A reflection of 2020 to date

Reflection

As I prepare for term 4 I have found myself reflecting on the year to date. Wow! I am not sure where the time has gone since the return to the classroom after lockdown. This year has truly been unprecedented. I have taught online, in bubbles and then a return to what was far from  normal in the classroom. New practices in place and irregular attendance are new challenges. But I feel I have had so many successes from this journey. I think we can all agree that 2020 has been a year of change.

Reading through my blog posts during the DFI journey I am reminded of just how far I have come as a practitioner and also with my colleagues in our collaborative team. What once felt so foreign and challenging has become the norm  with new challenges being sort. Our language as a team has changed not to mention the shift in how we deliver our curriculum. My digital journey like many started with the use of Gmail and Google Drive, mainly for planning and organisation. This began to develop momentum as we started to explore different technologies in the classroom. Over the last 7 years at Awapuni Kura we have moved from interactive whiteboards, desktop computers, class ipad, the introduction of chromebooks and now we are  1-1 in the senior school.

Once our kura joined the Manaiakalani 'Movement' (I choose that word as I feel there is a movement in our thinking and deliverance of our program) this challenged our thinking of what we 'thought' digital technologies looked like in the classroom and taught us ways of integrating these into our daily program.

The year has seen an amplification of our use of a digital platform due to COVID-19. I felt I was well on the way in my deliverance of a digital curriculum but how wrong I was! Doing the DFI and having Manaiakalani in class support for the first time this year has slightly blown my mind.  As practitioners we are always adapting, personalising and seeking the right resources to build a rich curriculum program for our tamariki. Having to then switch this to an ALL digital platform was time consuming but not as challenging as I initially thought. 

For me it started with our DFI session exploring a multi modal approach. To create a digital reading program that replicated my classroom rotation.  I'm not going to lie I totally loved it!  I have seen an increase in student engagement and an excitement in the tamariki as they ask "can I finish my mahi at home" or "can I do a blog post about this tonight". It's so heartwarming to see the tamaiki equipped with the tools to allow for this 24/7 learning to happen. It has removed some barriers for tamariki with low attendance especially with healths issues and the extra precautions whānau are taking in light of COVID. 

I am a highly visual person who loves creativity so this is reflected in my multimodal google slides, which now extend beyond reading, including maths and science. The tamariki get a giggle when they see my bitmoji doing crazy things that is related to the topic of the Gslide. I work a lot smarter, my mahi is transparent, rewindable and allows for self directed learning to happen both in and out of the classroom. It's REALLY exciting!

My goal moving forward is to continue to build my digital resources but to also seek out ways to ensure ALL learners are catered for. What can I create that support learners with specific needs? What adaptations do I need to make to ensure they understand the tasks at hand. I would like to combine my knowledge gained from completing a Post Graduate Diploma in Special Education in 2019 with this new learning to develop systems, processes, tools (what the right word is am unsure) but the goal is to provide an inclusive program for  tamariki to reach new successes. 

Whew.... watch this space. 

Below are links to view my Reading & Science slides on our G site.

https://sites.google.com/awapuni.school.nz/2020toroa/learning/reading/mrs-bavas-reading-groups

https://sites.google.com/awapuni.school.nz/2020toroa/learning/science-environmental-issues/science-elective

DFI Last Day - Week 9

Ubiquitous

Anytime, anywhere, anyplace!

This is something I have learnt during this DFI course along side with starting a new journey in a collaborative classroom this year. It has always been important to capture those teachable moments but I have learnt many new platforms to deliver this, both teachable moments from my students and myself. The tamariki are so talented and teach me something new everyday. Starting the Manaiakalani facilitation this year in class has seen us learning along side each other. It's been great!

Google Exam - Challenge is on... 

Panic stations kicked in when I realised the day before I had not registered for the exam. It completely slipped my mind as I prepped for my busy week. Thankfully with the support of Maria, Dorothy & Gerhard I was able to get it sorted in time. 

It's been many years since I sat an exam as long as this but to be honest once I got going I thoroughly enjoyed it. The tip to read the questions, check and double check was great. Being aware of the clock ticking down I had to make myself re-read the questions to make sure I understood what they were asking. I completed it using every minute of the time. I answered everyone questions but one - I had bookmarked to go back to and ran out of time. All and all I was proud of my effort and yes I passed! (whew!)

Reflection

As I reflect on the last 9 weeks I am proud of myself and my achievements in light of what can only be described as unforeseen challenges. There were many reasons why I have been successful in my digital learning. 

First, I need to acknowledge the start to our learning year and having Maniakalani facilitation in the classroom with Amie. Although we only had a few sessions before Covid-19 hit, it created an online platform to recap prior learning and learn some tips and tricks with the tamariki. 

Secondly, Maria and the Manaiakalani facilitation team who came to run sessions with the Tairawhiti crew, I valued our face to face sessions and I am glad we made those important connections before we continued our online learning. Proud of us all! 

Thirdly, my team at Kura. I was lucky to have one of my team members join me on this DFI Journey. This has helped as we have shared ideas and problem solved together. Joining this knowledge with our other team member who is a graduate of DFI a few years ago we are set up to continue successful digital learning for our tamariki. 

Finally I need to acknowledge our principal Nik for providing this opportunity and the team at school for the organisation of relievers and all the behind the scenes stuff.  It really takes a village! 

I will continue to use this platform to highlight any new learning or celebrations I have. 

Ngā mihi nui

Janine 

Computational Thinking - Week 8

Empowered

Future of Tech

This deep dive is a timely reminder of the speed in which technology moves. I was amazed at the clip showing Sophia on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. Her expressions and ability to show this and have some wit was incredible. It seems that the time frame is shorting from an idea to conception. I don't know if I should be excited or terrified of what may come.  

It shows us the importance of preparing our learners to be good problem solvers and digital citizens as we teach them for jobs that have not been invented yet. 

Computational Thinking

A digitally fluent person can decide when and why to use specific digital technologies to achieve a specific task or solve problems.

A digitally capable person can create their own digital technologies solution.

Ministry of Education Summary Report 2018 

Teachers who are confident to deliver lessons online-turbo charge the tamariki learning. Understanding Computational Thinking is an approach to problem solving. Taking apart a problem and figuring out how to attack it. The four stages are;

• Decomposition -breaking something down. 
• Pattern Recognition -finding similarities to make predictions.
• Abstraction -finding general principals that generate this patterns.
• Algorithm Design -developing the step by step instructions that solve similar problems.

Explore: Coding

A highlight for me today was exploring coding. I have been to Mind-Lab several times with the tamariki and enjoyed watching them create using coding many times. I have a basic understanding of it but was super keen to give it a go. I decide to try Flappy Bird as I had played around with Scratch in the classroom. Well I was immediately hooked. It became quite addictive and I enjoyed myself. In fact you could have heard a pin drop in our regional group as we were all concentrating and were determined to complete this task in the time frame and share. Click here if you would like to have a go at my Flappy Bird Game! 

Super excited I even got a certificate! 

This coming week provides the challenge of online teaching, teaching on site in a bubble for two days for our essential workers tamariki and exam prep. 

Busy week ahead!

Devices - Week 7

Cybersmart

We all know the importance of being Cybersmart and as our world becomes more connected digitally there is a need for the increase of using 'cybersmart language'. Integration of cybersmart is an important part of planning and teaching to reinforce the importance of being a good digital citizen. Today highlighted the many ways it can be a seamless integration. I think the saying of the day that will stick with me was when Fiona said "being in the right place, at the right time, online!"

Moving forward as we explore the use of students blogs in the classroom I will be looking at ways to embed cybersmart into these lessons, of course with the help of my team and Amie our Manaiakalani facilitator.

Hapara Dashboard

Hapara Dashbaord makes student learning visible to the teacher as sites makes visible teaching for the students.

Hapara is a tool that I use daily in the classroom but during my journey in DFI I have learn't many new features that is provides. I can see how it complements what we do in Google Sites and I look forward to growing my confidence in using these new features I have learn't.

Devices - Chromebooks

As we explored the many different devices students used I enjoyed the section on Chromebooks more than iPads today. Teaching in senior primary this is a tool we use daily. During the 'Digital Dig' I learn't many new shortcuts and was also surprised at what I already knew. I was lucky to have my daughters chrome book at home, it gave me different perspective, a window in to what our students use. I found the smaller screen a challenge and it was a lot slower. Our Tairawhiti group was very quite during our Google Hangout and you could see everyone concentrating during this task. It's exciting to learn new things but when they  link  directly to your daily practice - it's game on! 

                                               

Here is my Google Slide of the 'Digital Dig' with some examples of my learning from today's session.

Screencastify & Toolkit

Screencastify has fast become my friend and I am thankful for the full use of all it's features for free during this lock down period. It has made connecting with my students so much easier and it's simply! I love the way it downloads directly in to my Drive and is easily embedded into our Sites. I have used it to finish reading our class novel, created short videos of instructions for students and whānau, reordered my self doing a dance (if you could call it that) for a 'Lock-down' staff dance to brighten our school communities day and to send messages to family and friends. I love this tool! :) I have also enjoyed using flip grid to get a snap shot of our tamariki and how they are feeling in their bubbles.

Blogger Tips

Once again today I struggled to grasp the concept of what Kerry was trying to teach us about blogger. I'm not sure if it's the fast pace she works at (especially for those of us that are relatively new to blogger) or if it's because of being at the end of our learning day? Learning online I find is a lot more tiring properly because as i'm concentrating and staring at a screen all day. I was pleases I wasn't the only one struggling with this content and we have been proactive and taken up the many offers of support from our local Manaiakalani coordinators, booking in a Google Hangout next week. 

What will next week bring...

Level 3 see's me returning to the classroom a few days a week to support our essential workers tamariki. This will be an interesting time with many new rules to follow in our school bubbles, but I am looking forward to bursting out of my bubble safely. 

• Continue with our class Google Hangouts and check in with students
• Google Hangout with Amie & Michelle to go over Blogger and Sheets.
• Prep for Google exam

Enabling Access - Week 6

Connecting ...

Making connections is such a big part of who we are as humans. At this present time creating connections digitally has become the daily norm. When I was watching the news tonight a man said a month a go he thought Zoom was in reference to a car, now he is on Zoom on a daily basis with his staff! For many digitally connecting was just a part of a normal work day, but now it has become a part of everyone's daily routine whether its working from home, online learning, connecting and checking in with family, ordering essential items or just watching Netflix. Digital technology has become a large part of our daily lives. Dorothy's message today's around connectivity being a way of life for our students was perfectly timed  but i'm sure even when she prepared her slide for our DFI course she didn't realise how relevant it would be for us all.  

As we continued the exploration in Google Sites today I enjoyed having the time to learn, create and share. I got lots of great ideas from viewing others sites and it also reinforced I was on the track with my contributions within our team site. Breaking off into our regional groups was great as it allowed the time to explore each others sites, test links, and give feedback to each other.

Our team site is looking fantastic, many hours has been spent to create interactive digital content that is easily accessible for our tamariki during lock down. I am grateful to the few sessions we had with Amie our Manaiakalani facilitator before this unprecedented turn of events happened, reshaping all aspects of our daily lives. This along with our (Michelle & I ) new learning from this DFI course has helped create and support our team in site building. 

I have continued to create multi module Google slides to support my reading program. Making sure for the time being that everything is digitally accessible and limits the links to support online learning at home. I am a very visual person and yes I have spent way to much time on  the creative aspect of these, (as I have plenty of time at moment!) and recreating some activities (which is not necessarily working smarter) but I am very proud of the outcome and see it as an investment into my future planning as I am building a bank of rich resources. 

Check out my reading slides here.

Blog Tips

Kerry's session on Blogger tips moved at a very fast pace today. I feel I  need to rewind and refresh by going over the Google slide and then putting it into practice. It's a lot of new learning to fit into one day and I do miss the face to face discussions. I did try to do the task she set us but it did not work, practice, practice, practice is what I need. 

A busy week ahead and lots to explore!

Next steps for me moving forward are to;

• continue to use Google Hangout to connect with students
• updating and building on our team Google Site
• record my message in Flip grid for students to connect to peers & teachers
• practice so I am prepared for the Google exam

Google Sites - Week 5

Week 5 sees us exploring Google Sites and the importance of visible learning and teaching. 

Today's session started with a grateful chain. In these uncertain times it was lovely to hear from others what they are grateful for. It really is the little things in life that make all the difference. As we experience life in level four lock-down, for many of us this is our first time experiencing a loss of freedom, free choice and restrictions. Thanks Maria for a great activity to start our learning day. 

Visible learning is not only essential to the success of our tamariki but adds to the growth and professional development of ourselves.

Visiblity A few notes from this session;

- using your site where all links are on this site, easy to access and keeping it simple for tamariki

- Hapara teacher dashboard was designed for the manaiakalani program so that the learning would be visible for the teacher. It is now used around the world.Their is a parent portal part on the teacher dashboard.
Need to learn about this and set it up for our whānau.  

I enjoyed extending my learning within Google Sites. A highlight was working in our small groups with Michelle, Sarah, Julia and Cheryl creating a reading slide and site.

Here is my finished reading slide.

This was inspiring idea and I look forward to adapting and implementing this into my reading program. I will be messaging our team to set up a Google Hangout next week to review our team site. It is in it's early stages of conception so not a lot in it, our main area is around our cyber smart mahi with our Manaiakalani facilitator Amie. The tamariki are really confident in following the steps of each weeks task. Now it's time to extend this in to other learning areas.

Multi Modal

Some key points from Kerry's session about how to use your sites;

- Hook

- Engage

Use the site to create visual interest so the tamariki are enticed to explore more. Using the home page with all the bells and whistles, one- three links to go directly to where you want to them to, keep it simple!

I enjoyed the You tube clip she shared 'looking at a shop window'. Thinking of our site like a shop window helps put it into perspective. I have made a note of slide 20 as it has some good examples that will be handy to use in the future as I fine tune my multi modal skills.

Blogger Tips

Reaction buttons at the bottom of your blog. To edit separate your words out use a comma, click save. On your professional blog you could add your share buttons so people can access your email, Facebook, twitter etc, Do not use share buttons on you students blogs.

Multitext Database -  (sample) or T shaped learning, T shaped literacy explained 

Main text, complementary text, scaffolding and challenging text. This is a great idea... already my brain is thinking of ways to adapt my current program and create something similar to suit my learner needs. Cheryl shared with us today a site called EPIC which looks fantastic. This is what I love about collaboration and visible teaching. Everyone has so many great ideas, tricks or sites that they use. Its so great to leave a sessions feeling inspired to implement new ideas for our learners.

Embedding Google Forms into my site, last week I had a bit of trouble with

this. Amie shared a video with me showing me the steps.

Thanks Amie!

Dealing with Data - Week 4

Share - it is such an important part of the learning but can often be missed out in the classroom due to time or lack there of. It light of the current situation where we are in lock-down to stop the spread of Covid-19, the importance of making connections has become a strong focus and one that I took for granted. Never would I have imagined a time when I could not go the school as see my students face to face. I applaud the New Zealand Government for taking this action to keep us all safe, but due to the swiftness of it, it has left me feeling unprepared for online learning. Being new to the Manaiakalani facilitation this year we had only just scratch the surface. When reflecting on sharing in this current climate I feel my learning will be from my peers who have experienced the Manaiakalani programme longer than I and also my students. Their digital knowledge surpasses my own and I look forward to learning from them and with them together on this collaborative journey of online learning.

An authentic audience is one where people choose to listen to you. How can we ensure we are being heard? Learning about Google Forms today has sparked many ideas and conversations with one of my colleagues about how we can use Google Forms.  We both created a form and uploaded to our Site for our tamariki to fill in. From there we will be able to gather some data on how they are felling, what their day looks like, what apps they are using and what they think online learning looks like. This is an exciting way to keep connected with our students, collect data that will link to their well being and encourage student voice about different types of learning activities. 

Data with Google Sheets - arghhh... my brain hurts after this session. I have used Google Sheets before but not created one, just entered data into one. I found this lesson frustrating especially with the many challenges delivering this content to a large group and all the technique issues that came along with this. I had great difficulty hearing and my laptop kept freezing. I was unable to participate in the smaller group chat due to my laptop continuing to play up (it's due for replacement) so I have requested help from my Manaiakalani facilitator at a later date. It's on my to do list. 

Blogger - what fun! I liked the way I could add labels and link key works to make it easier to connect with the appropriate blog or to organise my blogs. I can see the benefit of analysing the data in blogger not only to track the students blogs but to explore what types of blogs are more engaging and also spark a little healthy competition into blogging (like Mele's goal) or commenting on peers blogs. This will easily encourage more tamariki to engage in each others blogs. I enjoy using my classroom blog to get the message out but at the moment I am having trouble getting the tamariki to engage. For some of our year 5 students blogger is new to them and all the tamariki have their own school blog. I'm trying to find ways to get them to engage in the classroom blog as well by adding links to our Team Facebook page to engage whānau as well but this is not working. I think my expectations are too high as this is all new learning for our team and for many parents. I need to keep it simple and for now focus on getting engagement with our Team Sites as this where the bulk of our learning will be delivered over the coming weeks.

My Maps... I can see this becoming a fun way to explore and make real connections to our local area, nationally and linking to whānau overseas. First thought was it would linked nicely to Mathematics but as I played around with it I could see it easily integrating to all curriculum areas. It is an easy way to create custom maps with the places that matter to you. I like the way you can personalise it by adding colour, icons, photos and even videos. Add points or draw shapes anywhere, find places and save them to my maps and even make a map from any spreadsheet. I do need a little bit of practice though, lets me honest...a lot of practice. :)

I know there is  a lot more to add from today's session but my brain is full and it's time to log off. It was interesting doing today's DFI online as it gave me an insight to how our students might feel as online learning increases. I like the advice of keep it simple and limited the links. 

We can do this...