Day 8 DFI Cohort 2 2019

Wednesday 14 August 2019

What did I learn that increased my understanding of Manaiakalani kaupapa
and pedagogy?
We had another great talk from Dorothy today about how the idea 'Connected' works
within the Manaiakalani system. All of these words are kind of like supporting pillars to everything we do.

What did I learn that could improve my confidence, capability or workflow as
a professional?
The practice on sheets has improved my confidence lots and I learned some tips from Dave
that surely will improve my speed when entering and analysing data.

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

We did lots of work on Google Sheets today which was great because I love them.
We had to
use a sheet to do a statistical analysis of a student's blog post record. My analysis is
somewhat
enhanced ( in other words, I lied and made some of it up when I realised I was not
going to get my task finished in time again).

Here it is: I am very proud that I am getting much better at using Google Draw
to make stuff.

I learned how to use a Google Form with Google Maps to create personalised route maps of a
holiday or any other human social activity. Here is my map but it doesn't show all the places
I have been because, as usual, I did not complete my task in time. Also,
kudos to Tralee from Ahipara School who helped me embed the map on my blog.

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

definitely planning to use the map idea as part of my holiday planning and diary keeping in future.

Session 7 DFI Cohort 2 2019 Computational Thinking

Session 7 DFI Cohort 2 2019 Computational Thinking  Wednesday 7 August 2019

What did I learn that increased my understanding of Manaiakalani kaupapa and pedagogy?
Kerry started the day off by talking to us about computational thinking and the new Digital Technologies curriculim. My heart sank. I was convinced that sometime today they would make us do some tinkering with coding apps like Scatch and I hate them. Went into dinosaur mode and was thinking: Don't know why anyone thinks it's necessary for primary age students to learn this stuff?? Why don't they save all that for high school? Blah! Blah! Blah! Then we started doing it. Well, my brain was turning inside out and back to front as I tried to understand stuff and figure out timing issues. Next thing I knew I was thinking, "Oh, I like this! I could be hooked!" See my creation below. OK! So I haven't got my sprites moving and they are just hanging there having an argument!!!

What did I learn that could improve my confidence, capability or workflow as a professional?
We had another Google Hangout today with Dorothy- this week's one was about personal agency and empowerment which I really liked because it mirrors my personal philosophy about the purpose of education. I believe that education should be emancipatory and that we have to do everything we can to make it that way. What did I learn that could be used with my learners?
See my notes about Scratch. We are lucky at our school in that we get regular visits from Tania, the Manaiakalani facilitator so our class actually knows a lot about Scratch and the students are already hooked. I loved the example which Monica showed us of a Scratch made by a student so that he could share his pepeha. It was very groovy.
What did I learn that could improve my confidence, capability or workflow in my personal life?
Pass.

Session 6 DFI Cohort 2 2019

Kia ora
What did I learn that improved my understanding of Manaiakalani kaupapa?
Has a great session today as we were mostly working on our sites. It started with a lively Google Hangout with Dorothy about Visible and what that word means in the Manaiakalani context. This is  a pretty integral part of everything we do and as busy as we get it's good to have it talked about every now and then just to be reminded. I'm pretty good at not being able to see the wood for the trees so I need constant nudges. Visibility of class learning and planning has to be the best way to build those student/teacher/whanau relationships. So, yeah, we could have a rock anthem a la Freddie Mercury for the word Sharing and he could be backed up by Let's Get Visible! a la Olivia Newton-John! Is she still alive?

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

Well, I figured out that practically everyone else is using Slideshows somewhere or other in their sites so maybe I need to give up my idea that I should 'move on' to a web page instead. So, maybe I'm not behind the ball after all and maybe it's OK to keep using Slideshows. There are some things that can't be improved on. I do really love Slideshows as they are so easy and versatile.

What did I learn that could be used with my learners?
Whenever I get an insight about stuff, I always like to share it with my students. You know how it is where you get what you think is a brilliant idea, or when you think that by changing something or replacing something old with something new, you assume you are going to end up with something better? Well, that's not always the case. I found that out when I started trying to map out on paper what my updated and improved class site would look like and how it would work. There are so many new things coming at kids these days and maybe it's a good idea to remind them that there is still some old stuff and old ways of doing things that have value.

What did I learn that could improve my confidence, capability or workflow in my personal life? I would love to implement Visibility at home in the kitchen. Then maybe my husband would see what he was looking for inside the fridge when it is not placed absolutely dead centre of the centre shelf.