Tuesday 12 August 2014

Certified Google Educator


This summer I set myself the challenge of becoming a Google Educator in preparation for applying to the Google Teacher Academy next year. I am pleased to say that after about 3 days of hard work and 5 exams I was successful and can now call myself a Google Educator.







What is a Google Educator?

A Google Educator is someone who has successfully passed the 4 compulsory courses in using Google Apps for Education (Gmail, Docs and Drive, Calendar, and Sites) and at least one other optional course, in my case, Chrome. There are other units available such as Chromebooks, Google Play for Education and Tablet with Google Play for Education.

The courses, which are all free to study, build your knowledge and skills in the Google Apps suite. There is a significant emphasis on how the tools can be used in the classroom and school environment and it is for this reason that I highly recommend the course. In itself, there was a danger that this was just a learn to use Google scheme, but by demonstrating how the tools can be used to support education, the training supports you in learning how technology can change the way you teach and manage your workload. It is a fantastic tool that can transport you in a relatively short amount of time to become a competent user of new technology in your professional practice.

Was it worth it?

I considered myself to be a confident user of Google Apps, having used it daily in my teaching for several years, however I found the course quite challenging, especially the Sites exam as I had not really made use of this tool before now. Even the tools I use every day are more capable and function rich than I had realised and I learned a lot that will continue to support my practice. There is of course, no need to take the exams, this is a decision for each individual, but there is a lot to learn for anyone who uses the suite in their working environment.

Monetarily, the exams cost me a total of $75, $60 for the core bundle and $15 for the additional unit This amounts to about £45, a not insignificant amount of money. Personally, I felt that this was well worth the expenditure for the benefit to my professional practice and the right to call myself a Google Educator on my CV. You might disagree, obviously it is a choice for individuals but as I have already mentioned, you can study the course for free, and you might feel this is enough. Either way, I felt that it was a beneficial use of my summer holidays!

Tips?
Be thorough. There is a lot of material and it takes time. You really need to know it well as the exams certainly feature the spirit of Google's infamous interview questions in terms of the attention and precision expected of the respondent.

Do it as you go. I found that if I read a section or watched a clip, then actually carried out the function in my school Apps, then it really sank in more effectively. I actually built a new site while studying as I found this section particularly difficult but in doing so, passed the course first time.

Help?
Google say that the 4 words learn, share, inspire and empower, sum up the essence of the Google Teacher program. In the spirit of this, having learned the material I am keen to share, inspire and empower. I would be happy to support colleagues who are interested in the Google Apps for Education suite or indeed, more broadly about new technology in education generally. You can contact me through the comments section below or on twitter @MrTwyman5 and Google+  Adam Twyman (look for the avatar)





An Image Probelm



Does teaching suffer from an image problem? This is a thought that I find myself pondering from time to time but one that I hardly, if ever, raise for discussion. I recently retweeted a controversial article by @theprimaryhead which challenged the use of the word stress in teaching, postulating that it is incorrectly used as a synonym for "confused, naïve, unhappy, incapable and, in extreme cases, incompetent." As a recently appointed deputy head, I tangibly shared the author's nervous and tentative tone but admired his bravery and willingness to raise this issue to the fore. His sentiments are ones that a deeply share and have privately held for some time. Having had the privilege and good fortune of working with many outstanding and passionate educators, those who are, to borrow @theprimaryhead's terms, confused, naïve, unhappy, incapable and, in extreme cases, incompetent, stick out like the proverbial sore thumb.


Having retweeted the article, it faded from my thoughts until I received and email from a family friend a few days ago. This family friend has nothing at all to do with education, apart from the fact that his brother was a successful head teacher in the north west of England, yet it was full of exactly the sort of cliches that I find myself faced with by a significant minority of educators and sadly, a very large proportion of the non teaching public that I have ever discussed my work with. These cliches reminded me of the article by @theprimaryhead and refreshed my feeling that education, especially in the UK, suffers from an image problem that it does not necessarily deserve. The full text of the email that I received was as follows:

SCHOOL-1945 vs. 2013

Scenario:
Johnny and Mark get into a fight after school.

1945 Crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up best friends.

2013 Police called, and they arrest Johnny and Mark. Charge them with assault, both expelled even though Johnny started it. Both children go to anger management programmes for 3 months. School governors hold meeting to implement bullying prevention programmes.

Scenario :

Robbie won't be still in class, disrupts other students.

1945 Robbie sent to the office and given six of the best by the Principal. Returns to class, sits still and does not disrupt class again.

2013 Robbie given huge doses of Ritalin. Becomes a zombie. Tested for ADHD - result deemed to be positive. Robbie's parents get fortnightly disability payments and school gets extra funding from government because Robbie has a disability.

Scenario :

Billy breaks a
window in his neighbour's car and his Dad gives him a whopping with his belt.

1945 Billy is more careful next time, grows up normal, goes to college, and becomes a successful businessman.

2013 Billy's dad is arrested for child abuse. Billy removed to foster care; joins a gang; ends up in jail.

Scenario :
Mark gets a headache and takes some aspirin to school.

1945 Mark gets glass of water from Principal to take aspirin with. Passes exams, becomes a solicitor.

2013 Police called, car searched for drugs and weapons. Mark expelled from school for drug taking. Ends up as a drop out.
Scenario :

Johnny takes apart leftover fireworks from Cracker night, puts them in a paint tin & blows up a wasps’
nest.

1945 Wasps die.

2013 Police & Anti-Terrorism Squad called. Johnny charged with domestic terrorism, investigate parents, siblings removed from home, computers confiscated. Johnny's Dad goes on a terror watch list and is never allowed to fly in an aeroplane again.

Scenario :

Johnny falls over while running during morning break and scrapes his knee. He is found crying by his
teacher, Mary. She hugs him to comfort him.

1945 In a short time, Johnny feels better and goes on playing footie. No damage done.

2013 Mary is accused of being a sexual predator and loses her job. She faces 3 years in prison. Johnny undergoes 5 years of therapy and ends up gay.

This should be sent to every e-mail address you know to remind us how stupid we have become!

It would be fair to say that this email infuriated me. Somehow several of the cliches that dog our profession had arrived in my inbox via a non teaching family friend, presented as facts having already been widely circulated and with the plea to further circulate it. What was clear was that who ever had written it (and I would dearly love to know who did) had not stepped inside a school in a very long time. They had not bothered to find out what education is really like, to speak to inspirational or even, frankly, mediocre, modern educators, to read a blog, search the web, or do any kind of research at all. Despite this, they felt entirely qualified to describe the state of British education, deriding it and ridiculing it with that bluntest of comedic tools 'reductio ad absurdum' and sending it out into the world to subliminally undermine our profession. 

I felt compelled to act. Not just because of the pride I hold in my profession, my work and myself, but to stand up for the amazing teachers that I have worked with and lead every day. Teaching doesn't need to be glamorous or sexy but it doesn't deserve to be seen like this. Teachers are passionate, dedicated innovative and creative people. The best ones are relentless, uncompromising and change the world. So I wrote a reply and sent it back. Now I am publishing it on my blog in the hope that it will be circulated as widely as the one I received. So widely that it ends up dropping into my inbox sometime in the future from a non teaching family friend who read it, and felt compelled to pass it on.

Scenario 

Jonny is required to sit an exam that arbitrarily tests a narrow form of intellegence deemed most valuable by society's elite, the result of which maps the entire course of his life, future career earnings accomplishments and social standing. 

1945 the class system is reenforced, society continues to be controlled by those without entitlement. Jonny never fulfils his potential to cure cancer, invent scalable green energy sources, solve the conflict between Palestine and Isreal, advance the cause of the marginalised, find a way to successfully distribute wealth more evenly between the world's population or unify the theory of gravity with quantum mechanics. Society eventually collapses as future generations fail to solve problems that blight the world. 

2014 teachers relentlessly try to understand how Jonny learns and innovate teaching approaches to ensure he succeeds. Jonny fulfils his potential along with countless millions of others and the world gets better and better as our children solve the problems our own generation failed to. 

Scenario 

A trusted adult abuses Jonny in his office, crushing his self esteem and undermining every thing that will and could ever have happened to him. 

1945 As a person in a position of authority the abuser intimidates others around him, who consequently turn a blind eye or fail to report and take the appropriate action. Thousands of children's lives are ruined and many decades later, when the truth comes out into a better educated and more fearless world, dozens of celebrities, priests and school masters stand trial, are convicted and serve long prison sentences as though, somehow, that un-ruins the lives of their victims. 

2014 
High profile child protection procedures and a culture of safeguarding pervade all institutions responsible for the care of young people. Robust recruitment procedures discourage abusers from work with children and any abuse that is identified is immediately investigated.  Action to protect the child is swift and uncompromising. Jonny is cared for and supported by trained professionals and his suffering is minimised if not entirely prevented. 

Scenario
Jonny is a restless boy, good with his hands and brilliantly creative. As a result he finds it difficult to sit still, listen and work on written tasks. 

1945
Jonny sent to the Principal's office for '6 of the best', dismissed as being 'badly behaved' looses interest in school, drops out and lives a life on the edge of existence, scraping from one menial  job to the next or living on the dole. Jonny feels unfulfilled, miserable, depressed, costs society dearly in criminal behaviour, mental health intervention and social security. Jonny produces offspring that have no role model and whom, by influence of their failed and disaffected father, do not value education and who begin a vicious generational cycle of disengagement from and failure in education. 

2014
Jonny's talents are spotted and nurtured. The curriculum is modified in order that he can access it and be successful. Jonny goes on to develop astonishing new ideas/products/concepts, lives successful and fulfilling life. Goes on to earn millions, donates extensively to charities that further the cause of the education he values so highly, enters politics later in life and continues to champion reform and improvements for the benefit of future generations. Jonny produces offspring who, by virtue of their father's success, deeply value education. They begin a generational cycle of improvement and success. 

Scenario
People with no understanding of modern education read and proliferate damaging popularist waffle produced by publications such as the Daily Mail or individuals like Nigel Farrage who pedal it to uncritical minds in order to further their own interests of profit or power rather than to stimulate important or valuable debate about the real challenges facing educators and in doing so, detract from the work at hand. 

1945 
Poorly educated and uncritical minds accept and absorb groundless popularist waffle as they do not have the skills to question, analyse, challenge or seek verification of the mindless waffle that is peddled to them by those with an entirely selfish agenda. Mindless waffle becomes accepted as fact, people grumble and yearn for the past, inhibiting innovation and creativity in those who relentlessly seek to make the world a better place through education. Society eventually collapses as the reality of this path's fragility becomes increasingly apparent. 

2014
Witty and successful young Deputy Head Teacher writes thought provoking and challenging reply to mindless waffle and circulates it widely on social media. The parody attracts attention and playfully reminds people to be critical of things placed in front of them by those seeking to further their own interests by checking facts, challenging generalisations, disregarding hearsay and ignoring blatant inaccuracies. In doing so, he undermines those who proliferate the waffle and gives heart to those who commit their lives to education in the hope an expectation of leaving a better world for our children than the one that was left to us by the previous generation.