Although I have not been going in to a school each day I have been sharpening my professional skills this summer. I have been keeping my brain busy this summer by learning about the GAFE (Google Apps for Education) features. This has been my professional growth focus this summer for three reasons:
Firstly, I want to learn more about the cool features of GAFE and I can't wait to become more fluent in the features as our school board adopts GAFE officially in September.
Secondly, I was hired to teach an ETFO Summer Academy this month and I want to be up on the latest features to ensure that I am a competent instructor.
Finally, my expertise in GAFE features will be an asset in my new position this fall as an instructional resource teacher.
One of the things I like most about Google is that there are always new things to learn. For example, since the end of June, Google Drive has a new look & feel and Google Classroom will be launched at any moment;) I think the latter will be a game changer for teachers!
My three day summer course is called GAFE for Beginners and I'm really looking forward to it. I love to get people excited and I know that with some encouragement the participants will also become enthusiastic GAFE users. The challenge I am facing is how do I inform and build confidence without overwhelming my students?
As anyone who has worked with Google products knows there are several small moments of "ah ha" when you realize how this might apply to your students and their learning.
It will be a full class so I hope that the pace will be appropriate. I love that there is no evaluative piece to teaching this course so participants can truly create their own learning journey. The teachers attending this course are from 7 different school boards so I know I will learn as much from them as they will learn from me!
I would like to thank ETFO for accepting my application and the Ministry of Ed for making these technology courses possible this summer. I feel that these kind of professional learning opportunities are exactly the way to encourage teachers to be lifelong learners.
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