School’s out Friday

Apologies for this one! I’m not a huge Twilight fan, but I have been watching it on television for the last hour and a half or so, and was struggling to find a video for this week’s School’s out Friday. Hence, the literal version of the Eclipse trailer. I promise I’ll try harder next week. : )

I’m a tad disappointed right now (alright, more than a tad I’ll admit!), having found out today that I wasn’t accepted into the Google Teacher Academy being held in Sydney in April. I thought I had a lot to offer, but Google obviously thinks otherwise! Henrietta Miller didn’t get in either, and has written a great post tonight about disappointment and it’s offshoot, resilience. I’ve got plenty of that in store, so I’ll move on and do what I do do best; share my knowledge with all of you through this blog. : )

Have a great weekend. Find some sunshine.

 

Google Teacher Academy Sydney application

This is my application video for the Google Teacher Academy being held in Sydney in April 2011. I originally had another idea, but it involved a humorous jab at Steve Jobs and the Apple Distinguished Educator’s program, and with the recent news about Steve standing down as CEO of Apple due to ill health, I thought it would be in poor form. So, this is what I came up with instead.

I have no idea if it’s got any chance of helping me gain a guernsey to what I’m sure will be an outstanding day, but it was fun putting it together anyway. It was filmed in our brand new school library at Toorak College, and you’ll notice the lack of furniture in the background shots. Steve, a colleague from school, helped me with the filming, and we shared a few laughs as I made attempts to get my part down in one take. Hence the out-take at the end of the video! The click sound was added to Freesound by TicTacShutUp and is licensed under a Creative Commons Sampling Plus 1.0 License.

Chris Betcher, Tania Sheko and Phil Hogg are a few of the many teachers who have created really interesting videos in the hope of becoming a Google Certified Teacher. Take a look at their efforts. It’s the first time Google have offered this outside of the United States, and they are seeking applicants from a variety of nations – and applicants with international teaching experience. There are only 50 places – a fierce competition is no doubt unfolding amongst all those applications Google are receiving. I’ve just scraped in in terms of my application, as it closes on January 27th. Successful applicants will hear the good news towards the end of February.