Term 2 Reflections

This term was a bit messy, but I had Mrs Radich and all her skills and experience to make up for it. This term I worked part-time; four Mondays this term I was at Te Hapua, Tuesdays was my day off, and Wednesdays I was with Kerry at DFI. This meant that I was really only .5 and made life a little difficult.

What worked this term?

Student Blogging

This term I developed a better system for tracking the student blog posts. I have always struggled to keep on top of who has posted and who hasn't. Using a spreadsheet with a colour code made my life so much easier, but was also great for the students to see where they were up to. This gave them some agency on what work needs to be completed, etc.

The students are also becoming more confident in terms of posting to their blog, adding labels, back-dating posts and embedding their DLO's. Term 1 I noticed that the students didn't really know how to leave quality blog comments, so we made this our focus this term for our cyber smart learning. They are not perfect, but they are certainly an improvement.

Class Site

It's really good to see the students using our class site. I have noticed a few times that students would go back to look at previous learning that could support them with what they were currently working on. There are still a few students that will ask where to find certain material, but most students are using this confidently now. The only downside is the fact that I'm part-time this term, which means that the learning they are doing with Mrs Radich isn't rewindable.

Passion Projects

This term I thought I would introduce passion projects to my students. In the past, we have always completed an inquiry together as a class, on a topic that was selected by the school. The students were so excited about their passion projects, and every day I'm in, they ask if they can work on them. A couple of students did struggle because their passions required them to complete a lot of reading, which was a challenge for them. Next time I will be sure to provide more resources for these students, simple websites that could give them the same information, but in kids speak.

Our Class Assembly

I was very pleased with how our class assembly turned out this term. The students didn't have much time to practise but made sure they went home to learn their parts. There were lots of interruptions, which meant that planned rehearsals didn't go ahead. You can read more about our class assembly on our blog.

What didn't work this term?

Reading, Writing, Maths

With me being part-time, I felt it was really hard to get any momentum with my learning groups. We would start something, but then I would be away, and then we would have to pick it up again. I think the students struggled with this also. It felt like we were stuck on the same topic for weeks. It would be nice to be back in the class 4 days a week next term.

Home Learning

This was tricky this term because I wasn't there to check on their progress every day. Most consistency next term will be great.

Class Site

Keeping my site up to date. With being out of class so much, I just haven't been able to keep this up to date. And this is sad, because the students to ask me where our new work is. I will be more determined next term to make sure this takes precedence.

My Inquiry

My inquiry this term hasn't really had much traction this term. This will be a focus next term.

DFI Reflections

It's so lovely to read everyone's blog post and to see how much they are learning and improving each week.  The participants have all been so positive and motivated about their new learning.

I too have some learning that needs to be done.

Over the past 7 weeks, I have been delivering one aspect of our Manaiakalani programme, and I have come to the realisation, that I struggle to speak in front of crowds.

I have been practising the content well before presenting, feeling confident that I know what I will show, and that I know what I'm doing. Except, each time I stand in the front, my words come flying out at a million miles an hour; I get flustered and then can't find or do what I need to do.  It all seems to work out okay in the end, but am concerned that I'm not sharing my knowledge to the best of my ability.

As soon as I'm sitting down with a small group of people, I'm relaxed and can support them where needed.

So I ask this of you, how do you prepare yourself for speaking in crowds? How can I make sure that I slow down when delivering my content?

These are goals I need to work on, as they are not just going to help me with my delivery of DFI content, but in life also!

Manaiakalani Facilitation

Day three of Manaiakalani facilitation, done and dusted.

It impresses me how much students already know regarding technology, and how quickly they pick up the new skills taught.

What went well?

All the students in each of the classes that I have been in to this week have been focused and engaged. I have expected that students that don't have posts of their blogs, post one before my session was finished - most of them achieved this.

In classes where students were well on their way with blogging, we focused on creating positive, helpful, thoughtful comments to leave other students on their blogs.  This was a very positive session with the two classes at Pompallier Catholic School.  The students enjoyed looking at other school blogs, and finding people they may already know outside of school.  The comments they were leaving other students showed depth and thought, and fit within the Manaiakalani kaupapa. 

What needs modification?

As this is my first week, some things have been less organised than what I would have liked it to be. For example, not having access to class sites to be able to upload work I would like the students to have access too.  This is now sorted at Pompallier School and some of the teachers at Ahipara School. Allowing me this access will make life easier when sharing documents to students. 

I'm also very used to have my own projector and being able to display the activity I would like the students to complete. This allows me to show them exactly what I would like them to do.  This has been a little bit more challenging as the different schools have different systems in their class for projecting student work. 

Next goals/steps:

I would like to get all the students in the Far North cluster collaborating via their blogs.  This has started successfully already with some students from Pompallier commenting on Paparore School Blogs and on Ahipara School blogs. I would like to match all the 'like-aged' classes together to increase their audience they already have on their blogs.

I would also like to comment on every student's blog that is in the Far North cluster Pilot classes. So far, Ahipara school blogs have been commented on - as long as the students had a post.

I look forward to extending my knowledge of Manaiakalani and building relationships with all the students I have met and will be meeting.  This is a great opportunity, one that I will embrace while I can.

Parent Interviews

At the end of Term 2, we had our annual parent interviews.  This year we had to think of another way that we were going to run our interviews as we had 54 students with two teachers. This would have only given our whanau and students 7 minutes each to talk to both teachers. We decided this was not long enough for students to be able to share their own learning - student agency.

To trail a new system, we had four students within a half hour block along with their whanau.  We had an introduction korero sharing how we work within our learning spaces and what our expectations are for the students.

The students were set-up around the room with their books, portfolios, chromebook and a STEAM kit each.  All students actively discussed their learning with their parents, sharing what they have been learning, what the enjoyed and what they found challenging.  As teachers, we roamed around the room and sat with the parents for short sessions to answer any questions and concerns.

Deb and I felt that this worked really well in the sense that it was less intimidating for students and parents. This gave students ownership of their own learning with less of a focus on the teacher.  We are currently surveying our parents to find out what their thoughts were on the process and any suggestions that they would like to make.

DFI Session 6

DFI Session 6

What I have tried before this session:

• Students posting their blog profiles to their blogs.
• Students using screencastify to record how to post to their blog.
• Share their screencastify video onto their blog also.

What I need more support with, or what hasn't work:

• Lack of devices in our classroom to fully implement all learning
• Students needing more time to familiarize themselves with google and the device, ie. navigating between tabs, etc.
• Students knowing how to make a copy of a document correctly, naming it properly, and saving it in the correct folder.

Visible Learning

The Manaiakalani kaupapa is for all learning to be visible.  This includes the learning, planning, etc.  This is why creating class sites. Students can share - this is what I'm learning, this is the purpose of my learning. This is beneficial to teachers also, as more ideas are shared across schools. Teachers can access other teachers sites to find ideas, resources etc.  

Having all learning, including student blogs, visible creates connections between home and school. The sites allows students to read what's in the teachers mind. 

Having learning visible ensure there are no surprise. Students know where they are starting from and where they are going. 

Hapara enables visibility for the teacher to see where students are, what they are doing, follow up on work etc. 

Keeping learning visible makes it easy for anyone to access. As soon as you put up barriers like passwords etc, people usually only try a couple of times then give up.  Then this is a learner lost, or a lost connection with whanau.

Tuhi Mai Tuhi Atu

A collaborative sharing platform using blogger to connect to a school. This is something I would like to have a look at doing next year when our students have their learning blogs up and running and we have 1:1 devices. Students make comments on other students learning. 

Hooking Student in

Teachers at Pt England school hook students into their inquiry learning at the start of each term. This is showcased as a large assembly at the start of each year.  An example of new entrants teachers can be viewed on this slide, slide 6.

Google Sites

Today we are creating google sites.  We were given information to use, and with that we had to create an engaging site for our learners.  In our group, we created a garden breakout. This requires students to find hints on the site, to answer questions on a form. Here is my example.

Reflection

Today was an exciting day for learning. I have enjoyed learning more about google sites and how they can create a learning platform for students to use, for example a hook into an inquiry topic. 

Digital Fluency Intensive #1

Digital Fluency Intensive

My learning for the day included:

• creating a collaborative doc, where students each add their learning, before sending it to another person to add more.
• add-ons like change font, easy accents, read write, icons by nouns (for picture stories)
• Creating posters using google docs
• Sharing and saving google docs for ease of access
• Use "convert' files in settings to convert handwritten sheets (taken as a picture) in a word document that can be edited.