Let's Get Googling!

A group of almost thirty Graded teachers ventured to Rio over the weekend of the 9th-10th of November to attend a Google Education Summit at Escola Americana in Rio de Janeiro. The event invited educators from all over South America to come and learn about the latest apps that Google has to offer and how they can be used to enhance the learning in our classrooms. Graded has already adopted the Google Education Suite and our teachers are very knowledgeable about the apps available, but the opportunity to network with other educators and be exposed to all of the latest updates and developments from Mountain View was a really worthwhile experience.

Ms Carpenter and Dr Carpenter were presenters at the summit.
Photo used with permission from Kim Randall

Graded School also sent a dozen teachers to the Pre-Summit event where we learned what it takes to become Google Certified Trainers - hopefully by the end of the school year we will all have certified Google Ninja status! 

Graded Teachers meet and discuss our plans to put
our training to best use.
Photo used with permission from Kim Randall

Most of us had the easier task of being workshop participants throughout the weekend but a few super skilled Graded crew put themselves on centre stage and presented their own Google Education powers. All presenters were great representatives of Graded and demonstrated the wealth of technology and education expertise that we are lucky to have at Graded. Have a look at some of the presentation highlights from HS faculty:

Amaral Cunha and Silvana Meneghini presented their experiences with independent learning through Google Apps

The Carpenters have built a Google Site describing the benefits of Digital Portfolios 
Ask your kids if they have one!

Matt Reynolds delighted his attendees with the wonders of Python.
Check out his presentation here

The event was organised and facilitated by Mark Wagner, Kim Randall, Tim Lee and Mark Allen from the Ed Tech Team and they each brought with them a whole host of tips, tricks and strategies for implementing Google Apps into our classrooms. All Graded teachers left the event with new tools, strategies and ideas to help them lift the student learning in their classes. 

Please ask your kids how they use Google Apps at school!

Pics from the summit:

What happens during the IB 5-year review?

This afternoon in our department meetings we kick off our IB self-study. The self-study is an important process that the school undertakes every 5 years. According to the IBO, our responsibility is...

•" to determine our own assessment of the implementation of the program, according to the Program standards, practices, and requirements"
•" to identify major achievements during the period under review and to identify practices that need further development."

We will also be gathering feedback from parents and students before we develop our IB program action plan. This plan will be developed by our HS Advisory Council.