Today we covered our Workshop safety floor plan. It is important to know where the walkways are, and where the work areas are.

We will set up a seating plan once in the workshop.

All my class work are uploaded onto my class site. It makes it very functional for teachers, parents and students.

The year 10 students have to make blog entries on all the theory topics we cover, as well as uploading photos of their completed projects

Computational Thinking and Design and Develop Digital Outcomes.

New Zealand included Digital Technologies into the new curriculum. It is important to cover the two new areas in technology. 

You can find our presentation here with heaps of resources and tips

  

Revision and the Google Teacher Level 1 Exam

I had just 2 hours to prepare for this exam, you know..the Google Teacher Level 1 exam. Our bubble leader knowing me for a few years was very optimistic about my ability to ace the Level 1. I can just say "WHAT IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE" I run out of time. Really. Look how drained and tired I look.

Photo of Chris just after his Goole exam

On a lighter note, the DFI course conducted over 9 days by Manaiakalani was refreshing and if I fail the exam I will definitely give it another go. Awesome team and was great to connect with other teachers across New Zealand.
For those interested in doing the Level 1 Google certification can just go to the teachers at google page for more info.
Dorothy asked us to cover the following points in our day 9 blog entry.

What are you proud of? I am proud to be a teacher in New Zealand. We learned a lot during Covid-19 Lockdown as teachers and I am sure that our students had the support and teaching they needed. When we compare our 2020 mid-year results with 2019 we are ahead at this point of time. We were able to do this by being a digital google school, as well as all the support from our community and parents. So yes, I am a proud Kiwi.

What do you regret? I regret that we do not have enough time during our days that we could invest in more training of our teachers without burning them out. I also regret that we do not have a teacher exchange program running in New Zealand.

What will you be taking forward into the ‘new’ era of schooling?It became clear during this lockdown that digital contact between people can help us cope, and gives us resources and tools to be able to function better as humans and as teachers. Physical distances between people and places can be overcome by applying digital technologies. I see a flexible school timetables with students deciding when they will attend online or onsite classes. Networking and collaboration between teachers will also become more visible as we move forward. Teachers will also become more and more tech savvy. 

Update on the exam
Proud owner of a badge

Devices

When it comes to the option of choosing between devices for the digital classroom there are a few things to consider.

Manaiakalani Cybersmart program is also very useful to prepare the students to be smart online. The Smart Surfing Basics on their site I found quite insightful to guide the students to know how to make smart searches and to get the right information. I adapted one of the slides for my students.

Enabling Access

Good discussion on teachers and students connecting with each other. Thanks for sharing the link to Manaiakalani PLD site

I got some feedback on my new site and it is always nice to look at your site through the eyes of someone else.

"Visible teaching and learning - 4, Rewindable learning - 4 , Multimodal content - 4, Multitext content ie a variety of texts supporting the 'main' text - 4, Opportunities for learners to be creative. Love the comparison between old and new sites, also adds are such a great idea"

Collaborate Learning

Our last session was intense. Our first session covered Multi-modal as a topic. Setting up the "Hook" for the students to "pull" them into learning was under discussion. If the setting is right it will empower our students and enable them to create, share and learn. The sequence could be in any order. What will be very evident is that it will be self directed learning in a positive/warm environment.

Multi-modal design should be the "new" aim of every teaching class site. That will make sure the site is set up to differentiate learning to meet each student where they are.

I started a new site on Wood Turning. The idea is to have a multi-modal site at the end of the day.  I start  by introducing basic wood turning information and work my way up to more advance information and projects. Setting up the "hooks" by making sure all type of media are used in the construction of the site.

https://sites.google.com/boic.school.nz/woodturning/basics

The Wood Turning site is still in progress. It is a pity time is so limited. I look forward in developing the site and to transfer these concepts and skills I gain to my other class sites when I update them.

Dealing with Data

Sharing

Dorothy was taking us through the concept of sharing.

Awesome slides from Dorothy's presentation

Venessa shared new addition in Forms where we can lock the students into the Form until they finish the "test"

Using Maps 

Hot spots for Holidays or you may embed your map

Our last session was all about compiling data in a Google Sheet and get all the information represented in a chart. I used Malia's Blog and investigated how many visitors she had over the years.


            Malia's Blog

Create media

During our third DFI training session we focused on Create.

Create a YouTube channel where you can have playlists ready for any topic you may cover in your courses.

We also had a big dive into ideas of creating videos for your classes and school, looked into drones and other digital devices for recording and live streaming.

Creating a slide in Google draw was also a fun activity. There are a few applications for this. Create something and add it to your class site or Blog.

Animation made with Google Slides

Workflow

Workflow DFI session went really well. I gained much from today.

How does learning look in Bay of Islands College. 

I will definitely say that Collaborative Learning happens most of the time. Most of our students excellerate in learning with groups and I realised that getting them to work online collaboratively in pairs also works fine.

We set up teacher sites with Google Sites where we will direct all learning. Saying that, lately some of the staff started to use Spaces in Hapara to direct all learning. BOIC bought the full Hapara suite that gives teachers a lot of control over the students Chromebooks and their work, current screens and drive. During the Covid19 Lockdown BOIC was ready to go from day one. Most of the problems we experienced were on the students side. 

Technical difficulties were no electricity, no internet connection or no device. Personal problems were lack of motivation, time keeping and overcrowding.

Things that stood out today.

Our first session of the day was conducted by Kerry where she went in depth into the Manaiakalani's Pedagogy of "Learn, Create Share" After the teacher becomes fluened as a digital teacher it is very important to move into the level of Turbocharging their effective practices. The main point is that every child will engage every day with learning and the other class activities.

Core Business

Reflecting on our first session.
1. What did I learn that increased my understanding of Manaiakalani kaupapa and pedagogy?
A good place to start to understand Manaiakalani kaupapa is to look into their goals. The four goals are to support teachers to acquire skills and tools to support and lead student learning and to improve student achievement outcomes.
Another is to understand the Manaiakalani pedagogy to maximise the impact of teaching in a digital environment.

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

It was very informative how we can work out of google docs. Inserting pictures by using the explore button is very useful. The quotation marks is also very useful when you do research and want to put the reference at the bottom of the page. Making indexes for reports is also cool. It let your work look professional and easy to navigate.

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

Personally I like this idea a lot of breaking down the lesson into four parts. It will help the students to keep their focus throughout the duration of the lessons.

 Blogging is another way that we can encourage students to do more reading and writing. It is the place where we can portray the Manaiakalani kaupapa of "Learn, Create and Share" I decided to create a link to Michelle Hammond's blog to give you a more indepth scope of all the work we have covered throughout the day.(I am sure Michelle will not mind)

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

Here is a poster i made in Google Docs.

Looking forward to our next session. I also would like to investigate how to use Padlets. 

Nau mai, haere mai ki tēnei taonga

Welcome to your own professional learning blog. We look forward to reading about your teaching practice at the Manaiakalani Digital Fluency Intensive.