Ubiquitous - Life-long learning anywhere, anytime, at any pace, from anyone.
Living local - Learning Global
From my recent experience / knowledge with Manaiakalani their goal of ubiquitous learning is certainly an achievable one, and one which is has the potential to make a difference in children's learning, particularly when combined with rewindable learning.
Today was the last session of DFI. It has been such an interesting journey. I have learnt so much about the Google platform, Manaiakalani, and digital learning with my students. I feel confident in my ability to teach in a digital environment and I am excited to share my learning with my students.
My answers to the questions above:
1. I am proud of how quickly our staff and myself were able to move from face to face teaching to digital teaching.
2. I regret not having checked what type of devices certain programmes worked on or did not work on. Some of my parents were unable to connect to the reading app on my class site because they were working on a phone or tablet and this caused them some angst. Next time (hopefully there won't be one) I will check my apps.
3. I have learnt so much - and am able to use so much of it with my students.
I was challenged by Dorothy discussing that a digital device is not just a tool. I have often said, "digital technologies are just another tool my students are able to use to support their learning" and to an extent I do believe that in my NE class an iPad is another tool much like their writing book or their pencils. But Dorothy's presentation has made me rethink my thinking regarding devices and empowerment of our whanau and learners.
Digitally Fluent in a Learn, Create, Share World
Some helpful tips regarding the Digital Curriculum:
Cybersmart - 'at home in the digital world' -empowering our learners to be online as positive and successful digital citizens.
We want learners to be confident, connected, actively involved, life-long learners. As our students are learning in a digital world, we need to ensure they have the understanding and skills to be successful online. We also want students to be safe and secure while they learn online. Being 'safe' online is however not the same as being 'Smart' online. Internet filters, etc, however helpful, will not empower students to make smart online choices. Manaiakalani has a focus on ensuring learners are being taught to be 'Smart' online.
iPads
My class has one to one iPads. I am going to check that my class iPads are 'set up for success' in regards to being signed in with the child's school email address and drive. I have been uploading each child's work into their google drive folder myself - not realising that the children are able to do it themselves if their iPads are set up correctly.
Explain Everything
The opportunity to explore Explain Everything was very helpful. My class has been practising using Explain Everything with our Manaiakalani facilitator but I have not been using it with the class. I guess I have been waiting for some extra time to create some activities for the children to use in class. Today, however, Venessa showed me some ways I could use Explain Everything with my children, without having to create the digital worksheet type activities I thought were necessary. She also reminded me to use the SAMR model, with a focus on redefinition, when I am thinking about how my children will use Explain Everything.
SAMR Model
Thank you Venessa - I will definitely be using Explain Everything with my students next week 😉
The way Manaikalani has connected educators and schools together is powerful. I have found being able to access ideas from others invaluable for my learning. Being connected in a way which will accelerate the learning of my Year 0-1 students is something I need to explore - How are my students connected? How do, or do, their connections support acceleration of their learning?
Google Sites
The slides below - 'Why Google Sites?' and the following slide ' What does Learn, Create, Share look like through Google Sites? helped me gain a greater understanding of the 'why' and 'what' concerning my class site.
I need to review my class site and think about some of the points mentioned in the tutorial. I need to think about the why - what is the purpose of my class site. How is it going to be used? Who is going to use it? and for my year group of students - when are they going to use it? These questions lead in to thinking about the set up of the my class site and then the content of the site.
In light of today's learning I have updated my class site (some of the content still needs to be developed and linked) - Room One Class Site
Wow, what a busy day! Today's DFI session was an online one. I enjoyed the online learning. I found myself considerably more focused.
Dorothy's discussion around Manaiakalani's priority goals and the importance of visible learning helped me understand more about the Manaiakalani kaupapa and also the value of a class site and blogs.
The tutorials about multimodal helped me see the value of providing multimodal learning for my students.
Having the opportunity to create a site with multimodal content was a valuable learning experience. I discovered that creating and sourcing multimodal content was not as difficult as I had previously thought and I can already see the benefit of using this type of content in my class site. I am already thinking about our topics this term and how I can find or create multimodal content for my students.
Key points of interest from this week's DFI session
Google Sheets
I have used Google Sheets many times but reading through the Google Sheets slide presentation was a revelation. The basic calculations and formulas are something I have been wanting to learn for sometime now. I also found the formatting and filter information helpful as well as the useful tips. This presentation, including the Sheets on Speed slides are going to make a positive impact on my workload in regards to data collection and analysis.
Google My Maps
I have never heard of Google My Maps. I am looking forward to exploring this further and wondering where I can find some opportunities to use this in my classroom.
Google Forms
I tried to use Google Forms to create a form for our Junior Syndicate collect sociogram information last year. I couldn't quite get it sorted. I am going to use Google Forms to collect the sociogram information this year because now I know how to create one.
Creativity could be termed the hook of Manaiakalani. The hook speaks of motivating our learners to engage with the curriculum. Creative experiences support thinking, invention, exploration and learning. Creativity is an essential aspect of learning for all age groups of children. Creativity gives learning an authentic purpose.
What does create look like in my classroom? Does the create we do in my classroom support the engagement, thinking, invention and learning of my students? Am I using modern technologies to enable creativity and capture creativity?
Deep Dive - Media
'The power of Sisomo - sight, sound, motion. Demystifying technology and unleashing its creative potential.'
How can I use media (film, slides, podcasts, etc) to support my students to express themselves in ways other than writing or drawing? Using media with my Year 0 - 1 class is something I would like to explore further. I wonder how other new entrant classes are doing this?
Ideas:
Green screen using Doing (a green screen app) - it is possible to simply use green fabric behind the children when they are recording. Green screen allows you to put children in front of any background.
Suitable for iPads - Garage band, Camera App, Quickbay Chalk & Talk - Channel and Playlists, Google Draw, YouTube, Google Slides
YouTube
The YouTube part of today's session answered so many questions I have had regarding putting YouTube clips in my class site. The slide below answered some of my questions
My first embedded YouTube clip from my playlist - Woo hoo!
Google Drawing
Every time I have used Google draw in the past I have found myself dithering over the page setting - Should I use pixels or centimetres? When do I use pixels and centimetres? What numbers do I need to input? Today I found out 😜
My About Me google drawing & a certificate I will be using at school.
Google Slides - Animation
I use Google Slides frequently but I have not used it to create an animation before. I was quite keen to use Google Slides to create animations with my class but after some discussion with other teachers at my year level it would seem that Explain Everything might be a more appropriate animation tool as my class use iPads.
This animation could be much better, however, making it has given me a general idea about how to create one.
In reflection, from my experiences creating today, I can see how incredibly engaging 'create' can be and how powerful the learning is. I can understand why create is one of Manaiakalani's key points and why it is vital that my students to engage in 'creating'.
We started the morning with some feedback from session one. Hearing about the things others had tried during the week reminded me about some of the tips I need to remember.
Hints and Tips from the feedback session
Voice typing for speech writing with my 5 year olds.
Ability to save a folder to two places on Google Drive without people losing access.
Using a table when creating posters
Omnibox a word for the search bar.
Connecting with Manaiakalani
Dorothy shared more of the Manaikalani story with a focus on Ako.
Some of the points from Dorothy's presentation which reasonated with me were the following:
The goals of Manaikalani are directly related to ako.
The Manaiakalani Programme - intentional, focused and evidence-based - supporting our communities with change - increasing teacher effectiveness and accelerating learning outcomes.
Effective teacher actions that promote student learning are still effective and necessary in a digital context.
Following the Connecting with Manaiakalani session, the next sessions consisted of learning how to use various tools. Calendar, Google Meet, Gmail, Google Keep and Tabs. Initially I thought I had a reasonable handle on using these tools but I was incorrect. During each session I learnt new things which I know will improve my workflow.
Where has Google Keep been hiding? What a fabulous tool. Google keep supports checklists, photo notes, voice notes, is collaborative, works with Google Drive and can be accessed from a range of devices.
Calendar is able to be synced across devices, works with gmail and supports multiple calendars.
Google Meet is something I used almost daily during lockdown but I discovered its ability to record. Below is my first attempt at recording (it would seem I need practise 😃).
As for Tabs - look how lovely and organised my tabs are now I have discovered folders.
Today's DFI was incredibly useful. I'm looking forward to next Wednesday.
DFI Core Business Session One The Manaiakalani Goals
Day One is the beginning of my Manaiakalani DFI journey. My school has been a part of Manaiakalani for three years and in this time I have struggled to see the value of Manaiakalani in my Year 0 -1 classroom. However, I have discovered the Manaiakalani kaupapa and pedagogy is for every year level, including Year 1.
Key points which resonated with me
The Manaiakalani goals
Effective teaching practise and digital technology to support increased achievement levels.
'The device is not the book the device is the pencil '- Dorothy Burt
Visible teaching and learning.
Some of the things we covered which I know will improve my capability, confidence and workload are as follows:
Google Groups (groups.google.com ) - This would be useful as a platform for our Junior Syndicate. Our emails and notices would remain in the group. Google Groups is collaborative - every member of the group is able to add information.
Rewindable videos about Google Groups Google Group Tutorial
Google Drive
Adding folders to multiple places (shift z). This is not making a copy, it is adding the file to a different place without removing the access for collaborators or the owner of the file. Google Docs.
Ensure I teach every child in our class how to use Google Docs.
Paste without formatting - into blog or docs.
You do not underline in this century - underlining now means something is a hyperlink.
Headings & Table of Contents
Tools - Voice typing
Explore tool ("puts in the apa referencing)
Inserting a table when making posters etc - this keeps everything in its place.
Remove backgrounds - Remove.bg
