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EdTechTeam AZ Google Summit: Day #1


Today I attended the first AZ Google Summit, and it was fantastic! This is the first in a series of one-day summits being delivered by the EdTechTeam throughout the state of Arizona this summer. The summit sessions focus on integrating G Suite apps and other Google tools in ways that promote student learning.

 The keynote, entitled "Meet GenerationZ," was delivered by Holly Clark (@HollyClarkEdu). She spoke about the need to engage our students by tapping into their talents and interests and the importance of making student learning visible. She also spoke about the challenges of trying to prepare students for a future in which so many technological advances will have taken place. My favorite thing about Holly is that every time I hear her speak, her passion for students is SO evident, and it motivates me to want to learn more and do better as an educator!

So, already fired up, I set off for my first session, which was "Be Internet Awesome Curriculum in the Classroom" with Katie Stephens (@MissStephens711). I learned about the Be Internet Awesome curriculum available from Google, and I cannot wait to try it out next year! There are ready-made lessons and activities, cool badges for students as they master the concepts, and a fun online game for students to apply what they have learned. 

 The rest of the day I basically camped out in Holly Clark's sessions. Can you blame me? It's not often that Holly Clark comes to Arizona to share her wisdom, so I figured I should take advantage!

 Her first session, "Google Infused Classroom," introduced some tools that help make student learning visible. The first tool was Flipgrid and, while I've been using this for a while, Holly made some points about using this that I hadn't considered. She talked about how she has students record their responses without writing them down in order to practice the cognitive struggle that comes with having to think through your thoughts on the spot. I had never really thought about that before, but it's definitely a strategy I will try next year! She also introduced Book Creator, which I have not used before. I was especially excited about the feature that allows students to add audio recordings!

 In Holly's next session, "A Class Infused with Questions," I was introduced to the Question Formulation Technique which helps students become better questioners. My favorite part of this session was when she had us get into groups and actually practice using the first few steps of this technique. This included using a collaborative Google Doc to brainstorm questions in a group of three. I could see how the collaboration really helped the thinking process. 


The final session was "Critical Thinking and the Web - Search Strategies in a Google Infused World." This was by far the most humbling session as I quickly discovered that my search skills are NOT particularly impressive. But I'm determined to learn and do better! We learned about how the "R.E.A.L." framework can be used to help students validate information they find on the internet. 

Just like my first EdTechTeam Summit back in March, I left with my mind overflowing with ideas! I'm so excited for Day 2 tomorrow!

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