Teacher Training Bootcamp

Happy Easter, everyone! I hope this day finds you happy, healthy, and enjoying time with your family.

If you will recall from my previous posts {here} and {here}, I offered help in providing tips of how to infuse technology into the classroom. I have had several people respond to my offer and it really means a lot to me to help in this way. I know from experience technology is not going to revolutionize education, but when technologies are being used by the extraordinary talents of teachers, great things can happen. This is why I am so passionate about getting the word out. Technology does make a difference!

Many of you were interested in learning more about Google Apps for Education (GAFE). This is why I started a new project, with some extraordinary teachers, called Teacher Training Bootcamp. The first edition of the blog series is to share what we are learning as we go through the process of becoming Google Certified. So far we have shared about Gmail, Calendar, and Google Drive. Our next topic will be Google Sites. 

Our first tip was using Gmail. There are a lot of ways to use this remarkable tool besides sending email. For example, have you ever heard of Google Voice? Did you know you can chat or have Google Hangouts with colleagues and students as part of your Gmail account? You can also learn about using Google tasks and other tips to keep you organized and on top of your game. Click {here} to learn more.

How do you stay on top of your busy, hectic schedule? Google calendar makes it super easy to stay connected. Did you know it's possible to create multiple calendars to share with other people including parents and students? Some even use the calendar to create lesson plans. Click here to check out all of the posts about how Google calendar can help you.

Our latest posts have been all about Google Drive. To be honest, we should have dedicated Google Drive to three or four posts. I had a lot of people ask me how to use Drive for primary students. So my post was all about how to create quizzes for young students using images and page breaks. Other topics discussed were creating forms, sharing folders, embedding forms in your Google site, and much more. Click {here} to read all about how Google Drive can help you.

The great thing about this blog series is you can join in on the fun too! Feel free to link up with us if you have written or would like to write about the topics below. Here is the schedule:

Our next series will be about iPad apps in the classroom. What other topics would you like to learn more to will help you turn an ordinary day of teaching into an extraordinary one?