One of the best resources for learning something new is people.  This week I joined some fellow educators in the district wanting to get a headstart with Google Apps for Education.  I had my first experience using a Chromebook and got some hands-on experience with Google Classroom.  We practiced viewing posts and commenting on posts and sharing Google docs in Google Drive.  Many of these features were already familiar to me but the experience still had value.   I also learned about a very cool extension called Google Read and Write.  It is a voice to text and text to voice app.  So cool!  It is available at no cost to all teachers.  I recommend checking it out  if you haven’t already.  I also learned that the district has engaged in in depth discussions with other districts and Google representatives to help work out issues associated with he  Freedom of Information and Personal Privacy Act. These concerns are the reason for the delay in implementation and why some districts have not yet bought in.  So far it is looking good.

Each school will have an EdTech Mentor to help with the transition next year. I am hoping to fill that role at my school.  I am hoping that my enthusiasm and vision of the possibilities the technology presents will be contagious.  I have not been inclined to take on a leadership role in the past but the timing and topic seems right.