Team Hasselblad

All of the educators attending the Google Teacher Academy, Sweden 2013 Cohort are broken up into teams.   There are four teams for this academy, and I am on Team Hasselblad.  Here is a list of the four team names:

• Celsius
• Hasselblad
• Nobel
• Tesla

The teams are named for famous Swedish innovators.  Being a science teacher, I recognized Anders Celsius, Alfred Nobel, and Nikola Tesla.  But I had no idea who Victor Hasselblad was.  

I decided to Google him.  I found that Hasselblad is a Swedish camera company based in Gothenburg, Sweden.  The company has been around since 1841, but is best known for the cameras it has made under Victor's direction since World War II.  The Hasselblad's company's most famous camera was used on the Apollo mission when man first landed on the moon.  

As I started to do a little more research, I found that Victor Hasselblad was a lifelong birder. In 1935 Victor published a book, entitled ‘Migratory Bird Passages’, containing a photos of birds in flight which he took himself.  At the time, it was considered very rare to have photos of birds in flight in published work.

Even though I am a science teacher, and was sad that I was not on a team named after a scientist, I am ecstatic that I am on a team named for a birder!  Although birding is not Victor's main contribution to Swedish history, I think he is awesome.  I am a big bird nerd and hope to do some birding while in Stockholm.  

I am looking forward to meeting Team Hasselblad.  There are a total of six educators from around the world on this team, led by a CUE/GTA Lead Learner.  We are very diverse, with different educational roles and from very different locations.  Team Hasseblad consists of 

• Jarkko Mylläri, a University Research and Educator in Finland, and our Team Leader
• Åsa Einarsson, a Pedagogical Producer and Former teacher in Sweden
• Melissa Hero, a High School Teacher in California
• Gary Johnston, a Classroom Teacher in Vietnam
• Charles Pawlik, a Classroom Teacher in Singapore
• Katie Williams, an EdTech Startup in the Netherlands
• Anders Wockatz, an EdTech Specialist in Sweden

I am hoping to learn a lot from my team.  From what I have seen so far, they are a great group of very talented educators.  I believe that we are the best team, and it's not just because we're named after a birder. :)