Nogales High teacher Ryan Easton poses with his wife in London while attending the Google Teachers Academy in London. (Photo courtesy of Ryan Easton)
Ryan Easton ogled Big Ben and googled the top tourist attractions in London.
Which was only appropriate because the Nogales High teacher was in Britain's capital city for Google's Teacher Academy the first week of April.
Easton was one of only 50 educators from around the world, including six from California and 13 from the United States, chosen for the innovative academy.
Some of the top teachers from around the globe gathered to share their passion for using innovative tools to improve learning. The Internet giant joined the instructors to show them emerging technologies that will help them in the classroom.
"Each academy is an intensive, one-day event where participants get hands-on experience with Google's free products and other technologies, learn about innovative instructional strategies, receive resources to share with colleagues, and immerse themselves in an innovative corporate environment," explains the company website.
The academy is run by Google, in collaboration with CUE and WestEd, both educational nonprofit organizations.
The local social science teacher discovered a professional development experience that will revolutionize his instruction.
"The academy will change the way I teach," the AP teacher said. "I've learned about many new resources to share with my fellow teachers at Nogales."
Easton is already one of the Apple One to One Laptop Learning educators at the Rowland Unified
school. The 28-year-old instructor is already pushing the boundaries of digital instruction.
"Technology has always been a big part of my life and I am always looking at new tools to use in my classroom," he said. "This was an amazing opportunity for me to be an ambassador for Google in my school district and learn about the valuable resources available for our schools."
The world-class instructors formed teams to share successful teaching strategies that leveraged Google applications to the maximum.
"For example, Tom Barrett, an English teacher, taught us a great idea about digital storytelling," Easton recalled.
The teams spent 11 hours pouring over the latest digital resources. They came back the next day on their own to continue their research and instruction.
"The unconference day was optional, but I was learning so much about technology and teaching that I had to go back," Easton continued.
In fact, instructors were selected for their passion for "their successful use of technology in school settings."
As Google explains "Since the program relies on a `train-the-trainers' model, we are particularly interested in educators who actively provide technology-related mentoring or training for classroom teachers."
And indeed, Easton is bringing this wealth of knowledge back to Nogales High School. That's why Principal Nancy Padilla has been very supportive.
"I thought this was an amazing opportunity for him and our school," Padilla said. "We plan to use his new knowledge as a valuable resource."
The Nogales administrator noted that Easton has already begun sharing Google techniques with his fellow teachers. The social studies teacher is already planning for next year.
"I want to set up gmail accounts for our students so they can access all the Google applications such as Google documents, maps and calendars," he said.
He noted that the new digital accounts will
Nogales High teacher Ryan Easton attended the Google Teachers Academy. (Photo courtesy of Ryan Easton)
connect staff and students on a live basis.
"If a change something on my calendar, it will automatically update the data on everyone else's calendars too," Easton said.
The instructor is also cognizant of the need to teach digital ethics.
"With the new tools, we have to teach digital responsibility," Easton explained. "I always tell my students, whatever you write on the Internet is written in pen, not pencil. It'll be there forever."
Students at the local high school say the one-on-one laptop program has already improved their instruction.
"I think the computers allow us to be more creative," said 16-year-old Angelina Navarro. "It gives us lots of new resources. If I want to look something up, I just have to go onto the Internet."
"I think the laptops keep students more interested in the lessons," added 15-year-old J.C. Agacaoili. "We can focus more on what we're doing and make interesting videos for our class projects."
Self-described "techie" Jedd Filio just thinks digital instruction is the next step forward in teaching.
"We can do so many more things with the laptops in the limited time we have for each subject," the 16-year-old maintains. "We can write our essays online and email them to the teacher."
Easton said he already uses educational programs to track the students' assignments and update their progress.
Of course, traveling all the way to Great Britain without doing some sight-seeing would be a crime. Especially for a teacher of European history.
"My wife and I spent the rest of the week touring England," Easton admitted. "I really liked the British Museum and the Imperial War Museum. We also went out to Bath to see the Roman spa."
So the Nogales instructor came back with some great memories as well as interesting instructional techniques.
We'll forgive him for ogling the sights, if Google will.
[email protected]
626-962-8811, ext. 2801
Ryan Easton ogled Big Ben and googled the top tourist attractions in London.
Which was only appropriate because the Nogales High teacher was in Britain's capital city for Google's Teacher Academy the first week of April.
Easton was one of only 50 educators from around the world, including six from California and 13 from the United States, chosen for the innovative academy.
Some of the top teachers from around the globe gathered to share their passion for using innovative tools to improve learning. The Internet giant joined the instructors to show them emerging technologies that will help them in the classroom.
"Each academy is an intensive, one-day event where participants get hands-on experience with Google's free products and other technologies, learn about innovative instructional strategies, receive resources to share with colleagues, and immerse themselves in an innovative corporate environment," explains the company website.
The academy is run by Google, in collaboration with CUE and WestEd, both educational nonprofit organizations.
The local social science teacher discovered a professional development experience that will revolutionize his instruction.
"The academy will change the way I teach," the AP teacher said. "I've learned about many new resources to share with my fellow teachers at Nogales."
Easton is already one of the Apple One to One Laptop Learning educators at the Rowland Unified
school. The 28-year-old instructor is already pushing the boundaries of digital instruction.
"Technology has always been a big part of my life and I am always looking at new tools to use in my classroom," he said. "This was an amazing opportunity for me to be an ambassador for Google in my school district and learn about the valuable resources available for our schools."
The world-class instructors formed teams to share successful teaching strategies that leveraged Google applications to the maximum.
"For example, Tom Barrett, an English teacher, taught us a great idea about digital storytelling," Easton recalled.
The teams spent 11 hours pouring over the latest digital resources. They came back the next day on their own to continue their research and instruction.
"The unconference day was optional, but I was learning so much about technology and teaching that I had to go back," Easton continued.
In fact, instructors were selected for their passion for "their successful use of technology in school settings."
As Google explains "Since the program relies on a `train-the-trainers' model, we are particularly interested in educators who actively provide technology-related mentoring or training for classroom teachers."
And indeed, Easton is bringing this wealth of knowledge back to Nogales High School. That's why Principal Nancy Padilla has been very supportive.
"I thought this was an amazing opportunity for him and our school," Padilla said. "We plan to use his new knowledge as a valuable resource."
The Nogales administrator noted that Easton has already begun sharing Google techniques with his fellow teachers. The social studies teacher is already planning for next year.
"I want to set up gmail accounts for our students so they can access all the Google applications such as Google documents, maps and calendars," he said.
He noted that the new digital accounts will
Nogales High teacher Ryan Easton attended the Google Teachers Academy. (Photo courtesy of Ryan Easton)
connect staff and students on a live basis.
"If a change something on my calendar, it will automatically update the data on everyone else's calendars too," Easton said.
The instructor is also cognizant of the need to teach digital ethics.
"With the new tools, we have to teach digital responsibility," Easton explained. "I always tell my students, whatever you write on the Internet is written in pen, not pencil. It'll be there forever."
Students at the local high school say the one-on-one laptop program has already improved their instruction.
"I think the computers allow us to be more creative," said 16-year-old Angelina Navarro. "It gives us lots of new resources. If I want to look something up, I just have to go onto the Internet."
"I think the laptops keep students more interested in the lessons," added 15-year-old J.C. Agacaoili. "We can focus more on what we're doing and make interesting videos for our class projects."
Self-described "techie" Jedd Filio just thinks digital instruction is the next step forward in teaching.
"We can do so many more things with the laptops in the limited time we have for each subject," the 16-year-old maintains. "We can write our essays online and email them to the teacher."
Easton said he already uses educational programs to track the students' assignments and update their progress.
Of course, traveling all the way to Great Britain without doing some sight-seeing would be a crime. Especially for a teacher of European history.
"My wife and I spent the rest of the week touring England," Easton admitted. "I really liked the British Museum and the Imperial War Museum. We also went out to Bath to see the Roman spa."
So the Nogales instructor came back with some great memories as well as interesting instructional techniques.
We'll forgive him for ogling the sights, if Google will.
[email protected]
626-962-8811, ext. 2801