Connecting with Shekou International School

Kindergarten students in Sun Laoshi's class had a Google Hangout with 2nd grade students at Shekou International School in China.  They were very excited to be able to share a song and stories with each other.  The children are making connections and practicing their mandarin at the same time!  

Google School: Students Teaching Teachers

High School students are helping primary school world language teachers learn through a project called Google School:  Students Teaching Teachers.  They share their knowledge about Google tools and support the teachers in using these applications in their daily teaching, planning, and learning! 

Google Teacher Academy

I have just returned from the Google Teacher Academy in London.  It was an honor to learn with such positive, open-minded educators who are Google Apps for Education leaders in their community.  One of the most important take-aways is the connection you build with inspiring people from around the world who are life-long learners.  It definitely broadens the  horizons of my personal learning community, which I can share locally.  Some awesome Google Tools that were discussed are:

• Google Cultural Institue
• The Google Cultural Institute brings together millions of artifacts from multiple partners, with the stories that bring them to life, in a virtual museum.
  http://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/home
• Tour Builder
• Tour Builder is a new way to show people the places you've visited and the experiences you had along the way using Google Earth. It lets you pick the locations right on the map, add in photos, text, and video, and then share your creation.
  https://tourbuilder.withgoogle.com/
• MapsEngine
• Google Maps Engine makes it easy for you to create beautiful maps and share them with others.
  https://mapsengine.google.com/map/
• Annotating YouTube Videos
• Video Annotations is a new way for you to add interactive commentary to your videos! Use it to:
• Add background information about the video
• Create stories with multiple possibilities (viewers click to choose the next scene)
• Link to related YouTube videos, channels, or search results from within a video
• All of the above!

• You control what the annotations say, where they appear on the video, and when they appear and disappear.

  How do I get started?

  Please visit our Help Center for more information on Video Annotations.