Digital Fluency Intensive (DFI) : Day 6

 In today's session Dorothy talked about being empowered. Teachers need to be empowered for learners to be empowered. The things we do and learn at Digital Fluency Intensive sessions allows us to focus on ourselves and learn. It gives us the opportunity to discuss and learn from each other and then takes this learning back and implement it into our pedagogy.

Digital devices are life changing, for example:
-being able to look at products online and order online.
-Having an online medical practise, and have a medical consultation were you can diagnose patient and give a prescription.
-Data from research shows that children in lower decile schools enter school with having academic performance of a 3yr old. They are two years behind their peers.

Using technology can empower our learners- LEARN CREATE SHARE.
VISIBILTY is an important component to empowering our learners, whanau (family) and our colleagues.

I really enjoyed the second half of the day where Gerhard shared with us some tips and tricks around our workflow.

How to manage your workflow?
1. Google calendars-  I felt anxious using the school calendar and messing up events and booking times so I used ical instead. I always wanted to learn how to use Google Calendar. Gerhard showed me how to use the sharing settings.  I used the time at DFI to add things to the calendar and am quite pleased with myself. I like the update on my gmail where I am able to view the calendar as I read my mail.

2. E-Mail- learning how to archive your e-mails and DO NOT TRASH them. How to organise my e-mails and set up filters.

3. Managing tabs- Using extensions for example: one tab, add a person, bookmarks, Toby and Toby mini. I particularly liked using Toby mini and over the weekend have set up my tabs to help manage my workflow. It is great, easy to use and a life saver . Thank you Gerhard- definitely saves my time and makes workflow manageable. I don't have to go into my drive or hit the search tool to access my slide decks, spreadsheets and documents. 

4. Hangouts-An interesting session with lots to learn. We had a whole class hangout and then broke into two groups to complete a task using hangout. Lots of fun however I feel that with practise I will be able to do much better. I am looking forward to my Hangout with Gerhard on Wednesday morning.

I would like to hear and learn from others about how they/we can use this formof communication  and learning with our juniors on their devices. A great start would be for Susan and I to have a hangout session with our children sharing their learning. We could use our laptops and iMacs.

Below is a recording of our Hangout session:

A great day with lots of information and ways to help manage workflow. I will definitely share this with my colleagues, family and friends. Thank- you Dorothy and Gerhard!

Digital Fluency Intensive (DFI) : Day 5

Another busy day, with lots of interesting hands on activities. We started the day with making connections. The key points that stood out for me was that:
Teachers now understand that teaching and Manaiakalani are not separate things. We are part and parcel of the Manaiakalani.
Children  must blog 2- 3 times a week and it needs to be quality posts rather than quantity.
We are ambassadors. As we learn at DFI we need to share/support our colleagues, take this message to our principals and it is up to us to change their mindset so that it can benefit our learners.
Gerhard talked about the importance of being connected. The Manaiakalani Programme enables us to be connected in a wider network of schools. Digital technologies enable us to stay in touch and have visibility to see what others are thinking and learning. In 2015 more schools joined the cluster through relationship and a sense of belonging. When we are connected to each other it is more meaningful, it is a long term commitment. 

Learn Create and Share has become contextualised. We all on the same journey, we going through this process and its a journey and we are able to do this together. We have a connection because of a shared language for example: Learn, Create, Share, Cybersmart (right time, right place right attitude)Smart Footprint, Blog comments ( positive thoughtful and helpful). It is important for teachers and children to be referring to this language to empower our learners.

The Manaiakalani website gives us information about toolkits and PLG's. The cluster wide website helps us be connect with other schools. Another way that keeps us connected is the Twitter feed. Every time kids blog it goes to the Manaiakalani twitter feed which engage with the learners. There are over 201 thousand blog posts on is twitter feed.
Another way to create further connection is blog Tuhi Mai Tuhi Atu run by Tanya. 
One class is grouped with another 3 classes and each class devotes one week of their time 
to comment on the other classes blog. The children are connected with each other and 
the learning is authentic -(develop Smart Relationships) 

Connected learners share and the connection is two ways, you got to give to get. As educators we have to be prepared to blog on our professional blog and it is a valuable professional learning opportunity. Teachers and learners are creators of content. The second half of the day was with the OMG Tech team. Zoe Timbrell, the co founder and general manager talked about the Future of technology and how we need to open our minds and hearts to new ways of thinking.

The key points that I got from this session:

-As technology expands, technology is blooming. We want to fix in the future, 

making sure our kids have their voice heard. 

-We are makers. Technology is about creating which helps us interact.

How we use technology outside of our screens.

-New Zealand has the most relaxed policies. Our value system is valuable and our technology needs to reflect this. For example: Hapara (Teacher Dashboard) works for us NZ teachers. 

-We have world leading creative technologists for example: Peter Beck, Lord and many others. 

-Creativity and innovation - an important technology is a new form of creativity: play based learning. It is important that children need to play, explore and work together, 

-Creativity and play - digital technology allowing the space to play.

My first attempt at Scratch.
Looking forward to working on Junior Scratch.

I am looking forward to using Junior Scratch with my Year 1 learners on iPads. I  need to practise and get confident with the tools before I can introduce it to my learners. Thank-you, Gerhard for offering to support me with this. 

Taking apart a CD ROM

Two circuit boards.

Lots of tiny screws.

An exciting  part of the day was using a 3D pen. There is a plastic filament inside the pen which is melted before using. These pens are used to make 3D designs on papers or on top of any other shape. I can just imagine how much fun my students will have at creating and making designs  using these pens. May suggest we get some for our Makerspace area. It will be awesome!

Using a 3D pen to create an object. 

Very tricky, but was really amazing. Had lots of fun.

A fantastic day. Lots to practise and talk about and share with colleagues back at school.

DMiC end of Term 2 Reflection

We have reached the end of the Term 2 and a few of the learners in my group have definitely come long way in terms of their behaviourial and cognitive engagement. Some children are getting better at being able to focus and concentrate for longer periods. I am continuing to work on setting up norms and culture in the classroom for example: "We are here to learn, I want you to try harder, playing with the counters is for another time, you have a job to do here, are you helping/supporting your partner?

We are continuing to solve a problem by:

-talking to each other.

-explain to the group "What the story is telling us?"

-having a conversation with our partner and discussing the method we are going to use to solve the problem.

- listening when someone is sharing.
- repeating and show an understanding what others have said.

- being able to notice that we have different answers, having the confidence to explain/talk about the method/strategy they used to solve the problem.

-being able to agree/disagree and having the confidenece to explain their thinking.

What I have noticed: 

-Some children that have a good knowledge of numbers are starting to make the connections and see the patterns and are therefore able to use this knowledge to solve the problems, for example: if 2+2=4 then 20+20 makes 40.

-Doubles plus one more, for example if :6 and 6 makes 12 then 6 and 7 makes 13-we are just adding one more.

The capable learners are able to understand/comprehend the word problem (I am getting more, I am taking away, I am sharing)  

A few children in the group can count in 2's up to 30, count in 10's to 100 and are using this knowledge to solve problems. 

Challenges:

Children that lack number knowledge are struggling to keep up with the their partner. When given a challenging problem with large numbers they struggle and then they get restless. They end up annoying the others who are working. They play with counters and often miss out on the good learning opportunities that come out of the session. Don suggested that they find/use resources in the classroom to support the with their counting, for example: number line and hundreds chart. I  followed up on this yet once again I find that the engaged learners use it well because they can read, locate and find the numbers they need and the less capable learners need support.

What next:

I need to work on developing a good number knowledge and in order to do this I  probably need to work at the level/ability of these learners- have flexible groupings.  I need to motivate the unable learners and  build their self confidence by creating opportunities where they experience success.
I need to continue working on follow up activities that consolidates the learning after they leave the teachers table.
Work on the language/comprehension when reading the problem. May have to visualise the problem, use counters, more hands on tasks.

Some follow up tasks that children completed on their iPad.