As most of you know I was lucky to be able to take part in the latest Google Certified Innovator Academy. After the 3 days that the 34 of us spent together there were quite a few discussions with my fellow #TOR16 Innovators around “how do we explain our experiences at the Innovator Academy to others when we get back to work?” and “It’s so hard to put it all into words…” So, I decided to try to tell the story of my experience through drawings, images and photos. My recent obsession with Sketchnoting (thanks to Sylvia Duckworth and Marie-Andrée Ouimet) inspired me to “draw” my takeaways from #TOR16 instead of writing them out. As a visual learner, I thought I’d do a blog post that contained limited writing and more images and drawings to help tell the story of the 3 amazing days I spent with like-minded Educators here in Toronto at the Google Offices! The sketchnote I drew is packed very full, similar to what my brain felt like after the Academy! GCI Academy was honestly the best professional development I’ve had in my 12 years as an Educator!
Here’s my attempt at a sketechnote:
(It was so hard to fit everything in!!)
I’ve started a Flickr Feed where I’m posting my sketchnotes. You can find it here.
Here are some photos from the GCI Academy:
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- Lunch in Kensington Market at Urban Herbivore
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- The Canadians opened the Academy with classic Canadian dance moves.
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- Intro activity, we each created a BreakoutEDU clue to help tell a story about ourselves.
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- My team hard at work trying to solve my sketchnote-style crossword puzzle
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- They broke in!
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- Centrepieces
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- Hard at work with my teammates from GSweet7
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- In deep conversation with Michelle
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- Tour of the Google Offices in Toronto
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- 360 degrees of Innovators
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- With Chris organizing our wall for the gallery walk
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- Our GSweet7 group photo
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- It’s official! Here’s my amazing coach Rafranz Davis with me after graduation!
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- Celebrate!
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- The 3 Innovators from TDSB (Myself, Sandra & Zelia).
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- Last night, took some people on a tour of downtown Toronto
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- Last dinner by the lake
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- Partnered up with Chris Webb because our projects were very similar. We want to empower students!
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- The entire group of Innovators & Coaches
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- I’m an INNOVATOR!
I’m so honoured to be part of this group of awesome Educators who want to transform education. I made connections and friendships that will last well beyond the academy! Thank you to everyone who made this a reality for me, I can’t wait to see where these opportunities take all of us!
If you want written accounts of the Academy, check out these wonderful blog posts by some of my other #TOR16 tribe members:
Chris Webb
Isabelle Lavoie
Charity Helman
Mandi Tolen
Steven Morrison Day 1, Day 2, Day 3
Brian Costello
As they say, “an image is worth 1000 words!” Thanks for viewing 😉
