Todays DFI is very different for me as I had a double up of courses. I was able to attend the talk from Dorothy regarding the Share part of the Manakalani pedagogy but the subsequent learning was done by going back to the slides shared  and speaking to other colleagues in my school who are also attending the DFI.  

Share

Sharing means making connections with others. Humans are born to share and everyone does this differently. Learners learn best when they have an audience, it makes the learning purposeful. By using technology in the digital age we live in,  sharing allows people to connect with others and they can see that people are interested in what they are doing or what they have to say. Therefore achievement increases and improves. 

Blogger- a vehicle for digital citizenship. Blogger teaches our children to become cybersmart, positive, thoughtful and helpful. 

Blogger and sharing work gives children the experience of finishing and what this feels like. They have to finish it before it gets pasted onto the Blog which is a life skill that needs to be learnt by all. It also allows the ability to give and receive authentic feedforward and feedback from other people, not only their teacher and whanau. 

Google Forms

I have used Google forms previously with differing success. I do find Google forms an easy and effective method of gathering information from children in your class/ school, Parents and the wider community. 

Todays DFI has taught me how to change the settings so you have control over the users and how the form is used. One thing I did not know was that you could import data from a Google Form to a spreadsheet. This will be helpful and I can see myself using this skill within my teaching. 

Google Maps

A fun app that can be used to turbocharge children's learning especially older children. Using Google Maps for Year 3/4 would probably be a whole class activity looking at the distances between countries. 

It does seem to be easier than Google Earth. 

Google Spreadsheets

I have always wanted to use Spreadsheets for my data but seemed to get caught up with the complexity of it. After learning  from Sally MacNeilage, I can now fix the bars at the side and the bottom so they do not move, find averages and sums of columns and format my cells. This will be beneficial when displaying data. I intend to give this ago this term as it is a reporting term.  I would really like to break down a knowledge skills test we do for math's into sections so I can discover the knowledge areas my learners need extra support in. This means  I can target certain children. 

 DFI week 3

My brain must be becoming a little more tuned to becoming digitally fluent as this week did not seem as daunting as last week. Yes the learning was there but I was not as brain dead like I was by the end of Thursday week 2. 

Again listening to the Pedagogy behind Manaiakalani from Dorothy drives home the why behind all this new learning. This week focus was create. 

This aspect of the Manaiakalani pedagogy enables teachers to use creativity within the classroom like they used to do in the past. Just from my short time using technology in my class I can see how the children are learning new ways to create. I intend to use a lot more creativity within my class in the future. 

  I really like this visual as it shows the different ways children can create and how these creative skills allow the children to problem solve, communicate with others and develop collaboration skills. 

If the hands are involved then the head gets going. 

The new learning that was presented today allowed me to create something and this lead to lots of thinking to how these creations can be used in my classroom and what am I already doing. 

You Tube

Learning to make playlists and embedding you tube videos into my Sites, slides etc is very beneficial. This will allow me to make playlists of videos around a certain topic. 

Google Draw

I have dipped my toes into the Google draw platform but have not had much success. After todays learning I am ready to use it more effectively and give my class opportunities to explore and design pictures. This is a great way for the children to use and develop their creativity. I am looking forward to showing my class next week.

During the create session using Slides I used this opportunity to create a reading activity. This Slide allows the children to listen to the text (rewindable learning), listen to the instructions and use Drawing to create their own garden taking skills and knowledge that they have discovered from the text. 

 

Using a variety of media within teaching ensures that you are allowing  students of all abilities to access the learning. Those children who find it tricky to read can listen to the text, those who find it hard to write can use pictures to explain,  children who need movement and song to learn can listen to songs about maths. The list is endless. 

DFI Week 2

Coming into the Google meet this week was less nerve wracking than week I knew what to do and  what to expect. 

Listening to Dorothy's talk about the Manakalani Pedagogy each week is allowing me to really have a deeper understanding of the why behind the Manakaklani project. 

Having those 3 simple words allows diversity and the ability to access a range of students, schools and teachers. 

Today Dorothy focused on the LEARN part of the Pedagogy of Learn, Create, Share.

Learn - Ako

I feel this is the most important part of the Manaiakalani pedagogy as It underpins the reason why we are in classroom. The NZ curriculum has stood the test of time and all the parts of the curriculum relates back to children's learning whether in the analogue or digital world. 

It made me think about what my school believes learning looks like.

What do we do to Recognise  effective practice? This will be something that I will be following up for own knowledge.   

Amplify  What technologies do I use to make effective teaching and learning opportunities for my learners? How can I amplify their learning? After listening to the talk regarding Amplify I realize that I do use a lot of websites, pages to find resources ideas, activities that will help with the children's learning. There are so many talented people who are willing to share their ideas which has made my teaching streamlined, fun and effective. 

TurboCharge -  This allows the learner to see things that may never see in real life. A good example for this is when I was with a group and they were reading a text about different countries and having to find details about different features. After they had finished they were given time to find one of those countries via a google search. I had the children coming up to me with great delight talking about what the country/ area looked like in real life. The amazement and excitement on their faces was priceless. I will be continuing to do this in the future.

Technology enables us to remove barriers to learning and allow learning to happen in new and novel ways.  

Throughout todays session we were able deep dive into some Google tools that I use regularly. I have used google meets before and have set up meeting inviations using the calender. I use this when setting up IEPs with other staff, agencies and whanau. It is good to know that I can also attach documents to this invitation so people have a copy of the previous IEP before we start the meeting. 

 It was great to have the time tidy up my Gmail and get rid of a whole lot of promotional emails that I do not need. Having a calendar at my fingertips is very handy and I had been using my Google calendar, but have to admit that I have resorted back to my paper one as sometimes people come and see me when my computer is not with me and it is faster to open my diary. It is my goal to use my Google calendar regularly from now on!!

One thing I found very tricky was recording a meet, this was due to my computer having wifi issues and me missing most of the directions and information. This did cause a little bit of angst and anxiety I did eventually get it completed but I certainly need lots more practice .  

DFI Day 1

 Today was the first day of my Digital Fluency  journey. The nerves were there but I was ready to jump in and begin to learn to use technology more effectively not only for my learning but to support and guide the children in my class. 

The day began with the Manaiakalani story presented by Dorothy. This cemented the reason why I had signed up to this new learning philosophy of learn, create share. It also outlined how it is designed to improve the progress of all the students.  Hearing about the progress that has happened over a short space of time in other schools is heartening and to seeing communities, whanau and teachers working alongside each other for the benefit of all children. 

 Drive. I have used drive for a number of years and due to my nature it is quite organised, with each year being its own folder. This session was a great chance to become Marie Kondo and clear out the trash and the un needed files. A great feeling! The most effective tip I got out of this presentation was the permission settings. I have had issues in the past when I have shared a document with a class and I get 24 emails back saying they need access. I am hoping this learnt skill will allow children to quickly access their work and reduce the stress levels. 

This button has now become a life saver!

Planning should be transparent, we shouldn't be hiding our planning or anything we do in the classroom.   

Google Tools The tool I found most beneficial and will implement within my teaching is voice typing. I have taught many children who find the physical aspect of writing tricky and have wonderful ideas to share. Using this tool will allow them to get their ideas down without the frustration therefore lead to success in writing 

Another tool I have learnt today is to remove background. This skill will allow me to add in pictures to posters/ worksheets. Children often need picture cues to help when decoding tricky words By adding in pictures that have no backgrounds will make this easier for the children. 

After my learning for the day I was able to create a poster that can be displayed in the class or on the TV screen to remind children when the appropriate times they are allowed to interrupt during lessons. I am hoping this will decrease the amount of children coming to see me with trivial problems and stopping the flow of the lesson for others. Hers's hoping anyway!

 

After a day of learning I am looking forward to Week 2.