Chicago GTA

Here is my Docs Preso from Google Teacher Academy Chicago:


Link Library:
http://sites.google.com/site/gtaresources/2008-09-24/docs


Thanks to everyone who collaborated: Thomas Barrett, Tara Rossi, Barry Bachenheimer, Liz B. Davis, Lucy Gray, Kenneth Shelton, and many others.
I met so many amazing people and can't wait to collaborate with them.
Apply, apply, apply to GTA NYC!!!!!

Back to School Night O8, Live from Chicago...

It's Mrs. Hartman!
I had the wonderful opportunity of presenting at the Chicago Google Teacher Academy, so I had to miss Back to School night. It gave me the opportunity to really try out Sliderocket.


I have never missed a BTS night before, but I am hoping parents will like the presentation, plus those who cannot attend will be able to view it on our class blog, Hartman Hoopla.

Two Perspectives on Google Docs

This week I am presenting Google Docs to the 50 or so new Google Certified Teachers in Chicago at the next Google Teacher Academy. I can't believe I get to go back to Google again, and this time to Chicago, a place I have never been before. I thought it might be interesting to get some reflections on using Google Docs from a wide variety of educators and administrators. I asked Tara Rossi, a special educator from my school, Sparta Middle School and Barry Bachenheimer, a fellow GTA and Director of Instructional Services in the Caldwell-West Caldwell School District. They both provided great sound bytes about Google Docs and I cannot wait to share them during my presentation. I am also excited that Google has announced the next Google Teacher Academy in the Big Apple on November 18th! It was a life changing experience. Many people have questions about sharing and Kevin Jarrett did a great blog post addressing many questions. My advice is to apply early and get your students involved.

This past week, two exciting things happened. I launched Google Apps for Education with 120 6th graders in my Connections classes at http://welcome.hartmanstudents.com. The students were so excited and kept asking if they could work at home. One of my students responded for me, "Yes, of course you can do this at home, that is the whole point!" which made me smile.
Last but not least, Sliderocket is now free for everyone! I just made my Back to School presentation and now my students can use it as well. After this crazy week of Back to School Nights and Google Teacher Academy I will post my Google Docs presentation and Back to School Night 08 using Sliderocket.

Make a Trading Card of Yourself and Your Students

Use Big Huge Labs to do a fun getting to know you activity with your class. I love the trading cards! We are using the trading cards for group work and partners. When the students completed their cards, we laminated them and hung them up for Back to School night.

Two Great Opportunities to Start Off the School Year

This is cross posted as Tech Dossier.
Best Buy is offering $2million dollars in technology education grants, click here to apply. Deadline is October 12th, 2008.

Sometime in late September, I will be offering a class called, "Becoming a Google Guru" to all faculty at Mohawk Ave and Sparta Middle School. It is a series of 12- 1 hr classes before school (7:45-8:45). Any teacher who attends all 12 classes will be entered is a raffle to win a sweet prize!
Here is an overview of the class:
Class #1 - Creating Google Account/iGoogle Homepage, Quick Overview of Everything Google and the Google Philosophy
Class #2 - Google Advanced Search/Scholar
Class #3 - Google Books - build your classroom library
Class #4 - Google Docs Part 1- word docs and presentations
Class #5 Google Docs Part 2 - spreadsheets, widgets, forms, calculator - geared towards math teachers
Class #6 Google News Archives
Class #7 Google Sites
Class #8 Google Maps/Earth ideas for the classroom - geared toward Social Studies teachers and science teachers
Class #9 Google Notebook
Class #10 Google News and News Alerts
Class #11 Custom Search Engines
Class #12 Even More Google
Dates are coming soon so stay tuned!