Google Innovator: One Year On (or, It's My Innoversary!)

It's been just over a year since I returned home from Sydney and the SYD17 Google Innovator Cohort. In the past twelve months I have been working hard to implement the project that I planned, along with my team and my coaches. It has been a long journey, which by no means is over yet, and in writing this I'm feeling rejuvenated to continue with these innovative ideas and to start with some more.

Though this is a time for celebration and sharing, it's also a time to reflect upon the failures as well. Things have definitely not gone as I had planned in 2017, but that's alright. I've fallen a bit short of a few of my goals, but at the same time, I'm achieved more in some directions that I didn't even think I was going to even try. It's been a year of growth, but also a year of frustration. I'd argue that the growth would not occur were it not for the frustration (so bring on the frustration, I say!).

So what have I accomplished in 12 months? As you may recall, my original plan was to create a series of videos that would support learners and educators in both teaching coding as well as integrating that teaching throughout different subject areas (though I could have a long discussion about getting rid of subject areas altogether, but that's another post for another time). I wanted to give children and adults a chance to develop computational thinking without having to sacrifice anything else and without having to spend lots of money or time on PD that may or may not be helpful. I've written a few posts about this before so I won't go in depth with the why or the how, other than to say that I feel like my videos have done what I wanted them to do - as far as I can tell at least.

I was a bit disappointed about not getting as much feedback on these. I want to improve things, but it has been hard to get much in the way of what I could improve (beyond what I've thought of myself). So if you're reading this and want to help, that's one thing you could do - there are some feedback forms on the first few videos. The reach of the videos has been alright - my first two videos had 1200 and 700 approximate views as of this writing, though my 3rd and 4th were hovering around 150 while the fifth is still under 100. I also only made five videos, and had hoped I'd be up around 20 by now. Making videos takes a long time and I've had other things going on in the background this past year. That being said, I'm happy with what I've accomplished, but want to continue with these videos. I'm starting a 6th, but progress is slow. Here is the playlist of all five videos (and if you're reading this in the future, hopefully there are more than 5!):

If this were the only thing I did this past year, I'd probably feel a bit bittersweet about the whole thing. But it wasn't. I've also had two side projects on the go and one of them has probably outshone these videos (it certainly has got me WAY more views on my YouTube channel): Digital Breakouts.  What started as an activity at my school turned into me being known as the Digital Breakout guy in New Zealand. I've made 22 Digital Breakouts to this point with more in the pipeline. I'm pretty amazed by this. I've presented on this topic in three different countries and have gotten TONS of positive feedback with them - even though they do tend to be quite difficult. These breakouts have been a great way to connect with other educators (because making a breakout digitally is fairly straightforward and has been replicated by many). I feel like this is a great way to keep learner engagement and teach them skills that may not be assessed by any curriculum, but that will benefit them in the long run. This is definitely something I'm looking to continue, and I've already recruited at least one person to assist me in doing so. I can imagine this being a bit part of what I do going forward and it was originally a way for me to add a few views to my YouTube channel (though it probably contributes to close to 90% of the views I get).

Link

The third part of my project was actually started because I had seen one of my friend's projects (the amazing Mrs Priestley & her What's 'App'ening Newsletter) and because I wanted a way to try and get more people looking at my videos. I started a newsletter of my own called The Monthly Maker. I had a lot of things I'd like to share, so wanted to use this as a platform to do a few things, including, spotlighting Maker Spaces throughout New Zealand, sharing Design Thinking tips and some featured Digital Breakouts, as well as various other tips around Maker Education.

This has proven to be quite an undertaking. I first started making a video or post for each idea, and that took time. For the second issue I cut that back a bit, but was still swamped with things to do. My plan going forward is to recruit some other Kiwi educators to help me build a lasting publication. I have not been able to get issues out for June and July this year due to reports and being extremely busy with life and other such things. I am on track to finish the next issue soon though.

All in all, I'm pleased with how much I've managed to accomplish in 12 months. The upside to all of this is that I've come up with a few more great ideas that are worth working on. As I've mentioned in other posts, I feel energized to do more now that I am a part of the Innovator Community.  I'm looking forward to my next project and to continuing on the three that I've already started. Big things are happening and I owe a lot of that to the Innovator Program, so to those who do all the work behind the scenes, I say Thank You! Here's looking forward to what the next 12 months brings...

ISTE 2018 Takeaways

It's been over a month since ISTE 2018 ended and I left Chicago (and over two months since I posted here!) and I finally feel like I have been able to digest a small part of what happened there. For me, there were three major pillars to the value that ISTE provided. Every year I go, and this is my fourth year, I've enjoyed a big jump in my outlook, skills, abilities and connections, and this year was perhaps the biggest jump for me - though it's still quite a task to figure things. I'll do my best to simplify a complex few days. If I wrote everything that comes to mind, you'd be reading a novel, not a blog post.

He Tangata, He Tangata, He Tangata
There is a Māori saying, asking what the most important thing is and the answer is the people, not once, not twice, but three times. By far the most important part of ISTE is the people, and if it weren't for the people, there would be no point in me going.

One of the difficult things about being an educator and trying to do innovative things is that not everyone is on board. Many people don't have trust in you and often work against progress. It is at events such as ISTE where I find my tribe. These are the people that give me the energy to fight for what I believe is best for the learners in my care. These are the people that inspire me to be a better me. These are the people who make me question the things I do and the practices I preach. They give meaning not only to my career, but also to my life. The five days I spent at ISTE each year help me through the tough times in the other 360.

This was my first year at ISTE as an Innovator and I was lucky to connect with a group of other Innovators, especially the ones from Canada.

Oh Canada! Love the preparation for the final work of art. #GoogleEI pic.twitter.com/J2RUSNymVv

— Sandra Chow (@watnunu) June 24, 2018

This group of people were so inspiring to me and took me under their wing, making the week so much more special. I also had the opportunity to connect with some friends from NZ:

Representing @OrmPS and @OSC_Ormiston in Chicago #iste2018 @michaelteacher pic.twitter.com/Bsy55hKmHA

— Subash Chandar K (@elsubash) June 26, 2018

To make a long story short, I felt at home amongst the people in Chicago and that is so important when you're trying to do great things.

The New(ish) Tools
I've put tools in the middle of my three takeaways as it's probably the least important, but it's also the most practical. The two main themes I noticed this year througout the week were Geo Tools and AR and what better way to show them, but talking about Tour Creator, which is a combination of the two. If you've ever wanted to create your own Google Expedition, this is how you do it. It's super simple and in the week I had to try this with children, almost all of them completed a short tour and every child was super engaged - especially when we pulled out the Google Cardboard to have a look at them. There are loads of other Geo Tools that can be used (and I've seen them around for a while and every conference or summit always has a steady diet of session on the topic), including Tour Builder (not the same thing, though easily confused), MyMaps, Expeditions (now with AR!) and others.

The other tool that I saw a lot was VR, and specifically I looked at CoSpaces (and Merge Cube) a bit. It's quite easy to fall down a rabbit hole when you start looking at VR creation, so be careful. I also learned a little bit about Unity, which, when I tried it with year 5 and 6 children was a bit tricky - though the accessibility of tools like this is promising and is definitely something to think about if you've got older children.

One of the small things that I saw was that there is now a chrome extension that will allow you to add audio to Google Slides! It's aptly called Audio Player for Slides. Definitely worth checking it out if you've ever wanted to add audio to a slide deck.

I have also developed quite a nice appreciation for sketchnoting, especially after taking a quick lesson from a couple of my new Canadian friends. I'm not really one for taking notes, either written or sketched, but I personally find the sketches much easier to follow and more fun. So I'm going to do my best to get more people doing them so that I can have access to more sketch notes. I don't think its too difficult though. I just want to get a device that can do it all (it's funny the things you don't know about).

This is what @sylviaduckworth & @VirtualGiff showed me how to do! #GoogleEI #ISTE18 #ISTE2018 pic.twitter.com/rIJbBzyy2G

— Michael Davidson (@michaelteacher) June 23, 2018

Obviously there were more tools showcased (including a new Sphero, which I'm not sure if I'm even allowed to talk about here, but if you're going to get new Spheros, I'd wait a few months), but these were the biggest takeaways when it came to tools.

The Possibilities
ISTE fundamentally changed me this year. A byproduct of hanging out with a group of people who have done amazing things is that doing amazing things becomes the norm. When you hear people talk of writing their books, it becomes the normal thing to do. What I realized - and I mean really realized - is that there is practically no difference between myself and those people other than the fact that they've already done something really big.

How did this happen? Well, the Innovator program (and to a slightly lesser extent, the Trainer Program) has opened up many doors for me. I've probably been trying to go through more of them than I possibly could go through, but there was a convergence of a lot of these things at ISTE that made me feel empowered to do practically anything. The first was that I was given the opportunity to work at several booths in the Expo Hall and join in on other presentations. Spending time doing these things only helped further connections to others and plant a lot of seeds of ideas in my head. The Innovator Energizer, too was amazing. Just being in a room with so many inspiring people (and feeling Imposter Syndrome) was an amazing start, but then learning about Project Culture Shift (and joining in on the fun) was something else.

It was also a chance to start some conversations with people about collaborations, and things I've wanted to do for a while. But now those thing are starting to become a reality.

To put it simply: I've got plans. Lots of plans. Whether they come to fruition depends on how much time and effort I have and am willing to spend on them, and on getting others on board. Big things don't just happen on their own or by one person.

So here's to looking forward. Here's to new connections that haven't even been made yet. And here's to changing the world for better.

ISTE is an amazing experience for anyone, though I'm not sure if everyone takes advantage of its opportunities the way I have and will continue to do so. This is the start of something big. Watch this space for updates in the near and far future. But for now, my advice to anyone reading this: go to ISTE 2019. I'll see you there!

Official Launch of The Monthly Maker

It is with great pleasure and after lots of last minute scrambling that I'm able to announce the release the first issue of The Monthly Maker. Due to an issue with gmail, I've moved distribution over to Google Groups for some subscribers today. Everyone should have received an email so if you didn't please check your spam or junk folders. There may be some emails in the coming days to add the remainder of the emails to the group for distribution. Apologies while I sort out the technical details (though admittedly the timing was great as I was able to get help from an actual Googler!)

You can access the newsletter below by clicking HERE.

Anyone who would like to receive future issues, you can subscribe HERE.

Feedback is always welcome.

Enjoy!

Coding Across the Curriculum: Update 2

It's been a while since I've been able to update any progress on my Innovator Project, due to several events beyond my control, but over the last few weeks, I've been able to renew my focus on these parts of my life and make some fairly significant progress.

I think the timing of this can be quite helpful, because I know several NZ schools have not really been able to implement the new Digital Technologies Curriculum. The goal of this project is help educators implement computational thinking into their program, so there's no judgement here, just resources and assistance.

New Videos
I've managed to finish my third video for Coding Across the Curriculum and then start and complete the fourth. I've included the two here for anyone and everyone to try out themselves or with their learners. The first is focussed on making stories with Scratch and the second will help you learn how to make calculations - both simple and complex - using Scratch.

The actual process of making the videos is becoming easier with each time - though I'm still pretty nervous when filming and often trip over words - sorry about that.

Using the Videos

I've been able to do some real world testing with several of the videos I've made. With my Habitat of 89 learners, we've worked in pairs to make a quiz each. The children had a lot of fun doing this and were, for the most part, able to follow along with that video on their own. Several of the children added their own extras to the work they were doing, which was a nice added bonus. We were able to have some good conversations about coding - which was really the whole goal of the process. I even saw some children use a quiz in Scratch for their iExplore (basically Genius Hour) project. It was nice to see that in action. I did find that the Choose Your Own Adventure video was a bit harder for the children (aged 7-9) to understand, but many of them did get it.

So my recommendation to anyone out there: just give the videos to your students. Let them have a go. If you don't know how to code, do it alongside them. Start the conversation. It's not about being expert coders, but it is about being creative and solving real-world problems and learning how to think logically.

Or, as an educator, you could watch the videos and learn how to do the coding projects on your own and then teach them the way you want. They are meant to help you and help your learners develop this skill and way of thinking.

Where to Next

I'm not sure how many people will make it this far into the post, but I do have a few exciting things in the pipeline.

First off, there are more concrete plans for future videos. The next video will show how to make an interactive display (much like you would find in a museum) and future videos will deal with art, music, VR, spreadsheets and more. Now that I've found a rhythm in making these, the plan will be to have a new one every few weeks. At least that's the plan.

There are two more next steps that I am in various stages of implementing and a third one that will possibly be a bit further off.

The first new thing that I'd like to announce officially here (and announcements on Twitter and Facebook will follow in the coming days) is that there will be a MakerEdNZ newsletter. The current plan is to have a monthly, one page newsletter that will have links to various resources or videos. There will be a coding tie-in, which will highlight a specific coding block or command (and linked into a video which uses the same block or command), a link to a Digital Breakout and some links to ideas that can be used in the classroom. If you are interested in subscribing to this newsletter, please fill out the subscription form below. I expect the first issue to be ready to be emailed out in mid-April.

The second thing I'm starting to explore will be a coding contest. I'm likely to make this NZ-wide. I've still got to work out MANY details of this, but it is definitely in the pipeline and I would like to do this before the end of 2018. 

The third thing I'm looking at doing is to start some free meet-ups for educators who are interested in discussing or learning about coding. I want to focus on the other things at the moment, but am definitely open to anyone who is willing to help me run these. But this may be something that comes about in 2019. We shall see.

So that's where things stand at the moment. I'm pretty excited about all the ideas I've been getting the last little while and the fact that now I've got a resource of four videos (over an hour of content).

Have a look at the videos, and if you have feedback it will be greatly appreciated. If you like the videos, subscribe to the channel and use them with your learners. The support will help and it lets me know that they are being used.

Look forward to some new updates in the coming months and in the meantime SUBSCRIBE to the upcoming newsletter.

Coding Across the Curriculum: Update 1

Since I returned from Sydney in August, my work on my Innovator project has been somewhat uneven. I initially did a lot of planning but had lots of work at school to do. During the school holidays I got a good amount done, but have since slowed down. Still, I've managed to make some pretty good progress and follow some pretty interesting tangents to my project so I thought I would share my journey up to this point.

The Good News
I've managed to make two videos. To be honest I didn't think that I would be this far along at this point, so that's pretty good. Both videos were shot and edited during one week, so if given the time, I know that I can produce these at a fairly good rate.

I've also received mostly positive feedback from the educators that have used the videos, and many are looking for more. So that's also exciting. One of the bits of feedback I got was from Tim Bell, a Professor of Computer Science at the University of Canterbury who has been significantly involved in both CS Unplugged and the creation of the new Digital Technologies Curriculum here in New Zealand. I had also previously attended one of his workshops in Christchurch (CS4PS) that has been instrumental in my understanding of computational thinking. So that was a pretty big deal for me. His advice was extremely helpful and will hopefully be seen in some upcoming videos.

I've also had a chance to try out one of my videos with my own learners, which was part of the reason for picking that idea. The early responses were very positive. The children were able to complete the task, with very little extra input from me, which made it much easier for me to manage another group (see some comments below about that). The idea of teaching this way is probably something that is going to increase more and more in the future. It frees up educators to do what educators do best: guide children. It allows children to learn at their own pace. Some people may say that getting a robot to do an educators job will not be as good, but I say that they've made educators do robots' jobs for so long it's about time we did what we can do to be more impactful. I'm not saying videos should be used exclusively, but if a child can learn from a video of me doing something, that allows me to teach a lot more children and frees me up to support them in other ways rather than just content delivery.

Another thing that has come out of this is that I'm learning a lot more skills for producing videos. There has been a quick learning curve and I imagine that as time goes by I'll have to learn more out of necessity. Already I have been looking at ways to improve sound quality and I want to work on video quality as well (I'm not so sure filming with an iPad is the best way to go, so we'll see).

Overall I'm extremely please with the progress so far.

The Bad Stuff
One of my biggest frustrations at the moment is time. There is just not enough of it to do everything I want to do AND have a life outside of school. For various reasons, most of my out of school time has been focused on non-school activities - which is the way it should be, to be honest. That means though, that I have been much slower at putting the videos out that I thought I could be after making the first two. My plan was actually to have three done before school had started this term because I was teaching both ideas and it would have allowed me to see how two different videos would work in a classroom setting. That being said, it's probably best not to pressure myself too much, as I've also managed to create some other things on the side, due to the skills I've learned making these videos.

The Interesting Tangents
At least two other projects have come out of this journey so far, and I'm planning a few more as well.  The first one (which I've actually written about already) was the digital breakouts I've been making. The second, which may actually have the potential to be more impactful on education than either of the others is that I've started making a series of videos to show a variety of math strategies. It was a convergence of a lot of things all at the right time that got me started on this and when I shared the first 8 videos (they're a lot quicker to make) the response was more positive than any of the other resources. But these resources will be shared in more depth in a further blog post.

Other things that have been happening as a result of this is that I'm getting contacted by more and more outside agencies and people (which reminds me I need to get back to them). This is certainly an area that I'm looking towards developing as my focus is shifting from my own classroom to a larger scale (potentially global at this point).

Where to Next
For my project, my future plans are to continue to make the videos. My next one (which I've got the script half finished) will be on making stories with Scratch, while the fourth will shift gears a bit and focus on debugging (which has come out of some discussions with others about the new curriculum). Beyond that we'll see. Hopefully that can be completed before the end of the school year (December) and I can use the holidays to make a few more. Ideally this will be alongside more breakouts and maths videos.

I also want to start looking at Phase Two of the project: starting meetups for educators who want some support or who want to share. In the coming weeks I will put some feelers out through Twitter and Facebook to see who is interested and will hopefully be able to plan something for late January or February next year. I'm getting a bit excited about this as bringing more people on board might make this project take off a bit more.

I've got to remember that things start slowly. If I only have two videos it's not as useful as if I have a whole collection. Once things are made it will be a bit easier to have an impact, but like I mentioned above, it's all about finding the time.

I'm going to leave you with the two videos I've produced so far. Feel free to share them and use them as much as you'd like. I always appreciate feedback on what I've done so that I can improve what I'm making. Subscribing to the MakerEdNZ YouTube Channel would also be greatly appreciated and make sure you got emailed about new videos.

Fourth Time's a Charm, or I'm a Google Certified Innovator

Three times before I have applied for the Google Innovator Academy and three times I have received the rejection email with varying degrees of dismay. But each time I refused to give up, knowing that if I kept at it, I would be selected. That being said, I was still quite nervous for this current round, since it was in my part of the world.

I was not to be dismayed this time. While on vacation in New York City, I had a flurry of activity on my phone, which all indicated that I had been accepted. I was extremely busy at the time so it took a while for everything to sink it. After my holiday, I came back to a very busy school term, so was also quite rushed for time.  That being said, I still managed to get everything done in time for the academy, which was probably one of the best experiences I've ever had.

If I had to choose what my favourite part of the two and a half days, I'd have a real problem. Pretty much all of it was incredible. The best I can do is point out two aspects of the academy that will likely be instrumental in going forward: The connections with other innovative educators around the globe and the design thinking process.

With me at the academy were 36 other educators, and many coaches and other EdTech experts. My close team, the Lucky Unkos made immediate and strong bonds with each other, and functioned not only as a well-oiled machine in all the activities we did, but also ended up winning quite a few things (or coming close seconds). By going through the process together, we formed something of a family group together and will now have each other to lean on through difficult times. One of my good online (and in person) colleagues was actually placed in this group, so it was nice to have that, but it was also nice to work closely with others in this capacity.

The whole point of the academy was to help each of us work on an identified problem in education and to develop a solution to it through the design process. Though I had had some experience with this, clearly I didn't know enough, because over the 2 and a half days I was immersed into the world of design thinking in a way that I could never have imagined. We started from the beginning by looking at all of the reasons why the problem exists and then examining the person (or people) to whom our solution is directed at. We spent lots of time slowly developing our ideas and giving each other feedback. Eventually we all developed a prototype of what our solution will be.

This process was absolutely amazing and I've already brought in many of the ideas into my practice. In our iExplore block, I've taken four of my groups and run through a watered down (but still pretty robust) version of this with the projects they had been working on.  Already the results have been pretty positive with all four groups working on some pretty interesting solutions (so watch this space in the coming weeks when I'll have time to share what they did in more depth).

My actual project is based on helping educators integrate coding into the curriculum. Here in New Zealand, computational thinking is meant to be part of the curriculum next year. Before the academy I did a survey and found that many educators were not teaching it (about 50%) and those that were had had very little training or support. So I wanted to change that. After the whole process at the academy, I decided on making a storyboard of a video for my prototype. I'm currently in the process of turning that storyboard into a script which will then be filmed. It has been a busy few weeks since I came back (mostly taken up with ERO and some big personal things), so I'm hopefully going to find some time in the coming week to work on it. At any rate, I was matched with my mentor today, so that's another great step in this whole process. I look forward to sharing with everyone how this project is going in the future!

The Case for MakerEdNZ

Since going to ISTE this year, it has become apparent that there is a gap in New Zealand education, at least from my perspective. That gap is makerspaces. Now, I know some of you will be reading this saying: "What are you going on about? I've got an awesome makerspace in my school! You don't know what you're talking about." And yes, you'd probably be right, I DON'T know what I'm talking about. Yes, there are lots of great and amazing makerspaces in New Zealand. However, when I asked the NZ Teachers (Primary) Facebook group about makerspaces, only 43% of the teachers had even HEARD of them and only 11% had one in their school. So I say to you people who have the makerspaces: "How can you help the rest of us?" (note: I'm actually in the 11%, so the question should be: "How can we help each other?")

Instead of getting worked up about it and saying that either: a) it's not fair, I want some cool stuff, or b) what's the point, someone else will fix it, I've decided to do something about it. And thus: MakerEdNZ was born. What is it, you ask? I'm not entirely sure. It's just an idea right now (ok, well actually, it's more than just an idea - but more on that later). But the idea is that we (the keen makers out there, those with makerspaces, and those who just want to bring them to NZ schools) can work together, share what is working for us and get those makerspaces into every New Zealand school. Ambitious? Check.

How this plays out is anyone's guess right now, but I believe that there is the desire to make this change, and that desire will increase as more and more teachers, schools and BOTs see what can happen in a makerspace and the real, authentic learning it can create.

I am currently in the process of applying to two separate programs to help me along in this journey. After being unsuccessful in my first application to the Google for Education Innovator Academy, I was speaking to an Innovator friend of mine about this very idea and it was suggested that this be the project I use in my application. And that's when things got real. When I started thinking about MakerEdNZ in those terms, I got a little more into it and have started work on a variety of angles of it (sneak peek: there's a website in the works, videos being planned, as well as twitter chats and many other ways of sharing) and have started thinking of it on a grander scale. I've literally just sent my application in for that. I'll know in a week (and so will you) whether or not I'll get the support of the amazing innovators at Google to help realize this vision of mine.

The second application I am working on (though mostly completed) is for the CORE education efellows. This will allow me to undertake some action research which will help me make the case for Makerspaces in New Zealand schools (something that would be amazingly helpful in convincing schools and BOTs to help find the space and resources for makerspaces). That application is due next week.

Whether or not I get into both or neither of these amazing programs, this initiative is going ahead full steam (But if you're reading this at Google or CORE right now, don't think that I don't want your help. I think being supported by both of you would really make this idea fly).  So if you're reading this thinking "I'd love to help, but I don't know how I can" leave a message on this post, follow me on twitter (@michaelteacher, @MakerEdNZ or our hashtag #MakerEdNZ), or get ahold of me in another way. We need knowledge, skills and experience, but more importantly we need people who want to make a change and be a part of something amazing. We'll work on the knowledge, skills and experience together. 

So why do this? What's the point of makerspaces. New Zealand education is fine you say. I have to disagree. Not to be disrespectful, but in my experience, way too many students have become disengaged with their education, right from the beginning. The looks on their faces when they are forced to sit still and listen is painful to me as a teacher (and yes, I know this is not the case everywhere, but it is in a lot of places). The lack of a chance for students to be creative and to make things is scary. Busy work and worksheets reign supreme in some schools and many students are left feeling like school is a prison, waiting excitedly for the end of the day and the weekends. Incidentally, as my students have been given more opportunities to make and create, the "Is it lunch yet?" questions have since been replaced with me trying to kick my students out of the classroom at playtimes. Is this not what we should all aspire to: students who actually want to be in school. 

It is absolutely imperative in 2016 that we listen to the voices of our students. What do they want to learn? What skills do they want to try? We need to provide opportunities for students to learn a variety of skills (or just learn how to learn new skills) and expose them to technologies - old and new - that they wouldn't normally get exposed to. We can do better for our students. Would we want to be a student in our own classrooms?

MakerEdNZ has the practical goal of making makerspaces available to all New Zealand students, but the aspirational goal of making every student wake up in the morning and want to go to school to work on their projects. 

In writing this, I've also come up with a great new slogan for MakerEdNZ:

MakerEdNZ. Making students want to stay in class during play time, since 2016

On Not Being Selected...

For a while now, I've been wanting to find a way to get to the Google Innovator Academy. A few years ago, a colleague of mine was selected to be a part of one of the cohorts in Sydney. I was intrigued about the whole thing and over time I got into the mindset that I wanted to be an Innovator (since I feel like an innovator anyway). I did my Google Level 1 and 2 certifications and waited. I tried new things, and continue to try new things. I'm not satisfied when anyone tells me: "This is the best way to do it." I believe we live in a constantly changing world, which requires constantly changing attitudes and ideas.

I didn't apply for the first academy (in California, in February) because I was just starting at a new school (though in retrospect, perhaps the experience would have helped), but when the second one was announced for Colorado at the end of ISTE 2016 (where I am presenting) I thought, why not? I almost didn't apply and left the actual application until the last weekend.

I didn't really think much of my chances, since there would likely be a lot of applicants (apparently there were 900 videos on YouTube) and lots of people who, like me, had been waiting for a long while for this.

So it wasn't a massive surprise when I woke up this morning to find that I had indeed, not been selected. Looking at the map of selected individuals, I'm not really that dismayed. There were only four people selected outside of North America. I'm glad that I at least tried. Seeing some reactions of the people selected on twitter, did make me feel better (it's hard not to be disappointed when you put yourself out there and are rejected). At least two tweeters referenced the fact that they had gotten in on their third application. AND there will be another academy announced in July.

On one hand, I can look at this rejection as a good thing. It gives me time to innovate more in my class (directives from above notwithstanding), it gives me more time to work out what I actually want to change and accomplish (admittedly, it's still pretty rough, and maybe not the most clear vision at the moment), but it also (and, yes, this is important) allows me to take a little break after ISTE on my way back to New Zealand - I don't have to cancel my mini 2 day/1 night vacation in San Francisco. So lots of positives.

It does sting a bit, because I was in the need of a pick-me-up at the moment, but at least I know and I have 35 successful videos and projects that I can check. It gives me time to improve. If I would hazard a bet, I'd say I was in the younger range of applicants, so there is time.

What this rejection will NOT do is stop me from wanting to change. My efforts have been cast in doubt lately (and this has lead to a lot of self doubt), but at the end of the day, I am doing all of this for my students and to give them an opportunity to control their destinies.

This tweet was particularly relevant to me today:

New #GoogleEI? It means nothing if you don't make your world better.

Didn't get accepted? It means nothing if you make your world better.

— John Stevens (@Jstevens009) May 20, 2016

Find my slide deck and video below. I'm open to any constructive criticism (though I have my own thoughts about what I need to fix) to help me get there next time.

So here's to second chances and that the next academy will be a bit closer to New Zealand (Sydney anyone?)