DFI Reflection - Day 3 - Create

The focus this session was around CREATE!

Creativity is not to be confused with talent, skill, or intelligence. Creativity is not about doing something better than others, it is about thinking, exploring, discovering and imagining. (Kohl, 2008)

Creativity motivates akonga to engage with the curriculum. Creating something helps to see there is a purpose to their learning. It should involve as much as possible their entire body, their passion, their voices and can connect with tech to empower them, and of course, to share.

I am excited to get my class using Screencastify and WeVideo. We currently use iPads for filming and are lucky enough to have a green screen in each of our small break out rooms which are quiet places where the akonga can film. They are creating their own videos already, so I'm sure this will be a small leap to some more amazing results for them. Some akonga are very reluctant to video themselves. It is a natural thing I believe. No one really likes to see themselves on screen at school at the moment, but that is just a matter of practice, seeing themselves often and boosting their self esteem.  

My tamariki currently use slides, but we've only really branched out into animation. The ideas presented by Phil in our break out session were exciting as to what I can do myself, and the slide deck with ideas of what the tamariki could create have me just as excited for them!  It really brought home the creating IS learning - and not just about the digital tool, but the subject matter at hand. 

A great create this afternoon. My class is getting more into filming, but their planning and execution leaves a lot to be desired. I will now be confident to show them how to storyboard in slides and plan their movies. My sample I created (but didn't finish in the hour allowed!) is shown below. The speaker notes contain the instructions to the actors on how to move, where to stand and what type of shot it is (mid shot, close up or pan camera etc). Due to the devices we have, and the lack of microphones it is important the tamariki record dialogue at, at least, a mid or close up shot so their voices are recorded clearly. 

I feel I will be a lot more confident with my use of Slides and be able to make them more engaging and interesting for the class and to be able to teach them how to create some amazing work which is engaging, fun and educational. 

Regarding my personal life, still thinking about today's session. I don't have the opportunity to do a lot of digital things that I would share at home or in GirlGuiding (no devices in the units nor access to wifi!) so this week I feel will be more of a school journey I think. But I will feel more confident in doing my schoolwork so that is always a great thing. 

I'm beginning to get even more excited. I only wish we had more hours in the day to teach, or more hours of release time to enable things to be implemented easily. I live VERY rurally and my internet is sometimes hit and miss, and don't talk to me about cellphone connectivity! So doing work at home can at times be frustrating. But, the other side of the coin is that we have tranquility and the whenua to help to decompress after long hours and hard work at school. A job I wouldn't change for the world.