DFI Reflection - Day 7 - Devices

Ubiquitousness - part of the kaupapa of Manaiakalani. Learning must be ubiquitous. Everywhere, available anytime, anywhere to anyone. By having our sites and workspaces available online, with rewindable learning, our tamariki can partake in learning whenever they like, from wherever they like. This includes over long breaks.  We were shown the increase in good outcomes the Summer Learning Journey offering made to those ākonga who participated. Learning over the summer break for 30 minutes a day with engaging programme meant they were coming back at a higher level than they were at the end of the year before, no drop! This is exciting.

When we had our first lockdown in 2020, we had devices one to one for our students, but they were second hand donated devices, or very old. Some were in a very precarious situation! We looked at giving out the devices for use, but we discovered that a majority of our whānau did not have access to good internet, or internet at all. We ended up going with paper packs and letting those that had their own devices access some very quickly cobbled together google sites. We had little training in sites. Our tamariki were absent for most of our time in lockdown. My biggest regret after going through the past year and participating in the DFI is that we didn't start sooner. Our second lockdown (which we came out of yesterday school wise) was a completely different scenario. Over the past year our whānau had gotten themselves better connections to the internet and we had started on our Manaiakalani journey.

When we hit our second lockdown, by then our school had purchased enough Chromebooks for the seniors (three classrooms) and one of the middle school rooms. These were sent home to the tamariki for them to use for school. It made a huge difference to engagement. They were used to using our sites and the work we had online. It was gratifying to have so many at our Google Meets each day and to have interaction online with the students. It was completely different! It showed how far both the teachers and learners had come.  We still issued hard packs as we knew our kids enjoyed worksheets (!!) and sometimes they needed a break from their devices. They included some cutting out and gluing work and mindfulness colouring too. A real mix of activities to do.

On my site I included screencastifies of how to do a few things as some kids had forgotten - and I wasn't there 24/7 to help them. It helped those that were slower picking up changes I had made too. My class has a wide range of abilities, from reading at a 4-5 year old level, to reading as a 14 year old. It is essential that I offer work and learning opportunities for everyone and rewindable learning makes more opportunities available for my lower achieving learners. It allows my high achievers to continue ahead also. 

We have dedicated relievers for our rooms for pre-booked days, so we avoid too much disruption for our learners. They do not cope well with change in personnel so we do our best to reduce the number of relievers they have to ensure their well-being comes first. Our relievers are therefore well known to the tamariki and they have great relationships with them. They arrange all their own work for these days and dovetail the learning they plan and present into what we are doing. They use our sites and add their own content to them. It would be great if these long-term relievers could be trained in the Manaiakalani pedagogy also. We share as much as we can with them but that is not the same as attending a DFI.

We completed an exercise on iPads with Explain Everything (EE). Awesome app! Our school does not have the licences for the paid version though which is a pity.  

A teacher created activity I completed on EE:

And another activity with a recording. Click on the image to hear my thoughts on EE:

During the last part of the day I completed a Workspace in Hapara which I have looked at for two years now and didn't know how to use.  I am going to make the work I completed today available to my class next week with it linked on my site for them to use to access. Exciting! I like the ability to put completion dates on the work as sometimes I'm sure some in my class think the work I assign is optional. I will definitely be using this tool more. This lesson is based around use of our chromebooks. My class was unfortunate to have me not participate in the DFI until term 3, but they received their chromebooks in term 2. We have done some work on how to use them, but not to the degree the classrooms with teachers who have completed the DFI have done. It will be good to see their faces when they find out how much more than can do - in a far more easy manner!

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.