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