Day 2 Blog

Today we reflected on the Learn aspect of Manaiakalani and I was reminded of the rich opportunities provided to us in our digital world.

Of course we are also reminded that it is also a matter of searching online to find good quality resources and contexts for learning, and those which also provide and respond to the needs of our specific children at our schools and in our classes. 

   One of the most important aspects I reflect on now are the important relationships we have with our students and how that impacts on their learning.  Those who are coming from families facing a myriad of challenges may come to school with an entirely different set of needs everyday.  Knowing and understanding our families and students is so important.  Then being able to provide supportive learning environments are key to effective learning.  Engaging with students and the importance of allowing time for discussion, engaging with existing learning and knowledge are such important aspects of effective practice.   The flexibility of rewindable learning environments provided to us and our students through a digital world are some of the gifts of technology that allow us to respond and learn best when the time is right.  

Today I also spent time developing my own skills in the digital world and though I didn't use Meet when working with my students online during covid I did meet frequently with staff and others so it is timely to develop skills in this area like recording and presenting my page and setting up meetings etc.

I already love using Keep and for example frequently grab text to use in more appropriate fonts and formats for my Year 2 and 3 students; and sharing more applications of its use was most helpful, both in my professional and personal life.  I now have a place for all those recipies!

Using Gmail I am reminded of many useful settings and also some new ones I have often wondered how to do but hadn't had the time to discover, such as undoing send to add an attachment and archiving more material and using Keep and Calendar more in conjunction with gmail.  

As I frequently have many tabs on the go I am keen to begin setting up and using Toby mini.  In the classroom that will be most helpful as I jump frequently jump from one document to the next and having groups means I can access things much more efficiently.  

Now to just have the time to set it all up and get familiar with these new tools...

DFI Day one

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

Having had a few presentations about the pedagogy I felt relatively comfortable about my understanding in this area though it was good to hear the presentation and reflect again.  It was interesting to hear about the funding issues that arose in the early stages and the community consultation.  Reflecting on what we were doing with technology in those early days was an interesting comparison when thinking of the challenges we experience today.  I enjoyed Dorothy's presentations in particular as the anecdotes and references were interesting and allowed me to connect to her presentation.  

What did I learn that could improve my confidence, capability or workflow as a professional?

Working around all the tools with the expert help gave me the knowledge to pass by blocks that I would normally experience when working alone.  

Thinking of my professional workflow - one of the top items is to organise my files.   I often goto "recent files" and can recall many folders and files but I realize that this will soon become increasingly difficult as I increase the total number of files on my drive!   I have often wondered what system would suit me best and reflecting today I now have a plan to move forward with this.  

There were also many other tools that I can use all the time.  Using Removing bg/ even the extension for goto drive etc  are things though small will be helpful.  Discovering Explore with permissions is also a useful tool.   

What did I learn that could be used with my learners?  

I have often contemplated using talk to text with some of my year 2/3 learners and realise now that it is relatively simple to do.  It would be another useful tool as I only have 8 ipads in my class and this is something that individual learners could use in a group situation supported by me.  Supporting students with technical aspects eg re pairing bluetooth headphones is something we often spend a lot of time doing in our junior classes as so many of our students do not have devices at home and are at entry level save working on Seesaw, Reading Eggs and Mathletics.  

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

There are so many new tools and skills that I learned today that I can now go away and practice in my own time.  I was concerned that there might be an overload as described by colleagues that have done the course before.  They talked of going into their brain stem and feeling overwhelmed at the end of the day!  Reiterating that we don't have to master the skills and can develop them as we go was really good to know - as I preferred to - and will continue to focus on listening to the presentations and can practice more in my own time.   It is also very comforting to know that I can connect to Vicki for (hopefully) face to face support and in other ways.  I am planning on continuing to work from Otaki School as the in house support from Vicki I know will be of huge benefit to me.