Session 9 Revision

Wahoo the exam is over! And I PASSED!

I actually really enjoyed it and found it not as hard as I thought.

Now I can put the badge on my blog to share with everyone that I am now a Google Certified Educator of Level 1.

We started off with the link to Manaiakalani as always.

Manaiakalani

The idea was Ubiquitous.

a3

Learners have the potential to be experiencing high quality learning experiences right now.

This became so important recently during the lock down as children where having to learn at home. It highlighted the importance of rewindable learning and being able to continue learning outside of school and school hours.

I was interested in learning more about the summer learning journey. It is something the we looked at during a staff meeting but now knowing why it was created has given me inspiration to get my children on to this!

Some question we were asked to reflect on are:

What are you proud of?

During the lock down I spent a lot of time working on creating a class site. I was very proud of what I created and very thankful to the staff members at school that supported me through this process. I am now proud of the fact that I have all this new knowledge that I can take to starting my 1-1 digital journey with a new class next term. I can not wait to get started.

What do you regret?

This is a hard question as I do not usually think of regrets and treat everything in live as a challenge and it all happens for a reason. If there was one thing it would have to be worrying about the google exam. I put a lot of pressure on myself thinking it was going to be hard when it was actually more of a learning opportunity.

What will you be taking forward in the 'new' era of schooling?

I will be using all the learning about Manaiakalani to my new 1-1 digital class. Having the background knowledge makes it easy to see the purpose. 

Using rewindable learning will be key and making sure everything is always visible. 

I will also continue with my own blogging as I have found it a great way to put my thoughts in order and will be able to go back to these posts and refresh my memories.

To conclude I am feeling pretty proud of myself for passing the google exam and also completing the DFI course!

Can not wait for next term and my 1-1 digital journey to begin!

DFI Session 8- Computational thinking

It has been quite hard to focus today as I am not feeling 100%. But some really inspiring info today plus registering for the google exam!

Manaiakalani

The link for today was Empowerment.

Empowered learners and teachers.

Being able to understand how our children are learning empowers us as teachers. This whole DFI course has given us the way to be empowered. I feel empowered! In every sense of using google in the classroom.

Now for the google exam to check I can do all of the things we have been learning!

Digital Technology Curriculum

I started learning about the changes in the Technology Curriculum last year at a previous school. I even had to opportunity to attend a PLD course with hands on activities. It still did not make a lot of sense to me what we were actually trying to do. Having a way to see sites with examples and putting the wording straight from the curriculum into an easy to understand version makes so much more sense. I can now see how juniors can be participating in the digital technology curriculum even with out a computer. There have been a few times lately when I had some information about things but then the DFI course has given me more info and more understanding. Empowered!

Google Exam

We were next given information about how to register for the google exam. I hadn't been nervous about it before but hearing this made my stomach drop. It has been a few years since I have been in an exam situation and I think that was where my nerves came from. I am glad we were given lots of information on how to get prepared and I will spend some time refreshing my learning in all the different areas that we have been learning about. I might even make some time to do the exam in the next couple of days instead of waiting until next Tuesday. Then if it doesn't go well I will try again on Tuesday.

Coding

Having a play with some of the coding sites was a lot of fun. My children and I are all home sick at the moment so while I was doing this they had a wee look over my shoulder. They then got it going themselves on their chrome books and have been having a go on the minecraft and kodable programs for most of the day. Lots of fun and I can see that children in my class would greatly enjoy this also. 

Creating

I chose to have a go at creating a Mihi with the mihi maker from gamefroot.com.

It was quite confusing to use and then mine would not play at the end as there was some kind of error. So frustrating. I will have another play with this as I would like to be able to share on my blog. 

It could also be so helpful to try in my class over the last couple of weeks of this term. All children in our school have a pepeha in their languages that parents fill in when children start school. I do not think that children ever use them other then displaying them on the wall. It would be fun for the children to take this information and animate it in this way so that then they can start to learn it as well. I will give it a go.

Finally managed to get my mihi to work. Use the right arrow on your keyboard to navigate through the mihi.

By this time next Tuesday I will have completed the Google exam. Pass or fail, I think it will be a great learning opportunity and am nervously looking forward to it.

In regards to where we are as a school in terms of the Digital Technology Curriculum I am not sure. The senior class are 1-1 digital so I am assuming that means they are using the parts of the technology curriculum that is for this. In my junior class I am not using any of it as I wasn't even aware it was a must happen this year. It is something I will need to find out more about and start implementing with my class. I am glad we have done this session as I think I have some good ideas of places I can start with this.

DFI Session 7 Devices

I was very much looking forward to today's session on devices. I am not yet in a 1-1 digital class, but being able to learn how the children use their chrome books and Ipads was going to be a good way for me to start the transition to 1-1.

Manaiakalani

Like always we started with the link to Manaiakalani (still love using text blaze to write this). The topic today was being cyber smart. I took away from this learning that it is so important and empowering to use positive language around anything techie with the children. So not using negative words like bullying and safety and using instead the positive language that has been designed especially for all the learners. Like smart learners, smart relationships etc.

I can really see how this will have a big impact on the children when they are using their devices and navigating the real word when everything is visible and personal.

1-1 Journey with Chrome Books

It made so much sense to me that there was a reason for having all children on the same devices. At a previous school we were not very techie. In my class I had a few big old black laptops, a couple of smaller red things, a couple of chrome books and two ipads. We also had a school server with class folders and google drive. It was a nightmare. We even tried BYOD. And it made me laugh with Dorothy's term Bring Your Own Disaster! As it was a disaster every time. I would spend the whole time trying to get the children on to the school internet and then there was no way of accessing their files from the server and we never knew the children's google logins or passwords. So it just became easier to not use the computers or devices except for publishing stories or playing games when they had choice time.

I liked that everything made a link to the 3P's or the Treaty. Partnership between whanau and letting them have a say. Participation with everyone having the right to participate. Protection being the programme designed to make sure all the children become cyber smart.

Digital Dig Chrome Books

I am glad I was able to use a Chrome book for this session as being able to do what the children are was very helpful. I did not know how to 'right click' on the chrome book or how to take a screen shot so I am now confident with this. Also the slides would be very useful to use with the children in my class so that I then know they can do all of things and use all of the shortcuts. I will definitely make sure to start with a session like this with my own class.

Digital Dig IPads

Explain Everything seems like a really neat programme to use for 'everything' you would do with the children in the class on IPads.

It was enjoyable creating one for ourselves.
Below is what I was able to create in a very short amount of time.
Next was having an explore of what can be done. I liked that it can be so hands on and interactive for the children. I looked at some maths examples where children where writing in the family of facts. Being able to draw straight on to the page and also record themselves saying what they were doing will be so useful. There are so many opportunities to use this for the younger children.

Creating Task

This afternoon we spent time using one of the tools to create a lesson on one of the apps. I chose Explain Everything as I have never used it before and wanted to become confident with it.

I was not that sure on what to create as there were so many different options so in the end I went with Smart Media. In the past I have found it hard to help children decide on when things they see or read on the internet are real or not. As most of the time they believe everything even the most out there things. I tried to create a task that would help introduce this and it is below.

In conclusion

I am really looking forward to being 1-1 digital and feel like I have more understanding of how to use a Chrome Book and Ipad the ways that the children will be doing. I would love to see more examples of Explain Everything being used well to get more ideas on what the possibilities are.

DFI Week 6 Enabling Access

I have had a very enjoyable day today. It is always lots of fun being able to create and spend time on something that will be of value.

Manaiakalani

The link today was the work CONNECTED.

There is strength in coming together. As the weeks go on and we get information about Manaiakalani and it is all making the bigger picture very clear. The Manaiakalani programme was designed to connect people. "Connected learners share". The most important way of connecting is through sharing. Having the children in my class sharing means they will be able to connect to each other and others within and outside of the school.

In my previous school I was one of our Kahui Ako in school collaborators and it was very interesting to hear that it was born from seeing the Manaiakalani programme. I can see there are parts that have been taken and used but with not as much success as the Manaiakalani programme has. 

I like the idea of "Tuhi Mai, Tuhi Atu" - write to me, write to others.

Having the children link up with children in other schools and sharing and commenting will be a very neat way to keep them engaging and valuing theirs and others work.

Google Sites

I was very nervous to share and talk about my site. I am in a year 1-3 class that is not currently 1-1 digital. At the beginning of lock down with the idea that all children would be getting a device we (the junior teachers) were tasked with creating a site for our classes with learning that our children could work on from home when they received a device. I spent a lot of time playing and creating and had a great time. As the time went on it became clear that our learners were not going to receive a device anytime soon so an expert teacher created a junior learning website for all of our junior classes and put it with a link on the school site. This way we all know there was some similar learning that could be happening while the children were at home without having a way of checking in or seeing what the children were doing in the way that our senior teachers were already set up for and doing.

It was disappointing that my site then just sat unpublished as I really liked it and was quite proud of it. So over the last few weeks I have taken aspects from it and the children have been using them on our shared class laptops.

Being able to share this for the first time with anyone other than myself was daunting.

I didn't know if it would be good. Being able to give and receive feedback about our sites was really valuable and I got some comments that were very positive and also so useful ones about size of text.

Being able to spend most of the day going back to this site and updating it for use when I move to a senior class that is beginning to be 1-1 digital was so worthwhile. 

I have been able to create buttons that actually look fun and inviting. I have taken away the clutter and made my slides for the learning tasks a lot bigger and more user friendly. I am now looking forward to adding in the T Shaped literacy ideas that we are now beginning to create within school.

I am now super excited and ready to get going with being 1-1 digital. Using sites and blogs and Hapara is going to be fun!

DFI Collaborate - Sites

Its hard to believe that this is session 5 out of 9. Another day filled with lots of tips and new learning. I was really looking forward to today's session on sites. During the lock down, I started creating a site for my learners. I had a great time playing, adding, deleting, adding again, changing and looking at others learning sites for ideas. I was excited to get ideas and tips from the experts today so that I could revamp my site and make it usable, visible and engaging for my class.

Manaiakalani

The hot topic today to connect with Manaiakalani was Visible. The word kind of explains it self. Connecting that to teaching though was new to me. Making sure that every aspect of the teaching and learning process should be visible to children, parents, the teacher and the other staff. In the past I have always had a planning book on my desk that could be seen by my team leader and relievers to see what was happening each day. Since being at Edmund Hillary School I have had to put all my planning on Google Drive. I have struggled with this and thought no one can see what I am doing and if a reliever had to come in they wouldn't know what my day is like or what would be happening on that particular day. I have since realised  this it is in a shared folder and all staff can see my planning. And I can see theirs. So I had a wee nosy at what plans and templates were happening across the school. I found most had a different template to the one I was using (One that I had created many years ago and has always worked for me). I found out it is expected that everyone uses this template. This highlighted for me that when starting in a new school you don't know what you don't know! So having plans visible in this way makes so much sense. I know am using the school template for my planning. Still struggling to get use to it but will get there.

Manaiakalani have four key goals on making teaching and learning visible through multi modal sites

• Engagement (the hook) how is the class site drawing in the learner, like a shop window draws in shoppers. Children engage in different ways so having a variety of ways to engage the learners is key. It must also reflect what is happening 'today'. 
• Personal learning
• Acceleration
• Empowerment

And making every part of learning visible is important from planning, the processes, the outcomes and some assessment data.

Visible teaching should be

• accessible
• available
• and done in advance.

Google Sites

I liked seeing that the things I had been playing around with during lock down, when I was creating my own site, were the things that we were learning to do. So I am feeling confident I know how to create a great site for my class! Here is a link to the practice site with a few simple things like videos, picture carousel, headings, and buttons.

My practice site.

T Shaped Literacy

It was good to have a wee run down on T Shaped Literacy. We started discussing this at a staff meeting and some of the teachers are already in the process of creating these and using in their classes. I had a fair understanding of it but was good to get some more info and see some examples of how the final product looks when you start using it with the children in the class.

We then had time to play with this idea and link it all together in a site.

Here is the one I created for the practicing of this.

Link here.

This is just a home page with a link to a mock up reading page with a group. Then a link to the slide with my attempt to use the T Shaped Literacy for a reading group. 

A nice wee tool that we were introduced to for the planning of this was Jam Board. It was quite helpful and I can see some uses for it in the classroom. 

Summary

My blog does not reflect the whole picture of what was happening in today's session. There was an awful lot of learning and tips but I have just added the key points so that I can get back now to creating slides and T Shaped Literacy ideas for my class. I also want to completely redo my class site that I started in lock down and make it more multi modal for engaging all the learners in my class. 

DFI Dealing with Data

Google Grid View on my Google Meet was not working this morning so has made for a real challenging day.
Hopefully will get it sorted properly for next time.

Manaiakalani

Like always we started the session with a Link to Manaiakalani.

The focus today was SHARING.

It was a bit of an eye opener that sharing became amplified with the introduction of social media. I had not thought about that before but makes a lot of sense. Having a place to share and make it reach so many people has made for a bigger audience.

I like Dorothy's quote "People who choose to listen to you." In definition it is then the authentic audience. As they want to see what you are sharing.

For our learners Blogger is the main way for them to share as it is the best tool for the purpose.

I also liked the idea that Sharing signals finishing learning. 

I know from in my own class children are more motivated to share their writing when we have a sharing time at the end of the session. So they want to work hard to complete their story so that they can let others in the class hear it and give them positive feedback. I can see how this will be a motivation when they are using tech as well.

Google Forms

I have used google forms in the past when working as one of the in school collaborators for Kahui Ako. A focus was well-being and we created a form to survey our children, our parents, and staff on their well-being at the beginning and end of the year and got some amazing useful data from this.

I have now learnt that we could have made it easier to use with some of the tricks from todays session, especially making sections. (Then its not just one whole page of question after question)
Here is the form I created today. Feel free to answer the questions.

Click here to answer my questions.

Google my maps

Seems like a fun tool to use especially at the start of the year when children are creating pepeha or introductions. Can use it to show on the world map where children or their families come from or call home. Then it can be shared on blogs or site. Could be fun to try next year. Not sure yet if I could use it for anything else.

Below is the map I created showing in yellow the holiday destination of the people in my digital bubble. I also attempted to find out the distance from our home in Tonga to our old home in Timaru to see how far we traveled when we started our journey last year

Google Sheets

I have already learnt a lot about spreed sheets from taking 'computering' (what our teacher called the class) at high school. (As the other option at the time was cooking and that did not interest me.) A lot of what we learnt was a good refresh on what you can do on sheets, from filtering, freezing, and calculating. I have in the past made graphs to show data and information so was good to have a refresh and a play.

I liked the idea of adding sparkline, a mini line graph of selected data in a row/column that sits in one cell. I will be trying and using that one.

Creating with Data

Summary

Another amazing day of learning even with the annoyances of google grid view not working! Looking forward to the next two sessions on Sites.