Danielle Johnson from Barbara Bush Middle School is about to embark on a year-long journey of innovation and inspiration as CFBISD’s first Google for Education Innovator (#googleEI). The journey starts with a face-to-face Innovation Academy in Singapore. This three day Academy is just one part of a whole year of programming designed to support their Innovation Project.
The Academy is designed as a workshop to inspire and build capacity for Innovators while giving them the opportunity to deep dive into their projects. All projects should drive change in education, impact educators and students, and be documented for other educators to follow.
The Innovator projects revolve around a “How might we” problem statement. Danielle’s HMW statement is “How might we use esports in middle school to promote empathy, equity, and global-mindedness?”
The Singapore 2019 cohort comprises 36 educators from around the world, and Danielle is one of four from the United States. Danielle is most excited about learning from educators from around the world. She leaves September 7 and will return September 17. She will be documenting the journey on Twitter and Instagram at @iheartmsjohnson.
Google for Education Certified Innovators are selected by a panel of current Google for Education Certified Innovators. The panel looks for multiple critical components from hundreds of qualified applications.
The components include:
- Demonstrated experience leading professional development
- Ability to impact a large number of educators
- Demonstrated innovative use of tech in school settings
- A desire to collaborate with like-minded educators
- A passion for teaching and learning
- The ability to overcome obstacles and solve problems; “Do-ers”
- A personal spark and a passion for innovation
In addition, participants are selected from a wide geographical area, from different schools/districts, and different roles/specialties.
