I am excited to announce that the 3rd Elbert Innovates fall cohort will begin in August! Over the last two years, over 40 teachers in our district have participated and have gone through the process together to become Google Certified Educators. The modules for this course meet ISTE (International Society of Technology Education) standards for teachers. Google Certified Teachers demonstrate that they can successfully implement Gsuite for Education in the classroom to enhance teaching and learning. A few things about the cohort for the fall

• Teachers who participate and attend ten sessions will receive a stipend.
• The Cohorts will meet twice a month from August to December (We will figure out how we will attend based on what school looks like in the fall)
• Cohorts are flexible - Each class will be offered twice, and you decide which session to attend
• Google Level 1 and Google Level 2 Cohorts will be offered this fall
• Level 2 are for teachers who are currently certified in Level 1
• The slide deck about the course and the course sign up form are found below

It is hard to believe that the 2020-2021 school year is around the corner. I often use the summer to reflect on best practices from last year and think about what I am going to do to push my professional growth for the next year. Many of the programs that we use have self-paced lessons to help familiarize with our products. Here are a few you may want to check out

WeVideo Academy - Teachers and students at ECES,ECMS, and ECCHS have access to create videos with WeVideo. This is an easy way to create and edit videos

GoGuardian Teacher University- Information for best practices for GoGuardian

Wakelet Surf School - Ideas and best practices for using Wakelet

The FlipGrid Blog - Information and ideas about using Flip Grid

Google For Education Training Center - Getting started with Gsuite, and information and resources for becoming a Google Certified Educator

Texthelp Training Center - Information and Courses for Read and Write for Google and Equatio

As we begin to wind down the year now, start to think about how you are going to digitally organize the 2019-2020 school year and how you will start the 2020-2021 year. Here are a few pointers, so you don't become overwhelmed with all of the "stuff" in Google Classroom

1) Once you are finished with your Google Classroom for the year - Return all student work. This makes the student the owner of the work. If you don't do this and you delete the file, it deletes it for the student.

2) Remove all the classroom calendars - When you create a Google Classroom, it automatically creates a calendar for your classroom. Once you are finished with your Google Classroom, consider deleting that calendar. If not, you are going to have lots of calendars, and I find that to be confusing.

3) Archive your Google Classroom - When you archive your google class you are not deleting your class or deleting assignment. Archiving the class means that you are hiding the class from your classroom landing page for both you and your students. You can reuse assignments the next year, but you won't have to worry about seeing all the classes from years past.

Google Meets is now an option in your E-mail. If you have your E-mail pulled up you can create or join a meet straight from G-mail. You can also create Google Meets straight from Google Classroom.

One of the main things that I have learned in the last few weeks is that our tech tools during this time are changing rapidly. There are lots of changes and improvements that have happened in the last few weeks. It can be hard to stay on top of this and not feel overwhelmed at the same time. Below are my Top 5 places to get good information about tech tools

1) Google for Education Blog - This is a great resource and has lots of information about new features that are rolling out. For example, Google Meets is now part of Google Classroom!

2) ControlAltAchieve.com - Eric Curts is a Regional Edtech Professional in the midwest. He is not only a great human being but he has lots of great information during Covid-19. He has been a go to to me personally as I have prepared for distance learning. Eric is fantastic about responding to teachers via social media or through E-mail during this time.

3) Free Tech for Teachers - Richard Byrne is another one of my Edtech Heros. I have been reading his blog since 2011. There are lots of great resources here! Like myself, he is also a fan of ESPN Jock Jams.

4) ShakeupLearning - Kasey Bell has lots of great resources on her site and also hosts a podcast and writes books about technology in the classroom.

5) Ditch that Textbook - Another great resource with lots of videos, books, and podcasts in the area of digital learning.

Google Teaching from Home Hub is a temporary hub of information and tools to help teachers while we are out of the building. See the link below for information about the Teach from Home Hub

Joe Dawson - Elbert County Elementary School

Matt Johnson - Elbert County Middle School

Sherri Rampey -Elbert County Primary School

Hector Santiago - Elbert County Comprehensive High School

Bruce Stewart - Technology Director Elbert County School District

Clint Winter - Instructional Technology Coordinator Elbert County School District

Website: elbert.k12.ga.us
Phone: 706.213.4000
Twitter: @elbertcoschools