MentorMeEdu

Where do I even begin?  😀

When I applied for the Los Angeles cohort of the Google Innovator program earlier this year, the problem in education that I identified as being passionate about solving was that of new teacher attrition.  After going though the design thinking process at the academy, I decided that I was going to work on this issue from the angle of a virtual mentoring program.

This is definitely a passion project of mine!  I don't get paid for this.  I just want to make a difference!  I am soooooo passionate about helping new teachers remain in the teaching profession and I truly believe that having a virtual mentor, someone that is non biased, not in the same school or district, is a VALUABLE resource for new teachers!  When I was a new teacher, I had a mentor in my school (that didn't REALLY mentor me) and I had a mentor at the district who was awesome.  Along the way of my educational career, I've gained a TON more mentors that have assisted me and guided me.  As a new teacher, having an innovative, seasoned, passionate mentor in my corner would have been priceless!  I STRIVE to make this a reality for new teachers so they NEVER consider leaving the teaching profession.  So that they won't get burned out.  So that they will ALWAYS remember their calling to teach and to make a difference in the lives of the students that they have the pleasure of interacting with each and every day!

Fast forward!!!  I have been assigned an AMAZING mentor, Quin Henderson (@qhenderson) who is also a Google Innovator and is seeking to solve teacher attrition through a different means.  Quin has created EdTrex that seeks to keep educators passionate about teaching so they don't leave through creating meaningful experiences!  Check out more about this awesomeness here:  https://edtrex.net/

After bouncing ideas off of him, continuous brainstorming and a LOT of research, I have been able to accomplish a lot of things!  In an attempt to toot my own horn, be my own cheerleader, and take a look at the progress that I've made, here is what I've done since leaving the academy in July:

• Launched MentorMeEdu!!!
• Created a twitter handle. @mentormeedu
• Created a website. www.mentormeedu.org
• Created interest videos and put them out into the world!
• Successfully recruited a pool of 30 PHENOMENAL mentors ready to serve new teachers.  I mean seriously....if you saw some of the names on this list, you'd be blown away!  I am so blessed that so many of you believe in this passion project of mine!  Eeeeekkkk!!!!  With this, with you believing in me and this work, I KNOW that I have to be successful in making it happen!
• Started the matching process of new teachers to virtual mentors.
• Have started creating the monthly focus/monthly curriculum that new teachers and mentors will use as a guide for their monthly meetings.
• Set up a MentorMeEdu Slack account to continue to engage both new teachers and virtual mentors.
• Reached out to various new teacher organizations in an effort to recruit new teachers to become a part of MentorMeEdu.

The one area that I am needing to grow is in building the pool of new teachers interested in receiving a virtual mentor.  I believe that there is not only power in celebrating the successes of what I've been able to accomplish, but that I also need to be transparent and vulnerable about where my areas of opportunity are as well.  

So what do I want to continue to accomplish?  By putting this out there, into the world, I am going to be held accountable to make sure these things happen!  Before the end of the 2018-2019 school year, I want to do the following:

• Start a MentorMeEdu podcast where I interact with new teachers and veteran teachers/teacher mentors about their successes and failures along the way.
• Successfully recruit, match and engage with at least 30 new teacher/virtual mentor pairs.
• Continue to tweet consistently and build social media presence about this passion of mine.
• Present somewhere all about my journey of creating MentorMeEdu and it's impact on new teachers and virtual mentors.  

I am so excited about the future of MentorMeEdu and it's impact that I KNOW it will have on both new teachers and virtual mentors.  I am still working and making changes so that it becomes a valuable tool for all of those that join the MentorMeEdu family!  

How can you help?  I'm glad you asked!  Here you go!

• Follow us on Twitter @MentorMeEdu and retweet the tweets!
• Share MentorMeEdu with new teachers interested in receiving a virtual mentor!
• If you're a veteran teacher, become a virtual mentor!
• Spread the word!
• Send me ideas of how to grow MentorMeEdu!

Thanks so much for allowing me to be vulnerable about this journey.  Thanks for celebrating my tiny successes with me.  Thanks for any and all suggestions/help/good vibes that you send my way!  I LOVE my PLN and know that I couldn't do this without you support and guidance along the way.  For that I thank you!

90 days left in 2018....

This post is a little professional and a little personal.  Right around this time of year, I think a lot of us begin to reflect on the resolutions that we made on January 1 and examine how much progress we've made towards accomplishing them so far, along with figuring out how much we can realistically get accomplished before the end of the year. I am no exception to this!

Rachel Hollis, author of "Girl, Wash Your Face" (which, if you haven't read, you need to) has started a 90 day challenge to pick people up for these last 90 days of the year, refocus their intention, and push them towards accomplishing those goals that they set out to accomplish at the beginning of the year!  I signed up for it, because, well,  I LOVE a challenge. It began today!!  She challenges members of this challenge to what she calls, "5 to thrive!" I already know that my challenges will be #1 and #2.  I'm going to work at it though!

Every week of the challenge for the rest of the year, she will be sending out an email to those that signed up for the challenge and each of these emails will contain a powerful quote to focus on for the week.  Here's what got us started today:

Reading Rachel's words in the email that I received this morning, really made me reflect on what I set out to do this year.  At the beginning of the year, I wrote a blog post about my goals for the new year.  Read all about it HERE!  Below are the goals that I wanted to accomplish both personally and professionally.  My responses to their progress are in red.

Professionally, I wanted to accomplish:

• Launching the first Google Bootcamp in our District!  Check!  I did this!  Since then, several of my colleagues have started Google Bootcamps are their schools, with their teachers!  We've see a LOT of success from this effort!
• Creating a district wide instructional technology podcast.  I totally forgot about this one!  I'll definitely be moving this goal to 2019!  It's been SUPER busy!
• Creating a cohort of edtech superhero educators!!!  This tells me that I need to be more specific with my goals!  While I definitely believe that I've had an impact on numerous educators this year, I don't know that I'd call them a "cohort."  I take this as a lesson learned to be more specific!
• Launching the next phase of Tablet2Read.  Our district is currently working on this as we speak.  We may be moving this to 2019 but we'll see!
• Launching the second year of our Central Office Tech and Talk Series.  This one is in the works!

Personally, I wanted to accomplish:

• Continue growing my PLN on Twitter, learning from amazing ed tech educators! Check!
• Continue blogging, more often.  Check!
• Spotlight Speak with EdTechTeam. Check!  This has been the highlight of my year!  The opportunities that have come as a result of this have been incredible!  I've been able to meet AMAZING educators from all across the world and make a true difference!  
• Deliver at least ONE keynote this year.  Check!  I've actually delivered several!  It gets better and better each and every time that I deliver it.  It's been a true pleasure to deliver my message of the importance of finding your why and living with intention to educators all across the nation!
• Sign up for and take Classy Videos by Tony Vincent.  Check!  I did indeed take Tony's course and would DEFINITELY recommend it to others!  I LOVE that the course is still available for me to access.  I've gone back to the videos numerous times to refresh my mind with the content that he shared.  
• Renew my Google Certified Trainer status.  Check!  
• Renew my Microsoft Innovative Educator and Surface Expert status.  Check!  
• Apply for the Google Innovator program.  Check!  I applied annnnnnnd....I got in!!!  CRAZY!!!  Little ole me got in!!  I spend time in Los Angeles with 37 other edtech educators from around the United States (and Canada) learning all about the Design Thinking Process as well as brainstorming a solution to my Google Innovator Project.  More about this in the next blog, but check out www.MentorMeEdu.org for more information in the meantime!
• Being active with the second cohort of Our Voice Academy.  In process!
• FINISH MY DISSERTATION and FINALLY become Dr. Natasha Rachell!!!!  ALMOST!!!
• Attend ISTE.  Check!  
• Get healthier: eat better, exercise, drink more water, meditate.  Hmmmm...eat better, yes.  Exercise, nope!  Drink more water, at times!  Meditate, not as much as I'd like.
• Continue on my spiritual journey.  Always a work in progress!
• More to come..... There has been a LOT more and I'll blog all about this at the end of the year!

I was really dreaming big at the beginning of the year!  It's refreshing to know that I've made progress on ALMOST all of the goals that I set for myself.  With only 90 days left in the year 2018, I will definitely continue to work hard so that when I recap at the end of the year and begin to set my intention for 2019, I can cross all (hopefully) these off of the list!  It's not too late to continue working on these goals and even making a few more that I'll be able to achieve before the end of the year!

How about you, where are you with your 2018 goals?  You've got 90 days to make magic happen!

Remind is #MoreThanAMessage !

Ya'll....we need to talk!  If you know me, you know that I am all about passion for education and for engaging all stakeholders in the power of education!  Remind has launched a brand new campaign called #MoreThanAMessage!  If you have used Remind at any time in your life, whether as a parent or a teacher, you know and believe in the power of Remind as just that....more than a message!

With one of the Remind founders,
Brett Kopt at ISTE 2014!

I've been a user of Remind since back in the day when it was called Remind101.  Admittedly, when I speak about Remind, I STILL sometimes refer to it as Remind101!  I'm working on it!  I have had the pleasure of meeting the amazing brains behind this phenomenal tool at ISTE years ago!  Here we are back in 2014!

Schools across the world have so much on their plates with creating curriculum, creating safe environments that students can thrive in, creating school culture and climate and everything else that goes along with running a school!  The one thing that is sometimes hard to master and implement well is engaging families in a meaningful and measurable way.  Well, Remind has sought to create a tool that addresses just this!  The entire purpose of Remind is simple and can be put into two words....FAMILY ENGAGEMENT! When families are engaged in their student's learning, students feel valued.  They feel appreciated.  They feel important.  And most of all, they feel like they matter.  We know that students are more successful when they have parents that are engaged in their lives and in their education.

Schools have typically relied on emails, Robo calls and letters sent home to parents to communicate.  This one way communication is just that, ONE WAY!  How do we know that parents are reading the emails and notes sent home or simply pressing the "#" button to note that they've received the Robo call?  Remind creates a 2 way communication between schools and families, creating meaning and engagement behind every message and piece of content delivered.  The simplest message sent to a parent about their child's education can make the BIGGEST difference!  Students and their families begin to become invested in the same goals.

To learn more about Remind and the #MoreThanAMessage mission, immerse yourself in all of the information goodness HERE!

Besides all of the awesomeness of Remind, being able able to appeal to parents and students that speak another primary language is another way that Remind bridges the gap in communication.  As it's stated in the video above, "When you are able to help a parent, you are helping a child!"  Remind makes that a seamless process!

The vision and values of Remind speak volumes to who they are as a company and to what they strive to do each and every day for teachers, students and families all across the world.

Have you used Remind before?  What's your Remind success story?  Who have you impacted through using this amazing educational tool?

What I did this summer...

As the school year begins, and you run into colleagues and friends that you haven't seen all summer, the same question seems to pop up..."What did you do this summer?"

I can truly say that this was the most busy, professional growth, fulfilling summers that I've had in a VERY long time and I LOVED every second of it!!!

The summer began with me attending ISTE in Chicago.  Read all about my experience in Chicago here:  http://natasharachell.blogspot.com/2018/06/iste-2018thats-wrap.html
Meeting so many new edtech friends, learning about all kinds of new edtech possibilities for the classroom and catching up with old (in time, not age, lol) friends was amazing!  I always look forward to attending this conference as it's the largest edtech conference in the world and brings together passionate, innovative educators from all over the world!  This year didn't disappoint!

The week after ISTE, my family and I attended our annual family vacation to Myrtle Beach!  We had an amazing time, as always and got to spend some quality time with each other before the hustle and bustle of the new school year starting, my oldest returning to his senior year of college and my youngest starting high school!  CRAZY!!!  We enjoyed a lot of beach and pool time as well as ate a TON of food!  I even read 2 books!  That felt GOOD!  I haven't done that in a VERY long time!!!  I read, "Girl, Wash Your Face" by Rachel Hollis and "The Morning Miracle" by Hal Elrod.  Both are HIGHLY recommended!!!

The week after family vacation was spent in Los Angeles, CA, as I was selected as 1 out of 37 Google Certified Innovators!!!!  What an honor to receive such an elite certification!!!  Read all about my Google Innovator #LAX18 journey here:  http://natasharachell.blogspot.com/2018/07/im-google-innovator.html  This post does NOT do this experience justice!!!  Going into this experience, we had to identify a problem in education that we are passionate about.  In alignment with my dissertation research, I chose the topic of teacher attrition among new teachers.  Research shows that a lot of new teachers experience burn out and leave the teaching profession within their first 3-5 years of teaching, leaving classrooms and students without a highly qualified teacher.  I am very passionate about this topic, probably due to a previous job that I had that allowed me to work with paraprofessionals transitioning into teaching careers as middle school math and science teachers.  I can't wait to see where the next year of this journey will take my idea and I hope it makes a positive impact on retaining teachers to the teaching profession!

My friend's (@MariVenturino) book, Fueled By Coffee and Love, The Refill was released and I was honored to be able to be a contributing author!  This book is filled with the stories of teachers from all across the nation.  All proceeds of this project are returned right back into education!  Mari takes the profits from each sale and donates them to projects in Donor's Choose!  She's so generous!!!  And this truly is a labor of love for Mari!  Be sure to grab your copy, at only $13.00 on Amazon!

And then I got to spend some time with teachers all across the south east and share my passion and knowledge of Google with them!  Not only did I get to share my knowledge of this amazing educational resource, but I learned a LOT from those that I was with!  I met educators from North Carolina, Augusta, and Lagrange!  I expanded my professional learning network a TON and can't wait to share all that I've learned with my colleagues, teachers and students this year!

I was also fortunate enough to virtually be a part of Flipgrid LIVE where they announced a TON of updates to their already amazing product!!!  And in case you haven't heard...Flipgrid is now FREE for all students and educators!  They were acquired by Microsoft this summer and now all us have access to all of this powerful, student amplifying tool!  I was also a part of a "student voice matters" video that played during the event with several other amazing educators!  Lastly, as if that weren't enough (LOL) I was a part of the Flipgrid #GridGuides inaugural cohort!!!  There were about 20 educators that were selected to complete the requirements for the #GridGuides (Level 3) certification so it could be announced during Flipgrid LIVE!  What a HUGE honor!

Here's a look at my summer by the numbers!  Some other amazing things happened this summer and are mentioned in this graphic!  I found this template on Ryan O'Donnell's website: http://creativeedtech.weebly.com/  He has a TON of educational resources and templates ready for educator use.  Be sure to check it out!

What did you do this summer?  Did you learn anything new?  Take up any new hobbies?  Let me know!

Why are you waiting to catch #FlipgridFever ???

Hi there!  For those of you that I haven't had the opportunity to meet yet, whether virtually or in person, my name is Natasha Rachell.  I'm a Digital Learning Specialist in Atlanta Public Schools.  That's a fancy way of saying that I work with the science content coordinator to ensure that technology is integrated into the curriculum.  I also spearhead a few other projects in our district such as Facebook in the Workplace, Tablet2Read (a literacy initiative), and our Google Apps for Education implementation, to name a few!  I am EXTREMELY active on Twitter so hop on over there and give me a follow @apsitnatasha !  Our district is a dual Google/Microsoft district so we have to be fluent in both Suites.  Through learning all about those tools, I have been fortunate enough to earn my Google Certified Trainer and Innovator Certification as well as my Microsoft in Education Expert Certification!  You can see other certifications that I've earned on the right toolbar of this blog.  I am SUPER EXCITED that most recently, I have earned my Flipgrid GridGuides (Level 3) Certification!!!!  It's rolling out to the masses at Flipgrid LIVE on August 1, 2018, so be sure to tune in!!!  Here's the link:  https://flipgridlivestream.splashthat.com/ . It's sure to be a treat!  I personally know all of the crazy kids that run Flipgrid and work in the office up in Minnesota and let me tell you....they are an enthusiastic, loving, hugging, upbeat, positive, and motivating force that are sure to bring some EXCITING STUDENT AMPLIFYING GOODNESS to all of us on August 1!  I mean....look at em....LOL

Today's post is going to focus on the basics and some resources that are available to get the ball rolling with Flipgrid in your schools and classrooms!  So, let's dive in!!!


If you haven't heard about the AMAZING news yet, where have you been???  Flipgrid is NOW FREE for ALLLLLL educators!!!!!  YES!!!  That means that you have FULL access to the ENTIRE Flipgrid suite for you and your students!!!

I am a Flipgrid Certified Ambassador and have LOVED this phenomenal tool since the first time I tried it over 5 years ago!  For those of you that have never heard of Flipgrid, allow me to break it down for you!

Flipgrid is a tool that allows students to amplify their voices.  It give all of your students the chance to record their own video responses to a prompt that you post.  There are a TON of ways that you can get involved and dive deeper into Flipgrid. Here are some resources for you below!

Awesome graphic by @Teacher_in_Tech via Twitter!

THE EDUCATOR'S GUIDE

CLICK HERE FOR THE 3RD EDITION OF THE EDUCATOR'S GUIDE TO FLIPGRID!

Sean (@SEANJFAHEY) and Karly Moura (@KarlyMoura) have created an AMAZING Flipgrid guide for educators.  This tool is a MUST for educators new to Flipgrid as well as an awesome resource to go back to if you have already been using it.  It walks you through everything from creating your account, to using it with your students, to becoming an Ambassador and EVERYTHING in between!  I HIGHLY encourage you to check out this guide and keep it bookmarked for future use.  Share it with other educators that are just getting started so they have EXACTLY what they need to be successful with implementing Flipgrid!

GRIDPALS

Remember when you were in elementary school and your teacher had you practice your writing skills by giving you a PenPal in another area of the world?  I remember checking my mailbox EVERY day, anxiously waiting for a letter to show up from my new friend that I would never meet!  I looked forward to those letters!  Well now there is a digital way to make this happen!  Another PHENOMENAL Flipgrid Certified Educator, Bonnie McClelland (@BMcClellen24) has created something called #Gridpals that has taken the edtech world by storm!!!    You can check out the blog about Gridpals here: http://blog.flipgrid.com/gridpals. 

They are releasing an updated version of GridPals in August so you definitely want to sign up now!  You can fill out THIS FORM to be on the list!!!!

APPSMASHING

Another awesome resource for Flipgrid is what we like to call Appsmashing!  This is where you take one app and "smash" it with another app to make it even more amazing!  Mr. Merill has created a Flipgrid with TONS of appsmashes ready for you to review and respond to.  Check it out!  https://flipgrid.com/appsmashing

RESOURCES

Jornea Erwin (@Savvy_Educator), the Head of Education for Flipgrid has created a video library FULL of information for you to effectively implement Flipgrid in your classes!  Check out her video library here: https://vimeo.com/flipgrid

There is an ENTIRE Topic Discovery Library waiting for you once you log into Flipgrid.  You can search by audience, subject or goals to find the desired topic you need!  At the time of this post, there are over 3,800 topics available for you to search, all submitted and created by educators!  Check them out here:  https://admin.flipgrid.com/manage/discovery

It's easy to submit to the Discovery Library!  Here are two topics that I submitted!  These will give you a little idea of how you can use Flipgrid:

https://admin.flipgrid.com/manage/discovery/1183

https://admin.flipgrid.com/manage/discovery/1184

FLIPGRID CERTIFICATIONS

  

Are you interested in becoming certified for showing what you know about Flipgrid?  Flipgrid offers several different badges that you can earn by completing different tasks and showing that you've mastered the goodness of Flipgrid!  NOW is the time to do it as Level 3 will be launching at Flipgrid LIVE on August 1, 2018!  For more information, you can go to: https://blog.flipgrid.com/news/sva

#GRIDGUIDES

Follow the following OUTSTANDING Flipgrid GridGuides on Twitter to see how they are using Flipgrid with their students!!!

So what do you think?  Are you NOW ready to catch #FlipgridFever??  If you already use it, share how you're using this awesomeness with your students and in your schools!  

I'm a Google Innovator!!!!

Long post alert….you’ve been warned!

Beginning of June…submit application for the Google Innovator Program in Venice Beach, California

End of June….received notification that I have been accepted into the Google Innovator Program

July 9, landed in LAX, walked from terminal 5 to 3 to meet Sean and back to 5 to meet Jennifer, hugged it out and got picked up by An in her Google Innovator Taxi-van.  Smiles, hugs, and warm welcomes all  around.

We headed straight to the YouTube offices where we met all of the amazing members of the #LAX18 cohort as well as our awesome coaches!  It was awesome to finally be able to put a face with a name after conversing via Twitter, Google Hangout and Flipgrid in the weeks prior.  We were fortunate enough to go on a tour and see the creative spaces.  On the day that we were there, Kids Bop was recording!  How cool is that?  Our tour guides gave us the low down on how content creators (YouTubers) start to monetize their channels and how they can earn the opportunity to come and record content at the YouTube space.  It had a very creative and innovative feeling walking through that space.  A lot of the rooms were blank canvases, ready for content creators to come and turn them into sets to film content, which I though was very fitting for the experience that we were about to embark on.  We walked into this journey with an idea of a problem in education that we wanted to solve and a blank canvas for how we wanted to solve it….sounds simple, right??

Checking in!

Photo bombed by Mark Wagner!

Innovator Swag!

The lanyard makes it real!

From there we headed over to the Google Venice offices where we received our official Innovator t-shirts and lanyards!  Talk about an “ahhhhhhhhh” moment!  Some of our cohort members, Manuel and Sadie, created us all personalized buttons with the Innovator lightbulb and our faces!  I told you we had some talented folks!  I presented everyone with an Atlanta Braves flag.  Hey, I had to bring a little bit of the south to my peeps!  We received other swag and goodies from our new friends.  Everyone was so thoughtful and amazing!  And then...there's the food!  If Google does one thing well….it’s food.  More about that later!  

Team "Beats of LA!"

We were formally introduced to our coaches and put onto teams.  My team was “Beats of LA” and was lead by the amazing Jornea!  Our team was made up of Misty, An, Chip, Ian, and John.  We had to come up with a team song in addition to a name.  We jumped into our BreakoutEDU boxes and took turns breaking into each other’s box.  The stories that came about through this activity were very personal and heart touching.  This was the perfect activity to bring us all together.  It was in this moment that I grew closer to the team that I had just met!  We also collaborated on how to create the perfect chair by thinking BIG but starting small.  Then we competed against each other in an epic “rock, paper, scissors” type battle until the T’Challa Water Chair was the last design standing!  You had to be there!  

We were told that we would be excitedly uncomfortably while we were at the academy and that was definitely the case!  It was during the opening presentation that we learned that we were 1 of 37 members of the #LAX18 cohort and 1 of 1700 Google Innovators across the world!  Say what???  I can’t lie, I definitely experienced some “imposter syndrome” (@edtechari) wondering how little old me deserved to be in the presence of the other 36 phenomenal innovators that were chosen as well as the coaches!  Like how did I deserve this?  I definitely took several deep breaths and centered myself in gratitude.  I know there there were obviously people that believed in me and my idea and felt I was worthy of being there, so why shouldn’t I?

Les and I!

We were immediately thrown into learning all about the design thinking process and Les took us through it all!  She joked that she got paid to be a professional interrupter and I do believe that it’s true!  Every time you thought you were getting deep into thought, she turned on a dime and brought us back together to consider something else.  It was fast paced and I understand why.  She didn’t give us too much time to think about things as she didn’t want us pondering, questioning our thoughts, and changing our minds  for hours.  Her whole thing was to get our ideas out on paper, IN SHARPIE!!!!!!!  Once it was out into the atmosphere, you could then make alterations as needed going through an iterative process.  

At the end of the first day, we were greeted at our hotel with a mystery delivery of a candy filled taco piñata!  I can’t make this stuff up!  Somehow, the “mascot” if you will, for our time together was a taco and it took on a serious life of it’s own!  I’m talking taco stickers, taco blow up life rafts, actual tacos, taco cookies….this group is UBER creative!  

Presenting my prototype to Team "Beats of LA!"

Day 2 was probably the most intense as we really delved into our projects and even more of the design thinking process.  We sketched out ideas, created a prototype, got feedback on our ideas, gave feedback to others.  It was definitely one of the most intense things I’ve ever been through, simply because of the pace.  BUT the quick pace was NEEDED to move everything along. It made sense!  Day 2 happened to be Tuesday and in alignment with the theme, it was a Taco Tuesday!  Complete with a live guitarist, a magician, massage chairs, caricature artists and a full taco bar!  It was a night to decompress from the intensity of the day, fellowship with our cohort and really begin to wrap our minds around all that we had accomplished that day.

Day 3, the last day, was definitely bittersweet.  We wrapped up our prototypes, received even more feedback and put together a 90 second pitch that we would share with a group of about 15 of our peers.  We then received their feedback.  I’m going to step out on a limb and include my pitch here.  I definitely welcome any feedback that you have to offer.  Keep in mind this is a new project idea and it’s in the very beginning phases!

Throughout the academy we were also able to hear from all of our coaches in the form of Spark Sessions!  They didn’t disappoint!  Mark Wagner offered words  on “More, Now.”  Being in the moment and dreaming BIG to change the future.  Jornea Erwin offered her 3 keys of resilience for the art of living.  She shared her love of New Orleans and her passion for life!  David Chan spoke about the importance of doing right by children in a creative podcast themed way!  Ari Flewelling spoke about having imposter syndrome and why we question the goodness that comes to us in our lives.  To stop wondering why you, and start asking why not you?  Michael Kosko took us through an epic crowd sourcing activity after talking to us about a gaming app that addressed medical advances in HIV/AIDS research.  And last but not least, the ever so witty, Micah Shippee exposed us to some AR awesomeness and even gifted us all a Merge Cube!  Each of these sessions, although very different were extremely inspiring!  I can’t wait to take bits and pieces from all of them and merge them into my daily practice!

I created the Google "G" on my nail!

We were also able to take part in Sparks put on by some of our cohort members.  I learned how to do nail art with Lisa, the basics of sketch noting and creating with Manuel, and gameifying your class with Ben.  It was cool to learn from our peers on what their passions were.  Other sessions including beat boxing and spoken word, juggling, aquaponics, breakdancing, coffee making, and others!  

Two innovators from previous cohorts called in through Google Hangout to share their growing pains and successes with us. Derek Doucet and Quin Henderson were awesome and took time to answer our questions.  I immediately connected with Quin as our projects, although different, look to solve the same problem in education. 

It's officially official!

Once the pitches were complete, we walked across the stage in our graduation ceremony.  Members from previous cohorts came back to offer us words of advice for going forward.  That was an awesome surprise!  Being able to see friends like Ken Shelton and Meghan Kelly made me smile and I was grateful that these people traveled all the way to Venice to offer us words of wisdom and celebrate with us.   

The problem that I am passionate about solving in the field of education, aligns with my dissertation research.  I am looking to address the issue of teacher attrition for new teachers within their first 3-5 years of teaching.  My solution (in its current iteration, as I’m sure there are plenty more to come) is to first, create a YouTube video explaining why I want to address this issue, what the send of urgency is in solving it, and how I want to solve it.  I am also going to create a website that will host more information, FAQ’s and interest forms for new teachers that want to receive a virtual mentor as well as veteran teachers that want to serve as virtual mentors.  I am going to match the new teachers with their mentors after going through their interest forms and announce them on a “Match Day!” Kind of like how they do in medical school!  We will meet virtually as a collective unit and then each pair will meet monthly via tools like Google Hangouts and Flipgrid with a monthly focus that addresses the growing pains that come with being a new teacher.  Most new teachers receive a face to face mentor at their schools once they begin teaching, however there is something to be said about having a mentor that is outside of your school and district to bounce ideas off of and to begin to grown your PLN.  I hope that by having new teachers paired with veteran teachers, I can address teacher attrition in some form, shape or fashion.  

Since leaving the academy, I’ve already come up with a name for my project, started creating the bones to my website, created a logo, and have started drafting the curriculum!  My brain has not shut off since leaving!  And I’m loving every minute of it!  In the next few weeks, we’ll be matched up with our Innovator Mentor and I can’t wait to see who it is!!!!  Eeeeekkkkk!!!!
Going through the Google Innovator Academy made me excitedly uncomfortable, took me out of my comfort zone, exposed me to some amazingly innovative educators and fanned the flame for my passion to help solve a problem in the educational space.  I am so humbled, grateful and eternally thankful that I chosen out of 400 applications to be a part of such a life changing experience.  I don’t take the responsibility lightly at all.  I look forward to keeping in touch with the innovators of #LAX18, seeing how their projects progress, failing forward, thinking BIG, wanting and demanding more, now, and watching us all change the world of education, one innovative idea at a time!

Team "Beats of LA!" after graduating!

#GoogleEI
#LAX18