Google Level 2 Boot Camp

Let me start by saying my school district is great! I work in a fabulous school district that offers so many great opportunities for professional development. One of those great opportunities that I was able to participate in was the Google Level 2 Boot Camp sponsored by Eduscape.

This Boot Camp is a two day training from Eduscape that allowed educators to have an in person walk through with the exam materials to help them prepare attendees for the Google Level 2 Educator Certification exam. 

My school district offered to provide the location and host this great event, inviting teachers in the region to attend for a fee. My district allowed me to attend for free. Our technology department graciously paid for me to attend this training so I can be a Level 2 certified educator. 

I have shared in a previous post about earning the Level 1 certification and how I went through the process on my own. You can find that post here. 

My goals for this Boot Camp are: 

1. Keep my students in mind as I learn how to use various tools in different ways. How can I take these tools back to my classroom and use them to enhance student learning? How can these tools benefit student learning and student mastery of concepts? 

2. Think of ways to bring this information back to teachers on my campus. Is there a tool that I went through during this Boot Camp that could benefit a teacher I know? Will something from this boot camp assist a teacher with something they're working on? 

By the end of this training I hope to provide more information and a reflection the process with getting my Level 2 certification. 

Google Classroom from a Librarian's Perspective

Google is everywhere! Really, it's everywhere. It's very commonly used as a verb now. "Just Google it." "Let me Google that." It's a popular tool in our every day life now.

Google has even found AMAZING ways to work their way into our everyday academic life in schools as well.

When I first started teaching 10 years ago I never would have imagined the type of technology I would have access to as a teacher, let alone a librarian. In my first classroom, the only form of technology I had was one computer that was shared with another class. I had a chalkboard to write on and no overhead projector. I also had to share the room with another class. We divided the class with cabinets.

I was only in that classroom for a semester because I graduated mid year from college. After that first semester I got the position at the school I am still currently teaching at. The first classroom I had here was a huge step up. Not only was it MY room, and only my room, but I had a dry erase board to start. I even had my own computer and a Promethean Board. It was great!

Over the years things have developed more and more. Now, our school is 1 to 1 with Chromebooks. I'm no longer just a classroom teacher, but I'm the librarian.

With our 1 to 1 initiative came Google.

We all learned how to use Google Drive, Docs, Forms, etc within our first year and slowly started infusing them into our lesson plans. Then came Google Classroom.

Google Classroom is a fantastic LMS (Learning Management System) and by far one of the easiest to use. There are others out there, but Google Classroom seems to be the one on everyone's mind.

As a teacher/librarian Google Classroom has been very beneficial for me to reach my students at anytime of the day in or out of the library.

I've set up a Google Classroom for each grade level on my campus (6-8) and at the beginning of the year I give them the code they need to join the class. I usually post a welcome activity and/or message on Classroom so the first thing they see is something fun and positive. I also post important information about the library and how it functions on a daily basis.

Since my schedule is so hectic I don't get to see classes for library time much this year. So, Google Classroom has become the outlet I need to communicate with our students when I can't see them in the library. Here are some other ways I use Google Classroom as a librarian...

1. Post a document about new books that have just been added to circulation in the library. On that document is the title, author, lexile level, reading counts quiz information (Scholastic version of AR), and any other information about the book such as a quick snip or summary.

2. Poll questions about new books to order. I like getting input from students as I'm creating a new order of books. I want to know what they want to read. I'm continuously trying to draw interest and to keep students coming back.

3. Reviews on books that I have read or other students have read. This is a great tool to get students interested, get them excited about a book.

4. Quick little book related activities for the students to work on (Use Google Drawing to design their own bookmark; Use Google Slides or Drawings to create an advertisement for their favorite book)

5. Reminders about checked out books, deadlines, etc.

There are so many ways for Google Classroom to be beneficial to a librarian. I know there are more ways out there and I'm still discovering them. Utilize Google Classroom almost as if it was your website for your students to use. It's a great communication tool for you as a librarian to reach your number one stake holders, your students.

If you use Google Classroom as a librarian, how else have you used it? Please share in the comments below.

Reflection on Level 1 Google Educator Certification

Certification's are a norm for teachers. Once you graduate college you earn your certification or your teaching certificate (after you pass a few tests.) Well, for teachers the learning continues on and on through their career. No one teacher can't keep the same set of skills or knowledge and expect to teach for many years. Learning and education evolve so much and so quickly that we need to keep up with the changes.

A lot of the changes in education have revolved around technology. What is the newest and latest that can be used in the classroom? How can teachers incorporate these tools into their lesson? What do teachers need to know to use these in their lesson?

As a librarian on my campus I work a lot with the technology that we use with our middle schoolers. I ask myself, how can I be a valuable resource to the teachers and students on my campus? I know in order to be that resource for them I need to stay on top of the changes in technology and how those changes impact our classrooms.

One of the things I came across a couple of years ago was the Google Educator Certification. I didn't know much about it and I wasn't using a lot of Google apps or anything in my classroom at the time. The more I looked into it though the more it became something I was interested in doing. Mainly I wanted to do it to learn more about what Google to do for me in the classroom.

The interest grew when we became a 1 to 1 school with Google Chromebooks. (These things are awesome by the way!) All of our core classes use Chromebooks, including the library (yay me!). As I began using the Chromebooks in a classroom setting and in the library setting I was learning more and more. I was able to see how the students used them, how they could impact a learning objective and how it was impacting the student's learning process. We were using many different things such as Google Classroom and Google Drive.

I kept going back and forth with the certification until this summer when I finally decided to go for it. They had revamped the certification a little bit since I first started looking, but it was still easy.

To get started you just go to the following website: https://edutrainingcenter.withgoogle.com/

The site tells you everything you need to know. You sign in with the google account you'd like to use and head over to the training tab at the top. (https://edutrainingcenter.withgoogle.com/training)

Once there you're going to see two levels, start with level 1. When you enter the level 1 training area you're going to see all the units and topics that will be covered. The training is built for you to move at your own pace. It is NOT timed or scheduled for you to complete at certain days. This part is completely structured to fit your schedule and the time you have to devote to the process. I spent a few days going through and reading the units, watching the videos and taking notes. (Yes, I took notes for reference purposes and for use later on if I needed them.)

Once you finish the training units it'll tell you that you're ready for the certification exam. The exam for Level 1 is only $10. I was lucky to get a voucher to take the test for free. Once you're ready, you go and purchase the test. The link to do that is available at the end of the training. After you purchase the test they usually say the test will be ready in 24-48 hours. Mine was ready in less than 24 hours. They will send an email with instructions and you're good to start.

The test does take time. They give you 3 hours to take the exam. I took the test in 2 hours. You'll want to take your time. After you're done you will know in a few minutes whether you passed or not.

The whole certification process is very simple. I liked how the units were organized and broken up and that it was strictly geared towards education. It wasn't a how-to tool on using the different apps. It was a guide at how to use them in an education setting. It was great to see how others use different tools and how I was able to think of ways to use the apps myself.

If anyone is looking to further their professional development in technology and with Google, I highly recommend going through this process.

If you have any questions about the process please feel free to let me know. Leave a comment below or send me an email.

Good Luck!