Week 9 DFI 2019

Week 9

Last week of intense learning. I have thoroughly loved participating in this course. I feel so much more confident in what I am able to do and also in how I am able to support my staff.

Today we revisited ubiquitous learning. The three A's Anytime, Anywhere, Any pace. This is what I feel is the most important benefit from the Learn, Create Share pedagogy.

Rewindable learning has changed the way learning happens in school - definitely for the better. I definitely feel this has benefited the learners at Ohaeawai School.

I have to say, sitting through a three hour exam was a new experience for me. Haven't done that for awhile. As I am writing this, I have yet to hear whether or not I have passed my google educator level 1 exam. The waiting is killing me. I feel like I did ok - watch this space. Update - I PASSED!!


I do feel that my workflow has definitely increased. I feel more organised and on top of my emails. I use google keep and tasks apps all of the time and I am becoming more efficient in using google sheets.

I have said it before but I will say it again, I have a new appreciation for my staff. What they do in the classroom with students is amazing!!

Week 8 DFI 2019

Week 8

Empowered Teachers Learners and Whanau

Today I was reminded of the importance of empowering our learners to achieve to their ability despite their socio-economic backgrounds. It is important to have a shared understanding among staff of the issues that dis-empower our target learners and make sure these are not barriers to their learning.

Agency is having the power or capacity to act and make choices. Feeling at home in a digital world empowers students to have a voice, express themselves creatively and share in different ways. We need to remember the following thought when thinking about what we do around technology in our classrooms. "A digitally capable person can create their own digital technologies solution".

The new Digital Curriculum is “about teaching children how to design their own digital solutions and become creators of, not just users of, digital technologies, to prepare them for the modern workforce.” (Chris Hipkins, 2018).

Unplugged activity 

Rosina and I worked together to write a code for the other to follow. We managed to create the same shape but we did have questions - especially in how we get to the starting point.

In the afternoon we were challenged to create a DLO to answer a set question. I worked with Amanda to create a Scratch presentation on why Learn Create Share is so important and more importantly, empowering for our students.

A lot of fun was had today! 

Week 7 DFI 2019

Week 7 DFI

Today we focused on being connected. Connecting with our students, our staff, our community and the wider world. There are many ways to do this and what I have learnt today is 'there are digital tools out there which help to make this so easy'.

I really enjoyed spending time learning about and exploring Google Maps, Google Forms and Google sheets. I was feeling pretty confident about google forms but I did learn a few tricks - thank you Alicia, Venessa and Kerry. I took a deep dive into learning more about google sheets. I am impressed with what you can do - this is a tool I will definitely need to send more time with as it will have huge benefits to everything I do.

I created an analysis of a students blog (see below) using a google draw, as this was suggested as the easiest tool to use.  This is not a tool I use often, google docs is usually my go to google tool but the more I play, the more I can see the benefits to using this tool.

Another great day of learning. Thank you everyone who helped me today. 

Week 6 DFI 2019

DFI Week 6

It felt a bit strange not heading to Taipa to spend the day learning about a topic I am quite keen to improve on - Google Site creating. Since my time at Ohaeawai School, I have come to understand the importance of a google site to both the school community and the the wider community. Sites is an important tool in classes in my school for our students and whānau. Sites are used by my learners at school and offsite and for whānau to know what it is being taught in their child's class.

As part of my homework, I have had a go at creating a PLD site which I aim to attach to our school Website. I envisage placing information for staff to access as we go through a our learning journey together.

It is definitely a work in progress and if I am honest I had a lot of frustrations as I tried to remember the ins and outs of creating a google site. I have a new appreciation for my amazing staff who seem to be able to whip a class site up so quickly.

Week 5: DFI 2019

Session 5: Devices and Cyber-Safety

It is so important to make sure cyber safety is a major focus in classrooms. There are 12 categories to work through with students. Manaiakalani have a great resource online for teachers to use. It is important we don't assume students know how to interact on a device. We want students to feel they are connected citizens and be aware that they are leaving a digital footprint every time they post online. At Ohaeawai school we make this learning a priority. If we work on teaching our students how to be confident digital citizens we will be able to empower our learners to harness technology in smart and clever ways safely

Harpara

What a useful tool. I must put this on my must learn more about list. I do know my teachers use this tool and always have it up in their classrooms. What I need to know is how it can help me as a principal to connect and share with my students.
I did not realise that I can see students Blog posts through the dashboard. This will make life easier.
Also, Guide browsing really interests me. I think this will help to keep certain children on task and will be a must share with my staff.

Next we spent some time working on a chromebook, discovering shortcuts to use on the device. Next we worked on iPads learning about the app Explain Everything. Wow - there is so much you can do with this app. Students at my school use this all the time in our junior school. I am in awe of the work they do now.

After lunch we spent some time exploring screen castify. This is a tool my staff use a lot - in fact our school staff were granted free premium accounts for the year because we had produced so many screen castify's. We were in the top 5% in the world the email said - which I was pretty proud of.

Here is a quick video I made focusing on making smart relationships through commenting on Blog posts. This was my first attempt at this and I found this really tricky - I am amazed how easily the kids find it.

Again, lots of learning today. I have developed a new appreciation of my staff and students. The stuff they create in class amazing me on a daily basis.

Week 4 DFI 2019

Session 4

Session for is all about the SHARE.

We started the session having a google hangout with Dorothy Burt who was in a cathedral in Auckland. This worked well and highlighted to me how easy and convenient this tool is and how distance and location are no longer a barrier. I am going to try a hangout with my family in Canada.

What did I learn that increased my understanding of Share within the Manaiakalani kaupapa and pedagogy?

It is always interesting to listen to Dorothy - she is very passionate about what she does.

My key take-outs from the session were as follows:

Sharing is about creating relationships

Speed and amplification of sharing on the world wide web/social networking has it’s benefits and
disadvantages;

Being able to share helps to accelerate learning in our students;

Being digital gets rid of constraints - helps to liberate our students;

There must be a purpose for sharing - and students need to have an authentic audience

Authentic audience chooses to listen. As Dorothy says:

Using the digital platform helps students be motivated to actually finish work

Sharing is a place to start learning again because people comment so then new learning can be
prompted.

What did I learn that could improve my confidence, capability or workflow as a professional?

Google Sites is new to me so there was a lot of new learning for me. I did find that I had trouble keeping up with the pace of the learning in these sessions. As a principal I have not had the need to create a class site. I am thinking that it might be useful to create a PLD site for the professional learning journey my staff and I are on this year. It could be a one stop shop for all the resources and learning we are doing. I think this would be useful for my learners (staff) and myself. 

What did I learn that could improve my confidence, capability or workflow in my personal life?

Going through all the ins and outs of Google Keep was very great. I was familiar with and was using google keep on my phone but not on my computer, and I was not aware of all the settings and linking you can do within this tool. 

Week 3 DFI 2019

Session 3
I am enjoying the sharing at the beginning of each session, especially the what’s not working or what we are stuck on as it is good to know that others are having the same struggles as myself.

What did I learn that increased my understanding of Create within the Manaiakalani kaupapa and pedagogy?

Create

The create part of Lean Create Share is very important part of the learning progress.
Here are a few take-aways I jotted down from Kent Somerville's presentation:
'You can’t be creative if you have not learnt something first'. Create helps us to amplify our learning. We all children to be creative human beings - we give people an opportunity to show their understanding of their learning in different ways. It is important to not throw out what works - we just need to think about how we can use technology to further advance our learners. Create is a ‘DOING’ word and we need to remember this to help our students be creative. 

Creativity helps to supercharge the learning in our classrooms and our students access our curriculum and dive deeply into their understanding. 

I love this quote: Give the pupils something to do not something to learn, and the doing is of such high nature as to demand thinking;learning naturally results. John Dewy

What did I learn that could improve my confidence, capability or workflow as a professional? and 

What did I learn that could be used with my learners?

We whizzed through Youtube, google slides and google draw. Each one of these topics could be an all day topic in my opinion!. I am going to have to find time to practice and play. It gives me a new appreciation for what our students at Ohaeawai School create using these tools. I have to add I am in awe of my teachers who all have mastered these tools and use them daily with their students.

Here I had a go at creating an animation using google slides. This took me a while - I can imagine students would be able to work a lot faster.




What did I learn that could improve my confidence, capability or workflow in my personal life?

Mastering how to use Youtube, save playlists for videos I want to use for staff meetings, music and working out how to post live video to share with family in Canada is something I am really keen to learn more about.

Week 2 DFI 2019

Session 2

What did I learn that increased my understanding of Manaiakalani kaupapa and pedagogy?

Today we focused on the LEARN part of Learn, Create, Share.

The two things that stood out for me is:

Great teaching + digital affordances will equal acceleration. We need to work along aside the students and provide scaffolds and guidance to help make connections for students. Teachers are essential in helping students make connections about what they are learning.

I loved this quote:

The SAMR model can help us in our planning to think about the learning. Are we providing activities to our students that are helping them to take their learning to the next level?

What did I learn that could improve my confidence, capability or workflow as a professional?

We spent a lot of time looking at how we can organise our email and calendar. Life can be made so much easier once you know the simple tricks. Organising labels for emails, colour coding and adding in filters has already helped me to organise my email.

I feel I already use my calendar well and have set up and used a google hangout to communicate and meet with staff at various stages. It was frustrating that the activity we tried to do during our session didn't work but it also made me realise the importance of having a plan B. It also reminded me that technology is great until it doesn't work.

What did I learn that could be used with my learners?

When I return to school I plan on sharing some of what I learnt with my staff. I don't think we use calendars effective at school and this will be something I would like to improve on with all staff.

Veronica helped me understand and use the snipit tool. SO easy!

I also had time to plan with recording a hangout using screencastify or through powerpoint.

What did I learn that could improve my confidence, capability or workflow in my personal life?

Keeping my work calendar and personal calendar separate is easy. I plan on sharing my school calendar with my husband so he does not have any excuses not to know where I am and what I am doing. Swapping from my personal email and work email has been made easy now that I have changed the way my emails are set up.

Week 1 DFI

Day 1 of DFI!
Today was a great day of learning. Being part of a the Kaikohekohe Network as a Manaiakalani Outreach school I feel it is important for me to be able to stay one step ahead of my learners and at least be able to keep up with the teachers at my school. Today for me the importance of the Learn Create Share pedagogy and having great teachers in classrooms who can effectively teach was highlighted as key to finding success for our learners.

Learning about google groups will definitely make my work life easier. I love how google groups organise emails and people within a group and keeps all conversations together. In the past I was using groups made within my contacts.

Another take-away I was reminded about is to invest in routines right from the start. It is important to show students and staff what you expect of them from the start. An example of this is taking the time to show students where you want them to place documents, how you want them to name documents and lastly how to use title and subtitles.

We spent the last part of the session creating. I have learnt that I am not a creative person - this is something that I need to work on. This must be how some of our learners must feel. Practice makes perfect.

I look forward to practicing what I have learnt this week and sharing with my colleagues back at school.