Google Educator-Drive Test

Okay. So I have decided to invest the $15 and try my hand at becoming a Google Educator. At this point in my career, I find the certification could be useful, especially since my district feels inclined to charge astronomically for insurance and I’ve begun to update my resume. But I’m not here to rant…  There are also colleagues around me with which I can share the load.  It all begins, as most stories about teachers do…at Starbucks. Here I am, seated across from a fellow teacher, staring blankly into my glowing macbook screen, waiting for my Carmel Macciato and at once dreading the 90 questions I must complete in 90 minutes. Still, I was happy I invested a saturday to visit a Googles Summit training at a local high school put on by a world renowned Google Trainer named Allison Mollica. Her website,  has many links to help you with numerous ed tech walk-throughs or creative ideas for classroom integration.  I was interested only in the Google Tests Training. We focused on Drive in the course, but the strategies I will tell you can be used in any Google Educator test.

First thing first(After the coffee), go to the Google Chrome Web Store and download the app Tab Cloud.  This will allow you to create windows that will hold all your study materials for future use.  Next, go to the Google Drive Study Guide and open each chapter of the guide in a different window.  Click on the Tab Cloud icon in the top right and save this window of Drive study guides.

During the test…Dun, Dun, Dunnnnn!  Okay, don’t freak out.  This is why you have a partner in tech-crime.  One person takes the test at a time.  The other person is using the windows open to each of the chapters and performing the ‘ctrl+f’function to search the tab that the question in the test is asking about.

Good-luck and leave comments about what worked and what was challenging.  Highest score?  My first was 92%. Not bad for a first timer.  Can you beat it??

Technology, Connections, and Treasure for the Reaping

As I sit down to my first blog post about educational technology, the edit button is pressed, the page loads and…’Beep, Beep, Boop‘. The clever loading window appears with three short words that remind me in yet another obscure way why we teach technology skills and let creativity flourish in our students and school districts.

Odds are, some programer was afforded the luxury of expressing themselves with this small, crowning achievement. The very fact that this loading screen bears the creative character of the person who made is a small positive reminder of how our world has changed for the more intimate and how work can become rewarding, fun and personalized.

Connectivity and communication have always been the cornerstone of any thriving civilization. Go ahead, get a social studies teacher talking about the power of tech and you’re sure to get the full run-down of how the U.S. was built on technological communications(most of them wartime, but we won’t get into that here). Today’s communities have become less centralized and more diversified and what I mean by this is simple; there are more people with things in common who can communicate and connect with each other much easier. There in-lies the power for the reaping. It’s a large world that we have all heard is getting smaller. Why not find your niche and starting digging for treasure?

Making connections, building networks, and bringing reviews to you are the main goals of this blog. I started here with a top 10, to get you feet wet, but I am in the process of getting Google Educator certified(YAHOOOOOO!…wait.), so look for Google updates to come in the next week or so.  Whether you are looking to build on your own professional network, bring something back to a team or simply get some tech knowledge for you own classroom or district, I will strive to bring you the resources needed to fill gaps of ed tech while I walk hand-in-hand with you(digitally, of course!) towards this bright and sometimes intimidating horizon called EdTech Knowledge.

-Z