Happy National Teacher's Day, two days late. Here at Google, we'd like to take this time to salute all teachers, for all you do every day (not just May 5th), and we'd like to mention an accomplishment of one of our favorite teachers, Jerome Burg. Jerome, a Google Certified Teacher, was recognized for his work on Google Lit Trips by the Goldman Sachs foundation for Excellence in International Education in Media and Technology . Google Lit Trips uses the technologies of Google Earth
and social networking to bring literature to life through virtual
mapping. By placing markers on Google Earth tracking the journeys of
characters from literature and populating those placemarks with a wide
variety of supplemental resources, students can “ride along as virtual
passengers” on the same journey the characters are taking. The site
gives teachers access to previously constructed Google Lit Trips as
well as the ability to interact and post new trips online.
Check out Jerome's award at:
http://asiasociety.org/education/prizes/home.htm
And be sure to stop by Google Lit Trips at:
http://www.googlelittrips.org/
In celebration of National Teacher's Day, we are happy to announce that applications are now open for our next Google Teacher Academy, which will take place in our Boulder, Colorado office on August 5th, 2009. For those unfamiliar with it, the Google Teacher Academy is a FREE professional development experience
designed to help K-12 educators get the most from innovative
technologies. Each Academy is an intensive, one-day event where
participants get hands-on experience with Google's free products and
other technologies, learn about innovative instructional strategies,
receive resources to share with colleagues, and immerse themselves in
an innovative corporate environment. Upon completion, Academy
participants become Google Certified Teachers who share what they learn
with other K-12 educators in their local region. The GTA is open to teachers all over the world, but participants must pay for their own travel and lodging, if necessary.
For more information on the GTA, please go to:
http://www.google.com/educators/gta.html
Please check out the application and apply by MIDNIGHT, July 3rd, 2009:
https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=cmNxOEpoMi1pM1hiWnl2ZW52cWNERnc6MA..
As a tool for teachers, Google is excited to share news about a comprehensive
new digital media education program from one of our partners,
Common Sense Media, a leading non-partisan, non-profit resource
that helps families and educators teach kids how to be safe and smart in
today’s media driven world. Their new program, Common Sense
Schools, provides materials to engage parents and teachers in an interactive
dialogue about the media kids consume and create. The program takes a balanced
approach by addressing both the opportunities and challenges of new media for
parents and kids. It’s available for free online and is designed to
give you the flexibility to target the media-related issues, like social
networking or cyberbullying, that matter most to your community. For free access to videos and downloadable presentations, tip sheets, and
discussion materials that will give you all the tools your school needs to
build a school-community partnership around media and technology issues, check out: http://www.commonsensemedia.org/schools
Alright teachers, I think we've taken up a fair amount of your time for now. Please expect another newsletter around the National Education Computing Conference (NECC) at the end of June, where we'll be sharing exciting information about how you can get involved in using Google Apps Education Edition at your school.
If you'd like to get a jump on that, check out:
http://www.google.com/a/eduWarm Regards,
Cristin Frodella
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