On January 29, 2024, I had the privilege of presenting two different courses in Orange County for Saddleback Valley Unified School District’s inaugural Classified Professional Development Academy. These PD courses were open to all classified employees that did not have other required trainings scheduled (instructional assistants and bilingual school liaisons had targeted trainings for the first couple sessions). The attendees included elementary, intermediate and high school office managers, clerks, secretaries, instructional assistants, District Office clerical staff, and outreach liaisons.
My courses were on Google Suite and Microsoft Suite.
For Google Suite I started with an overview of what’s included and what you can accomplish through your Google Drive. We reviewed the basics of viewing and organizing files in your Drive, how to share files and set specific shared settings, and some highlights for each application in Google Suite (Docs, Sheets, and Forms). I’m a huge fan of Google Forms, so we spent some time reviewing how these can be used in clerical positions, and how to utilize the responses in Google Sheets.
For Microsoft Suite, I went over what are some generally tricky areas in Word and Excel. This was meant to be an advanced course since most people in these positions already have a basic understanding of the programs. For Word, I focused on formatting and inserting images, text boxes, word art, and the show stopper was creating a Table of Contents that will update page numbers automatically (I wish I had recorded those expressions!). For Excel, we reviewed how to use formulas, shortcut commands, and how to utilize Excel for tracking tasks and projects.
I also included what I’m labeling my “soapbox” topics: how to label your electronic files to keep them organized and easy to find, and using headers and logos on your documents to make them look more professional.
I believe everyone walked away learning something new that they’ll be able to utilize in their positions to save time or streamline a task. Mission: accomplished!
The Admin Specialist 