How Becoming a Google Trainer Forever Changed Me
This post is week 8 of 8 in the #8WeeksofSummer Blog Challenge for educators. Honestly, as the final week concludes I'm sad to see it go. I'm so glad I stumbled across this challenge during #pd4uandme Twitter Chats. I had received some feedback from a few of my colleagues and friends that I should try my hand at something new. One suggested blogging and one suggested opening a TPT store. I thought about options and marked them down as possibilities. When I saw the #8weeksofsummer Blog Challenge I knew this was the time for me to make the leap and just start already!
This week's topic is all about sharing new knowledge, skills and attitudes I learned this year. The biggest change that led me to gaining new knowledge was becoming a Google certified trainer. It has opened so many doors for me. Three years ago I attended a regional service center training to become Google level one certified. During that summer, three years ago, there was torrential rainfall that started that morning as I sat at Region One ESC and started the session. I didn't think too much about it. It never rains so much that it floods, I thought. I couldn't have been more wrong. They canceled that training session right after our icebreakers. We didn't even get to the material on the agenda! And when I went out to look at the parking lot, it was so flooded I couldn't drive my vehicle home! Luckily my husband, with his truck, was able to pick me up and take me home. It rained and rained and the flooding was scary.
Once it all started to dry up and we managed to not have water enter the house... Thank God. I decided to make it a personal challenge to take the Google Level One certification course and test. That summer I passed levels one and two. I'm telling you all this because it took me two years before I pursued the Google Trainer certification. I thought to myself, that seems like a lot to put together to apply for it. I'm not sure I really need it. It was July of 2020 when I decided my role as librarian needed to evolve to meet the needs of my learning community during the pandemic. I had tried my best from March to May while all students and staff were asynchronous. With school quickly approaching and students being hybrid (synchronous and asynchronous but none in person) I knew our staff would want to rise to the occasion and beef up their technology skills. I challenged myself to become a Google Trainer to meet the needs of my campus.
Highly recommend you check out the Google Trainer certification program (linked above.) The online modules are really great for establishing norms for how you will conduct training sessions. I loved that it walked you through best practices for organizing content, connecting with the audience, ensuring that participants are engaged and so many other facets of training. To apply for Google Trainer I had to conduct training sessions using all the best practices I had learned during the online course, as well as pass the certification test. My library services director was very empowering and allowed me to provide inservice training to our librarians in August. This was the perfect way to put into action all I had learned.
The learning didn't stop there though. The Google Trainer program connected me with so many amazing leaders in education through our Google group. I started finding my passion again for educational technology. It was always there but I had really focused on my passion as a librarian in recent years. I found I wanted to learn more and more. Twitter became a go to tool for me. Finding people like Stephanie Howell @mrshowell24 , Amanda Sandoval @historysandoval, Jake Miller @Jakemillertech and Meredith Akers @meredithakers made me realize how important connections are.
This school year, my principal empowered me to provide Tech Tuesday every single week for our staff. It helped me grow tremendously in my presentation skills and helped me build connections on my campus. It contributed to growth across the campus as staff began to try new things and be more innovative. I saw the pandemic as a time for me to evolve in my journey as an educator. I challenged myself to get excited about what I could do during the pandemic instead of what I couldn't do.
I am reenergized and excited about returning to the field of education. I can't wait to see what all is in store for us now that we are so much more confident with using technology tools and our students will be in person with one to one devices. The potential is tremendous! The ongoing support needed for our campus and all campuses during these changes are a essential for success. I plan to continue to be a changemaker and to play a pivotal role in our continuous growth.
Thank you Penny Christensen for hosting the #8weeksofsummer Blog Challenge. Thank to my friend Narda Lugo for always being my supporter and reminding me that we are eagles! Thank you to my friend Wenny Pray for pushing me outside my comfort zone to start blogging.
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