THE EIGHTH DAY

I enjoyed Vicki's presentation on Empowerment and found myself making connections between the area in Auckland she was discussing and the community I live in. The greatest joy comes from Empowering students to...be confident in themselves and their own ability.

Jacob's presentation about how technology will continue to develop and where it could go was interesting and could be a great discussion to have with the kids in my class. I'm sure I could create some cool activities relating to this topic using the skills I've acquired during this training.

I enjoyed the coding exploration time and completing the Minecraft puzzles, gave me a little bit of an insight into what some of my students enjoy doing as I've heard them talking about it and haven't really had a clue. 

I found the coding activity for Scratch incredibly challenging, it is really not my thing but I did manage to follow the instructions and create something pretty cool. Just goes to show that you don't have to be super into computers to be able to do this stuff. 

Click the screen below to start the shape and press spacebar to erase it. 

THE SEVENTH DAY

Today I had a little play with the Explain Everything Whiteboard website. I found it a little tricky but think it could have some great uses in the classroom.

I liked looking at the examples of how other teachers had utilised it. I'd like to have a go with it on an iPad as I think it would be a bit easier and more fun to use that way. 

THE SIXTH DAY

Today I started to make my classroom site. I enjoyed the creative aspect to it but found some parts very challenging. I got a bit frustrated at times trying to make my images clear and format my pages so they look similar but we got there in the end!! Woo!!

Click the link to view what I've got so far, it's still has a long way to go!

Room 3

THE FIFTH DAY

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

I really resonated with the little workshop about making our teaching/learning appealing to the eye. This is something I'm really passionate about; there is nothing I dislike more than ugly, plain presentations with little spunk or personality, to me, it's like listening to someone talk for an hour with a robot voice. I always put a little of myself into my teaching presentations because how could I ask the same of my students in their work if I don't?

• What did I learn...

I really enjoyed learning more about Google Sites, the great things that you can accomplish with it, and how it can be utilized in the classroom and for the school. I have used it in the past and found that I loved the creative aspect to it - I think I will enjoy creating a Class Site and I believe my learners will love it too.

Here is My Site that I created in DFI today. It is really only the start of an idea I had about creating a whole site designed to showcase what my class are doing as well as readings, videos, and other tools and activities that we have used or done.

THE FOURTH DAY

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

I learned more about the 'Share' part of the Manaiakalani framework and the importance of sharing to promote learning and encourage new and creative ideas. I also resonated with the purpose of sharing to receive positive feedback and the effect it has on the learner of raising their self-esteem and confidence.

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

I enjoyed having a go with the Google Forms, I think that this could be an incredibly useful tool especially for spelling tests like in the example we were shown.

• What did I learn that could be used with my learners, how could they use it?

As mentioned above and I think the My Maps feature allows for a lot of creative exploration and could easily be linked into Maths, Geography or Social Studies topics.

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

I took some time to reflect upon how sharing has impacted me as a professional and as a person. The ability to showcase my work, ideas and the resources I've made has hugely increased my confidence. Through feedback, reassurance and results I have crafted an understanding of who I am as a teacher and an individual. Without sharing this I believe this understanding would be significantly less - something I will continue to keep in mind for my future students.

THE THIRD DAY

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

Creating is an intrinsic part of learning and without it the remaining framework falls short. We create to explore our own understandings and extend ourselves in new and exciting ways. When we are creating by using the technologies around us we learn more about the world we live in, our place and who we are within it.

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

I enjoyed learning more about Google Draw and how to create engaging infographics and posters. I think this tool is one I would like to become more adept at as I could develop some great printable resources for my class and school rather than searching for and/or buying what I want.

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

I resonated with Kerry's deep dive and the impact of film and media. I have always loved showing clips, short films and movies in my teaching to support whatever learning I have in mind. The reason I became a teacher was largely due to the film 'Dead Poet's Society' and Robin William's role within it so I definitely understand the power of emotive film and how it can be used to benefit students. 

"We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for."

I really loved the idea of entering in the Manaiakalani Film Competition or creating a school/class podcast or news channel. I just think it would be super beneficial and engaging for students especially at an Intermediate level. I also loved the idea of making movies with Google Slides, I think it is really cool! I think I could incorporate this into our social studies work around the Civil Right's Movement quite easily.

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

To be honest I'm not sure what from the above won't improve my own confidence, capability and workflow. I think I will be able to offer my students more visually engaging work and I believe their enthusiasm for these creative modes will contribute to a higher level of learning, thus giving me a boost in confidence in my own ability. 

A little something I designed using Google Draw

A little storyboard I made with Google Slides

THE SECOND DAY

• What did I learn that increased my understanding of Manaiakalani kaupapa and pedagogy? What does the Learn look like at YOUR school? 

The Learn at Manukorihi looks like collaboration - between students, teachers, whānau and our wider community. We work together to provide new and exciting learning opportunities for our tamariki. Recently we have been working with our local iwi to learn about our history, the history of Manukorihi. This learning involved research, exploration and resulted in a greater understanding of the past and the significance of our place.

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

I really enjoyed learning about google keep. It seems like a very practical and helpful tool and it will definitely save me time when taking text from photos of posters, newsletters, newspapers and magazines etc, to put into docs/slides and incorporate into my lessons. Also in regard to making lists which I am notorious for.

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

I liked sharing a song and a google maps tab through google meet. I'd never thought to do something like that before - it would have been a great activity to do during the Covid lockdown. I actually think it could also be a cool introductory activity at the beginning of the school year. I also really enjoyed the google meet recording tool and being able to share the tab and talk to it - I did this and you can watch it in the link below:

Recording of an Evaluation

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

The google calendar tool is very useful and one that I have not utilized at all. I am looking forward to trying to organise my life a bit more so that I do not miss deadlines, appointments etc.