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.
Totally true Tracy! You can almost look at any job or just a general daily experience and think back to a time prior to internet, smartphones etc and see just how far we have come. I recently dropped my phone in the sink and ended up using an old nokia and wow makes you realise even a small thing like texting has come a long way. That is why it's so important to give our students that opportunity to learn new technology and let them teach us a thing or too as well in the process!
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