Media Day 3

My example of creating Animation using Google Slides

In the first session, Deborah talked about creativity having no limits - 'Creative skills help students become better problem solvers, communicators and collaborators'.Teachers are really switched onto the power of creativity - I see this my son's daycare, they take photos and keep learning journals of Charlie making, playing and the links to Te Whariki. Deborah talked about Creativity being integral to learning and being central to the Manaiakalani programme and going back to the roots in education and how it was recognised for creativity. I thought it a timely reminder when she talked about us thinking about how we expect the younger the child are, the more creative they should be.

Now I am in a secondary environment it shouldn't be any different - creativity just looks 'different' than it does in an ECE setting. She talked about digital creativity being one element - not solely the purpose of Manaiakalani. 'Creativity goes hand in hand with the digital technologies content, the students are not merely consumers'. I am looking forward to creating my own sites with links to enhance my programme for the students.

The highlights of today:

I have never used Google draw - so knowing that I can search using the explore tool and adding a.png (images without backgrounds) was really helpful.

The Youtube revision with Maria was very useful- I have set up a number of playlists on my own channel so I can share in class - waiata māori and subject-specific songs. I didn't realise that students don't have their own channel. 

Animation with Vicki using Google Slides was so much fun. We used slides to insert an image and background and then duplicate each slide so that it changed every time. I can really see some of the Cyber/Digital students in Year 9 really enjoying this if they haven't tried it out already.

Also, I love re-visiting and building on some of the skills we have already learned: using the HTML view to embed a link, inserting videos into Google slides and inserting an image into the sidebar.

Looking forward to the toolkit meet and the next DFI session.

Workflow Day 2

Clip: Meet conversation recording

Workflow: Session 2

Another really enjoyable, extremely useful session using Google Meet/Google Tasks and Keep (both new to me). I particularly found 'create a meet' very helpful because yesterday, I shared my whole screen to play a youtube clip (on Globalisation) during an online lesson from school and found that 'sharing tab' option is a better way to do this. I am confident now in using Google Calendar to add events and invite people and to host/create Meets.

I enjoyed reading Manaiakalani mail outs as designed by students over the 2020 lockdown and commenting on them during a Meet while recording. This was new to me and very useful - learning that, the host is the only one who can record the meeting. A new tip for me was when using bullet points list for when you need to use ticks!

Each week, I have always learned new ways in which to use Blogger too - to embed a video into my blog post. And the step before this, to change the sharing settings for the saved recording to be able to embed within a blog post.

I would like to learn more Hāpara tips (enjoyed the hot tip star one for workspaces at the beginning of the day). I used Jamboard for the first time this week for a social studies class and it was successful!

At our school, LEARN for me is being able to attend brilliant PD courses (such as this) and being able to apply it in practice to maximise effective teaching and learning and to accelerate learning. I am looking forward to putting more into my programme.

LEARN looks like 'Ako', (we are learners and teachers and so are our students) as Dorothy mentioned 'effective practice whether its analog or digital'. During staff meetings we are encouraged to reflect on how we are culturally responsive practitioners and reflect on the ways in which the curriculum encourages all students to reflect on their own learning processes and what steps we are taking to do the same. Looking forward to next Wednesday already!

Core Business Day 1

 

Manaiakalani Blog Post 1

Core Business

Friday 15th October

What did I learn that increased my understanding of Manaiakalani kaupapa and pedagogy?

The format of the lessons from the staff were very useful: Learn/Ako, Create and Share. I also found it very helpful that the presenters also incorporated some Te Reo when speaking. I enjoyed learning about where the name 'Manaiakalani' originates from (hook/constellation) and the origins of the PLD in Tamaki, Auckland.

What did I learn that could improve my confidence, capability or workflow as a professional?

I learned about signing into Chrome (never have I once done that before) and organising my favourite bookmarks/websites for ease of use across all devices. After the discussion on suitable profile pics, I even changed my profile pic for a more professional photo. This has made me a lot more confident using the google tools/apps and it's close relationship to chrome. I learned about Google groups (I wasn't familiar with this prior to this session) - would've been useful to communicate with our Year 2/3 whanau during last year's lockdown. The features of google (organising google drive, voice typing, headings with contents) was extremely useful and I think student's that struggle with writing/typing would benefit hugely from the voice typing feature. 

What did I learn that could improve my confidence, capability or workflow in my personal life?

I feel more confident talking with other people online. As a reliever for the first 3 terms of this year, I didn't have much interaction with people/students online during the lockdowns here in Northland.

What did I learn that could be used with my learners?

So much - everything that we covered in today's session was so useful and a lot of it, quite new to me.

Google docs: I made the following poster using a google doc to share with my English class.

Profile 2021

 

Nō Australia ōku tīpuna
My ancestors are from Australia

I tae mai ōku tīpuna ki Aotearoa i te tau 1984

My ancestors arrived in NZ in the year 1984

Ko Jeanne rāua ko Les ōku kaumatua
Jeanne and Les are my grandparents

I tipu ake au ki Ōpua
I grew up in Ōpua

E noho ana au ki Ōpua
I live in Opua

Ko tēnei taku mihi ki ngā tāngata whenua o te rohe nei
I acknowledge the indigenous people of this area

Ka mihi hoki au ki ngā tohu o te rohe nei
I acknowledge the important landmarks of this area

Nō reira, tēnā koutou katoa
Thus, my acknowledgement to you all.

Nau mai, haere mai ki tēnei taonga

Welcome to your very own blog for learning. We look forward to seeing you share your professional development with the Manaiakalani community, your colleagues and the wider community.