DFI Session 4

Create: Making meaning of the content

Today we analysed data from a chosen student's data. I chose to analyse a chosen student provided to gather yearly and monthly data. Here is Tara from Papakura Central School in Auckland, NZ. I found that she had been blogging since 2016 and finished in 2019 giving me a good amount of data. Her blog progressed throughout her years and I could see her blog posts increasing mostly from the middle to the end of the year period. I think this is great to see and reminds me the fantastic outcomes that blogging can create as without knowing Tara in person I can see through her blog the progress she makes not only in her posting but also in her learning. I look forward to seeing the progress that my students make on our class blog and look forward to eventually having a good amount of data to analyse and reflect on.

As a professional after today's session I can now improve my confidence, capability, or workflow as a professional with the use of sheets and forms. Sheets is something that I have been using this year for my planning but have been shown a template and have never looked into the background of it. After having a go today and finding the basics then expanding this I feel as though I have the main idea around using sheets and how to create short cuts such. For example as mentioned above I am now able to use this is a tool to track learning. I have been using it for planning but now I want to look into using it as a reflection and a data collecting tool to go along with this.

Something that I found most valuable for my learners to use is google forms. I have been familiar with this and after having parent/student conferences via google meets this week I gained knowledge that they enjoyed using it. I used this as a check-in sheet for the children to complete each morning, this way if they do not want to verbally tell me they can write it down and I have easy access. Taking away from today I would like to carry this on in the classroom by looking at implementing it into my learning also. I would even like to carry the use of forms through into my personal life by sharing with friends and family and using this as a tool gather information, thoughts and ideas.

DFI Session 3

Above is my create part of the session by focusing on animation in Google Slides. I learnt how important it is to get your scene right before duplicating your slides. I got near the end and realised that my hoop was too small for my basketball so now I have an unsteady basketball hoop animation. Still happy with the result as from experimenting how to do it helped rather than just listening to find what works.

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

Google draw- using these more efficiently. I have only previously used this for creating buttons on my class site but did not realise the other uses to it. Creating presentation ideas such as posters, displays and images in a unique way catches the eye and gains interest. Creating an about me poster for the blog was great and can be used during any other professional work.

Creating YouTube playlists- We use songs every day in the classroom and having these organised into playlists will help save time to use and to also find and add to the class site. I will also not only use this for my professional life but also my personal life by creating my own personal playlists. I find music an important part in my life as I always have it in the background in the car or at home and also love playing it for my students. It seems to have a calming nature for them during work so having quickly accessible playlists will be fantastic.

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

Google slides animation- The children would love this and I think it would show them how to properly be able to plan and take time into their work. Seeing the end result is very rewarding and is a good way to share learning.

DFI session 2

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

The 'Learn' side of Manaiakalani was great to understand and to view from a professional and learner view. Learning is an exciting experience and during these sessions and also this time of learning from home I have become a learner myself and now know the importance and excitement that comes along with it. I look forward to moving back into the classroom to share.

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

Today's session was great to improve my workflow and confidence in using the wonders of google to my advantage.

Google keep: This was something that I found great to learn how to use as I can not only use it for my professional work but also my personal life. I am going to use the sharing settings, especially when working with my team teacher to be able to share tasks and other ideas. I loved the use of keeping with the shopping list and look forward to using this with my flatmates along with the use of taking the text from a photo with our recipes.

Gmail: During this online learning experience my emails have been my main use and I am very excited to now know how to sort these and make it easier to view and access these. Especially by taking emails such as blog notifications then removing from the inbox and also creating labels so I do not have to search through a load of emails to find one.

Google Calander: I have been using this but not to my advantage as I have found it messy and hard to read. After this session, I have no organised this with colour coding and only viewing the calendars I need at the time. I look forward to trialling google calendar scroll that Lantham shared during our group bubble session to prevent the calendar from jumping around the place.

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

I enjoyed listening to the turbo charge information and when we head back to school I plan to use the treaty work that was mentioned to reinforce my expectations in the classroom.

During the partner work for discussing the learning of a students blog post, I have taken away how those out of the classroom see the blog. Showing the students a quality blog post is important here. I am going to share the blog with the students just as we did today to help them identify the learning they are doing and how to present this.

Manaiakalani DFI session 1 reflection

Manaiakalani Digital Fluency Intensive Day 1

I now understand the pedagogy of Manaiakalani from first starting in 2006 to become a sensation. I was amazed looking back how far it has come and I am lucky to be a part of this. The change in technology along the way has not been changed but adapted.

From this session even though it was completed over distance, this has reminded me during this time of learning from home that we are still capable to learn together through the wonder of technology. One of the many highlights that I can take and use with my learners is the mic to type aspect on google docs where students would be able to read out loud a story or piece of work and also to use as an editing tool when re-reading their work.

I have improved my confidence, capability, and workflow in my personal life by not only using the skills I have learned today through work-life but technology plays a huge role in my personal life too. The small questions that I have always spent time avoiding or not knowing I had were answered. For example, getting rid of the white background in photos by using the remove.bg website, how to create google groups and short cuts that I did not know existed.

Attached in this post is the screenshot from having a go at playing around on google docs. Something that I could never master was having my pictures align. Here I have used a table to fix this and when needed I now know to make the borderlines the same colour as the background to not have them shown.

Other highlights from today:

• How to insert and use a table of contents from headings to make a larger document simple to follow.
• Sorting google drive- colour coding, alphabetical order and moving to my drive.
• Changing the URL when wanting to share the whole or some of document.
• Chrome extensions- Grammarly, chromePDF editer.
• Short cuts using the keyboard
• How to cite pictures and web links on docs.

The Start To My Journey

What the start of my teaching journey has consisted of

This year is proving to be one to remember. When it was announced that schools were going to be learning from home with honesty I was worried, worried how I was going to teach through a screen, worried how to use online sites, worried how my students were going to cope, worried that I was going to lose relationships that I had just built. It could go on. I decided to turn these worries into challenges and that I was not only going to face but overcome to the best of my abilities.

How? 

I am lucky enough to be a part of a school that had already been set up with online facilities such as class sites, blogs, and a fantastic support team to help me with these. I have had to learn how to use the wonders that google has to offer, although in the beginning I probably wouldn't have said that but after time and a few screams at the screen, it has improved. I have avoided these in the past, looking back on that today what a mistake that was. This has been a huge highlight of mine during this journey so far, I am amazed what you can do online and with the help of my amazing support team at school this has been a huge step forward in my journey.

My class blog and daily hangout calls have been the most rewarding. This tackled my worry of losing relationships with the kids as I am able to see them every day not only to discuss learning but just to check in and chat. Some even stay on longer to chat, to read a story to me, or share something they have been doing which brings a smile to my face every morning. The kids are my main priority and as cliché, as it sounds they are why I chose to be a teacher. I often feel like a proud mother hen with even the smallest things that they say or do. My goal is to make our time on the hangout an enjoyable experience, I often think I have lost the plot. For example with my Wacky Wednesday theme on Wednesdays I have worn my clothes backward, put socks all around/on me, and putting my acting skills (that are nonexistent) to the test.

Some challenges along the way

My relationship with screen castify and recording myself is proving to be a love/hate one. This is something that has been great to present learning and to break it down for the students but wow I think it takes up most of my time as I record almost 100 takes before giving up and just posting one. I cringe at listening to my own voice and worry about how I look or sound. Here's hoping this relationship improves.

I take my hat off to those who work from a computer all day every day, this has been a challenge as my eyes, headaches, and back are not my best friends right now. I find that I could easily be staring at my screen all day and I have found it hard to know when to switch off. I am now trying hard to completely shut off at 5.

What now?  

My learning journey has only just begun and I am going to use this experience as a foundation to grow. Taking everything day by day seems to be the way to go at the moment. I am thankful to have started my first year of teaching with such a great team.