DFI Session 4 - Dealing With Data

Malo e lelei bloggers,

Another week, another DFI session!

We began today's session by looking at the 'Share' element of Manaiakalani's pedagogy, an idea that Dorothy and the Manaiakalani team associate directly with connectedness. Something that was made clear during this presentation was that the 'old school' ways of sharing learning, such as showing work to the principal and presenting at assemblies, are still very important for students to experience. However, the digital age has enhanced the sharing process by opening it up to a global audience. Dorothy noted that the global audience is an authentic audience because the choice to be viewing and (hopefully) commenting on content is entirely their own.

Blogger is the platform that schools under the Manaiakalani umbrella use to share student learning. Being in a junior class, my students do not have their own blogs but share a class one which I am responsible for updating. Unfortunately, regular is not an adjective I would attach to these updates 😬but after listening to how providing students with this digital audience can increase their motivation for finishing work I think I seriously need to reassess the frequency at which I post on our class blog. I have a number of students that never seem to finish their work, no matter the incentive I use to try and encourage it. Perhaps, sharing work on our class blog is the motivation they need? Watch this space! 🤞

Over the course of the rest of the day we looked at Google Forms, Google Sheets and My Maps. I am quite familiar with Forms, both filling them out and creating them (another skill I can thank lockdown level 4 for) but creating pathways from one question to another was new learning for me. Being able to bypass any irrelevant questions/information is such a great feature! I think this is particularly useful in a heavily ESOL junior classroom where I need to limit the information I am throwing at my students.

Google Sheets is another programme I use a lot of but only at a very basic level. I was excited to learn about formulas, creating filters and conditions, and displaying data using charts. I will definitely be using these features to display and analyse my own students' progress and data from now on.

Here is a chart I created in Sheets to show how often I have posted on our class blog over the last year and a half - I told you it was a sad state of affairs 😅. At the moment, I am taking full responsibility for adding posts to our blog but I think if I involve my students more by getting them to create the posts themselves the number of posts will definitely grow, as will my students ownership of our blog.

My Maps is a Google app that I actually hadn't heard of before today. I found it to be super easy to use and I can already see how it could be used in the classroom. Some possibilities could be:

    - as a part of our current inquiry topic, Cultures in our Classroom, where students could pin and share where they are from.

    - to map out where students have travelled to during the school holidays.

    - to plot our cross country route.

    - to calculate distances.

Here is a map I created in My Maps that pins the top holiday destinations of my DFI cohort. Something I really like about this app is being able to customise the pins so that, at a glance, it is easy to see why one might want to travel to these places.

Have you used any of these programmes in your classroom? I'd love to hear how you've utilised them.

DFI Session 3 - Media

Talofa lava bloggers!

Through the magic of Google Meet, I enjoyed today's DFI session from the comfort of my own home and it was delightful! If I weren't a teacher, I'd be all about this WFH (work from home) stuff!

This morning Dorothy spoke on the 'Create' element of Manaiakalani's Learn, Create, Share pedagogy. For many educators, opportunities for students to create were lost when National Standards came about. A statement that seems quite strange when you think about how creativity develops collaboration, communication and problem solving skills in our young people. All skills prioritised by our curriculum, might I add. BUT! With National Standards out, now is a perfect time for teachers themselves to get creative (with their lesson plans) and provide students with the opportunities and resources to create, create, create! 🎨🎉
It was also interesting to learn that the Learn, Create, Share model does not have to be used in that set order.  'Create' can, and in many cases should, be the vehicle through which students access the learning, not just the end product or outcome. 

Other things covered in today's session included YouTube, Google Drawing and Google Slides. Creating a Youtube channel wasn't something I'd ever seen the need to do but after today's 'Chalk n Talk' I can see why it would be beneficial in the classroom. So much so that I have set up playlists and started compiling videos to add to the resources for the concept my junior team is looking at this term. At the moment I share YouTube videos with my students through slide decks embedded in our class site, but having all of the relevant videos in the one playlist could be a more efficient way for students to access them.

Google Drawing is something I've used quite a lot since my Ako Hiko Orientation Day with Gerhard last year. I love using it to create buttons and banners for my class site. Today we used it to create a little 'All About Me' button to add to our blog (see top right (and have a guess as to what my favourite colour is 😅)).

Google Slides is another programme I use a lot in my classroom already. However, I'd never created an animation using Slides before. Vicki ran a mini-workshop where she explained the ins and outs of doing this and I cannot wait to teach my students how to do it! Being in a 1:1 iPad class I would have to have a play around with how Google Slides works on the iPads first. Past lockdown experiences have taught me that the iPad app versions of these Google programmes can be quite a bit more difficult to use than their MacBook counterparts. Fingers crossed it will be reasonably easy for my little ones to navigate and eventually create their own animations on. In the meantime, check out the animation I made today! 😁

 

Have you used Google Slides on iPads with your students? I'd love to hear any tips and tricks you might have! 😊

DFI Session 2 - Workflow

Kia ora koutou,

Today's DFI session has really highlighted for me the number of Google programs that have a LOT of extra features that I was not aware of. Google Keep, Calendar and Gmail are all apps that I have used previously/regularly but, evidently, not to their full potential.

After 'deep diving' into the ins and outs of Google Keep, I will definitely be using this on a more regular basis. I'm an old school post-it-note-stuck-to-my-laptop kind of girl but Keep will be a much more efficient way of organising my chaos. I have already created a to-do list for next week, as well as a check list of students I still need to assess in preparation for report writing, and I'm looking forward to having a play around with the voice notes function too. Unfortunately, my phone doesn't support Google services so this particular little treasure will have to remain in my professional life only. 😞

As far as the tips around Gmail go, I had noticed many of these things before but never actually explored them. Today I organised my inbox to prioritise unread emails and created labels for some important contacts within my Google account. Both actions have already streamlined my emailing system so much! (Thank you, Jeremy and Fiona 😊).

Google Calendar is another app that I have dabbled in but not extensively used. Again, my old soul prefers an old school diary where I physically write down my meetings and appointments, but I can definitely see the benefit in using Google Calendar. A feature I found particularly useful was being able to view multiple people's calendars and use this information to arrange meetings instead of emailing back and forth, trying to find a time that suits all parties. What an incredible stroke of time-saving genius! 

Dorothy joined us via Google Meet today to provide an insight into Manaiakalani's pedagogy; Learn, Create, Share. Today she focussed solely on the 'Learn' element and talked about how effective practice can be achieved. Recognising what effective practice looks like in our own schools is the first step then, amplifying and turbocharging the learning. In short, these two things are about providing students with a depth and breadth of resources, and transforming the way they learn through offering them new opportunities and experiences, which the digital day and age allows us to access and utilise in abundance.

Google Meet was another program we explored today. Due to last year's lockdowns, this is a video conferencing tool I feel quite confident in using. From creating a meet to recording and sharing screens, level 4 lockdown has prepared me well for participating in this particular DFI session (turns out lockdown wasn't all bad after all, hey 😅). Here is a recording of a Google Meet I participated in today. The purpose of this Meet was to practise how to share and record our screens (something I clearly needed practise with as you will see me struggling to remember where the 'stop recording' button is at the end 😂). Enjoy!

DFI Session 1 - Core Buisness

Kia ora bloggers!

Today I began my DFI (Digital Fluency Intensive) journey in the first face-to-face session in over a year! (Thanks Covid 😑).

Our day began with a brief history on how and why Manaiakalani was established. Having worked on the Summer Learning Journey as a Blog Commenter during two of my three university years, I was somewhat familiar with this story but it was a good reminder of why we work to provide students with the tools and opportunities to engage in digital learning.

As a second year BT who started her teaching career in a 1:1 iPad class, within the Ako Hiko Cluster, I have been exposed to a LOT of digital content over the last year and a bit. Because of this, as well as my own personal use of Google over the years, much of what was covered in today's session was familiar to me and I felt confident in using the tools (Chrome, Drive and Docs). However, something I was surprised to learn was how Google Docs can be used as a more creative tool. Prior to today's session I had always found Google Docs to be quite limiting but the tips and tricks Dorothy shared proved me very wrong. Google Drawing or Slides have always been my go-to when creating posters or workflow diagrams for my students but I will definitely be looking to use Google Docs more now that I am aware of what can be achieved. I found Dorothy's tips around how to use tables to format images particularly useful.

Check out the poster I made today, using my new learning:

Another takeaway from today was the Docs formatting tips. Formatting and setting default headings, inserting a table of contents and using Google Explore were all new to me and I look forward to not only sharing these with my students (once we've gotten a handle on Explain Everything (one tool at a time for my little ones 😅)) but using them myself, both in my professional and personal life.

All in all, a good first day at the Auckland F2F DFI course! 🙂