Skip to main content

5 Reasons to Get Google Certified!



I recently took the exam to recertify as a Google Educator Level 1. It got me thinking about the many benefits of obtaining this certification. Here are my top five reasons:

1. Learn New Skills

Whether you utilize the free training resources in the Google Teacher Center, or you find resources outside from colleagues or social media, you will absolutely learn new skills as you prepare for certification. Check out the resources linked below to practice some specific skills that you will be tested on in the exams:

2. Increase Your Efficiency

There are so many great time-saving skills that you gain as you become more proficient with the Google tools! Once you figure out how to save time with the little things, then you can put that time to better use creating amazing learning experiences for your students! Here are just a few tips to save time:

3. Build Your Confidence Using Technology

The great thing about gaining these tech skills is that it gives you the confidence you need to keep trying new things and learning more! You might even find that your colleagues are coming to you for tips and advice.

4. Become Part of a Community of Learners

There are so many great communities of fellow "Googley" learners! Some of them are specifically geared towards preparing for certification, and some are spaces where educators are just sharing awesome ideas! Here are a few you can check out:

5. Inspire Creativity in Your Classroom and School

Now you can take all those skills you learned and all those ideas you gathered from your communities, and you can create some super creative learning experiences for students in your school! If you are looking for some extra creative ideas, trying searching the hashtags #GoogleET (Certified Trainers) or #GoogleEI (Certified Innovators). They are sharing some AMAZING ideas!
 

So what are you waiting for? Go get certified! 😀

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Create an Instagram Story!

One day on Twitter, I came across a tweet from Ryan O'Donnell ( @creativeedtech ) in which he shared a Facebook template that could be used for students to demonstrate their learning. I clicked on the link to his website , and I was AMAZED at all the cool templates he had created for teachers to use for free!  I decided to try using an Instagram template during a unit on the planets in our solar system. I wanted students to demonstrate what they learned about the different planets, but I wanted them to do it in a creative way.  Here are the directions I gave to my students: Here are some student examples: Student Example #1 Student Example #2 Student Example #3 Student Example #4 I really enjoyed this activity, and I love how students familiar with hashtags were able to create and use them in clever ways! If I was to go back and do this again, I would spend some time working with students less familiar with social media and hashtags and give them some...

First Week of School

We just wrapped up our first week of school! I really enjoyed meeting and getting to know our new 5th grade students! Here are some of the activities we did to start building our classroom culture and learn more about each other: "All About Me" Google Drawing Students learned how to use some of the basic features of Google Drawings by creating a Drawing about themselves. The basic requirements were that they include their name, a picture of themselves, and text/images that describe their personalities or interests. I created an example to give them an idea of what it could look like.  I used this activity last year, and I really enjoyed what my students created. However, I decided this year to give them more time to just play with and explore the tools in Google Drawing. I feel like this really paid off because students were able to discover how to use some of the tools and share with each other instead of just relying on me to show them how to use it.  ...

Virtual EdTech Coaching Sessions

  I'm really enjoying these virtual tech coaching sessions with teachers across our district! Here are some takeaways about coaching virtually: 🤝 Building relationships is still key to effective coaching. I try to look for things a teacher has on their desk or wall that I can see in the camera. This helps start a conversation about something meaningful to the teacher and starts our session on a positive note. ❓ Ask lots of questions rather than jumping in with a solution. I like to ask, "Can you please share your screen and show me how you would typically do/get to ____?" rather than telling them where to click right away. It helps me learn about how they navigate digital tools. 📧 Follow up the conversation with an email. I like to include a short video with a quick tutorial about something specific they talked about during the session. It helps demonstrate that I was actively listening and that I'd love to keep the conversation going and keep working together. What...