External Recognition

 DFI Week 9 - External Recognition

Connecting with Manaiakalani -

Over the past 9 weeks it has been fantastic to re-engage with the Manaiakalani pedagogy and take time to reflect on how this looks in our kura.  Learn, Create, Share is well embedded in our school however we need to ensure that we are inducting new teachers into this pedagogy thoroughly so we have a shared kaupapa.  Our teachers integrate digital technologies and use sites extremely well to connect, empower and create ubiquitous learning and are developing a better understanding of how this approach supports UDL.  Our next step is to complete a stocktake around the Digital Technology curriculum and  how we are implementing this across the school. 

During the 9 weeks I have found myself in the learning pit many times and reflecting on my original day 1 blog post:

In order for our tamariki and ourselves to be fluent with digital tools they need a range of learner attributes.  Today the learner attributes I used were;  rising to a challenge to trying new things,  inquiring and asking questions, resilience - the ability to keep trying until I was fluent in my understanding and working collaboratively.

We need to ensure we are creating opportunities to practise these attributes in order to grow our learners and digital technologies is a great vehicle for this.

I enjoyed sitting the Google Level 1 Exam and recommend everyone to give it a try. 

Next Steps:

The next step is to think about how I will use this blog moving forward.  I have enjoyed the new experience of blogging every week about the DFI journey and I plan to find time to continue to use Blogger as part of my professional growth cycles.

Computational Thinking

 DFI Week 8: Computational Thinking

Connecting with Manaiakalani - Empowered

Empowered teachers and learners.  Research around the world has shown that when children from low decile schools start they have a mean average of 3 years, they have heard 32 million words less than children from a decile 10 school and the turnover in low decile school is a 1/3 higher than high decile schools.  The Manaiakalani kaupapa is around empowerment and the access of knowledge through 1.1 devices.  Principles of equity and access are the same as the Treaty of Waitangi - partnership, protection, participation.

Future of Tech:

I really enjoyed this session by Jacob, although I am very aware of the saying preparing children for jobs that don't exist today this session reminded me of the importance of this and the importance of ensuring our learners are able to access technology as part of their learning.  This also resonated with the empowered kaupapa of Manaiakalani and the importance of equity for all.  I was amazed to learn all the different ways New Zealanders have embraced digital tech and how this has empowered their lives, jobs and opportunities, once again reinforcing the importance and need for our tamariki to be digital citizens so they are able to be active participants within the workforce.

Digital Technologies Curriculum:

Digital Fluency and Digital Technologies - what is the difference?

Fluency is around when and why to use specific digital technologies to achieve a specific task or solve problems.

A digitally capable person can create their own digital technologies solution.   We need out teachers to be digitally fluent.

How this all fits together:

It was great to have an opportunity to explore the digital technology curriculum and reflect on the next steps for Kura.

Exploring Coding:

I spent time exploring different coding sites and activities and I was definitely in the learning pit.  It is a language I am unsure of and required a lot of trial and error to get my Scratch project to work.  I really enjoyed the block coding with Minecraft and found it easy to use.

Devices

 DFI - Week 7

Connecting with Manaiakalani - Ubiquitous

Expanding the walls of the classrooms so learners can have access to high quality learning practices regardless of where they are and where you are.  Ubiquitous learning carries the idea that learning can happen outside of the classroom time.  It extends the opportunity to connect with that learning time if they choose to do so.

Technology provides us with the ability to remove barriers, solutions to problems and opportunities for new ways of learning.  At our Kura the concept of ubiquitous learning has been embedded into our practise as we have been a part of Manaiakalani Outreach for many years.  This enabled us to mobilise learning really quickly for our tamariki during lockdown in 2020 and this year.  Our tamariki transitioned well to learning from home and it was a privilege to be welcomed into their whare to connect during this time.  It created connections on a different levels as we were able to learn more about our learners as part of their whānau.

Being Cybersmart

Being confident and connected decision makers online.  If our learners are at home in a digital world we need to ensure they are positive and successful digital citizens.  Our tamariki need to be cybersmart - language and actions are positive, thoughtful and helpful -Make kindness go viral - wheoritia te atawhai

Manaiakalani Cybersmart

Devices

Today we explored Chromebooks and completed the digital dig our learners complete at the start of the year.  It was a worthwhile experience completing this as an educator as I learnt shortcuts and other strategies for supporting our learners.  I was in the learning pit as I navigated through the slides and felt frustrated having to stop and look for keys on the keyboard in order to complete tasks.  This made me realise how important it is that we do this every year with our tamariki so they become confident at navigating the chromebook and in turn eliminating frustrations.

I spent time exploring Explain Everything and how this app can be used with juniors who have access to ipads.  The ability to record what they are doing in real time is fantastic as it enables the teacher to go engage with the learning and  build an understanding of the learners strengths and further learning required in regards to the task.  It was great to get sandpit time with this app as it was trial and error and some parts were quite fiddly to manage.  I look forward to using this more so I can get faster at managing this.  I made an Explain Everything where the learners had to decide if the information was private or personal.

Enabling Access

 DFI - Week 6

Connecting with Manaiakalani - Connected the default is visible

Being connect digitally is powerful as it enables the learner to connect with the wider world. There are 13 clusters that make up the Manaiakalani network and more than 100 schools.  To enable the connections to remain strong Manaiakalani  have a shared language, the kaupapa and pedagogy are visible and this has an impact on the teaching and learning as both students and teachers know the purpose. Staff meeting term led by cluster facilitators further embeds this shared kaupapa and language.

Leading Learning using Google Sites:

Sites enables students learning to be visible, it is rewindable students can go back and connect with their learning as many times as they like or that they need in order to gain understanding or mastery of their learning.

It is important to look at the design of your site to make sure it is visible to students and whānau so they are able to access the learning. 

Remember the 4 A's;

• anytime, 
• any where, 
• any place 
• and anyone.

Things to consider;

• Theme - choose one and stick with it throughout your site, consider colours 
• Layout - keep page layouts similar as this makes it easier, plan each page
• Fonts - keep them as consistent as you can and consider the font when you embed information
• Navigation - three click rule, from homepage to relevant learning.

Exploring Sites:

We spent time exploring others sites and providing feedback to each other to make our sites more user friendly. I loved receiving the feedback as my site was very old and was created quickly to serve the purpose of having our curriculum all in one place.

Original site

Collaborate - Sites

DFI Week 5

Connecting with Manaiakalani - Visible Learning

Visible teaching and learning is the idea of can we see it or can we not.  This includes both teaching and learning.  Is it visible to the learner, the whānau, the teacher and colleagues. A contributor to our tamariki not achieving is that for a long time we have kept this learning hidden.  If we make things visible the learner and whānau understanding where they are heading and can support each other on the journey.

Visibiity learning encompances the whole journey, for every part of the learning process needs to be made visible for the learner.  This includes the planning, walths, success criteria and assessment processes.  This enables the student to see where they are heading and what comes next. The day to day teaching and learning and progressions need to be visible.

Sites can be used to make learning visible and the work is then shared to the class blog to make the students learning visible to the world.  Sitting within this model is Hapara and this enables students work to be visible to the teacher.  

Multimodal

Multimodal is the concept of delivering communication in a way that reaches and suits the learner. Multi model is tied to four principles these are engagement, personalised learning, acceleration and empowerment.  These are important to consider when we design sites for learning.  A class site is inclusive for all learners and has the approach of UDL - it caters for all learners.  

Engagement - 'The Hook' how can we hook students into their learning this ties into the New Zealand Curriculum - Learners who are actively involved in their learning.  If learners are inspired to learn then they are hooked into their learning.  Multimodal learning provides a vehicle to help 'hook' the learner in, hooking the student in starts with plenty of engagement.

Personalised Learning -

"Thinking that the default is not the teacher" - Chrissie Butler. what works for one learner may not work for another. The teacher needs to think about what will engage all students and what they might think is engaging may not be for the learner.  It is important for us to ask what engages our tamariki.

Acceleration -

Acceleration of our learners needs to include engagement - this begins with drawing them into the learning so they are on task, in the right place at the right time.  Then engaging them cognitively - getting their brains to work hard. T shaped literacy is a good example of this, in our junior school we are exploring how sets of readers, they all have a common theme, can help develop our students critical literacy.

Empowerment- 

Multimodal learning is empowering. "Leading learning through multimodal sites is a journey, depending greatly on the skills and digital fluency of the teachers"

Sites:

We spent time exploring sites and identifying how they hook the learner into the task and how the layout can have a positive of negative effect on drawing someone in. We also spent time learning how to create a site. We spent time creating a site.  My takeaways from this were

• plan your site first, you can waste a lot of time creating the site and realise that it is not fit for purpose
• make time to create the site - don't rush the creation of your site, you want it to hook the learners in
• know your purpose before you start and collect the resources to support this purpose before you start.

Google Site

Dealing with Data

 DFI Week 4 - Data

Connecting with Manaiakalani 

Today we explored the Share component of Learn, Create Share. The concept of share is not new, it is part of the human compulsion to talk about and share what is happening in their world. Sharing and connecting with others is an important part of who we are.  The ways we have shared has changed dramatically in a short span of time. Our audiences have become wider and more far reaching than ever before, we can share to a global platform. 

Manaiakalani identified share as a hook to engage and motivate learners and enable people to connect with others.  The digital world enables use to capture authentic audiences that can help learners achieve outcomes. It is unlimited - tāmariki can share with anyone, anywhere at anytime.  

Blogger became the platform as a means to share - 

At South Hornby School we define Share as any activity that connects with others to expand our learning purpose. Our tāmariki share to build exisiting knowledge, this often happens in the Learn phase, share to gain feedback - often occurs in the Create phase and share to celebrate learning. Share happens throughout the Learn Create Share cycle and is an important part of the cycle as it is integral to supporting children with their learning.

Google Forms:

I enjoyed practising the new skill of adding a section to a form.

Google My Maps:

You can customise maps allowing you to customise journeys, show where you tupuna came from, show your nationality.  Collecting this information on a spread sheet and uploading the spreadsheet to the map from here the tāmariki can use the map for a lot of different learning e.g. how far have our tupuna travelled.

I created a map around the legend of our rūngana and added links to the legend so the children can see the map location and then read the legend that applies to that area. This is going to a fantastic app that will support all learners.  I plan to build on this and find You Tube clips of the legends so our tāmariki can listen to these as well.

Our Local Legends

Spreadsheets:

We added and manipulated data and created charts.  This time has enabled me to build on past learning with sheets and try new things.

Quality Blog Posts:

Teaching children about quality blog posts is important as it gives others a framework to comment on others blog that will hopefully springboard more learning.  I find that the students engage with their comments if the commentator leaves a question around their learning.  This prompts the learner to go back and engage with the post they have written or further research or explore their thinking.

Motivation of Media

DFI Session 3 

Create:

Today we focused on the Create element of Learn, Create, Share. Create has the power to engage and empower the student with their learning and places the child at the center of that learning.

Creativity is not to be confused with talent, skill, or intelligence, it is not about doing something better than others, it is about thinking, exploring, discovering and imagining (Kohl, 2008)

Creativity is fun, it engages our ākonga. They are able to engage with their learning and demonstrate what they have learnt in ways that engage others.  The power of create,  I believe, sits within learner choice.  Creativity and Create look different for each learner and by providing choice around this we are letting our ākonga express who they are and what they have learnt or are learning by engaging in doing.

This images shows the important aspects of create.  Engage the brain to ensure that creativity can happens and the different aspects that contribute to creativity.  When planning we could use this symbol and think of this quote to ensure we are providing a range of opportunities for create and letting students have agency over what they may want to create.  

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

You Tube Channels -

Important things to ensure

- commenting turned off,

- videos shared via the individual blogs

- teachers have accounts and channels to curate playlists for learning content.

I spent time ensuring that my settings were correct. I tried to embed using the embed code but this didn't work for me so I decided to upload from You Tube instead.

Our School Song

Media:

Media is motivating, it is a way to create and tell our own stories. Using SISOMO - the idea of using sight sound and motion to entertain and inform. Our children have grown up in a creative world that is within their reach, how can we bring this on board and bring this into our lesson and classrooms. I enjoyed spending time digging deeper into Google Slides and Google Drawings and can definitely see the link between media creating motivation for creating and engaging with our learning.

Filmmaking

Consider

- lightning,

- tripods to ensure stability

- sound

- types of shots

I liked the idea of a DIY filmmaking kit and can see how this is affordable and easy to use in the class

Video editing:

Google Drawing

I enjoyed learning how to mask an image

Some other tips to use when creating a Google drawing

Google Slides

Digital pepeha.

Helpful Shortcuts:

Command f (for Apple Mac) or control f (for PC) is the finder tool the numbers appear to state how many times the word you searched in the doc. Use the arrows to go up and down.