Today was the final session for this DFI course and I am feeling rather sad that this has all come to an end. Each week I have really looked forward to reconnecting with others in this event and working alongside one another to develop an understanding of the Manaiakalani programme as well as gaining confidence in incorporate technology effectively in the classroom programme and using the learn/create/share model as the foundation for teaching and learning.
The main focus of today's session was to reflect on the last 9 weeks of this course. One of the things that I am most proud of is developing my confidence with Google sites and overhauling my class site into something that I am not only proud of but is now something that myself and my students are utilising as part of our classroom programme.
I really appreciated the opportunity to join breakout groups as part of this DFI course where we would opt in to sessions that targetted a specific need of our own. The support of the facilitators with this was fantastic and I feel that I gained so much from these sessions. They provided an opportunity for me to consolidate new learning and extend my confidence in the areas that those sessions focused on. The facilitators modelled incredibly well and their sessions were easy to follow. It was great being able to have the chance to practice what was being modelled as well.
Breaking off into our "digital bubble" groups was another thing about this course that I really appreciated and found very valuable. The groups were so supportive of one another and this created an environment where we felt safe to ask our "silly" questions as well as share and discuss our new learning or seek advice/guidance on something specific we may not fully understand. It was really good to touch base with this group at the start of each session and reflect on the week since the previous session and what we have used or need to work on.
I have gained so much from this course that I am taking back into the classroom with me. Over the past 9 weeks I have already introduced a lot of the concepts to my students and they have really enjoyed the challenge of this. We have used our class site more effectively and the students have gained a lot of confidence with posting onto their blogs and embedding a range of documents on there also. The students now have a better understanding of how to give a positive/thoughtful/helpful comment on another person's blog and it has been great as a teacher to view the comments they are receiving from one another. I have a set time on a Friday afternoon where my students post something onto their blog and make a comment on another student's learning.
My students have gained confidence with using Google drawings, Google slides, Google docs and we have also done several sessions on coding. The students have really enjoyed gaining confidence with these and have also been a valuable support for one another especially as some students are quicker to pick these things up than others. It is great for them to have the opportunity to use their skills and expertise to support others. I have also given the students opportunities to share this new knowledge with younger students through our sessions with our Junior buddy class.
A big part of today was sitting the Level 1 Google Educator exam. This was something that I had been feeling quite nervous and apprehensive about. I was surprised at how much I just automatically new from the last 9 weeks of our sessions and found that I really enjoyed the whole exam experience. I totally agree with what Dorothy said to use before beginning the exam in that it really just felt like an opportunity to practice what we had learned and I also found that I discovered a few new things along the way. I really enjoyed the experience and am feeling so glad that I gave it a go. Fingers crossed now as I wait for the exam results!
Wednesday, July 1, 2020
Wednesday, June 24, 2020
New Learning - DFI Session 8
The focus of today's session was computational thinking. It was great to have the opportunity to explore coding and I am really looking forward to exploring this further with my learners and learning alongside them. This is something that I have not really had any experience with in the past, though I know that some of my students have and are quite keen on it. I also have a number of students for whom coding will be a new experience so it will be useful to have several "experts" in the class for them to call upon for additional support (for me too!).
I really enjoyed the opportunity to explore "Scratch" in our breakout groups and to have the facilitator to call upon for support. I had a lot of fun creating this "Ballerina" animation using "Scratch".
I have added a page called "Digital Technology" to my class site and have added a link to studio.code.org for the students to explore the Minecraft coding, which is something that I think they will really enjoy.
I am planning for us to also do a session on "Scratch" to give the students an opportunity to explore this and to gain more confidence with coding. These will be added to the students blogs. On Friday mornings we meet with our Junior buddy class so early next term I will organise for them to use what they have learned through exploring "Scratch" to introduce to their Junior buddies. We have done this with other digital technologies and I have found it to be very beneficial for the students to use the skills they have learned to teach others in order to consolidate their learning (a good way of using the learn/create/share model also).
I really enjoyed the opportunity to explore "Scratch" in our breakout groups and to have the facilitator to call upon for support. I had a lot of fun creating this "Ballerina" animation using "Scratch".
I have added a page called "Digital Technology" to my class site and have added a link to studio.code.org for the students to explore the Minecraft coding, which is something that I think they will really enjoy.
I am planning for us to also do a session on "Scratch" to give the students an opportunity to explore this and to gain more confidence with coding. These will be added to the students blogs. On Friday mornings we meet with our Junior buddy class so early next term I will organise for them to use what they have learned through exploring "Scratch" to introduce to their Junior buddies. We have done this with other digital technologies and I have found it to be very beneficial for the students to use the skills they have learned to teach others in order to consolidate their learning (a good way of using the learn/create/share model also).
Wednesday, June 17, 2020
New Learning - DFI Session 7
The focus of today's session was familiarising ourselves with using Chromebooks and iPads and putting ourselves into "the shoes of our learners". It was beneficial to have the opportunity to do this as it highlighted the near to allow opportunities for students to familiarise themselves with these devices and their features also.
The first session involved completing several tasks using a Chromebook. I found this very useful as I have in the past found Chromebooks quite frustrating to use as I wasn't used to the different "pad" without the left and right click buttons. Today's session helped me to feel a lot more confident with using a Chromebook. It was also great to have the opportunity to learn and familiarise myself with the range of Chromebook shortcuts which will be something useful to take back to my learners. I have added these shortcuts to my Class Site in order for my students to have these to hand throughout the day to refer back to when they are completing various learning tasks. We will go through these together as a whole-class lesson.
The second session involved completing tasks using "Explain Everything" on an iPad. I did not have an iPad to use as we do not use these at our school apart from in the Junior classrooms. Instead, I used the online whiteboard. I really enjoyed familiarising myself with this and completed these tasks. Completing these activities highlighted the importance of allowing students time to explore these learning tools in order to become familiar with the different functions and to develop their confidence and independence with using these. Without the teaching and time to explore the students are less likely to use these and certainly not to their full potential.
The last part of the day was spent on screen-castify. I was pleased to have the opportunity to extend my confidence with using this extension. I completed the assigned task and then created a maths-based screen-castify (see below) which I then put onto my Class Site as rewindable learning for my students based on our current learning - Geometry/Transformations.
The first session involved completing several tasks using a Chromebook. I found this very useful as I have in the past found Chromebooks quite frustrating to use as I wasn't used to the different "pad" without the left and right click buttons. Today's session helped me to feel a lot more confident with using a Chromebook. It was also great to have the opportunity to learn and familiarise myself with the range of Chromebook shortcuts which will be something useful to take back to my learners. I have added these shortcuts to my Class Site in order for my students to have these to hand throughout the day to refer back to when they are completing various learning tasks. We will go through these together as a whole-class lesson.
The second session involved completing tasks using "Explain Everything" on an iPad. I did not have an iPad to use as we do not use these at our school apart from in the Junior classrooms. Instead, I used the online whiteboard. I really enjoyed familiarising myself with this and completed these tasks. Completing these activities highlighted the importance of allowing students time to explore these learning tools in order to become familiar with the different functions and to develop their confidence and independence with using these. Without the teaching and time to explore the students are less likely to use these and certainly not to their full potential.
The last part of the day was spent on screen-castify. I was pleased to have the opportunity to extend my confidence with using this extension. I completed the assigned task and then created a maths-based screen-castify (see below) which I then put onto my Class Site as rewindable learning for my students based on our current learning - Geometry/Transformations.
Wednesday, June 10, 2020
New Learning - DFI Session 6
Today was the sixth DFI session. The main focus for today was evaluating sites created by others. It was beneficial having the opportunity to view and critique other sites as this was a great way to get ideas for my own site and also gave me an insight into how to navigate a range of different sites. This highlighted the importance of ensuring that the Site is easy to navigate and is not made confusing with too much detail/content on the page. We then looked critically at our own Sites using feedback from others in our "digital bubbles". It was incredibly useful to use this approach to viewing our own sights as I found that it enabled me to clearly identify what I need to work on to further develop my Class Site. It was also useful to have the time to set goals for what I wanted to achieve today on my class site. This helped me to prioritise what I wanted to focus on and set realistic and achievable goals. It was great having our facilitator to call on at different stages whilst working on my site whenever I needed assistance with doing something.
So far this year there has been more of a focus on using the Syndicate Site, especially in view of the Remote Learning which occurred to ensure consistency across the 5 classes in my Syndicate. I have now set a goal for myself to utilise my own Class Site more effectively. The aim is that the students will access the Class Site first thing each morning as there will be a link to the plan for the day. Within that plan for the day I am going to add links to the various activities we will be engaging in during the day for ease of access for the students. It was evident from today's session that it is of utmost importance that the site is easy for students to navigate. The two important features of a learning site are visual appeal and functionality. These are the aspects of my site that I aim to focus on.
I have a classroom "movie" theme which I have today begun to incorporate on my site by adding buttons and updating my homepage. I really enjoyed today's session and having the opportunity to experiment with page layout and creating buttons that tie into this theme. I think this will make my learning site more visually appealing to my students as well as making navigation easier for them. I have also ensured that there is consistency across the site in terms of layout, fonts etc and that these are also consistent with the format of the Syndicate Site which the students became very familiar with over the remote learning period.
I am aiming to spend more time today and over the weekend continuing to add to my learning site in order to add to the visual appeal and functionality.
Check out my Class Site to see the changes I have made.
The Hapara hot-tips at the end of the day were very useful also. I have a designated time in my class on Friday afternoons for students to upload content to their blogs as well as to post a comment on another student's blog. I will also incorporate time for the students to tidy their Google Drive to ensure that all work is in the appropriate folder for ease of access.
So far this year there has been more of a focus on using the Syndicate Site, especially in view of the Remote Learning which occurred to ensure consistency across the 5 classes in my Syndicate. I have now set a goal for myself to utilise my own Class Site more effectively. The aim is that the students will access the Class Site first thing each morning as there will be a link to the plan for the day. Within that plan for the day I am going to add links to the various activities we will be engaging in during the day for ease of access for the students. It was evident from today's session that it is of utmost importance that the site is easy for students to navigate. The two important features of a learning site are visual appeal and functionality. These are the aspects of my site that I aim to focus on.
I have a classroom "movie" theme which I have today begun to incorporate on my site by adding buttons and updating my homepage. I really enjoyed today's session and having the opportunity to experiment with page layout and creating buttons that tie into this theme. I think this will make my learning site more visually appealing to my students as well as making navigation easier for them. I have also ensured that there is consistency across the site in terms of layout, fonts etc and that these are also consistent with the format of the Syndicate Site which the students became very familiar with over the remote learning period.
I am aiming to spend more time today and over the weekend continuing to add to my learning site in order to add to the visual appeal and functionality.
Check out my Class Site to see the changes I have made.
The Hapara hot-tips at the end of the day were very useful also. I have a designated time in my class on Friday afternoons for students to upload content to their blogs as well as to post a comment on another student's blog. I will also incorporate time for the students to tidy their Google Drive to ensure that all work is in the appropriate folder for ease of access.
Wednesday, June 3, 2020
New Learning - DFI Session 5
Today was the fifth DFI session. The main focus for today was developing an understanding of the features of Google Sites. The deep dive session which was run by Venessa was very informative and I gained a good understanding of how to use some of the additional features of Google Sites that I was unsure of, such as adding "buttons" and selecting the layout/format of these.
It was great having the opportunity to plan out and create a Google site based on a particular theme. The group that I was working alongside focused on "Smart Media: Real or Fake?" I created a multi-modal site which focused on this theme. It was great to have the opportunity to develop my skills and confidence in this area and to also be able to use some of the teaching from earlier in the day in order to add additional features to this site such as adding the schoo logo to the home page, adding "buttons" on the home page with links to subsequence pages, adding youtube clips and Google slides directly. This is going to be very useful for me as last year I created a class site but did not feel overly confident with using this and making it engaging for the students. During the time of lockdown and the need for remote learning programmes, my team and I created a syndicate learning site which hugely boosted my confidence with creating and adding to a learning site. The knowledge I gained from doing this, along with the tips I learned in today's deep dive session, will now enable me to revamp and update my class site and to use it more effectively and to also make it multi-modal and engaging for the students.
We also learned some good blogger tips this afternoon such as being able to personalise reaction buttons by adding our own selection of comments/reactions to blog posts. We were also shown how to email a post to someone. This will be very useful for me to be able to email students directly if something relating to them has been posted on the class blog and also email this to their parents for them to see their learning and comment.
I am looking forward to the further Google site sessions where I will hopefully gain additional ideas to include in both my class and the syndicate learning sites in order to make them more engaging and easily navigated by the students (something which I became aware of the importance of today).
It was great having the opportunity to plan out and create a Google site based on a particular theme. The group that I was working alongside focused on "Smart Media: Real or Fake?" I created a multi-modal site which focused on this theme. It was great to have the opportunity to develop my skills and confidence in this area and to also be able to use some of the teaching from earlier in the day in order to add additional features to this site such as adding the schoo logo to the home page, adding "buttons" on the home page with links to subsequence pages, adding youtube clips and Google slides directly. This is going to be very useful for me as last year I created a class site but did not feel overly confident with using this and making it engaging for the students. During the time of lockdown and the need for remote learning programmes, my team and I created a syndicate learning site which hugely boosted my confidence with creating and adding to a learning site. The knowledge I gained from doing this, along with the tips I learned in today's deep dive session, will now enable me to revamp and update my class site and to use it more effectively and to also make it multi-modal and engaging for the students.
We also learned some good blogger tips this afternoon such as being able to personalise reaction buttons by adding our own selection of comments/reactions to blog posts. We were also shown how to email a post to someone. This will be very useful for me to be able to email students directly if something relating to them has been posted on the class blog and also email this to their parents for them to see their learning and comment.
I am looking forward to the further Google site sessions where I will hopefully gain additional ideas to include in both my class and the syndicate learning sites in order to make them more engaging and easily navigated by the students (something which I became aware of the importance of today).
Wednesday, May 27, 2020
New Learning - DFI Session 4
Today was the fourth Digital Fluency Intensive session. We gained further insight into the aims of the Manaiakalani programme, with a focus on "share". Research showed that there was a significant boost in students' sharing via their blogs during lockdown. In 2005 there was a big change in sharing due to the introduction of social media, with there steadily becoming a wider range of platforms to share globally to a much wider audience. An aim of the Manaiakalani programme is to "work with learners to establish an authentic audience for their learning". Sharing in the digital age goes well beyond your local community (global). I gained an understanding of the purpose of using Blogger for sharing as this is a platform for being cybersmart. It is secure and does not require new sign in. Sharing is a vital part of the learning process as it gives a sense of finishing learning and can also be the starting point for new learning outcomes.
During the first part of the day we explored creating Google forms which was a lot of fun. I created this Google form on "Sports" including a variety of different question types. It was very beneficial having the support of our facilitator to guide us through this and to gain confidence with creating these. These Google forms could easily be incorporated into my teaching programme, such as follow-up tasks for reading groups to interpret and analyse information in texts. This would also be a useful way to gather information of students' understanding of a new topic (prior knowledge) as well as at the end of the topic to show new learning.
We then went on to explore Google My Maps. This was new to me and I enjoyed the chance to explore this in our "digital bubbles". Using information gathered from the members of this entire DFI group, I was able to create the map below which shows favourite holiday destinations:
I also explored creating another My Map of my own for the area in which I live, including places of interest in my community. This is something I would like to get my students to do, perhaps with a favourite holiday destination and marking things to do and places to go in that area.
Another focus of today's session was exploring Google sheets. This was an area that I wasn't all that familiar with so it was very useful to gain an understanding of how to create and manipulate data on a spreadsheet. We had the opportunity to analyse data on a student blog, from which I created the chart below showing the results of that data analysis. This chart shows the number of posts per month of a student in class from March 2019 through to May 2020. This would also be a great activity to do with my class as I am sure by analysing this they would then want to increase the number of posts they are making!
During the first part of the day we explored creating Google forms which was a lot of fun. I created this Google form on "Sports" including a variety of different question types. It was very beneficial having the support of our facilitator to guide us through this and to gain confidence with creating these. These Google forms could easily be incorporated into my teaching programme, such as follow-up tasks for reading groups to interpret and analyse information in texts. This would also be a useful way to gather information of students' understanding of a new topic (prior knowledge) as well as at the end of the topic to show new learning.
We then went on to explore Google My Maps. This was new to me and I enjoyed the chance to explore this in our "digital bubbles". Using information gathered from the members of this entire DFI group, I was able to create the map below which shows favourite holiday destinations:
I also explored creating another My Map of my own for the area in which I live, including places of interest in my community. This is something I would like to get my students to do, perhaps with a favourite holiday destination and marking things to do and places to go in that area.
Another focus of today's session was exploring Google sheets. This was an area that I wasn't all that familiar with so it was very useful to gain an understanding of how to create and manipulate data on a spreadsheet. We had the opportunity to analyse data on a student blog, from which I created the chart below showing the results of that data analysis. This chart shows the number of posts per month of a student in class from March 2019 through to May 2020. This would also be a great activity to do with my class as I am sure by analysing this they would then want to increase the number of posts they are making!
Wednesday, May 20, 2020
New Learning - DFI Session 3
Today was the third Digital Fluency Intensive session. We gained further insight into the aims of the Manaiakalani programme, with a focus on "create". This reinforced the need for students to have regular opportunities to be creative within my teaching programme as creative skills are essential in order to be effective problem solvers, communicators and collaborators. I particularly liked the quote "creativity is as natural and essential for children as fresh air and sunshine!" Opportunities to create will assist students with deepening their understanding as they apply their knowledge in creative ways. I also like the fact that creativity is something that everyone can be successful at as it is not necessarily about talent and skills. "Creativity is not about doing something better than others; it is about thinking, exploring, discovering and imagining". (Kohl, 2008).
It has been another successful day of new learning and reconnecting with our "digital bubble". Today's focus was "media". I gained an understanding of how to create You Tube playlists which is going to be useful as part of my teaching practice. During the session in our "digital bubble" I was able to begin creating a playlist for use in my teaching programme. On a Wednesday morning, first thing in the day, I do "Wow Wednesday" in my class which involves the students watching a video of something on You Tube which makes them go wow! This includes things such as singing, dancing, skateboard tricks, magic etc. I have begun putting together a playlist of video clips I can use for this rather than having to search something up each week. I can now do this in advance which will improve my organisation.
Today I developed a better understanding of how Google slides can be used in different ways and that these can easily be embedded into learning sites. I plan to explore the built in tools for publish and design.
A key focus for my learning today was gaining confidence with using Google drawings in different ways. In our "digital bubbles" we had the opportunity to create an "About Me" gadget which was then inserted onto my blog. In the last part of today's session, I had the chance to explore "Digital Art with Google Drawings" which was led by Gerhard. It was great having the chance to experiment with creating digital art whilst having an expert to call on for advice and support. I found this to be a lot of fun and is definitely something that I will be taking back to the classroom and implementing with my students. I feel this is something my students will really enjoy whilst allowing them an opportunity to be creative. Below is the digital portrait of myself that I created as part os today's session.
It has been another successful day of new learning and reconnecting with our "digital bubble". Today's focus was "media". I gained an understanding of how to create You Tube playlists which is going to be useful as part of my teaching practice. During the session in our "digital bubble" I was able to begin creating a playlist for use in my teaching programme. On a Wednesday morning, first thing in the day, I do "Wow Wednesday" in my class which involves the students watching a video of something on You Tube which makes them go wow! This includes things such as singing, dancing, skateboard tricks, magic etc. I have begun putting together a playlist of video clips I can use for this rather than having to search something up each week. I can now do this in advance which will improve my organisation.
Today I developed a better understanding of how Google slides can be used in different ways and that these can easily be embedded into learning sites. I plan to explore the built in tools for publish and design.
A key focus for my learning today was gaining confidence with using Google drawings in different ways. In our "digital bubbles" we had the opportunity to create an "About Me" gadget which was then inserted onto my blog. In the last part of today's session, I had the chance to explore "Digital Art with Google Drawings" which was led by Gerhard. It was great having the chance to experiment with creating digital art whilst having an expert to call on for advice and support. I found this to be a lot of fun and is definitely something that I will be taking back to the classroom and implementing with my students. I feel this is something my students will really enjoy whilst allowing them an opportunity to be creative. Below is the digital portrait of myself that I created as part os today's session.
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