DFI 9 - The race to the finish!

 Sprint to the finish line 

The end of the course is in sight. The finish line is ahead. I can see it. BUT will I reach it? 

A big question with a lot of doubt hanging there.... and it is also important to remember that although the finish line is in my reach, it could also be the START of one too. 

This course has had many highs and many lows over the nine weeks. I have learned much about digital tools and how I can implement them in my class, but there has been much more learning behind the scenes about myself as a teacher. 

REFLECTIONS

• What are you proud of?

I am most proud of my own efforts during the course. I was unsure and hesitant about my own capabilities even though I had worked my way through the quagmire during the lockdown. I started from an idea and it has continued to grow and evolve during the time I have been on the course. I have tried, I have cried. And I have been angry at myself. But I continue to move forward on this journey to reach my goal of being a 'great' teacher and supporter of our young students in our school.

I am proud of the support from the parents and children during the new phase of change. Change is not always easy for us oldies, but I have to say the excitement and eagerness of the children to learn new ways of learning, creating, and sharing at school, has been inspiring.

• What do you regret?

Life doesn't provide you with regrets, just reflections on choices. At this point, I can not think of any 'regrets' I have. It has been a busy time on the course and at times overwhelming but I move forward with confidence. Onwards and upwards! YEEHAW!! Ride 'em, cowboy!

• What will you be taking forward into the ‘new’ era of schooling?

The confidence in trying new things and knowing that it is ok if they don't work out first time is what I am taking with me as I move forward.

Thank you to Latham Martin and the team at Manaiakalani for the opportunity to learn and grow in my digital ability. I look forward to learning more and more as time goes on.

DFI week 8

EMPOWERMENT

Listening to Dorothy today made me realize that I had not given a lot of time to consider how I empower my young students in their own learning, and what they bring into the class from home and community. 

What barriers do they have? I know that some of my students have limited access at home, and some have much access but little supervision. 

How do I empower students in the class to be confident and comfortable in using digital technology that grows their learning?  How much time do students need? Is the learning appropriate and does it challenge them?

Computational Thinking

Being able to provide for learning within the classroom that empowers students to be active participants and digitally fluent rather than just passive consumers of technology. The NZC now has additional digital components to be included in the classroom. 

So what does this look like in a Year 1 classroom?

Computational thinking would look like students being given time over a session, day, month, or year, to work together to problem-solve. In a year one class this could look like 'play' activities where a small group of students need to work together for a common goal. It would be across curriculum areas and not just in one. E.g. working to build a road machine that can move a pile of blocks. Thinking, discussion, planning, and problem-solving would occur when students try ideas, test them, assess and discuss changes, and then repeat. We are seeing conversation, debate, listening, thinking, leadership, management, and creation in action. 

Coding

This part of the day was lots of fun as it was creative and hands-on. I can see the potential for students to create their own mini, have fun with understanding code text, and being more confident and creative in their own skills. 

DFI session 7

Week 7

This week was very disheartening. I was hugely challenged by the learning, but the positive that I can now see a week later, is that I have a barrier towards technology. I see it in class when I am approached by students when there is a tech issue. I see it when I don't know how to fix the issue arisen.

I know that part of this is due to wanting the learning to happen for the student, in a smooth functional way. It is due to not knowing what I don't know yet.

This barrier will be something that I will try to work on now. I am not sure how this will look at this stage. I do know that I have great support at school with the facilitator that comes in, and feel that he is approachable and able to empower me to feel confident about working through this barrier.

DFI Session 6

Goggle Sites in  Depth

Reviewing Google Sites

Today we had a chance to look around a series of sites. The idea was to look and review what worked well to engage students, and what didn't. It was good to do this, as it highlighted what I need to do to make my site work better for students to engage with. 

This class site shows the friendly user interface and ease of navigation. Its simplicity and direct instructions to students, its bright colours and quick clicking buttons, make it simple for younger students to easily navigate and engage with. 

https://sites.google.com/tamakiprimary.school.nz/kiakaha2018/school-and-home-learning-site

My Google Site

Today we reviewed the basics and purpose of a Google site for class learning. I gave consideration to the visual appeal and site functionality along with an understanding of my students' capabilities. I spent time on my site updating and adding slides to my reading groups. CHECK IT OUT HERE

DFI Day 5

Class sites - Hooking the students into Learning

Today we talked bout how multimodal learning can be used to provide a variety of learning opportunities, remove barriers, and encourage enthusiasm towards engagement in learning online. 

What is my class shop window? 

Is it visually attractive?

How much text is there?

Is it engaging?  behavioral and cognitive

Is it authentic?

Can students engage with it?

What do I want to showcase so that students have access to learning?

Reflecting on these ideas shared, and considering the class setting and age and capabilities of the students, I want to explore how smaller groups, whole-class learning,  and individual learning can be utilized better in the classroom. Also, finally how teachers can collaborate and make visible the child's whole journey through the school and the aims and goals for this journey. 

Why is multi-modal learning important?

Class on Air - link to online classrooms in Manaiakalani 

Google Sites - Making a google site 

This section of learning was interesting, as it solidified my own exploration and creation of my class site - Bethlehem. It was good to confirm that I was using the system in the best way, to invite learning to occur by students. 

Link to Site 

It was great to spend time to develop new ways of creating learning slides that would be suitable for the age group I am working with. I learned how to save the downloaded audio files into my drive, and then upload onto a slide so students can access and listen. 

DFI day 4

Today was a challenging day. I felt overwhelmed by the technical information, and at times it moved very quickly. I felt silly to ask questions, as I felt that everyone else looked like they knew what was happening and could follow it confidently. HOWEVER, as the day has progressed, and although my confidence is still shakey, I have completed the following examples of my learning. 

1. Google Sheets

I want to be able to create and format a sheet that will record each child's results for learning in the areas that are important to the school and myself.  I picked up some of the learning as I went along but it was not until I had a chance to create that I could work my way through and try to solidify my new knowledge. 

The student blog information showed that 2017 was the best year of blogging, in that this was the year that the student produced the most posts. In the first year, 2014, the student data showed a part-year, due to the introduction of blogging so it shows the early learning of the student.  Overall the years, the end of the year did not produce as many posts as the beginning and middle.  Was this because of student interest and engagement of topics offered or another reason? 

2. My Maps

A great tool to use in class to support students learning about measurement, exploring local sites of importance, sharing information, favorite countries, etc. 

3. Google Forms 

I can see the potential for these to be used when needing to gather information from individual learners in the class, small groups of students, and from a cross-section of the school. For example when looking at a particular topic or focus (environment) students could create and use forms as a way to gather data from the school community, which would better inform their learning and their place-based responses to issues and solutions. 

Another way could be that a class could complete a form that tells of where their family comes from and other details that could then be imported onto a My Map to visually represent the class or school students who attend from across NZ and the world. 

DFI Day 3

CREATE

Today sparked reflection and thought around how it is important to 'hook' students into the learning through 'being creative in the way we share the learning with others.

Questions to ponder:

• How important is this for students? 
• What benefits does it offer?
• How do I do this in the classroom? 
• What does 'create' look like in my classroom now? 
• Can it be better?
• Is it different depending on the curriculum being covered? 
• How does time, schedule, and routine play a part?
• How much of the creation should I be offering? 
• Does it need to be for all areas or just a few?
• How do students decide what is important to share and not share?
• How often does technology become part of the Year 1 students' way of creating? 
• Do parents understand what learning looks like now in the 21st century?

Leading NZ Research in Student Success and Learning ------->  Woolfe Fisher Research in Auckland

Sir Ken Robinson - TED talk link 

MEDIA

This was interesting and I could see the application of these ideas within the school and in particular in engaging students in my class.

GOOGLE DRAWING

Website buttons - shape, fill colour, size, resizing canvas size (file page set up and adjust for printing), get embed code to use in the blog under HTML, insert images, cropping, mask button

FURTHER EXPLORATION
Editing and resizing photos
Word Banks
Learning Menus

ANIMATION WITH GOOGLE SLIDES

UPDATE from last week

WWW - Accelerated Learning 
Last week we looked at how teachers can be effective. I continually reflect and consider how I could do an activity or learning experience better. Since then, I have been looking at ways that I can help my Year 1 students to become more independent in their learning through the use of the pads in the classroom. I gave thought to what the successful result would look like and then backtracked to break down the steps to introduce and support individual learning for each student in the class. I have started by learning the basics of an Ipad - turning in, where it is charged, using the headphone jack, and looking at Seesaw as a way to introduce the class blog. All the pads have been updated to only have the minimal buttons students need to access also.