The real story behind GCT/CUE Dinner Club Webinar series.

Long, long ago, back in the summer of 08 the FOURTH official class of Google Certified Teachers were notified they were heading to Mountain View, California for their training. (Little history here, the previous three classes had been open to the California Teachers twice and the New York State Teachers once.) So, this was going to be the first class of "students" coming from around the world, and they did! Dorothy showed up from New Zealand, Paul came in from Canada...well, you get the point.

Everyone jumped on Twitter and in a matter of minutes a SITE was designed for all of us to plug in our winning videos and information about ourselves. The original 12 that posted decided to get together for dinner prior to the BIG DAY. When I walked in, after spending time on the SITE, I knew every one's name, thanks to the pictures posted and the conversations began. .

After our wonderful day of training, and meeting soooo many interesting educators, we converged on a restaurant and did a podcast retelling our "aha" moments. After the podcast we started to realize we would never have the chance to see each other face to face like this again and maybe we would see each other at a conference down the road....but, we would never have these great google conversations again.

Thus the monthly webinar series was born..The first Wednesday of every month during the school year is devoted to Google Certified Teachers getting together thru Elluminate to listen to other outstanding GCT's to learn, lament, and be challenged, there is EVEN MORE out there to listen and share!

If you would like to "present" at an upcoming webinar...Please let me know, we'd love to hear from you all!

If I had a million dollars...*start singing!

The more classrooms I see, the more money I see spent on "technology"...I'm just gonna throw it out there...

All you need is:

Showerboard on the wall, Document Camera, Laptop and projector..

Sure it would be nice to have more bells and whistles (flip cameras, etc..) but you can successfully educate the students using these tools.

Discover Kansas!

Kansas Professional Development invaded by Discovery Education!

Great time working with the Teachers of Junction City, Kansas at the all day conference!

We learned that there is a great group of teachers and administrators helping to make the lifes of the students enriching, by using Discovery Education streaming!

MIKE!!

My time in West Virginia was filled with innovative teachers, instructional technologists, one great principal and even engaging administrators....but, the main dude that impressed me the most...sigh...MIKE!! Love this guy! Not exactly sure I would like to do his job every day, but I'm happy knowing we both work for DISCOVERY!!

New and Improved and TIME SAVING!

Thanks Veronica, You are so kind! Discovery Education certainly DOES have audio to support your curriculum..

You don't have to stay up till 2:00 in the morning to find that audio clip you are displaying in the picture.

By the way, I'm just in awe.. You STILL have cassette tapes? Really? You found it? (I'd still be looking!!)

Welcome to the 21st century, Veronica! Its a great place to be!

CONVERGE MAGAZINE SPOTLIGHT!

Google Custom Search Refines Research Skills
Posted by Tanya Roscorla
on August 10, 2009 Ed Tech

The GOOGLE CUSTOM search engines do keep students from finding inappropriate sites on the whole Web, said Cindy Lane, an adjunct professor, Google Certified Teacher and instructional technology specialist from St. Louis. One of her students looked up “black holes” in a regular search, and you can just imagine what that child found, she said. She designed and taught a four-week class this summer at Southwest Baptist University for K-12 educators on Google applications, and she focused on searching during one of those weeks. All of the students created custom search engines, but many of them said they had never heard about it before.“You would think teachers would know about all of the applications that make their lives easier in their classrooms, but unless they take classes or they go to technology conferences or they have some really good PD [professional development] already imbedded in their schools, it’s a hit and miss kind of thing,” Lane said, “which is unfortunate.”

Two years? Is that true?

Wow, time does go by fast when you are having fun! Life definitely got a lot more fun these last few months and I just have to pause for a minute today and reflect on my direction, my donation to the educational technology arena and my devotion to technology.

When people ask me why I blog, I tell them I do it for my own self reflection only. Yes, it would be nice to have throngs of people reading my stellar writing, (but think about the pressure too!) I blog so I can look at my old writings, maybe see some growth and definitely smile at all of my shenanigans!

I've had the EXTREME pleasure of working with some great educators across this planet and it's just a gift to hear and see their passion! I was on a plane recently and sat next to a wonderful, personable lady who shared her own love of educational technology and we spent the entire plane ride talking about the MANY benefits of document cameras!

These past two years have been full of wonderful suprises, the BEST becoming a Google Certified Teacher and the worst...hah! There aren't any! I've grown and enjoyed every moment and looking forward....ALWAYS looking forward with my glass (at least) HALF FULL!