Day Six DFI

Google meet with Dorothy: Connected

I learnt about the close relationship between visibility and connection during the Googlemeet with Dorothy. “To embrace visibility it is essential to be connected.” If our learning is visible on our sites then we can connect with our learners and community. 

I thought about the powerful networks that I am connected to at the moment including my professional colleagues, the school community, Alpha Course (teachers and parish community) and our Manaiakalani cluster to name a few. I thought about how powerful the face to face connections are that I have especially for sharing professional conversations. I have enjoyed being on the DFI course and connecting with other people in our cluster. It is a great chance to build relationships, develop our digital technologies together and share our professional practise. 

I always take the opportunities to be connected and participate in Toolkits where teachers share their digital knowledge. I have made my professional blog public and are now working on making comments on other people’s blogs with the positive, thoughtful helpful framework. I want to check out the newsletters of the schools during Lockdown to see how they were connecting over this time.  

I learnt about the connections that Manaiakalani are making through their website, Blogger, RSS, Tuhi Mai Tuhi Atu-’Write to me, write to others,’ Secondary Connects each term, Newsletters, Toolkits, Google Currents, Cluster Meetings and the full time Māori specialist who is available to help in schools. 

The four elements that need to be occurring in our classrooms are; Connected, Ubiquitous, Empowered and Visible learning and teaching. I feel I have a better understanding of all four of these elements through this course. When sharing our professional learning, blogs etc there are opportunities for us to provide feedback in a positive, thoughtful, helpful manner. 

Google Learning Sites

It was great to hear that accelerated learning happens from the Learn, Create, Share framework, digital learning (this turbocharges what we normally do in the classroom), visible learning/teaching, blogging, Google Sites and Manaiakalani support. Our school has all these things in place. 

The children did a great job with their blogs from the Lockdown in Kākano. The children sent their work to an email that was then uploaded to the site by a teacher. It would be great if we could see rewindable learning and engagement in the Learn, Create, Shares again on our hub blog. I wonder if we could teach the children how to upload their work to the blog and get a post from them each week. I enjoyed writing comments on their blog posts using the positive, thoughtful, helpful framework. The children were very proud of their work and it was great seeing the community commenting too. This would be a good connection with visible learning to promote again. 

I enjoyed looking at a range of Google Sites which gave me a good idea of what is engaging and examples of rich experiences. Through analysing other Google Sites through the Google Form I have a much better idea of what a Google Site needs to have to be successful. 

I liked working on my Google Site copy today. I learnt about the recipe for success with Google Sites including visual appeal and site functionality.  From looking at other sites I decided to include a Google Form that the children/community could Ask the Teacher a question on the home page. I also added Meet the Teacher links with their photo buttons. I looked at my Maths Learn, Create, Shares and decided to work on improving these to make them more child friendly and simplified. As I simplified a Learn, Create, Share I knew they were becoming very focused on the specific goals that I wanted the children to learn. I used images with clickable links. I set up a template to use again next time if I proceed with these plans. I liked the way it was more engaging for the children and clearly set out. 

I learnt how to go incognito to browse sites privately and how to make buttons for your sites. I also learnt how to hide pages on your site from navigation and how to link a Google form to my site. All skills which will be very useful going forward. We discussed how important it is to record your voice for young children to get instructions across on the Learn, Create, Shares as well as the text so everyone can participate independently. 

I learnt about the SAMR model today. “The SAMR Model is a framework created by Dr. Ruben Puentedura that categorises four different degrees of classroom technology integration. The letters "SAMR" stand for Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, and Redefinition.” We are aiming for transformation use of technology. I will be thinking about this as we use technology in the classroom. 

Student Teacher Term One

My student started on the 17th of February and finished early on the 23rd March. This was due to Covid-19 and the teachers moving towards online teaching. It was great to have her in the hub with three other students. It is a great opportunity for us as well as them as we can learn from each other. This was my student's first posting. I was excited to share the way we do things and get her involved in the daily operation of the hub. I found through informing my student I reflected on my own practices. My student had only been at college for a short amount of time before coming on her first posting. I've had a few students now and enjoy giving back and passing on my teaching knowledge. I am always interested in new practices and teachings that the students can share with us. 

Longworth Course

31st May The main thing this course got me thinking about was changes we could make to our daily programme? I was excited about how we could deliver it differently and more effectively. Questions I put forth to the team: -What about starting earlier (Katie?) and factoring in spending some more time with the students in the learning through play room? -Could we have rolling bread snack? -Could children go to what prayers they like? eg. singing, child’s intentions, prayer,or bible story, all in different places, shorter all up (10 mins). Teachers take an option each week -Can children opt in to fitness options, each teacher doing an activity? (news options?) -Exploration activity in learning through play then moves to provocation question? -Do we need to tidy the learning through play area in the morning? Once at end of day? (Katie’s children going back to room throughout day) -Coaching video reflections: could we share once a week in team meetings, each teacher takes turns? We have taken actions on most of these things. The children have times when the bread snack song is on if they want to eat on the lino. We have tried out prayer choices. We would cast the choices on the t.v. Most went to singing so we changed this to Friday prayers as a group. We changed the Gospel to have it as Monday prayer time instead of later in the day to free up some afternoon time. I have looked at exploration in the Learning Through Play room with musical instruments. Then moved to learning songs on the glockenspiels. This has gone very well some children will be sharing in our Space Expo. The coaching videos were great, they helped us identify when we need to step into play and when we need to observe. Our aim is to take videos and share at our syndicate meetings. We also decided during this time that we would change the Provocation room to the Challenge room which is more child friendly speak. We decided on sign in photos in the mornings that the children would put in their homebase houses on the wall. This would cut down roll time in the mornings. We learnt about identifying and understanding our emotions, that they are the beginnings of empathy for children. If you can recognise your own, you can recognise it in others. Linking colours with emotions (movie - Inside Out). This relates well to our Term 4 P.B.L on emotions. We discussed childrens interactions in Learning Through Play/conflict resolution/building resilience and decided this is what the children need to work on. We discussed observations and data collection. We were told to only collect data that will inform your next steps. This is how Maire's template came about for the coach. We fill in our observations of urges, 6 C's, literacy/maths progressions, general observations. I think we need to be more careful of the activities we choose so they can be ticked off for the literacy/maths progressions. This course was very beneficial it made us reflect on our practices and decide to try some changes in our hub. It gave me a deeper understanding of Learning Through Play.

Research

Research Article 2: Learning Through Play - What's it all about? New Zealand Curriculum Summary of reading: Learning Through Play: -Forms the pedagogical foundation of Te Whāriki: Early Childhood Curriculum -Pedagogical approach: Play: valued mode of learning, more common in classrooms -Children can explore, experiment, discover, solve problems in imaginative/playful ways -Learning is fundamental to Learning Through Play -Enables children to engage in self directed play, internally motivated -Teachers support by providing enabling environment, sensitive interaction -Role of teacher: discuss, embed, extend learning Benefits: -Help schools realise vision of NZ Curriculum to develop confident, connected, actively involved, lifelong learners -Almost all values/key competencies can be developed through Learning Through Play -Range of learning areas can be explored, connections made across learning areas, home practices and the wider world. Growing evidence to suggest benefits to students learning/development: -Thinking Skills: engage in flexible/higher level thinking processes. (e.g inquiry: problem solving, analysing, evaluating, applying knowledge, innovation, creativity). -Interpersonal Skills: Interaction with others: Practice language development, cooperation, negotiation, leadership, empathy, active listening, compromise. -Intrapersonal Skills: Child’s sense of well-being: self esteem, motivation, resilience, concentration, persistence, time management. -Student Agency/Engagement: Encourage student agency, deeper levels of student engagement in learning. Smooth Transitions to School: New Entrant students settle to school quickly because of improved continuity between school and early childhood education. Role of the Teacher: -Critical for success -Creating a classroom environment with diverse interest areas/offer rich play opportunities -Drawing on curriculum knowledge to recognise the learning within play -Building play opportunities around students prior knowledge/interests -Providing sufficient opportunities for students to engage in play -Participating in meaningful learning conversations with children that stretch their thinking -Understanding/supporting the development of specific skills/knowledge that students need -Facilitating social interactions “Playful learning is the magic that takes place when we meld a child’s sense of joy and wonder with thoughtfully planned learning experiences.” My Thoughts: I can’t stop thinking about the quote above. Play is the vehicle of learning, comes to mind from another quote I have read. The child’s interests/passions/curiosity/sense of fun are all included in Learning Through Play if we as teachers create an environment where it can flourish. Our role is very important to inspire, ignite and extend the children’s interests/passions/learning experiences through play. Our knowledge of the learner comes into play here. We have been learning more about the role of the teacher as a coach. The list above ticks all the boxes for what we are developing in our Learning Through Play environment. Providing rich play opportunities and getting the children to think deeper through our questioning as a coach are areas we are developing. We are recognising the learning in play through our observation sheets and identifying the children’s urges. We have noticed the smooth transitions to school from our Cohort entries this year. The older children are showing the new children how we operate. They are picking up the routines quickly and interacting with others in the Learning Through Play environment. The children are developing 21st Century skills. Internally motivated jumps out to me from the reading. The children in our hub want to learn, they are excited to come to school and join in the activities/share what they have been doing. (Learning Through Play/Challenge Room). If we can ignite a love of learning that will continue as they grow we will have succeeded.

Digital Passport

Workshop 1 Years 1-3

I agree that children are racing ahead with technology and we need to be upskilling our learning in this field. I think it is great to be doing the Digital Passport now to get us ready for 2020 when it is compulsory to implement this new curriculum in primary schools. I agree it is our duty to prepare children for a world where digital tools and new technologies are integrated into every aspect of life. I found the Digital Passport easy to use and enjoyed listening to the testimonies of experts in their fields. It was great how you could watch some videos and then come back at a later time to continue on your journey.
 I have learnt that computational thinking is a specific thought process that involves formulating problems and their solutions. Algorithms are a step by step process that helps you reach a solution to a problem. Debugging is a process of trouble shooting problems. We test and update solutions until we reach a desired end result. I have also learned about inputs, processing and outputs. I was familiar with Scratch which is a child friendly block based coding website used to teach coding. I have been joining in on Code Club with the Juniors on Fridays and have enjoyed learning along side the children how to use Scratch. I think it is great for the children to start learning coding already and look forward to taking lessoons in our Hub eventually.

The Ned Show

1st August

The Ned Show had a great message. The children were encouraged to set goals and accomplish them to be champions. The N in Ned stood for Never give up, the E for Encourage others and the D for Do your best. They talked about persistance, having a positive attitude, believing in yourself, bouncing back from setbacks, complimenting others, helping others and learning from our mistakes. I liked how the Show was paying it forward, we got the NED Show for free and then from the sale of the yo-yo's we will give the next show free to another school. It got me thinking how could we pay it forward in other ways as a school, a question I would like to ask the children for student voice. Recently we have collected cans and donated them to St Vincent De Paul as a ticket to come to their child's production. We teach the children in school to have a positive growth mindset. This year I have continued to teach my homebase to be PeliCANS (they can do everything if they give it a try). I think this really helps the children to do their best and know that it's o.k if we make a mistake it is how we learn.