Frodella at Google heads up their K-12 education efforts, and she's been fantastic to work with. It's her vision and hard work that make the Academy (and the ITM!) possible, and we're excited to take this professional development program to more regions in 2007!