As summer comes to a close, CFBISD Innovation Academy leaders consisting of teachers, curriculum coaches, and administrators are already hard at work with a shared goal to increase innovative teaching practices across the district.

The academy, which is in its inaugural year, was created by Robin Stout, Senior Director of Digital Learning, Scott Monroe, Chief Technology Officer, and Malcolm Mulroney, Chief Operations Officer, and encourages its participants to try new approaches with their students, leading to larger systemic changes across the district.

“This type of professional learning is important in CFBISD because it allows teachers to try new approaches in their classrooms on a small scale,” said Jamie Nutt, Digital Learning Specialist. “The Innovation Academy hopes to serve as an incubator for student-centered learning environments.”

Each member of the academy went through an application process, pitching their own innovative idea.

“I dream of helping my students to be future ready, and for many of them, that will involve coding, engineering, and robotics jobs,” said Jamie Shields, La Villita Elementary third grade teacher. “I hope to be able to offer flexible learning and tie our core content to real world coding and robotics along with the engineering method. I want my students to be able to relate what we are learning in class to their future and the real world outside our classroom.”

As the year moves forward, these innovative leaders will continue to play an important part in effective school leadership, examining current practices to best meet the needs of students.

“I am so proud of the work our innovators and leadership team have done so far with Innovation Academy,'' Nutt said. “I can’t wait to see where this program goes and how it impacts CFBISD!”