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. 

DFI Day 3

Another incredible day with my head spinning over the possibilities for student learning. The focus on create today was inspiring and especially aligns with the creative bend of our Maori and Pacifika students. My one regret is that I am not in a classroom where I can practice and teach these gems on a daily basis.

However my plan now is to present some of the gems I am learning at teacher workshops back in school.

There are currently two of us participating in the DFI from our school. We will plan a few sessions together.

 

Kylie is in the junior school and can share her learning with junior teachers. I will share with the senior school teachers who are a lot more digitally competent than me but are new to teaching and will most definitely appreciate the slides and range of resource and well able to implement many aspects into their classroom programmes.

Some of what I have covered today

Pedagogy of Create: shared by Dorothy shows the limitless activities that can be created. The slide examples of what students are creating are wonderful motivators for both teachers and students and show the range of countless possibilities.  

YouTube and Live streaming: We will invest in a camera and Teradek: VidiU Go. Capturing our whanau fun days and important events and being able to stream them will be fantastic for our children and community. Thank you.

Drag and Drop: I had a wonderful session with Maria on this. My brain headed down the creative track and I took a few shortcuts and paid for them however I wanted to have birds flying through the air to catch fish in the sea. I thought it was a good idea. I found the birds ok and the fish but the fish were bigger than the birds and the reality of the mismatch means it is all a bit hopeless. Sometime I will go back and have another try as I loved the play.

Google Slides: These are certainly more than a presentation tool. It is a wonderful tool for creating.  Slides provide access to learning for students and are easily shared and embedded into class sites. The weekly planner examples from schools are vibrant purposeful and motivating for learners. 

Google Draw: The more I learn the more there is to learn.  I've had a try at Digital Art today. It looks like it will be another one of those things I will need to go back to. When we move to Level 1 I will find a few students to sit at the table with me and we will go through the slides together. Hopefully we will be able to help one another.

Teachers are so lucky to be in classrooms drawing on the range of resources available to help them promote inspirational learning for students. AMAZING is all I can say.

DFI Day 2

Another inspiring day of learning facilitated by a fantastic team.

First up was;

The Manaiakalani Pedagogy: with Ako (Learn) as the key focus  for today has students and teachers at the centre. There is no place for  dynamics that occur within a hierarchy learning structure as it is about learning together and learning from one another. It fits so perfectly with culturally responsive practice.

Gmail Inbox
Cleaning up 2,350 emails is not as huge a task as I first thought now I know about archiving and labelling.
However choosing the best option of the  many available  and letting go of all those thousands of emails has left me feeling very very nervous. I think I'll do that on the weekend along with using unroll.me and customising my inbox organisation.

Google Keep
What an amazing tool both for professional and personal use. I regret not having this throughout the period of lockdown. To be able to save things like images and articles with a simple click and automatic saving of things like this across devices means ready access anytime and anywhere. Adding a note to an email, having ready access on my phone means Google Keep  will become a necessary part of my life from now on.

Google Calendar
I realise how we gave up on the staff calendar  a long time ago because we ended up in such a mess. We will re-instigate this now with the necessary controls mentioned today such as restricting direct access but having a shared doc for people to suggest additions. We didn't have those checks and balances hence the mess and a huge reluctance not to venture there again until now.

Taming the Tabs
I think I have learned the solution to having multiple tabs open and ending up with 3 views of myself in a "Meet"!!! I've had anxiety attacks since our last DFI hoping that I wouldn't expose my ignorance again. Hopefully Onetab will help me restore some level of dignity!

Blogging
I am learning more and more about the power of blogging but had to navigate a lot of tabs and tools to finally achieve a result with recording my feedback. A big mihi to Helen Parata who exerted the utmost patience in helping me get there in the end.

I can't wait for the weekend to keep playing and practising all the wonderful gems that have filled my brain today. Although we are running out of time to prepare for the return of our children's to school after a long period of lockdown I really felt I should have been at school to support everyone.
However the stimulation and excitement of learning today leaves me inspired and delighted I didn't miss out on DFI 2.

Nga mihi ki a koutou

DFI Day 1

My response to the first day of the Digital Fluency Intensive is that I am impressed by how much knowledge I had prior to today but equally appalled by the reality of how little I know. I am also excited by how much more there will be to learn over the next 9 weeks. 
Below are some snippets of the learning from today.


Eyes on text: For increasing fluency and reading accuracy. I have been aware of this but had no experience of it.  What a powerful way to support our learners especially those who show outstanding creativity and are especially articulate but lack motivation. 
Range of Tools: My head is buzzing from the array of tools at my disposal but have remained unused until now. Using docs to create a range of presentations starting with a table. I look forward to a weekend of exploring and working my way back through as many of the slides as I can.
Leadership: The learning I am engaging in will enable me to improve both my understanding and  leadership within the school.  Over the Covid-19 lockdown all our classes have switched to 1:1 digital learning. Two teachers joined our team a few days prior to lockdown and one of them has registered for this intake too. Another two teachers are ready and waiting to register for the next intensive.

I have had an incredible day of engaging with the powerful kaupapa of Learn, Create, Share guided by an expert team of teachers/facilitators. As a new learner today I was relieved and grateful for the guidance and support that helped me keep up the pace to gain an even greater appreciation for the Learn, Create, Share pedagogy. Thank you so much Dorothy and team. What an inspiration you all are and what a privilege it is to be learning beside you. Tena koutou katoa.

The role of values in the Covid-19 pandemic

Finding ourselves in a global COVID-19 pandemic crisis is catastrophic enough without the challenge of providing quality-learning programmes for students at home in lockdown.

They say however, that the greatest clarity often comes in times of crisis and this is certainly the case for me as a school and cluster leader.  The clarity is overwhelming when I reflect on the strategic move some of us in Papakura and many of us across the country made to join Manaiakalani as an Outreach Cluster. It is with incredible relief, tremendous satisfaction and sincere gratitude that I reflect on our Edmund Hillary School education journey over the past six years and our readiness to meet the challenges of the current crisis.

The weeks of lockdown have provided many opportunities for me to appreciate and ponder at a deep level, the key values that are so precious at a time like this.   

Kaitiakitanga in our education context is about resource and kaitiaki pertains to those who have provided and nurtured that resource for us as educators of our young people.  I acknowledge the Kaitiaki of Manaiakalani, Pat Snedden Trust Chair, Dorothy and Russel Burt, Jenny Oxley and their team who have guided, supported and watched over us throughout our entire digital learning journey.  I acknowledge the Kaitiaki of Kootuitui ki Papakura especially foundation Chair Leigh Auton and CEO Angela Gattung and the whanau who have worked tirelessly to weave together the strands of our programme. 

The key value of Rangatiratanga aptly represents the way our leaders have paved the way with conviction, passion and high-level expertise to ensure we are more than prepared for the unexpected. 

 Manaakitanga is yet another of those values.  Simply put, it is about giving mana- to what you say. The countless opportunities to meet and engage in the Learn, Create, Share pedagogy together as Manaiakalani and Kootuitui members have given us a shared sense of empowerment and clarity about what really matters in the pursuit of excellence for our learners.  

Last but by no means, least is the shared value of whanaungatanga and represents the way the combined values have given those of us fortunate enough to be whanau of both Manaiakalani and Kootuitui the same conviction, passion and high-level expertise, demonstrated by our leaders. It is the guarantee needed for successful and equitable outcomes for students and whanau and is encapsulated in the words of the great Tainui leader Te Puea Herangi

Mahia te mahi, hei painga mo te iwi. Maanakitia te iwi, whangaingia te tangata. Kia mau ki te aroha me te rangimarie.

Tena koutou katoa.