I’m going to assume that if you are reading my post (on a math blog) chances are that you too are a Game of Thrones fan and will get the title:)  If not, google it!

A colleague and friend of mine, Chelsey Meyer, and I presented on Boosting Engagement in Math Class today (and will again tomorrow) at the RCET Conference at MSU.  In doing so, we got to attend several great sessions offered by other Missouri Educators.  If you haven’t attended the RCET Conference, I highly recommend it.

The first session we went to was on becoming a Google Certified Educator.  When we got to the conference today I thought I was proficient in using Google apps, when I left that session I felt like I wasn’t even using Gmail to its potential.  This presentation could have easily been a week long conference on it’s own.  Some of the things we learned about were: Choose Your Own Adventure, Google Sites, Google Scholar, and tons of add-ons and additional features in apps we were already using.

If you don’t know much about Google Certification,  you should definitely check it out.  I didn’t even know that the certification existed…and best of all, the tests can be taken from your home, on your computer, for $10!  Google also offers all of the training for said tests, free.   Check it out here.

We also got to attend a session on Google Classroom that really answered a lot of my questions about how to best integrate apps into the classroom for online collaboration.  We were able to brainstorm together about how we might use this in conjunction with our LMS and save students time on the tech side to allow more time for the learning and collaboration.

Another great piece of information we gained today was Google CS First.  This is a site with ready-made activities to start your own club in things like Game Design and Animation!

I’d love to hear from you if you are a Google Certified Educator and will try to keep up on posting about my journey (and Chelsey’s) as we complete the training and take the tests!