The focus of Week 8 was Computational Thinking which was a little daunting as my previous experiences with coding have been tricky and not a success. 

Comoutational thinking with the school system has been ongoing since 2017, it is only been from 2020 that it has had to be put into place. 

Digital fluency - Impletementing paractice.

Digital Technologies - using the correct technology to allow children to become fluent in using digital devices.

By using digital technologies within the classroom we are shifting from being passive consumers of technolgy to being able to create using digital technology in a compentent manner and being able to make informed decisions on what technology to use according to the activity. 

It becomesa time where teachers and students are working alongside each other. Teachers are standing back and allowing the children take control. 

 
It was interesting to see what the progress outcomes were for the  children that I am teaching. I will be using these outcomes when designing and thinking about activities that I can use in my class. 

Empowerment

Agency      or      Empowerment

In some cases within schools around NZ, when we talk about agency to our whanau they become a litlle scared. An agency is someone who comes in and may make changes to the way you live,  or become involved in things you awould rather keep private.

This was why the Manaiakalani project changed the name to Empowered..

As part of the Manaiakalani pedegogy the thought process around empowerment meant that whanau could become part of the learning process. There are many things in the life that disempower people, money or lack of it, is the biggest cause of disempowerment. 

By having a device they can call their own, people can se what there children have been learning, learn alogside them, use the internet to make their lives easier e.g doctors appts etc. 

Technology in the future

Programs like the Jetsons used to be so far into the furure that we thought as kids it would never happen. Many of the cool technologies that were on this program are now things that we take for granted. except I have not got my robot maid as of yet. 

There have been many breakthrough technologies of 2021, some were developed because of world wide experiences e.g covid. 

As part of todays create I chose to do my mahi as part of a game called game froot. 

I had so much fun creating and will be using this in my program. It was easy to understand and was meaningful. 

I am unable embed a copy of my Mihi as we could not work out how this was done. 

 

 I have really enjoyed Week 7's focus on Ubiquitous learning. 

This learning has actually been at the forefront of my thinking as I have had a child away and it was great to give the whanau her Chromebook and direct her to the learning that I had put on the site in which she could do while at home. 

                                  Anytime

                                  Anywhere

                                  Any pace

                                  Anyone

Technology is not just a tool -  it brings about possibilities to not only the children in your class but their whanau as well. It means that the whanau can learn alongside their children. The learning that the children do within the day does not need to stop because they have left the school gates, they can extend their learning far beyond the 9-3 school hours. 

Rewindable learning came into its own during lockdown and for me that was 6 weeks of hard work and lots and lots of new learning to deliver my classroom program.

Proud of: being able to offer some kind of routine for the children in my class through Meets, offering activites that the children can do with or without parental support, learning how to deliver activities.

Regrets: looking back to the the type of activites I feel that there was a lot of busy type things to do, I felt I was not 'teaching' them anything new. The learning was not ubiquitous as I did not know where to get the resources or know how to make the resources. 

What I have taken forward in my teaching: I know am able to use Sites within the classroom program and the work that I am setting is more rewindable. I am sure that if we went in to lockdown again I would feel a little more comfortable with the learning the children were partaking in. 

Being Cybersmart

We want our learners to become confident decision makers making smart deciosion within their digital learning space. 

My class have created their own smart footprint slide that shows how we are Cyber smart. This is an ongoing discussion. 

Todays create caused a little anxiety as we only use Chromebooks and do not have access to IPads in the classroom so I was unable to create a Explain Everything activity or an Activity in Hapara workspace. 

After a few deep breaths and taking the time to go through what others had created I found that I could do it. 

I was able to create an activity in which the children learnt about what sites are appropriate to go on whilst at school. As part of the activity they had to learn how to take a screenshot of the site they were on and describe why it was internet site they could be on it at school. My learning was to add in a screencastify of how the children can take a screen shot as this would be new learning for them 

I am quite proud of what I have made and will be using it in my class. 

 This weeks learning is all about Connecting - The power of digital technology is the ability to be connected to others. 

In this digital world it is now very easy to be connected via technology to friends, whanau, the wider community and the world. 

Being part of  Manaiakalani connects up to a powerful network and this network is growing each year as more and more schools join onto and take on the Manaiakanlani pedegogy of Learn, Create, Share. It was inspiring to hear Dorothy talk about how the original schools to go along the Manaiakanai journey were only a short walk away from each other. They were physically close but still miles away, only coming together for competitions and sporting situations. Now these schools are connecting educationally through digital technology and children are getting an insight into what happens in different communities who are just a stones throw away. 

Now within the Manaiakalani program there are over 100 schools/ kura form all over New Zealand who are on the digital waka together sharing and connecting with each other. 

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Google Sites

Using google Sites within the classroom program has many benefits not only for the learner but for the parents as well. Parents are often not privy to what goes on within the classroom unless they are popping in on a regular basis and with a large number of parents working in this day and age, this does not happen. 

The purpose of a Google Site 

* One stop learning hub - everything is in one plave where the child can find their learning easily and quickly. 

* It is visible. Parents, other staff, the wider community and can see what is happening in your class. What you are teaching and what the children are learning,. 

* Rewindable - the children can keep going back to the learning at anytime.

* Gives information. 

* Allows teaching and learning to continue even if children can not physically be at school. e.g another lockdown.

* Have visual appeal. Children need to be hooked into the site so they want to be accessing the learning. 

It was a good time to go through my class site and ensure I was following those rules. I do still have a lot more work to do on my site which will be  ongoing.  

Class Site 

 It is hard to believe that it is week 5 and I am halfway through my DFI journey. 

Todays lessons allowed me  to embed some knowledge and refine some of the skills I have been using within my classroom program. 

Again It was great to listen to Dorothy explain the pedagogy behind the Manaiakalani especially as it was about a theory that I had begun to do within my own teaching practice. 

Visual Teaching and Learning

You can see it or you cannot - there is no grey area. 

Who do we need make our teaching visible to?

* Learners - not all children can read the teachers mind, having the ability to succeed needs to be made available to everyone. 

* Whanau - there should be a transparent partnership with the whanau of the children in your class this aligns with the Treaty of Waitangi. 

* Colleagues - By sharing ideas we are not re inventing the wheel and other teachers have some amazing ideas, why don't we share and celebrate these talents. 

* Wider Community - having accountability of what you are teaching.

When we make the learning visible it makes it easier for the learner, they know what they are doing, how they are doing it and when they are doing it. It allows those children with additional needs feel supported as there is a visual structure that they can follow. They know what is coming up and there is no surprises. .

I have begun to put my planning onto my class site. as I have a child in my class who has additional needs. This child's whanau is able to see what we are focusing through the week and follow up the learning at home. If there is something that is out of routine she is able to prepare her child, this saves meltdowns and frustrations. 

I also have my planning on the class tv screen while I am giving the children instructions on what they are doing for the day. I have begun to see them look back at the screen to read what there task is, therefore less interruptions while I am working with a guided group. 

Multi Modal

Learning from Sites for children has to be: Engaging - there needs to be excitement from the children , they want to be on the site.

                                                     Empowering - they need to be learning at their ability and a have the opportunity to take their learning to the next level. 

                                                     Be personal to them - all children learn in different ways and have differing abilities. 

                                                     Accelerated achievement - the children need to be achieving at a faster rate than they would be if they were only using non digital technologies. 

Multi modal uses a range of communication types to get the learning across e.g Videos, articles, differing ability texts, audio, web sites. This allows all learners to access the learning. 

The Hook 

The first page of the site that the children are working from needs to be like the shop window. Would they want to come in? Are the children excited about the learning that is displayed on the front page? 

If you have the right hook and the children know what they are to do, they become empowered and then want to take responsibility for their own learning. 

Having learning on Sites means that is available 24/7. It should be able to stand up on its own, the children know where to go and what to do without assistance from the teacher. 

After this presentation I was able to participate in the collaborative bubble and create a Site that could be used as part of my classroom program. We all had similar ideas and could find texts, activities that can be added to make a multi modal site about Matariki. 

Matariki

I definitely will be using this approach within my classroom program and am looking forward to making some sites to share with my learners in the future.