Can you believe that summer is almost here? As a teacher, I remember thinking about this time that I was much more ready for summer than the kids were. And, before I knew it, summer was soon to be over. But before you get too distracted with summer plans of travel, sleeping late, or bingeing on Netflix shows you haven’t been able to watch over the last few months, make plans to get your Chromebook (Level 1) certification or iPad (Level 1) certification. These two certifications are offered by TCEA and are both online and self-paced, which makes them easy to fit in your busy schedule…even during the summer. You can go through the courses while you are traveling, after sleeping late, and even in between your Netflix favorites. Below is a short description of each certification.
Chromebook (Level 1) Certification
The purpose of this certification is to help educators build foundational skills in using their Chromebook as an effective learning tool in the classroom. As you go through the course, you will also be introduced to several of the Google Suite of tools to promote collaboration and critical thinking, and you will be provided opportunities to apply it to your content area or grade level. The capstone project for this certification is a lesson plan implementing some of the learned skills and tools within the grade level and content area of your choice.
iPad (Level 1) Certification
The purpose of this certification is to help educators build foundational skills in using the iPad as an effective learning tool in the classroom. As you go through this course, you’ll learn how best to use the features of the iPad to differentiate and support student learning. The capstone project for this certification is a lesson plan implementing some of the learned skills, features, and apps within a grade level and content area of your choice.
Besides gaining the skills and confidence of using your device more effectively with students, you’ll also receive 18 hours of professional development credit along with your certificate. If you are not a current TCEA member, each certification course is just $149; TCEA members can enjoy a reduced price of only $99. Why wait any longer? Go to http://ly.tcea.org/certifications and begin your certifications today! If you have questions or need more information, feel free to contact me at 512-450-5396.
Taking on new skills and the learning curve that goes along with it may be a frightening and/or frustrating task for your staff members. When possible, always try to set them up for success. They may not know how to break the skill down into manageable pieces, for example, so you may need to help model that aloud. Depending on the skill, you may also need to provide additional resources or training to help them become confident and successful. Put yourself in their position and consider what might be helpful in order to stretch…without breaking.
Talk to your staff about the additional tasks and the need to grow and take on new skills. Having an open discussion can alleviate some of the fear that comes from encountering something new, different, or unknown. When possible, ask questions to find out what they think. They may have a completely different understanding based on their past experiences (or lack thereof). Open dialogue should not be constrained to a single staff meeting however; encourage the conversation to continue. Let your staff know that you want to hear their ideas. Though you may have no control over the growth that needs to take place, you do have a great deal of influence on how well they develop capacity to meet that need.
When talking with a friend about building capacity in his team, he mentioned that he has a few people that can juggle six or seven major things, and he has one person that can only juggle four. No matter how much he wants the four-task-juggler to grow into a five-task-juggler, he realizes that it just isn’t going to happen. And the best thing he can do is recognize it and use it to both his and his staff member’s advantage. In doing so, he needs to set realistic expectations for each individual staff member. Just because you and I find certain tasks easy to juggle doesn’t mean that a another staff member will obtain the skill with ease. If we think back over our experiences, we probably had much more time (and resources) to build capacity in that area. With that in mind, consider how you can adjust expectations, but still arrive at the required destination.
There’s been a lot of discussion over the last year about implementing genius hour in the classroom. Genius hour is the strategy of giving time for students to do self-directed learning on interests that they are passionate about. Google regularly provides employees 20 percent of their work week that can be devoted to “passion projects,” believing that this will better engage the staff and make them more excited about all of their work. There is nothing magical about the “20 percent” number; it’s more important that you give students some time for open-ended learning in which they can pursue their own interests. Here are a few resources to help you get started integrating this educational trend into your classroom.
that the option to access the Google Play Store on your Chromebook is enabled in the dashboard. You can check your Chromebook by going to Settings. Scroll down until you see the Google Play Store (beta) section. If the option is greyed out, then you’ll need to bake a batch of cookies to take to the domain administrator and ask if they can enable the feature. (Giving cookies increases the chances of having this feature enabled by 64 percent.) If you log in with your personal Google account on the Chromebook, you’ll notice that it is already enabled. But you do NOT want to use your personal account with your students and other teachers. For safety reasons, you always want to use your district account, even if that means bribing the domain administrator or waiting a few days for it to be enabled. 
Once the option to enable is made available, you’ll be able to enable it in Settings and manage Android preferences (similar to if you were setting Android preferences on an Android phone or tablet).
Yippee! You have it enabled. So where it it? Click on the Launcher icon which, by default, is the icon on the bottom left on the shelf. You will now see the Play Store (beta) icon. This beta Play Store is currently a stipped down version of the Play Store you would see if you accessed it through the browser. And yes, you will need to use the beta Play Store to install Android apps. When accessing the store via the browser, your Chromebook will not be an option in the dropdown list of compatible devices. Once you click on the beta store, you will recognize the various categories to help you narrow down what type of app you are looking for. If the developers have not completely finished updating the app in question, it may be available as a beta version. When I spot checked several of the Android apps I have on my phone, almost all were available and ready in the Play Store. You might even find that some app developers have made their product available as a Chrome app (that you install via the Web Store) and an Android app (that you install via the beta Play Store). Either way, once installed, they will appear in your launcher window.
Autodesk SketchBook – Whether it is illustrating, diagramming, or sketchnoting, you’ll find this to be a simple app to use. When done, save the image to your Chromebook.
Trello – More than just a to-do list app, Trello can help you keep track of projects. You can work alone or collaboratively with classmates to keep track of project-based learning activities.
Trading Cards – This isn’t your traditional trading card maker. Templates provided include fictional person, real person, fictional place, real place, object, event, and vocabulary. Once you enter information on the front and back of the card, you can share it as a photo to your photo gallery.
Pic Collage – Share your message with pictures! Pic Collage lets you start by selecting your photos and then adding them to a grid with templates (start with a themed background) or freestyle (begin with a blank slate and add to it). You can also easily add text and search for photos on the internet to add to your collage.
Take time to reflect on what myths you have bought into and the impact that you can make by changing your mind and believing what is actually true…not necessarily easy but true nonetheless. If I left you with one saying to challenge you, it would be with what Steven W. Anderson (
Diamante Poem – This type of poem is in the shape of a diamond. Each line uses specific types of words (adjectives, -ing words, etc.). What makes it especially nice is that it doesn’t have to rhyme. This app has some examples to illustrate how to write a diamante poem, and it leads you through creating your poem step by step. When you’re finished, you can save the poem as an image to your photo gallery. 
Acrostic Poem – Think of a word and then write a word or phrase for each letter in the word. This app will lead you through creating an acrostic poem and even helps you brainstorm words. Acrostic poems are often used when students write their name vertically and then write out adjectives going across that describe them, but the uses are endless. 
Haiku Poem – This app makes writing this Japanese-style poetry super simple. Walking you through the steps of brainstorming words and phrases and making note of the syllables, you’ll find that constructing one is easy and can be very profound. 
Poems By Heart from Penguin Classics – This well-crafted app introduces students to a wide variety of poetry. Even without the premium downloads, the free ones supplied each come with audio that highlights the lines as the poem is read with inflection. Students can record themselves reading the poem and even earn poetry points by memorizing them. 
POETRY from The Poetry Foundation – Let students encounter a wide variety of poetry in this app. They can discover titles by spinning the category wheels (emotions and events) or by searching for a specific author in the index. Poems that have audio are indicated with a small speaker icon, great for extra support for struggling readers/writers as well as students who may benefit from hearing it read aloud. 
On April 25, Amazon announced a new Alexa designed just for children. 