Tool Kit Session - Google Earth

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Exploring and levelling up is always fun and the Toolkit sessions with the Manaiakalani Team provide just that. In this toolkit lesson I learnt how to help students to tell stories, create and explore with Google Earth. I will a lot of practice to learn about the world with Voyager. I like the way you can tour the world with a collection of map-based stories. Explore topics like travel, culture, nature, and history. Start Quizzes, Find Carmen Sandiego and even view data layers. At the click of a button you can begin Exploring.

So excited to level up my skills and implement this in the classroom. How cool would it be to create your own local stories and share them with your community. Let's get practicing. If you have any tips or tricks that your have discovered please leave a comment below. :)

iMovie Experience

Oh my! What an experience...

With the ongoing COVID level changes and Manaiakalani HQ in lockdown our wananga presentations have gone from live face to face in Auckland, to live online from Auckland to pre recorded and shared in our own regional clusters on the 30th November. With the ongoing support from Matt (MIT mentor and digital guru) I created my Pecha Kucha in Google Slides, downloaded as a PNG, uploaded into iMovie, recorded audio, added to iMovie and then edited! Whew!!! 

I will not be giving up my day job any time soon to become a video editor.

After many takes (many, many, many takes...), splits and cuts to remove unnecessary gaps to keep it within the correct time frame and aligning each still shot with the correct video recording, the completed video is done albeit with a few obvious edits.

The biggest challenge now is to sit in the wananga and watch myself on the screen with our Tairawhiti Cluster. 

 

The Power of Instructions or The Power of Inclusiveness?

 

This MIT inquiry journey is fast coming to an end. As I put my final touches on my Google site I have found I am still challenging my own thinking. The outcome of my final product is completely different from my initial idea which Dorothy and Matt said would happen! 

What started as a focus on instructions has merged into a curation based on inclusive practice. My Google Site is a collection of specific tools and strategies. It is a living document of ever evolving resources, tips and tricks to support educators in the classroom. Other educators will have the opportunity to submit readings, resources, or personal tips and tricks through a Google form.

I am looking forward to sharing this with many and hope to gain more information to build a strong resource.

Discovery

 

In this second session of 'Discovery' we did a role play activity at the fictional 'Kuaotunu Area School'. 

Our roles were parents at a BOT meeting, where the Principal and the Chair were reporting to the parents some of the issues at the school. We were each given a 'parent' role to play that ranged from a lawyer, plumber, professor, artist, real estate agent, roading contractor/engineer, and farmer. The Principal reported the school's issues which were our identified challenges, and within our roles we had to question these challenges and talk through why they were a potential problem. Over all it did not paint a positive picture for Kuaotuna Area School. 

This session was helpful as it clarified how our challenges were seen from different perspectives. It also identified the vast range of experiences within the MIT team and highlighted the many different skills in the room. This is exciting as we have great resources within our MIT ropu. 

Moving forward I am looking forward to seeing where this challenge will go.