Digital Fluency Intensive Week 5

What did I learn that increased my understanding of Manaiakalani kaupapa and pedagogy?

Today's focus on Visible Learning hooked me in from the start. Visible teaching is empowering to students. When they can visibly see what their learning looks like for the week and where the learning is heading it provides them with support and gives them some ownership. The whole of the process should be visible - PLANNING which is embedded into your class site; PROCESS which are the learning tasks accessed and explained on the class site;  OUTCOMES - what students have learned/created/shared during the learning and how they went about this [method/collaboration];  ASSESSMENT using evidence of what students have done. 
There are no surprises for students and parents also have access to their child's personal learning blog and the class blog through a parent portal. 
Visible Teaching needs to be 'Accessible' - teachers are to make sure their sharing permissions are sorted so that it is 'Available' to their students. Visible Teaching has to be prepared in 'Advance.' 

Danni Stone from Pt England School shared insights into the benefits of 'Multi- Modal' learning. This is used as a hook to get students interested and keep them engaged both cognitively and behaviorally.
It is very important how teachers use the technology and how the learning is presented. Students need to be quickly engaged  [behavioural], then quickly move into the learning and then deeper learning. For example you can give students increasingly more complex text.The following video explains the effect of visible learning. Achievement data from Manaiakalani schools is collected by Woolf Fisher Researchers and analysed. 

Multi-Modal teaching/learning can be applied in blogs. This was compared to 'window dressing' in blogs and sites which has the aim of hooking viewers in to explore/inquire further. It can be used in the same way as a hook for teachers, parents and whanau.

Danni stressed that technology itself can be a hook when students first get to use devices. This wears off and it is the learning tasks themselves using a Multi-modal approach to engage, which strengthen learning and deepen understanding. 

What did I learn that will increase my confidence, capability or work flow as a professional?

I have not created a class site as yet, however we had the opportunity today to create a multi-modal gardening site for children. Click on the picture link to it. 

I know that I will be able to add to this and use it in the future. The new Google Sites app is certainly more user friendly than the old Classic sites that I have used before and I am now more confident to attempt a class site as a portal to student learning.

What did I learn that I could use with my learners?

I saw how a class site can be used as the access to learning for students. At a click of a button they will be able to see what they have to do and how to do complete the task. I look forward to being able to manage my planning,  student/group activities,  formative assessment and collaborating with other teachers in my syndicate in this way. I am also looking forward to next weeks DFI when I'll learn how a class site links to Explain Everything on the iPad.

What did I learn that could improve my confidence, capability and workflow in my personal life?

Hopefully after the initial creation of my class site, learning how to use it effectively and teaching the students to use it in tandem with the ipads, my workflow will be improve. Having visible teaching and learning accessible to all stakeholders in one place is my goal.

Digital Fluency Intensive Week 4

Due to the NZEI nation wide strike on the 15th August I did not attend this weeks DFI session. I found the whole strike-action experience positive in the Kaitaia area. The support from the community was wonderful. Parents and families joined us on our hikoi from Kaitaia Intermediate School,  car horns honked, people waved, students yelled out "we love teachers,"  business owners stood at their entrance ways with cheers and friendly affirmation and there was an overwhelming sense of unity among the teachers as they gathered together from different schools. The seriousness of the matter was not lost as we waved the placards and stood firm together declaring, "Kua te wa! It's time!"

And it is time for a change as teachers and principals struggle with a never ending succession of demands to meet student needs and M.o.E. requirements with inadequate resourcing.
We are currently stretched to our physical and mental limits. It is just too much!.

I for one love working with my students and work hard to provide the very best for them . . . and, every teacher I know has exactly the same attitude. What teachers want is for the profession to be respected, which includes an increase in salary that reflects the qualification and the workload/hours that are involved. Good teachers are leaving! Less teachers are training! If nothing happens soon, students will be in overcrowded classrooms with an increasing number of children who have a range of severe learning and behavioural issues for whom there is little or no support.



Before the Paparore School team joined forces with the other teachers at KIS, they picketed at Awanui. We had the same support as mentioned above. I must also mention that the local Bakerman Cafe served us delicious date scones, free of charge. The lovely gesture was accompanied with a, "thank you . . . we support you!"

Some of the Team joining forces with the teachers across New Zealand -  Thanks Donna Brydon [also part of the team] for the fantastic photo.  The rest of the team, Principal John Windleborn, Angela Windleborn and Venessa Davan, were supporting the cause on the opposite corner. Please note the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow 😉.

Although I was absent from this session I did work with Google sheets. If you would like an editable copy of the following Google Sheet email me.
Whole School Progress and Achievement Data

Digital Fluency Intensive Week 3

What did I learn that increased my understanding of Manaiakalani kaupapa and pedagogy?

Creativity Empowers Learning: Teachers are creative when they design experiences that hook students into learning and also provide a opportunities for students to be creative in a variety of ways. The following graphic depicts the brain as being the center of thinking but most of us, and especially our students, need to use our bodies in creative ways to help our brains make sense of the world around us, ideas, concepts and new learning. Using our hands, feet, mouths, the whole body to sing, dance, create visual arts, construct, build, cook, act and speak makes us happy and empowers learning. Such activities provide opportunity for children to learn about themselves, what they like to do, where they come from and connect with the world around them. Digital technology empowers creativity but is only a small part of the whole. In fact devices may just be used to capture and share the other avenues of creativity.

What did I learn that will increase my confidence, capability or work flow as a professional?

1. I learned to make a button! A skill which I know will be used many times in the future for my class site and also in changing our School Curriculum site from Classic Sites to the New Google Sites.

2. I learned to change the settings in my You Tube account to make them private, and to stop embedded videos on class sites continuing on to suggested videos. I will now save my videos in You Tube rather than book marking them. This is a much better way to organise them.


3. I learned lots about the features of Google Slides as I created an animated story. I did actually get a bit carried away when completing it at home. Short animations could be used as motivation fro creative writing, or a fun way of explaining a strategy or concept in maths, science etc.

What did I learn that I could use with my learners?

1. I could definitely use animated Google Slides as mentioned above. 

2. Embedding rewindable videos into my class site when I have created one.

3.Creating labelled playlists in You Tube will help with collecting and organising video resources for future and repeated use in learning activities.

4. The use of buttons in Google sites and also on the iPads using 'Explain Everything' will provide access to student learning in the different curriculum areas. 

What did I learn that could improve my confidence, capability and workflow in my personal life?

1. Adjusting privacy settings with You Tube videos. This is especially applicable where grandchildren are concerned. 

2. I have never added a video of my family or class to You Tube and now thinking about the effects of negative comments on young people I am relieved I haven't. 

Thank you Dorothy, Kerry and Michael for all of the very helpful tips, information and hands-on, creative learning time you gave us. 

Digital Fluency Intensive Week 2

What did I learn that increased my understanding of Manaiakalani kaupapa and pedagogy?

Dorothy shone some more light on the Manaiakalani kaupapa. I was interested and pleased to hear that Manaiakalani do not dictate what LEARN looks like. Each school is unique and has it's own character, vision, values and learning process etc. I asked myself what LEARN currently looks like in my classroom/at our school and what it will look like as digital technology is blended more effectively into teaching and learning. I know it has to be excellent pedagogy that steers the ship, providing opportunity for all students to have the digital technology skills they will require to move forward and be successful in the 21st Century. I must be up to the play having and imparting the knowledge, skills and strategies to my students which will enable them to improve in their learning, be creative, inquiring and able communicators on the world-wide web. Dorothy's example of giving a car to a child was the perfect analogy for a digital learning environment. Give a child a device without the teaching and learning support and it will be of little benefit and a waste of time. In fact it could be disastrous. In a nutshell - LEARN is effective pedagogy in a digital environment.

What did I learn that will increase my confidence, capability or work flow as a professional?

The day's learning was all about being organised through using Google Applications and extensions effectively.

1. To use Onetab to organize tabs.
2. Organize my Gmail Inbox into folders; priority emails; colour code; add labels
3. Organize Bookmarks into Folders
4. Use Google Hangouts and invite others to a Hangout using Calendar [love this!]
5. We attempted a hangout session in groups, recording this on Quicktime player. My group's recording was not a success, however we did have fun in the process and know that it can be done.

What did I learn that I could use with my learners?

The learning today was more about my organisation rather than for my New Entrants. I now have 1-1 ipads that have been set up Manaikalani style with 'Explain Everything' and am waiting to learn how to use this effectively and apply some of what I am learning.

What did I learn that could improve my confidence, capability and workflow in my personal life?

All of the learning today I can apply to my personal life. I think good organisation helps with time management which is a priority for me. I was already using Google Calendar and now applying Hangouts is a bonus.