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!