DFI Day 9

Participating in the mid year 2020 Digital Fluency Intensive has been an incredibly humbling and moving experience. 

Humbling because I was a learner again and a struggling one at that. I felt I was learning a new language. As with any new language learning I could decipher the odd word but not sufficiently to read a whole sentence successfully. I have improved immensely over the 9 weeks and  have a renewed appreciation of how superb teachers need to be, to really know the learner and to tailor learning to the needs of the student. The expert facilitation team were brilliant and able to do all those things with heart, humor and exceptional knowledge, skill and passion.

What a privilege and luxury it has been to take time out to focus on the theory and practice of Manaiakalani for one day a week for 9 weeks.  No reira kei te mihi atu ahau ki a koutou nga rangatira o Manaiakalani i tenei wa whakahiiaro.

On another note;

Coming into the Digital Fluency Intensive professional learning over the Covid-19 period provides a great platform for reviewing our progress as a school.

What are we proud of?  

• Our adaptability over the period of lockdown to ensure equity for all our learners. Every Year 3 to 8 student had a device to work with at home.
• The collaboration across staff to support student learning from home.
• The seamless way teachers were able to meet and connect with students and whanau online.
• The way we mobilized the Year 1 and 2 classes to build sites and to offer learning online for their students.
• The level of professional learning we engaged in via the Manaiakalani site or through our Kootuitui facilitator support over the entire period of lockdown and over the period our children were returning to school.  It was a prime PLD opportunity.
• The opportunity to navigate our way through the Woolf Fisher recorded PLD as a whole staff.
• The ease with which we switched very easily from classroom to online learning for the majority of our students.
• Our readiness to make the changes required for students learning from home.
• The ease with which we just carried on our classroom programmes so that children's learning would not suffer.

What do we regret?

• The uptake for learning from home for a number of our students despite the fact they had devices and WiFi connection. 

What will we take forward into the new era of schooling?

• The importance of whole school digital learning in a very focused and planned way is now non negotiable for our school and board.
• The continuing power of Manaiakalani and the integrity of the philosophy  that is and will continue to change the world and life chances of all students but particularly those who suffer the disadvantage of socio-economic poverty. My view is that education and especially Manaiakalani is what will improve their successful participation in the global world.
• The importance of DFI professional learning for every teacher.

In closing participation in the DFI for me has been a professional learning experience  equal to no other. It is by far the best learning I have engaged in ever.

What more can one say or wish for? I have always been full of admiration and gratitude to Dorothy, Russell, Pat and Jenny for embracing us in Papakura as an Outreach Cluster of Manaiakalani. Having experienced the expertise of the facilitation team has added yet another reason for admiration and gratitude. Tena ra koutou katoa e manaaki nei a a matou nga kaiako. Arohanui Raina

DFI Day 8

Pedagogy of Rangatiratanga

The focus on empowerment for teachers/learners and whanau was very real and a stark reminder of the inequity in some of our communities. Manaiakalani and the kaupapa and our place in it is even more precious. It is the beacon of light and hope for us all. 

The new Digital Technologies Curriculum aligns so well with the Manaiakalani Outreach programme which aims to support "teachers to learn how digital technologies used effectively can have a significant impact on accelerating achievement outcomes."  The evidence can be found in students' writing achievement, the research and data collated on student blogging and the positive impact in reducing the summer slide are some of the areas where we are celebrating significant upward trends.   Creating space for students to gain digital fluency through the Learn/Create/Share pedagogy of Manaiakalani has to be the best possible outcome for everyone.

Deep Dive into the Future of Tech was both exciting and somewhat alarming. The Boston Dynamics' Big Dog conducting rescues in places that would otherwise be hard to get to. 

The moral machine as a platform for making moral decisions was also alarming when placed in the position of needing to make major decisions. I was somewhat relieved to have this part over but it does emphasis the real life issues that face many people.

Exploring Coding: I have extreme doubts about my brain being wired for this. I  navigated my way around Scratch and made a good start until I had to find ways to make the purple character move. Long after the end of the session I was still trying to make it move. I've decided it's another holiday job or I'll never complete this blog or get to work tomorrow.  I have seen the children experimenting with Makery and marvel at what they do. Perhaps I'll join them again on the next round. It is wonderful to be a learner and to have some idea of what it is like to learn another language.

Thank you to Dorothy and  team for another day of excellent facilitation. Arohanui Raina

 

DFI Day 7

Cybersmart: The language pertaining to the Cybersmart curriculum is so positive. It provides an excellent model for all our learners to move forward in the digital world.
Hapara: I learn new things every time there is a focus in our sessions on Hapara. Being able to star projects so they appear on the landing page, never creating new folders as it affects visibility through Hapara. I have looked at student gmail accounts and have been very careful not to interfere or breech confidentiality. I think this kaupapa has been brilliantly thought through.
Manaiakalani 1:1 Journey Part 1 Chromebooks
It's not only the "how to?" but also the approach in terms of equity for all partners including the alignment with the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. It all resonates very deeply with me. A very powerful delivery by Dorothy. If we applied this kaupapa to all interactions with our learners and others we would all be in a much better place and space. I have hardly used a chromebook and found navigating my way round challenging
Digital Dig: iPad workflow
Very useful since we are moving to full 1 to 1 iPads in Year 1&2. It is a new area of learning for us and what we have covered today has provided an excellent guide for our new journey. The iPad set up will be very important of course.
Explain Everything is an exciting tool for creating new projects and sharing creations will be exciting for our learners. The share and inspire option means students will be able to share their projects with others. I have taken time out to navigate my way around creating a project for Matariki  via this app and hope to post it up later today. I can see this being a very powerful tool. It is amazing to see what some learners have posted on their blogs. Once students have transferred onto a chromebook they will be well prepared to be creative and more.
Whiteboard: We are in the process of creating new signs for the school and I did a drawing and recorded it. Then I realised that the power of this is working collaboratively so I will give it a go with a group of students and see what happens.
Another great day of learning so much but I realize how focused I have become on using the same two devices all the time which unfortunately does not extend to  an iPad or chromebook. I tried switching between devices but didn't find this easy.  I also realize how advanced our students are.

DFI Day 6

Another amazing learning curve around the following;
Sites: The feedback form for sites provides an excellent template for us all. We will look at using that regularly to evaluate our own sites. There is a place for it when  providing feedback for teacher planning as it all should link anyway. However given that teachers are at different stages of implementing one to one digital learning, i.e a new teacher to the school, a teacher new to one to one digital as opposed to a teacher in the 3rd or 5th year of digital teaching, we will need to use a range of approaches in preparation for the form becoming common practice.
- Teaching and Learning: monitoring class sites for effective teaching and learning and ensuring a "lolly scramble" of good ideas is avoided is a great kaupapa for our own evaluation and regular checking on ourselves.
Own School site and Class sites
I feel I am better informed to achieve a higher level of evaluation having had time to really look at our own school and class sites as well as the range of ones shared in our session today.
Connectivity: is a powerful kaupapa. I agree that it is a way of life. It is universal and at the heart of whether learning is successful or not. As educators it is the challenge we have to ensure the connections we nurture are empowering for the students we teach. We fail them and ourselves if we can't do this. I felt the power of it today in Dorothy's presentation.
Limit the Links: I recall the feeling of relief and power of this document over the Lockdown period of Covid-19. It enabled us all to be very grateful for how well placed we were to seamless "learning at home" for our children. We were in a position where all Year 3 to Year 8 students had a device at home.  The four key areas were;
Google Sites making teaching visible

Hapara Teacher Dashboard making learning visible

Google Hangouts Meet connecting us all in real time

Limit the Links with ONE portal for learning

The blessings of being in a Manaiakalani Outreach Cluster!!

Side Bar for Blogs:

I will make sure to follow the tips for the side bar for my blog and;

Hapara:

I will look at the sharing tab on Hapara to look for evidence of work that students have not filed.

Kia ora koutou ano facilitators and colleagues for another great day of learning. Arohanui Raina

DFI Day 5

Kaupapa of Visible Learning: The value of visible learning is that you shouldn't have to be a rocket scientist to figure it all out. Sites should be easy to navigate for everyone. The 3 clicks to get to the heart of it all is a good check and measure. I agree that any more than that and it impacts on the motivation to keep looking/learning. Visible learning makes learning easy, accessible and therefore more likely to be successful.
Multimodal: The range of tools and ideas available to enhance learning. Presenting learners with pathways that will engage and cater for different learning styles is powerfully motivating and exciting.
Blogger Visibility: Brand new learning for me and very useful as I will be able to provide feedback class by class over time if I set myself and support staff achievable goals of commenting on students blogs. I had no idea this was a feature of Hapara. How amazing!!!

T Shaped Literacy: Woolf Fisher slide presentation is a great overview of what this is all about. The biggest challenges I see are finding the range of different text types and ensuring they match  the needs of students. I developed a T Shaped literacy site with Learn/Create/Share in mind which I will develop more over time.
T Shaped Literacy Site

Acknowledgment for Russell Burt

DFI Day 4

Another day with my head spinning from the incredible learning but battling connectivity issues and admin rights which will be referred on to our technicians. 

My Maps:

I had what I think is a great idea for this but didn't take it anywhere near as far as I wanted. I will get back to it though and see what I can do. I began tracking my relief teaching around South West London over a 3 year period. It will be a fascinating record when finished. Remembering schools in Clapham Junction, Kennington by the Oval, Tulse Hill and Brixton in the days of the riots. I'll be able to measure the walking distance to work through snow.

Google Sheets:

I can see the value of teachers being able to analyse their own data using Google Sheets and the value of presenting whole school data in this way as well. I need to go back in order to go forward again. Data intrigues me but I need much more practice in setting up the Google Sheet first. 

I will gather some like minds around me and work on it. How exciting at teams and whole school level!! I may not be in a classroom to practice but there are most definitely ways around this.
The presentation for timetables and teacher planning using Google Sheets is stunning. I will try some presentations and think about the context for use.

Analyzing data from a student blog

I quickly became a supporter of Mele@Panmure Bridge School and followed her tutorial to generate my own  data. It will be a great agenda item for a teacher workshop soon.
Sheets on Speed: Looks like the weekend will be spent going back over the exam section and and adding more to the areas I started today but didn't finish.
Some may wonder about spending a weekend doing catch up but I am so looking forward to adding more.