The Google Innovator Academy #SWE17

Since last Saturday (30 September), I have been in Stockholm, Sweden. Right now, as I write this, I sit in the London airport, on the last leg of my journey, still trying to absorb all I have done and learned over the past week. The reason for this trip is do something I've been wanting to do for a long time- attend a Google Innovator Academy. I arrived in Stockholm a little early so I could do some sightseeing before the academy.

Before the Academy
Google did an excellent job of building community among our cohort before we even arrived. You can meet all the folks in my cohort and see their projects here. We'd been chatting together for nearly a month on our cohort's Google hangout, so when everyone began to arrive Tuesday night, several of us met for dinner at a restaurant called the Hairy Pig.

The next morning, before we went to Google to begin our big adventure, most of the cohort also met at a local cafe for Fika.

I felt like I already knew many of these folks before we ever met, but the few days that we spent at the academy only strengthened those bonds. I know these folks 100% have my back with getting my project off the ground, and I have their backs too. It's unbelievable how much I miss these folks right now! #SWE17 forever!

My Cohort
We were told that our cohort is the most diverse cohort of the Google Innovator program to date. 37 of us represented 19 different countries. What an amazing, passionate, and talented group of educators!

Such an amazing group of folks!

Jazz Hands!

The Adventure Begins
Finally, around 3pm Stockholm time on Wednesday, the real adventure began when we entered the Google building for the first time.

As we arrived, they greeted us and gave us the badges we'd need to move about the building while we're here.

One of the first activities they had us do after arrival was work together to do a BreakoutEdu activity. The team I was on broke out with 1:44 seconds remaining on the clock. Whew!

Later, they split us up into smaller teams and assigned each team a coach to support us as we worked through the innovation process during the academy. We were to choose a team name, a team cheer and a team song. Our team chose the name "Frozen Hairy Pigs" because several of us went to the ice bar as well as a restaurant called Hairy Pig earlier in the week. Here's my amazing team, with our coach, Thomas.

From left to right: Laurah J., Matt, Emma, Thomas, Carsten, Stanislava, Mark

Working Hard
Throughout the week we worked hard to hone our projects, working through the design-thinking process step-by-step so that we would be ready to take the first steps to iteration when we returned.

Working with my fist-bump buddy, Nadjib

Getting feedback on our projects from our cohort colleagues

Learning the design process with my high-five buddy Isabel

Playing Hard
We also had lots of fun together with our cohort- both at Google and in the evenings. Also, Google fed us amazingly well (I think I got spoiled)!

Manuel and Mel during Partner Yoga

Innovator cupcakes!

Quin and Mark watch the magician one night during dinner

An amazing Googley breakfast!

Photobomb by Mason

An after-academy visit to the Ice Bar

My Project
My project is The #ELLEdTech project, and is all about partnering with businesses and the community to put technology in the hands of our ELLs and ESOL teachers, providing training for ESOL teachers on how to use educational technology to support language growth, and working toward changing the existing culture in schools surrounding ELLs, ESOL teachers and ESOL education. Though my project has pivoted a bit since inception, you can see my original project video below that was submitted as part of my application.

Graduation 

After a week of powerful learning, community building, and the most fun I've ever had during professional development, we graduated and officially became Google Innovators. 

This is going in a frame!

Celebrating after graduation!

If you've been considering applying for the Google Innovator program, I highly recommend it. I would say it was, without a doubt, one of the best experiences of my life. As sad as I am to leave (I miss my cohort buddies already!), I can't wait to dive into my project and start working to make it a reality. I'll keep you up-to-date on my project over the next year (and beyond), so stay tuned!

Preparing for the Google Innovator Academy! #SWE17

Ten days ago, I received one of the most exciting emails of my life!

This is the second time I've applied to the Google Education Innovator Program- my first application for #LON17 was unsuccessful. So, I was THRILLED and SPEECHLESS when I read the subject line. I couldn't wait to dive in and learn as much as possible about what's in store for me in October at #SWE17. Ironically enough, I was in the process of making Swedish meatballs for dinner when the email came.

Above all, I'm humbled and honored to join this elite community of educators! If you're interested in seeing my application, check out my vision video and my vision deck.

The Innovator Program already had several avenues of communication set up for our group- a Google Hangout, a Google Group, and a Google Classroom. Most of us jumped right in on the Hangout and haven't stopped talking since- we're talking travel plans, rooming together for the academy, what we need to bring and more! The Innovator Program also put together a Hangout On Air so we could introduce ourselves in real time. I can't wait to meet the rest of the #SWE17 Cohort in person!

Then, a few nights ago, we each got a mysterious email containing a game piece.

Game on, indeed! When you have 36 people on six different continents, each with a different piece of the puzzle, it really takes some collaboration. Very quickly, collaborative documents were put together and shared. One, a Google Doc with a table where everyone could list their name and insert an image of their card. Another was a Google Slides document with an interactive chess board. Each of us attacked this great puzzle in our own way, but working in a collaborative document we were able to see what everyone was doing. We were able to ask questions and discuss our lines of thought.

It took us about 24 hours, and we were able to complete the puzzle, even without having all the pieces. What we ended up with was a URL and a password that led to......

ANOTHER CLUE. That one didn't take us nearly as long to figure out, and in short order, we gained entry to our pre-Academy assignment, which involves these fun Breakout Boxes from BreakoutEdu. I haven't gotten mine yet, but another person in the cohort shared a picture of his:

I can't wait to get mine so I can start working on my assignment for the academy! I also can't wait to start seeing how I can use the Breakout Box for some fun Professional Development activities!

I also really love how Google is already engaging us in the 4 Cs- communicate, collaborate, think critically, and create- before we even step foot in the Stockholm office. It's already building a sense of community and "team" and even familiarity among those of us in our Cohort, so we can hopefully dive right in to the really important work of learning when we arrive.

Anyway, if you're interested in learning more about the Google Education Innovator Program and following my adventure, keep an eye here for more posts!