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.