DFI Day 7

What did I learn that increased my understanding of Manaiakalani kaupapa and pedagogy?

Enabling Access

Through a google hangout with Dorothy Burt, we were reminded of and learnt many new things about the importance of connecting with our students.

• Connecting with Manaiakalani provides a powerful network for teachers and students;
• Connectivity is a way of life for our students. Take it from them and they will check out.

While face to face will always be a major component for students to interact with people in their daily lives, it's a big world out there with fabulous digital learning opportunities for our tamariki to learn and grow from.
One thing that really stood out for me is that making learning visible for our students is crucial. Having had four students this term take extensive overseas holidays, when asked today at DFI, "Can they see it from Starship?" I was mortified that some parts of my class site weren't. An easy fix but something I need to be more aware of.

Tuhi Mai Tuhi Atu (write to me, write to others) is a fantastic way for students to connect with others across the world. Using a shared language ensures everyone understands the kaupapa.

The pedagogy programme is designed around the learn, create, share model. In Term 1, the students focus is on learn, Term 2 is create, Term 3 share and in Term 4 they are doing are all 3.

And of course...

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

My class site is about to be turbo-charged with all the fantastic ideas we were shown today. I really enjoyed viewing other class sites to see what worked for me. [Herman Fourie's, Room 6 Wesley Primary School and Miss Ferguson's are very inspiring - one day mine will look like that! (apparently not a SMART goal for me at the moment!) Hehe!]
I like bright colour, simple to use, theme based, and with as few clicks as possible (ideally two but I seem to need 3). But what do my students like? This is something I'm going to follow up and ask them, then act upon.
We were given the opportunity to give our sites another kick start - once you start, it's rather addictive. I didn't use my snipping tool to take a 'before' shot but's here's the current look which will be further amplified over the weekend.

My snipping tool didn't let me show the whole page but you can see where I'm heading. Once all the pages behind the buttons are finished over the weekend, I'll publish it ready for next week.

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

• Making my site more user friendly with as few clicks as possible to get to today's learning;
• Remove the Term 1, 2, 3, 4 buttons (I actually archived this on the toolbar). Replacing them with group buttons means it's one less click;
• Scaffold the ways students can get to where they need. I know some of my class like the toolbar at the top, but others who are more visual learners prefer buttons on the homepage;
• I need to make my tasks more multimodal - this has been an ongoing focus for me throughout the year;
• Check my site through an incognito tab. I have asked our administrator to turn it on for our school domain.

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

I find I am continuosly adding to my digital kete and gaining more confidence in what I do. Occasionally, I even feel confident to show another adult what to do! Working more within my class site means I don't need to be at school to plan etc. This makes it far more flexible for me in my personal life.