Dealing with Data Day 4

 Today we focused on the tradition of sharing and how sharing in an online context is not in competition with the sharing in person - be it assemblies, with the principal or when family come to visit in the classroom.  All offer rich opportunities for connecting and validating the child's learning experience.  

In our possible return to level 3 for the rest of the country and joining Auckland - it is timely that all our opportunities are available to us.  Extremely pertinent to me was because my family are self isolating awaiting covid test results for my partner who has the 'flu.  When level 2 was announced on Tuesday night, we had just returned home from a face to face school interview.  The next day I was at home and advised that I would conduct online interviews for my class the next day and as I was at home I could do so.  The process went very well and a colleague's students even made slides of the now abandoned School Art Exhibition in the hall, to share with the school community.  

Today, somewhat tired from my last interview finishing last night at 8pm, I learned how to use forms, maps and sheets.  Below is the sheet I used and information I took to a slide to upload, analysing Tara's blog statistics.  Though my students don't currently have a blog this is a useful process for me to learn professionally.  

I could certainly use maps as an interesting ways on our upcoming trip into Wellington - in mathematics - looking at distances but also at venues we will visit etc.  This could be shared with parents/caregivers on Seesaw...

We are all interested in seeing how the decisions roll this evening but feel if there is a need to return to using our Seesaw platform for learning and are faced with more time learning from home, that will possibly allow me more opportunities to use and experiment with these tools.  Silver linings I guess!

Day 3 DFI

 

 

Having just spent the last few nights mounting students artwork that was a large focus in my class for the weeks prior- for an art exhibition next week -it was timely to reflect on the need to return to creativity.   Our focus has, over years been moved away from wonderful learning experiences cited such as Elwyn Richardson, in favor of more a prescriptive crowded curriculum that focused on achieving standards at the expense of many things, including engaging all students with learning.  For a number of years I have heard that the Early Childhood sector has been fortunate to be provided with opportunities for a more balanced approach and provide wonderful creative opportunities with their curriculum Te Whāriki.  Thinking about the sight, sound and motion, Sisimo, also fits nicely with the brain learning that I have also been doing and to optimize learning we focus on music movement and engaging activities, ( and 60-90 repititions! ) so there is lots of practice time.

Today I experimented with using Draw and how resources can be created using Drag and Drop.  A follow up for me is to investigate if these slides can be used in Seesaw as that is the learning vehicle my class uses on their ipads.  Having used Youtube for many years my useful take away from Vicki's presentation in particular was discovering the 3 dots to the right of a kids content video allows it to be saved under playlists -as previously all were added to playlists the same way.  I was trying to find a workaround and now I have! I also need to set up a new channel as mine were done many years ago and I understand the process has changed alot.  

Using Slides is an area I also want to be a lot more familiar with for having had juniors for the last few years I have not needed to use them but am interested in seeing their creative potential for me and my students.

I have a long list of things I now want to develop to support my professional role, having begun with some from the first two DFI's.  In many ways, just being fluent with using the tools is my focus for now as I am sure I will discover useful applications as I go.

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.