• Blog
  • About
  • Digital Portfolio
  • Presentations
    • Ontario Summit 2019
    • Petaluma iOS Summit >
      • You Can Explain Everything and Your Students Can, Too!
      • Getting Going with Google Classroom
      • Capturing Student Ideas with Visual Apps
    • ISTE15 >
      • Connecting the Next Digital Leaders
      • Hacking the Daily 5
      • Passion-Based Learning: Genius Hour, 20% Time, and Innovation Day
    • DENapalooza Vancouver 2015
    • PITA15 Whistler >
      • Passion-Based Learning: Genius Hour & 20% Time
      • Screencasting for Visible Thinking & Learning
    • CUE15 >
      • Hacking the Daily 5 - Rockstar Jam Session
      • Digital Citizenship for the 21st-Century Citizen
    • Odyssey15
    • iOS Summit Vancouver 2015
    • 2014 Presentations >
      • ERAC IL4K12
      • CUEBC14 >
        • Learn How To Drive: Storage & Collaboration in the Cloud
        • SAMR: A Technology Integration Model for Educators
      • SFU14
      • Union SD Tech Innovation Summit
      • CUE Rockstar Manhattan Beach 2014 >
        • Learn How To Drive
        • Screencasting for Visible Thinking and Learning
        • Hacking the Daily 5
      • CA GAFESummit 2014 >
        • Learn How To Drive
        • SAMR: A Technology Integration Model for Educators
        • Passion-Based Learning
      • JET14
      • MERITCon14
      • ISTE 2014
      • CanFlip14 >
        • Screencasting for Visible Thinking & Learning
        • Passion-Based Learning
      • Vancouver GAFESummit 2014 >
        • Learn How to Drive
        • Passion-Based Learning
      • Walnut Grove - Genius Hour in Elementary
      • Odyssey 2014 >
        • SAMR: A Technology Integration Model for Educators
        • Explain Everything! Practical Uses and How-Tos for Screencasting on Your iPad
        • So You Want to Mystery Skype?
      • Roseville GAFESummit - Passion-Based Learning
  • Contact
A Tech Teacher on a Mission

The Hidden Learning Process of a Google Teacher Academy Application

6/2/2013

0 Comments

 
As soon as I saw the link on Twitter for Google Teacher Academy in Chicago, I knew I had to apply. I have been working on my application for almost two weeks.  Today I pressed the "Submit" button and, I can tell you, I was in a very different place back when I read the requirements than I am now.

When I began, I was forced to put something difficult in perspective: they may not want me because I'm not 100% savvy with Google apps.  Sure, I could have said that there have been very few opportunities to showcase the brilliance of tools like Google Drive when you're still training your staff how to turn an iPad on and off, but do they really want to hear that? I should be pumping up their products in the application process, right? Yet, I'm not someone who easily compromises who I am in a selection process. If I'm not meant to be in the running, then I'm glad that I at least got to be myself while I was in it. 

So I went through the motions and answered the questions. No problem. I'm a writer. I can craft an eloquently stated answer within 150 words and still get my point across. All while still being me. Then I got to the bottom of the application page.
Picture
Uh oh.  A movie?  Whaaat?

What would I do? How would I put it together? I know next to nothing about iMovie (the available video editing software on our district computers) and while I might be charismatic in person, I'm not a big fan of myself on camera.  I decided to let myself mull it over for a few days, writing down ideas, crossing them out, rewriting, tossing ... all the things typical of an aspiring writer editing his first screenplay. Things were not going well.  How could I be me without showing me?

I soon decided that I needed a theme for my video.  I planned the movie to revolve around a spy/Mission Impossible style;  I am a "tech teacher on a mission," after all.  This began to show great promise as I tinkered, played, and reworked video clips and images.  I taught myself how to screencast using SnagIt (free trial inside link) and captured images typed on GoogleDocs, from previously made Prezis, and from my iPad on the GoogleEarth app.  Then of course, after all that comes the formatting and making sure you're within the one-minute time limit... Loads of learning.

Today, as I sat back and watched my hours of handiwork in one single minute of video, I realized how much had gone into this project.  It's almost like I had been tricked into my own professional development with all of the digital tools listed above!  But I was so motivated to polish my application and get into GTA that I hadn't even considered the learning process involved within it...  What an exciting and inspiring concept!  

For those of you who care to watch, my submission is below.  Wish me luck and thanks for reading!
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Victoria Olson
    A curious and passionate educator in Langley, BC

    Picture

    Picture

    Picture

    Picture

    Picture

    Picture

    Tweets by @MsVictoriaOlson

    Picture

    Picture

    RSS Feed


    Archives

    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2016
    January 2016
    August 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    July 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013


    Categories

    All
    Assessment
    Augmented Reality
    Balance
    Blogging
    Camtasia
    Collaboration
    Communication
    Community
    Creativity
    Design
    Edcamp
    #EdFailFwd
    Education
    Efficiency
    Elementary
    Google Teacher Academy
    Guided Math
    Intermediate
    Ipads
    Multi Age
    Multi-age
    Pln
    Primary
    Pro D
    Pro D
    Pro-D
    Reflection
    Resource
    Screencasting
    Self Regulation
    Sharing
    Tech
    Things That Suck
    Think35
    Twitter
    Video
    #YourEduStory


    Want to subscribe to this blog? Enter your email address below for automatic email updates:

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.