DFI Day 8

Empowerment

Today was spent focussing on empowerment. Empowerment of the tamariki and empowerment of the teachers.

The DFI came about to empower teachers to be able to use the digital tools that we have to

teach effectively to accelerate learning and to give our tamariki rangatiratanga.

We need to empower our young people to be active participants in their own lives.

They need to be creative directors of their own lives and not passive consumers.

What we are teaching out tamariki will come and go but if we can equip them with the confidence to be life long learners we have done our job! Digitally fluent teachers will hopefully produce digitally fluent children.

Technology Curriculum

Unpacking a new curriculum document is always a bit tricky and having the time and guidance to really dig down and explore was great. Below is a simple visual which helped clarify it for me.

I got a chance to explore Raranga Matihiko and all the cool resources available there. 

But the most empowering part of the day for me was the chance to participate in a bubble and learn all about coding using Mihi Maker. Such a cool resource and I absolutely loved spending time creating my digital mihi. I didn't quite get it finished but I spent the evening completing it as I wanted to share it on my blog. I am desperate to show the tamariki how to do this as they will LOVE it. 

So did I feel empowered? Yes definitely and the feeling that I got from being able to accomplish something really cool, that I couldn't do before was a reminder of the daily challenge that we have as educators to uplift our tamariki, top up their kete and empower them to be creative directors of their own lives.

You need to use your arrows to move me through the game. Have a go!

DFI Day 7

A great start today with some Hapara Hints.

I have been using Hapara for a few years now, but only since the DFI have I really used the next layer of functions. This knowledge makes an already great tool amazing.

Hints for me... 

• Really important to not let the tamariki create their own folders as they are not visible on teacher dashboard. 
• Remember that you can sort tamariki within class folders. 
• There is a 15 min view so the tamariki's docs don't clutter your files.  
• Check anonymous comments to make sure they are appropriate. 
• If they don't have a gmail account they will come as anonymous. 
• Sharing is where you locate all the files that aren’t filed in the correct place a bit like tidying up the desk in the old days! 
• Class info change kids passwords if required. 
• Privacy around viewing tamariki activity out of school hours.

 Just because you can it doesn't mean you should……. you should have a conversation.

Guided browsing good if you want to lock tamariki onto an activity for a period of time. I really like how Dorothy suggested that we have a conversation with the tamariki and explain why and that it will come off once we have completed the activity. Activity viewer is great for checking in on collaboration and who is working where.

The 3 P's

The principles of the treaty were very much at the forefront when designing the Manaiakalani pedagogy, creating equity and being absolutely faithful with the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. 

 It is important that the words 'by in' are not used when getting whānau involved, our whānau are in partnership with us and it is important to understand that whānau are part of the decision making with everything including the Kawa of Care. When originally approached to contribute to the Kawa of Care the whānau actually strengthened and added vigour to the document. 

Teachers need to be mindful of removing devices from tamariki as a consequence as these devices are their book and pencil. We need to be respectful of the right of the child to participate. 

Using the iceberg analogy once again, protection is above the surface of the iceberg all the things we teach the children about being in cybersmart and our presence and support however the other part of protection is under the water, the background security measures that at put in place to keep all of our digital footprints squeaky clean.

Explain Everything was fun

I have seen some amazing resources created using Explain Everything and it was nice to have a play around and some time to learn the ins and outs. I need to find time to look at slide 10 11 and 12 of slide deck used in presentation.


Screencastify

This week we have been revisiting the tamariki making smart choices about where they should be as far as their learning...not wandering around the google suite or internet but staying focused on the task at hand. So this activity has really been timely for me and I plan to use it in the classroom net week. The tamariki will really enjoy taking screenshots of their smart choices. One of the great things about Screencastify is that it is rewindable, so having this available caters for the differentiation of ability and focus in the classroom.
Take a look at my creation. On reflection next time I would make sure that my omnibar was clear of excess tabs and tidy however today was a chance to just get in and have a go.

DFI Day 5

The hotspots were really valuable for me today.

Hapara

I didn't realise how useful the blog post and comment section on the teacher dashboard was and now that I know how to find it easilyI can see the benefits of using this to increase my workflow. 

Visibility

I used to think that making myself visible was quite scary, however once I got comfortable with blogging and using my classroom website I found this part of the pedagogy easier to do. It occurred to me during lockdown that I didn't really enjoy videoing myself let alone publishing it warts and all for the public to view. I then realised that the content of the video was really what people were wanting to see ...not me.... and this changed my perception. In speaking with the tamariki, they love using the classroom website where everything is visible, there are no issues with sharing and access and they can rewind their learning whenever the want to. 

Multi-Modal

I'm a big fan of multi-modal and remember focusing on this for my MIT inquiry using writing as the curriculum area. I can see the huge benefits in this approach and transferring this approach across other learning areas makes so much sense. I enjoyed the presentation unpacking the 2 parts to multi-modal as explained below in the images.

A Chance to Level Up

This was a chance to create our very own multi-modal reading resource and it was a great time sharing ideas in a small group and having an expert on hand. I felt a lot ore comfortable creating from scratch a template using google draw which I guess is an indicator of progress rather than adapting someone elses. I had lots of fun and I thik I may have cracked a layout which  can reuse over and over again that is eye cathing and simple to follow. The other feature that I like with this template that I have created is that it explicitly has learn, create and share spaces and visibility also features with the blog post requirement. 

Here is a link to my multi-modal page and resource. 

Website development

I love my classroom website, the layout and feeling that I get when I share it with the tamariki. It really does reflect our classroom culture and I know that the tamariki enjoy using it too. I have spent alot of time creating it and learning along the way has been empowering. There are still many things for me to learn however and so today having some time to play around was a real treat.

Here is a link to my classroom website. 

Another fantastic day with loads of learning for me.