Google Certified Trainer event at Co.Lab, Alloa

It was an early start yesterday to travel down to Alloa, a place I’d never visited before! What struck me was how beautiful the drive from Kinross was, with the snow-capped Ochils accompanying me west through Clackmannanshire.

Photo by Brian Forbes (CC 2.0) https://www.flickr.com/photos/brizo_the_scot/5459975910/

Arriving at Co.Lab I was greeted by owner Pam Currie and Louise Jones and got stuck in to a great breakfast. Over croissants and coffee I met Julien McKenzie who had travelled all the way from Tobermory, Ellen Kerr who had travelled significantly less and had a brilliant productive chat before the event even started. We’re definitely going to work on amazing projects together in the near future.

The introduction from Louise was familiar to a few but it was the first time many of us had played verbal ping pong and soon we were all laughing together. It was a really useful ice breaker that I’ll remember (steal) for future events!

Using Padlet we shared our hopes and fears for our individual transition to transformation journeys. I also learned that Google Drawings has a few more features than I previously thought so will loop back around and try to use it more with my classes (although my favourite lesson continues to be the vector graphic superheroes my Italian middle schoolers created!)

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After a quick break our groups were back to discussing individual elements that make or break a successful project. Pam referred to it as sails and anchors. The sharing session where we grouped post its on the Co.Lab window highlighted that many of these were common.

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After a restorative lunch where Carol introduced me to amazing tortas de aceite (think liquorice biscuits) we learned more about training life cycles and the importance of recording the impact of training on staff and students. I also heard about pineapple charts for the first time and this is a fantastic idea for any school to implement!

Pineapple Chart image (from Cult of Pedagogy post linked above)

The final part of the day was a deep dive into preparing your own Google Trainer application video. Tips were shared including using the Screencastify chrome extension, keeping the demo focused and brief and to reinforce the impact this had on your adult trainees.

I’m now looking forward to completing the last piece of my Google Certified Trainer application in the coming days and passing on the advice and tips from Pam and Louise to my colleagues in the school. I ate the cupcake though, that was all mine!

Cupcakes before we snagged them
(photo by Rona Grant https://twitter.com/RonaGrant/status/1194280838424399874)

Updated – Google Certified Educator (Level 2)

“Students Computer Young Boy” by CherylT23 (Pixabay Licence)

I’ve long been a fan of Google Suite for Education and first became a Google Certified Educator in October 2015. I don’t know why but I’ve never really tried to take this certification any further despite running regular training events in school since 2012, bar last school session.

I deliberately took the decision to not focus on technology working groups last session. It was a bit of a digital strategy detox and I wanted to experience another area of whole school strategy. As a result I opted to focus on Mental Health and Wellbeing and became a Mental Health First Aider. This was extremely valuable and supported my classroom practice, behaviour management and lesson planning. There were so many moments in the last school session when I was thankful for the training and discussion opportunities being part of the Mental Health and Wellbeing group enabled.

Tomorrow a new school year begins and I’m most likely heading back into digital strategy. I’m looking forward to contributing to an inclusive policy for my school whilst remaining mindful of anxiety and access issues digital opportunities can bring to students, staff and parents. I began preparation for this session by updating my GCE certification. Not only will this allow me to apply to become a Google Certified Trainer this year but I wanted to see if there were any new elements in the course relating to health and wellbeing. Unfortunately not but this has given me a focus for my GCT sessions in the next few months.

If you are a Google Certified Educator or Trainer what are your plans for the coming school session? I’d love to hear from you @familysimpson or in the comments below.