So just a year ago I attended the Google for Education Back to School Summit in London which was being hosted by my good friend and former colleague/student Dean Stokes for Appsevents. This was my first visit to Google and quite an eye opener as we played around with Jamboards and sat on inflatable pink flamingos for a coffee and a chat. It was a very inspiring day and prompted me to get more involved.
Within a month, a October half-term 2017 I set aside a day to complete my Certified Educator Level 1 exam and passed, so did Level 2 the following day. I passed again and was feeling really pleased with myself.
Fast forward to January and I was asked to lead some Google training, not for teaching staff but for Educational Support Staff in my schools. As the unsung heroes and the glue that keeps schools together, I wanted to make sure I got the right notes and the team came away with something to actually use in their every day work lives. The feedback was positive: Mission Accomplished.
In July I was asked to run some CPD for a local primary school with teachers and but for a few WiFi issues, that went well too. At the same time I was constantly chatting withy wife, who is a Finance Assistant in a secondary school, about her workload and balance. I've tried to get her using more G Suite but it's a but to be fair, when she gets home she wants to relax, not launch into training mode, even though we both know I can help: Work in progress.
At the end of July 2018 I completed my Certified Trainer application and was successful so set about planning my 12 sessions for the year. With day 1 of the Autumn term in the calendar already for LSAs I devised and ran a short digital escape room designed to raise their awareness of Google Forms and Classroom. That went well too so I offered to run a term long in house CPD pathway on G Suite for staff which begins next week. It begins next week as the original date has to be postponed following a text from Dean Stokes asking if I could make it to Scotland this weekend to help out with an Appsevents bootcamp for Support Staff. I got the nod from my bosses and booked my flights and hotel.
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| My first day delivering a bootcamp - Robert Gordon's College, Aberdeen |
Yesterday was that day as I delivered my first full day Support Staff Bootcamp at Robert Gordon's College in Aberdeen. What an amazing building to work in on my first visit north of the border!
After a hearty breakfast in the hotel, including haggis and tattie scones, Dean, Ben Rouse and I headed off to set up.
The group of 6 support staff I was working with were all in different roles and confessed to different levels of confidence and frustration but they were awesome and very positive throughout. (Always appreciated on your first one, so thanks folks!)
We had a packed day and it was awesome to see faces light up and "You mean, I can just do that...?" flying around the room.
As I explained to the group, my view is that support staff in schools using G Suite often get the tools thrust upon them because it's been brought in for teaching and learning. Often they are self taught and know what they know, which can be limited so it was great to dive deeper into Drive, Docs, Sheets, Forms, Slide, Sites and more with them. When the day finished everyone was really appreciative and full of ideas so I'm happy.
This massive part of the educational work force is often massively under appreciated and that's why I've created a Facebook group for Support Staff using G Suite.
If you have support staff in your school that would like to see hints, tips and share best practice, please invite them to join.
Also look out for #googleESS on social media
Sharing is important but more importantly in this day and age, G Suite can change your world.
As I said to Ben and some of the group afterwards, I'm not selling anything except a better work-life balance. What's not to like?
Thanks to Dean, Ben, Appsevents, everyone who took part in the day and also my schools for allowing me the time!
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