Weekly Reflection 9

 DFI Week 9

Reflection 9

The last day of DFI, I can't believe we have being doing this for a whole term.  I am still needing to sit my exam which I have registered for and am hoping to do in a few days time. I'm still quite nervous but I'm trying to remember that the most important things have been what we have learned in this DFI course and how much fun it is going to be to be able to take these things back to the akomanga for our tamariki. 

 

The whole opportunity has impacted me in a positive way because it gave me the confidence and understanding of how our digital learning is such an asset not only to our teaching but to the the future of our tamariki. To be able to empower myself is going to empower my students.

I can't even pinpoint just one highlight, I really liked having our bubble groups to reflect in and be able to ask our awesome bubble group leader Jacob anything we were unsure of. I found many of the things we covered very useful and I would have loved to have put some into practice in the classroom had we not been in lockdown. The biggest thing for me was confidence, being given the chance to become more confident digitally has impacted all areas of my life. The other thing was learning about the Manaiakalani Programme and what all the kaupapa means and stands for. It was a true enlightening and educational experience. We teach to give our tamariki the world and to do that there has to be equity and ubiquity, this DFI has given us that to take away.

I thank all of the wonderful facilitators who have given us the opportunity to to be a part of such an awesome meaningful kaupapa.

Weekly Reflection 8

 DFI WEEK  8

Reflection 8

I really liked listening to Vicki talking about the last kaupapa we covered today of "Empowered".  I myself had always thought of the word empowered as a feeling I guess until delving into this manaiakalani kaupapa, and then you realise there is so much more to being empowered than a feeling.  Yes, you could say it is still a feeling but it only comes from being given the right tools, it's something we do more than feel.  It's about ways of working and supporting someone to become empowered.  Giving equity is empowerment.  Opportunities for someone to create change;  change that gives personal value, control and responsibiity for themselves.  This is what giving our tamariki access to digital technology does.  When you alter your mind to the meaning of empowered, it really does makes sense.

Jacob's deep dive about the future of tech and what it means to our tamariki was quite mind-blowing!  It was a great reminder of how far we have come and how far we may go in the future.  It even made me think about how much things have evolved in our farming life over the last 20 years since we started milking cows.  There are actually too many things to start listing but just to mention one, we didn't get texts on our phone 20 years ago to tell us the milk in the vat is too warm, now we do, not to mention those halters you were showing us Jacob, where you can move cows and check their health from home!  It was all an eye-opener and lots of fun!  Also lets not forget how cool it is to be able to show our tamariki these things and open up a whole world of possibilities for them in the future.

Talking about digitally fluent students, teaching them to be empowered and confident to learn digitally, not only applies to our tamariki, it also applies to all individuals, young and older.  I know that there are people just like me, a kaiako that is also learning to become digitally fluent, becoming empowered and confident to learn digitally so I can empower and give confidence to my students through my teaching.  I am exploring my own computational thinking.  My learning is their learning, it starts with me and ends with them being empowered.

Exploring coding today was a first for me, and something I can now take back to the classroom.  Our session with Cheryl learning about "Scratch" was great.  What a fantastic place to start with my tamariki.  I can really see my tamariki getting excited about this.

The greatest joy comes from Empowering students to recognise they can feel confident, included and have a voice in their learning by providing them with the opportunities to do so.  

Create with Cheryl

Using Scratch  

DFI Week 8

Some snippets of the work we were learning to create in Scratch with the wonderful Cheryl.  You can get the embed code and embed your work but I ended up using the snip tool because I  couldn't figure out where the share button was. After some digging I found that you have to accept the confirmation email for the share button to be available to be able to share, I don't seem to have received that email so am asking for it to be sent again.  In the meantime to be able to share my work to my blog, I thought this would do.

We created a square, a triangle and a spirograph using the coding instructions we put together.  This is my first time doing any coding like this.

I can really see my tamariki getting into these types of projects and I'm really keen as beginners to start them off using Cheryl's slides for guidance, this was really cool to learn about.

Reflecting on the Kaupapa of the Manaiakalani Programme in light of COVID 19

 

Reflecting on Lockdown and Learning

When I think back on the last few weeks about lockdown and learning I am most proud of the fact that I stepped out of my comfort zone and participated in this DFI course.  The insight and understanding I have gained from this course is priceless.  I only regret that I am not more digital savvy already going into these lockdowns and that myself and my tamariki are just at the start of our journey and not fully immersed yet.  I do however take with me a wealth of knowledge about the different tools and platforms digital learning opens up for teaching and learning.  I also will take forward that there are many wonderful people out there that are very helpful and knowledgeable and always willing to share their learning with you or give you a hand to learn something new.  I feel having a better understanding of the Manaiakalani pedagogy has made me look through a window where I see many wonderful things and grasp a better concept of the importance and impact certain things have on our tamariki through the learning process, academically, socially, mentally and emotionally.  I want more interaction with them at home in these times.  I really want to be prepared so much better for any future lockdowns we may have, fingers crossed we don't. 

I felt I didn't know that I did much rewindable learning but the more we talked about it the more I realised I have provided rewindable learning at times in my akomanga.  Video's the tamariki can watch and go back to, modelling books, availability of instructions to refer to for a task.  Using screencastify to record thoughts on a book that has been read to some tamariki that struggle to write down their ideas.

I supported my learners by only leaving mahi they are familiar with and that we have already done in class, so they know what is expected from them in that particular learning task.  It may be with different math's problems or reading books but the tasks attached are familiar and diverse.

I could have made more rewindable learning for them by making short screencastfy videos or set work on their chrome books, made slides for them to work through etc.

I will be using many of the digital tools as I become better at using them, but to be honest my tamariki and I are pretty good at learning these things together and we enjoy accomplishing new fun things in our akomanga together.  My tamariki are absolutely pumped about their digital learning and I feel I may be able to feel that way now as well.  I want to empower my tamariki, just like we have been learning on this DFI course.  My motto for my tamrariki has always been the sky's the limit, I always want them to know they are amazing and they can achieve anything.  I can't wait to get back to kura, I miss them terribly. 

So for our akomanga, lockdowns could be so much better in the future for our teaching and learning, but just as important, digital learning in class is going to make this easier to achieve.  Ubiquitous learning in full swing.     

Weekly Reflection 7

 DFI Week 7

Reflection 7

Todays hot topic was an extremely exotic sounding word, that truth be told, I had heard before but didn't know what it meant;  Ubiquitous.  When you lookup the word ubiquitous, it says, existing or being everywhere at the same time.  This is where the clogs start turning and the realization that ubiquitous is well suited to this pedagogy of the Manaiakalani Programme, the "Keyword" if you will, to digital learning, Any time, Any where, Any pace, Anyone.

Ubiquitous ties in with the rewindable learning tool we have at our fingertips through the many platforms in our learning and teaching.  It really does all make sense when you pull all the words from this kaupapa together from the Manaiakalani programme and I am understanding this kaupapa more and more each week that goes by.  

I feel very fortunate to have been given the opportunity to be taught a more in-depth view of this programme, especially for the benefit of the tamariki I teach.  I am extremely nervous about the exam for various reasons, but the exam is not as important to me as the knowledge and understanding I have gained through this DFI course.  I am only a third year kaiako and this course to me is a turning point in my learning and in turn for the learning of the tamariki I teach. 

Few little things I'm taking away with me today for my learners (&myself)

-  Look into the Summer Learning Journey.

-  Run google meets in the class when we are back at school so if we go into another lockdown, we are all familiar with it, (using headphones of course!).

-  Saving the class site as an icon on your phone for easy access (Thanks Jacob!), I have done this already.

-  The importance of having class and individual blogs, Fiona stressed this in her talk.

-  Getting acquainted with screencastify, I can see this being used quite frequently in our akomanga.

-  Being introduced to Explain Everything as another digital tool to use.

Weekly Reflections 6

 DFI Week 6

Reflection 6

This weeks learning centered around our class sites, picking up from last week about visible learning and talking about being connected.  This aligns with the Manaiakalani approach for effective teaching, accelerated learning.  The reminder that the Learn, Create, Share framework is an important part of our visible learning and teaching.  Scaffolding and rewindable learning are a big factor in the learning process for our tamariki and we can use our class sites to our learning and teaching advantage with a focus for our class sites to have functionality and access to our learning.

It was great to have the chance to look at some cool class sites in our session and see what kinds of things make a great class site, this in itself gave me inspiration for the future of my own class site down the track.  I know that my own class site is lacking in many areas, mostly because my class is only just learning about digital learning and our class sites were developed for the need of distance learning in these lockdowns due to covid19 and the rest is my lack of knowledge and confidence around this platform.  As I move further into the digital world of learning and teaching though I can see that these sessions have given me the advantage of learning some valuable tools and knowledge in this area to help me out.

I wasn't very comfortable critiquing others sites in my group as we all have different circumstances surrounding our knowledge of class sites and in no way am I qualified to pass judgment on someone else when my own site feels so inadequate. I don't have a problem with constructive criticism of myself and for the most part could feel the understanding of the circumstances surrounding our class sites from the others & welcomed their feedback.

I found this session great for giving us time to play around with our sites and add some different things from our learning such as buttons to link in our pages and as always our bubble leader Jacob is an awesome help.

I've spent some time this week reflecting back on our learning from Friday about class sites and the value of visible learning, as this is what my class site lacks at the moment.  It is purely at the moment a platform for whānau and tamariki to be able to access mahi in this lockdown.  I guess though, even if it does not state the actual learning and success criteria in words, whānau are able to see the type of learning their tamariki are doing.  To be fair though, I only put mahi up that we have already done in class and the tamariki are already very clear on WALTS and success criteria surrounding this mahi.

With that said, I am very keen to learn to display visible learning and teaching through my class site in the future. 

My goal on Friday was to set up 3 pages for curriculum areas, I have these but they are hidden as our Kura has instructed us to only have certain pages displayed at the moment for distance learning, intending to not overwhelm whānau.  My other personal goal was to have another go at creating buttons for my site this past week.  With some help from watching some video's ( that rewindable learning!) I managed to create some buttons which has already made access easier for my whānau, especially if they are using their phones to access the mahi (according to positive feedback). 
I'm really stoked about this and although the site is a work in progress, that was definitely a good start.

Weekly Reflections 5

DFI Weeks 5

Reflection 5

This weeks topic through the DFI Manaiakalani Programme was rather relevant not only in general but also with our education system facing the challenges of lockdown due to the covid 19 virus. 

We were given a very interesting and informative  talk about "visible learning".  I can see how this could be something that at times isn't given much thought, but the realization after being reminded of it's importance makes this something we should always be aware of.

Visible teaching and learning is something we actually have been concentrating more on in our kura this term.  We have been busy making sure we are using our modelling books and bringing them to hui's to show the learning that has been happening in some of our groups.  I can now put the connections together of how this ties in with visible teaching and learning, along with other platforms such as learning sites.

I have been able to reflect on my own practices as a kaiako and now embrace with more understanding how I do my part to ensure visible learning for my learners, whānau, my colleagues and myself.  

My students really like the routine in our akomanga because they like knowing what we are doing and when (although they are okay with being flexible at times).  So I can relate that same need for routine when it comes to their actual learning.  I liked the statement that was said to make a point  about "wandering in the maze or learning", how true is this!  I know I don't like it when I'm not understanding how or why I'm doing something and I'm an adult, this would definitely be a learning obstacle for our tamariki.  

 "When the teaching is visible the student knows what to do and how to do it. When the learning is visible the teacher knows if learning is occurring or not" - John Hatty

Multi Modul with Kerry was great.  She used the perfect example with her video "Dressing window challenge, Mary queen of shops" to show a reflection of what your class site should be.  I can see the point she was making, having a site that is visually engaging will promote motivation to engage in the learning opportunities presented to the tamariki.

I have been on my own akomanga site this past week or two putting up mahi for my tamariki to access while at home.  Although I have a class site, I had help putting it up and yes, I can put things on it but it was always with a bit of apprehension.  Being taken through the wonders of our class sites again has been a good refresher and made it all seem less daunting. So this week I am thankful for that as we are all educating from our homes; it has had a positive impact on personal and professional life.

Creating Class Sites

It was really awesome in our little group with Donna, she was amazing at helping navigate putting a site together.  I have so much more to do, as by the time you just get the hang of it the time is over.  There is actually a bit more than this screen shot shows but for me, even what I did do was helpful to myself over this past week.

 

Weekly Reflection 4

 DFI Week 4

Reflection 4

Sometimes we have to sit back and think about the importance of sharing our work.  At times we all want to show someone else what we have done and maybe get some acknowledgment from others for our efforts.  Our students are no different.  Even a simple photo taken of a student holding up their work showcases the effort they have put into their learning.  You see, to me when I take that photo of them and their finished, or even attempted completion of that work, it's the proudness in that smile they give that shows me they enjoyed their learning and they were engaged in what they had accomplished.  This gives them confidence to keep accomplishing over and over again and not being afraid to ask for help to achieve it.  

Who hasn't seen a child drag someone by the hand into their class and say, look at my work, this one's mine.  Imagine them now being able to put that work onto their own blog for the world to see.  To have a collection of your learning in a space that is your own but it can be reached by many beyond the classroom walls and workbooks, opening up a broader audience.  For them this is definitely look at my learning, look at what I created and now I'm sharing it with you so you can SEE what I learnt and how I learnt it and that I finished it, or tried to. This gives students a voice in their learning.  I believe sharing student voice and teachers voice through sharing our learning gives us and them a platform to build engagement and motivation. This flows over into sense of belonging, positive relationships, greater self esteem and in turn higher academic achievement,  all any teacher wants for their students.  Well that's what I want for mine and after learning more about the manaiakalani programme, I'm a fan on finding out how to accomplish this and learning what I can to make this happen for my tamariki. I'm really proud of what I'm learning at the moment, so that's why I like to share with you..... on my blog.

So, each week there are more wonderful things to learn and hot tips to help us out.  This week it was learning about SHARE and what this means in the manaiakalani programme, google forms, my maps, google sheets, and blog comments.  I'm still a little like a fish out of water with these things but hey, I know stuff I didn't know before or would not  have even attempted to play around with.  You know what though, attempting these things has given me confidence, greater self esteem, engagement and motivation to learn, not to mention wanting share with my colleagues what I am learning .. go figure.

It's safe to say all of the above for me rolls into confidence, capability, workflow, professional and personal life improvements.  I have to admit my biggest take away was the importance of sharing for our tamariki.  Share, finish, learning or is it learning, finish, share, or finish, learning share?  If it was a multiple choice on a google form, I'd pick all 'of the above'.

Google Maps

 

Favourite Holiday Destinations of DFI Cohort

These are some of the favourite holiday destinations around the world of everybody in our DFI cohort in Term 3 2021.

The red star is my own dstination which is Upper Captiva Island, Florida.

Weekly Reflection 3

DFI Week 3

Reflection 3

This weeks session was based around 'create' and this is an important part of the learning for us as kaiako, especially for our tamariki.  To use the quote by Dorothy Burt "Creativity Empowers Learners" as a compacted explanation pretty much sums up the importance of create in three words.  This is what we are aiming to acheive with our learners by teaching them the skills to accomplish just that, we want their creativity to empower them in their learning and we want them to recognize they have the power to achieve their goals on their learning journey.  

Everything we are doing in this DFI course is improving my confidence, being given the chance to be scaffolded through an unfamiliar and sometimes scary digital world has been a blessing.  The benefits this course creates for kaiako like myself, who are a bit technologically challenged is a gift, it's a gift that will get payed forward to our tamariki.  

Manaiakalani have opened up a whole new world of learning for us and they have given us the respect and knowledge to benefit in our learning which in turn benefits our students learning.  This is something to be grateful for and I am excited albeit nervous still at times, to embrace the learning challenges myself before I expect my students to.  My students are so awesome though and even though they are just starting their digital learning journey, they definitely show me a thing or two, which they love to do by the way.

Personally, whatever is improving my confidence in my professional capability and workflow influences the same things in my personal life, so it's a win, win for me.

I'm definitely into taking the deep dive with Kerry about media into my classroom for my learners.  Setting up a media kit for my learners is going to be great and so much fun for my tamariki.  I'm already looking into trying to get some old phones off friends to start making up the kits.

My takeaway for my learners this week is as above, media kits but I am also looking forward to using google draw with my learners.  The google slides session was very helpful as this will benefit the move into digital learning for my tamariki when they are fully digital.  I hope to give them a start on using the slides to access mahi in their group work etc.

I am going to attempt to embed a video I watched with Dorothy Burt talking about the Manaiakalani Programme.  I found it after writing my blog, funnily enough, she talks about the importance of  the learning journey not only for our tamariki but for our kaiako.

 

DFI Create Wk 3

I decided to create an app in our session today that can be used by Whānau to see what is happening in our Akomanga.  It is a work in progress but the idea behind it is that Whānau can access the things that are relevant to our akomanga all in one place. Although this maybe done through our class site, other things can be linked that may not otherwise be on the site.  It was suggested that it may be an easier way for Whānau to download it to their phone to use.  

Weekly Reflection 2

 DFI - Week 2 

Reflection 2

My View

Today I  have come to understood a much more in depth view to the Manaiakalani kaupapa and pedagogy.  Being able to relate digital learning to effective teaching and accelerated learning in this  digital world of learners, is a learning curve for myself as a kaiako but one that I am excited and willing to achieve, not only for my own gain but for that of my students.  The pedagogy of Manaiakalani opens up a whole new world of experiences for our tamariki, starting with the three simple words of 'Learn, Create, Share'.  Learning needs to be engaging and something our tamariki can get excited about, creating gives our tamariki a tool to express themselves and demonstrate the depth of their learning and sharing gives them an opportunity to showcase that learning and give them a sense of importance and pride.  These things can get lost in the pages of exercise books that stay in the classroom all year.  

The learning in our school looks like PB4L, restorative practice, wellbeing, our school values of Aroha, Manaakitanga and Rangatiratanga.  We teach our tamariki to Stand Tall, Stand Proud, Stand Strong.  

Our learning journey follows the Te Marautanga O Aotearoa, founded on the ambition to develop successful, confident, competent learners while nurturing a healthy mind, body and giving them a sense of belonging, value and being proud of their identity.  It's about working together and giving our learners the same opportunities.  This is where we notice the difference between Equality and Equity.  The Manaiakalani Programme is that equity; giving opportunities to students to gain the essential skills, knowledge and sense of self that may have otherwise, sadly, been just out of reach for some.

My Learning

My confidence was a little shaky last week and I'm not going to lie, I was a tad nervous this week to start with.  I imagine that's what our tamariki go through with new learning at times.  Anyway, shaking that off, I found this week to be, dare I say it, easier.  Not easier in the sense of knowing what I'm doing, (she laughs) but easier in a way that I was able to regroup my thoughts, take a breath and say "I got this".  Well, I can try my best, that's all I ask of my students, so that's what I'm asking of myself.  My confidence has come about today by a simple listening task.  Listening to how we use this knowledge, listening to how we can use all these engaging tools to our advantage, which filters down to our students.  Google Meet, Google Calendars, Google Keep, Tabs, Apps, & as simple as learning more about our G-mail. These are all things I was still a bit worried about mucking around with but after today I feel I would be more confident to utilize these to my advantage, instead of being scared of them.  These things are going to help me manage myself at work and at home once I use them more often and become more familiar with their benefits.  I am especially excited about Google Keep as I'll be able to use this during group work.  I can take a photo of my groups work they have done on the whiteboard table, make a quick note or voice recording to text, then use this to put into my modelling books.  My learners are going to love being able to set up a Google Meet and I can see this being a challenging, fun interaction for them. I'll be sure to remember the tip to make a habit of getting the students to close tabs they are not using as well.

All in all, it was a successful day today, the collaboration task just confirmed how when one of us is unsure the others are willing to put their hand out and help you up.  A true enactment of the life skills we are trying to instill in our teaching. 

  

Weekly Reflection 1

 

Reflection 1

Today I put myself right out of my comfort zone by attending the first week of the DFI course run by Manaiakalani.  Although at times I found it difficult I was put at ease by the friendliness, helpfulness and understanding of our 'bubble leader' Jacob.  I liken the patience and guidance to how I am in my akomanga with my tamariki.  To be given the tools to succeed is what I understand the manaiakalani pedagogy to align to.  Equity for our tamariki goes a long way to increasing the wellbeing and confidence we need to give, and show our tamariki that we teach, as I believe giving them that understanding gives them the space to learn.  This course is going to help  my own confidence so that I can pass that on to my students.  

Being able to navigate my way around some basic tools on google will help me to be able to plan better learn, create, share opportunities in my akomanga and watch the tamariki have fun while they are learning.  Being able to quide my students through making even a simple poster with links is going to be an asset to our kaupapa topic this term.  I'll be able to get them to create documents to showcase their learning and share them with the other kaiako.  For myself, the simplest tip today and the best was colour coding of the files to help identify files quickly.  My drive is fairly tidy but this tip was awesome and something I didn't realize I could do, so thanks so much for that.  On and end note, even though I had some anxiety wobbles, I am leaving the course today looking forward to next weeks learning, so that's a win!