First Google Level 1 Boot camp as an instructor

By Anonymous -
This summer, my school district is moving toward 1:1 Chromebook classrooms. Therefore, it is asking teachers to get Google Level 1 certified within the next school year. To kickoff the summer, +Kathy Brisentine, +Lisa T Elliott, Kerrie Sarvey, and I held two 1-day Google Level 1 certification boot camps for "go-getters" who wanted help. Both days were very productive and intense. All people learned a lot! 

 We created a brisk pace and rotated through leading different parts of the session. We split the session into:
  1. Gmail & Groups
  2. Drive/Docs/Slides
  3. Calendar/Tasks
  4. Forms/ Sheets
  5. Classroom
  6. Sites
  7. Hangouts
  8. Youtube
  9. Digital literacy overview 
  10. Q & A
I just want to acknowledge the great trainers including: Donna Teuber, Simone Gessler, Eric Curts, Anna Baldwin, Stewart Lee, Nancy Minicozzi, Misty Wilson, Kelly Fitzgerald, Jeffrey Welch, Kasey Bell, and Katie Christie. I collected and used (borrowed/stole) most of my materials from them. Thank you!

My Takeaways:
  1. I believe precise scheduling helped us cover everything we believed was important to pass the exam. Therefore, have a clear schedule, disseminate that info, and stick as close to that schedule as possible in order to cover the material (Exception --> see #2 & #6). 
  2. Remember to schedule (buffer) time for Q & A during each mini-session. This helped! 
  3. Less sit-and-get Slideshows and more "task oriented" activities that simulate the exam. 
  4. Have a volunteer or someone on-site that has taken the test recently to interject and help. (The test changes - such as New Sites, Google Keep, etc). 
  5. Make it clear that you highly recommend completing the Google Unit tutorials before taking the test - even though they attended the boot camp. 
  6. Have time at the end of the day for individual tutoring or Q & A - we included this time as an actual mini-session at the end of the day to allow for personalization and the people who were more comfortable could leave. 
  7.  We also tried Padlet as a backchannel. I have mixed feelings about using that. I would recommend it ONLY if your group is pretty computer competent/savvy. We had a wide variety of levels and it didn't really add to the session. 
  8. Give your "students" confidence. I find that many teachers understood the concepts, but have not used them in real-time situations. We are coaches. We are there to encourage. 
Always looking to improve my craft. Any feedback, comments, or questions always welcome! Have a great day.  

Comments

  1. BibliocatJune 8, 2017 at 9:19 AM

    Way to go on running a Boot Camp! That's totally impressive, and daunting, too! Can't agree more with recommending the Google Fundamentals Training. I explored all the basics plus the related topics and links and learned about so many things I might never have heard of otherwise. My district blocks Gmail, Blogger, and Classroom, so those topics were extra challenging to study. Lots of improvising! Like having to use Firefox at home just to post this comment on your blog =)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AnonymousJune 8, 2017 at 10:18 AM

      Thanks for the kind comments! I'm sorry to hear your school does not take full advantage of Google. Sounds like you all have to be super creative just to train! Keep in touch: @techfrye

      Delete
  2. AnonymousJune 8, 2017 at 10:10 AM

    Thank you for sharing. I'm working on a 4 week (1.5 hours a week after school) Bootcamp model for next year. I will definitely use your materials as I plan.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousJune 8, 2017 at 10:20 AM

    Thanks! Let me know if you need access to any links that may be set as restricted.

    ReplyDelete

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