Friday 27 March 2020

DFI: Dealing with Data: DFI Online FRIDAY 2020 session 4

SHARE is the theme for today!   Hasn't this been the focus these last two weeks for us all!
How relevant is it for us today!

After farewelling Team 5 this morning I jumped straight onto our DFI for our fourth session.   Blogger is where I have begun today!   Blogger was selected years ago, today it is still highly functional space for our children. It looks after us legally too so thumbs up all around!
WARNING!  Don't be swayed by the latest look/app, stop and check that it's safe legally, systematically secure.  Blogger still wins this hands down.


AUDIENCE: you want an audience?  We need an audience!  Blogger promotes celebration of completed tasks, the effort to share what you can with your audience!  As an audience we have a role to play too!
Our well being is very important!  Hauora - our students hauora right now is being supported by our ability to interact through comments on their blogs and google meets etc.





DEALING WITH DATA
Google form helps us to collect data!  We had a 15 chalk and talk session with Gerhard.  forms.googl.com is a way to get there.   Great idea is start with a black template rather than a themed form.
In sandpit time I've created a survey I will send to whole of team to find out what our students want for the weeks of distance learning ahead in regards to regularity of meets for various learning groups.  Part of this will be their need around social connections for Hauora - Well being.

Google MyMaps
So much opportunity here to support teaching and learning for literacy and numeracy.
Google Earth has many great functions - 3D imagery, embed html content, does not yet allow importing of spreadsheet.

Google Sheets
A lot of cool tips here for admin involved in teaching AND the teaching and learning we provide our students, whanau and school community across regions.

Blog data case studies - using spreadsheets and google draw to analyse blog data.
We had the chance to hear from Robyn from Panmure Bridge School.   Her sharing was around a case study on a Mele - a student in her class.  The idea of setting goals for blog posts and children planning using statistics to work out how many blog posts per week/month/year.  What is a realistic goal and how it can be achieved.  Along with this I imagine that students will also refine the quality of posts not just the quantity!

We had sandpit time to create our own graphs and analysis of a blog and it's data re posts etc.  That's the image I've posted right at the top!

So what you gonna do with this all Mrs Tele'a?
I will plan a lesson like that of Robyn and Mele's sharing today to support student goals and motivation during this time of distance learning.    I will send out the google form I've created to support our teacher planning.  Also refresh my own plans around rostering when and where to be giving feedback via blog commenting.

Thanks to the DFI team from across Aotearoa for such a productive day.
Ka kite Ano.
Le Atua i lo tatou vā

Andrea

Thursday 26 March 2020

Day 3: Distance learning. Teacher findings so far





Kia Ora to teachers of Aotearoa and around the globe! After 2 days of go go go via google meets and further online interaction with our students we had a chance this morning to catch up.

Here's our notes from our meeting, hopefully it'll give you some insight of our journey so far. We hope you find this encouraging as you navigate your next steps online with your own learners. Your connecting with  tamariki and whanau is so important!




Our chat went something like this...

1. How we all doing on the home front?Teacher 1: working at remembering the time to check, going ok wifi at home.
Teacher 2: wifi home is going good, can see that kids pop on and off. Home end going well
Teacher 3: wifi good. Recorded up at parents place last night to post and back home. Maths class got to see the dog so bit of distraction there - kids loved it!
Teacher 4: Going well, wifi seems to be going well have some moments but maybe it's the kids end?

2. What's going well for your literacy and maths meets with students?
Teacher 1: 8 - 10 students: Maths is consistent group, all tuning and on time. Always asking about the tasks that I’ve sent
Literacy: 2 this morning, 4-5 checking in daily more about connecting right now not so much school work.

Teacher 2: Literacy, had few more kids pop on today who were not at school on Monday and shared presentation how to access a book from TC online library. Keen to start reading. Good questions from girls today.
Maths: been more like coming home to mum - mostly home class children. More of social interaction rather than maths. Saying they don’t have enough so directed them to pages of other teachers in team.

Teacher 3: Literacy has about 10 kids everyday, playing game until others join. Do karakia and himene together before moving into literacy which a great way to connect with each other to start the day. When unmute we can communicate well.
Maths: most have been turning up, feels like too many at times. Cannot unmute here to discuss as 25 kids! Too many kids to let everyone have a turn! About 20 expectant of a maths lesson.

Teacher 4:
Good attendance at literacy
Maths going well too.
Internet band is not best at times for kids.
Getting through the work, have genuine questions. Have a good chat catching up. Trying to keep it short and sweet. Notice in maths kids are wanting more.

3. What improves our distance teaching and learning? Tips for the team
Teacher 2: make a list of 2 - 3 things to discuss / teach children in each session or else ending up awkward smiling lol!
Teacher 3: do a kahoot, did one on language features - could sense a great sense of community. Great for building morale. Check out blog - beyond the blackboard.
Teacher 1: similar to teacher 2, need to be very clear about what teaching points I will cover with students
Teacher 4: Getting students to present their work, student showing a bar graph...taking turns. More than talking heads. Today was a reading in literacy, student googled and presented it. Giving children the opportunity to lead learning using the presentation tool. Making a good example of those completing tasks, they get to lead too!


Overview:
As a teaching team we have these key points to work on to maximise our live time with students
a. Plan what teaching points you want to deliver in this window of time, including feedback from students
b. Create opportunities for students to lead different parts of the google meet by korero/presentation etc
c. Be clear with our instructions on slide show - ensure they marry with our talking heads :)
d. Pastoral care of teacher to student is an important part of our google meets so far.
e. Where numbers are growing towards full class of students, we will need to look at booking 2 - 3 different times for google meet to cater for different needs. Teacher 3's example of having many students for maths - 25. To deliver best it'll be ideal to seperate the google meet groups.


As a team leader I am so very proud of our team. A very short turn around from last Friday where we sat and planned our 'Limiting the links' approach to our site. When Monday's announcement was made our team felt prepared. Farewelling students on Monday 23rd March 3pm, greeting them via google meets  the next day Tuesday 24th 9am. Very thankful!!

Wednesday 25 March 2020

Day 2 Distance Learning @ PES

Talofa lava i tou paia ma mamalu! 
Day 2 of distance learning brought about new ideas and practices for both the students and teachers.

We found our numbers increased, possibly due to student to student prompting overnight.  Possibly parents feeling more comfortable in their homes and directing children towards school now that they understand isolation in the home.   Whatever the reason we were delighted as a team to have more children connect live with us via our 2 set google meet times. 

My maths class was smaller today, only 3 students actually but it was a productive session in that the 3 students are close in learning levels and so the competition began! 

One of our teachers had 25 out of 28 students tune in for maths!! Was an exciting but challenging time to work out how to best cater for the range of 28 learners present.  You are reminded of how the google meet is whole class situation so you're thinking on your feet the whole time.

A highlight for my learning today was the noted difference in students.  Yesterday - day 1 of distance learning they were so very keen to simply connect.  Today - day 2, students were ready with matters they wanted to discuss related to their learning.  I also as the teacher was prepared with 2-3 learning points that I wanted to be sure to deliver before ending the google meet.  At present we are meeting for up to 30 minutes.  Any longer and I'm finding that the students are challenged with background noise and whanau needing to share the space they're in.


Learning from today: be well prepared for the 20 - 30 minute google meet with specific points to teach.   Write it down and stick to it alongside any pastoral/housekeeping notices and encouragement you need to give your tamariki.




Tuesday 24 March 2020

Day 1 Distance Learning @ PES

Talofa lava to our teachers!    We farewelled our children yesterday afternoon hastily due to the late but important announcement that we were moving very quickly into level 3 then 4 mode to stop Covid-19 from spreading.

During our final korero, I shared with the children that they were heading home no for a normal holiday but rather to go home AND actually STAY in their homes.  The idea of hanging out with neighbours...picking up a mate to go bike riding, hang at the beach, for a feed of fish'n chips etc was not going to happen.  The Prime Minister has instructed us 4 weeks of isolation in our whare's!

We had prepared our children with a few changes made to our team learning site which followed the Kawa of care for the learner from Manaiakalani of 'Limiting the Links'.   So all connections for students were from our front page to their ONE page that hosted daily/weekly learning.  Thankful too that team leader of our year 5 and 6 students - Matt Goodwin let me sit in and observe a google meet with students last Friday along with limit the links site set up.  All helped us arrive at today!

I'm stoked to share here that while some children did not attend the days we shared this new set up - they got online still - Day 1 of distance learning and got to the 2 hangouts - meets we set up across our team of 6 classes.

I must say seeing them pop up to join meet and then hearing student voices across the block of classes was a choice moment!   So good!   A style of learning children are accustomed to BUT this time no teacher body with to them - instead live on screen woo hoo!
Here's a screen capture of one google meet we - for maths.   Had 8 at this very moment on live.  Our team focus for these early days to simply connect with our learners, check in that they're doing ok, chat about how they were coping with the change AND then a bit of maths and literacy.  I know it'll shift into more academic content soon but priority right now is support our children with this sudden shift in life.  I'm pretty proud of our children, whanau and teachers right now!

DFI - cohort 1 of Auckland, I got to put into practice our learning around google meets, even turned the captions on AND fortunately had Dorothy Burt walk through to give me 1-1 guidance on some things I needed at that very moment!   Yes - bit mā...things Dorothy and Gerard had already told us lol - hand on face emoji right here eek!

Hows that??  3 weeks of DFI then immediately into distance learning putting into practice what we've just learned - phewww!

Looking forward to connecting with my learners today.  9am with our literacy groups then 12.30pm with our maths groups.


Friday 20 March 2020

Media: Agenda Day 3 - al about CREATE today!

Straight into it - learning to use split screen - 2 seperate screens that we'll be using with our students should we have a period of students staying home and us as teachers teaching via the online portal.  Holding the green button top left will help you do this.

Create: needs to be right there in the centre of what we do! 
Playfully creative people!  Are we not happy to be around such people?  Yes!   Let's see things with a glass half full. 

Imagine what we could do online - distance learning.   Creative juices flow time!  There is research available to us that confirms the importance of creativity.  Kohl (2008) "Creativity focuses on the process of forming original ideas through exploration and discovery.   In children, creativity develops from their experiences with the process, rather than the concern for the finished product.

A great example of this in action is a principal Robin Sutton of Hornby High School has named his school 'School of Creative Excellence'. 
Creativity is at the heart of education.   It's our cultural heritage!

Disengaged learners: do we have them?   My answer is yes.   Here's something to check, are you using create element as an incentive?  For example: if you finish writing the story then you get to create... OR are you using create as part of the learning?  This is what Manaiakalani programme promotes.   Create is PART of the learning process - not a reward at end of doing some 'work'.

Creativity empowers our students, it enables students to take charge of the knowledge they have.

Planning for your learners at home?  Make sure there's lots of create in there!  Get students to hold up things they've created - share photos.   Engage the students daily with creativity in what you plan to present to them daily in class or online due to social distancing.

YOUTUBE
This session was very helpful in ensuring it's a safe space to post movies that you keep unlisted and free from comments.  A way to eliminate the extras that pop up in sidebars when showing children a video - you embed the playlist into your site. 

Google Draw - wooo hooo!
There are so many things you can create in google draw.   We are having a bit of explore of the many things you can create in this space.
Basic animation right here made in google draws.  Know about arranging background level, object level, rotating and re-sizing using shift key to keep dimensions correct.

Slides as a presentation tool
Providing slides for students is very different to using slides with a hall full of people.  Be clear in your mind about what you are presenting.  Do your images show this - your korero?  For example: at present Dorothy is visiting a number of schools/groups across NZ with the one message children can still learn at home.   Think tweet size statement.   Do this and you'll capture your audience from beginning.

You click 'new' google slides...keynote...powerpoint...ditch the default settings! 
Tips from Dorothy re planning:
Have ideas on post it notes...if they don't fit on notes then you've got too much - cut it back.
Slides are used to create digital content.  Students have created animations where they have borrowed backgrounds and object images.  Other students have created all parts on google draw.  Awesome aye?!  A great idea for home learning that may grow soon.  There's some quick learning to put in place for this to be successful.   Idea from Dorothy - give a task to students to complete using different tools.   Draw a tree - on hyperstudio, google draw, keynote etc.  Beauty of this students will notice how they have skills in one medium and how easy it is to transfer into another app/program.

Deep dive for today - Kent Somerville of Pt England School
Live streaming to youtube, can have it embedded immediately into your school site via youtube.   Your viewers can see your screen with a countdown available.  This happens when you have scheduled an event.  The camera you use needs to have the capability of hosting it's recorded footage online.  
Live streaming covers a whole lot of different events for schools.   The capturing of events in this way is useful for rewindable learning in many learning areas.   A real advantage when learning about spacial awareness on the sports fields etc.   Imagine what you could do in the classroom with live stream!

Friday 13 March 2020

Agenda Day 2, Auckland Cohort 1, 2020


This morning's focus was around the use of google hangouts or google meet as some call them.  In light of the Coronavirus and students around the world being made to stay home from school - this has been a very useful day.  Ubiquitous learning a theme of the day!

Back to hangouts - do not copy what we've done here...as good practice - etiquette, it's important to be in hangout on your own laptop.   Don't worry Sally and I had our own laptops to watch and share through.  Having your own laptop means you are there to participate and also shows an appreciation for the lead speaker in hangout who's prepped for you and the team!

The ability to speak with a group of learners, receive information from a teacher AND give feedback is one which Maniakalani children have - right now!   Should our children be asked to stay home - learning CAN still happen!

In our hands on session using hangouts we were taken through a great presentation that walked us through RATE.
Recognise
Amplify
Turbocharge
Effective Practice
I especially appreciated the review of the 'Amplify' part of our practice. 
"We amplify our effective practice by using technology to share our professional learning and experiences" Dorothy Burt.  There are two parts to Amplifying - Getting and Giving.  We get - research...find resources.   We give - share our own practice online through our sites, professional blogging etc.




Google Keep - it's a keeper!
Ability to make lists/notes and share with collaborators - like colleagues or whanau.  The grocery list etc that is live and can be checked off.  A keep safe space for quick little notes and links...capture image of text and have it stripped off and presented as plain text.   Great tool to use to support the learner focus closer on selected text.

Gmail: settings is the place to go.  Archiving of emails rather than deleting is a better option to clear inbox.   Having inbox emails as individual or collection of email conversations is something to consider when setting up gmail.  Labelling is a good way to organise work flow according to a group of people or individuals.  Emails will still come through inbox OR you can send directly to label file.

Google Calendar
Handles multiple accounts.  You do not have to share you calendar when inviting individuals to events. 
One Tab app - for those who have issues with having wayyyy to many tabs open.   You can use this to have all the tabs
Bookmarks bar - click on lock and drag onto bookmark bar...delete?  Double finger tap then delete!

Hapara: using dashboard for quick check-ins re 'Is your doc in the right folder' have this on screen acknowledging students as they post in correct folder.

Hangout - put it into practice. 
We made a first attempt to run our own hangouts.  Some learnings from this :)  The default on quicktime screen recording is to have the mic turned off...turn this on or sound won't be captured!  Be ready with what you want to say...do the thinking away from camera if the purpose of hangout is to reflect.  Mute your own mic when you are not sharing - however NOT if you are the person doing screen recording.  Thanks to Sally, Jan and Marie who shared beautifully today via hangouts.
Thanks Dorothy and Gerhard


Friday 6 March 2020

#DFI25 - Digital Fluency Intensive group no.25

#DFI25.  Today we've started round 25 of DFI
Manaiakalani Kaupapa and Pedagogy
Background of Manaiakalani - where it all started.  In 2006 the journey began...well not really.
Prior to this there were two programmes running involving a cluster of schools.  One of these was the ICT PD.   As programmes do they come to an end.  A movement began to keep this cluster work going, it was more than ICT.   The cluster gatherings of teachers empowered more than individual schools - it reached our community.  We had to keep this going! 

A core set of principals decided to work together to continue these cluster gatherings that were opening doors between schools and whanau in Tamaki.  This rolled into a core group of lead teachers, whanau and students.   A core group that would trial and work through the choices to be made to set up a model for schools to use.

What's really neat for Sally and I - we were part of the journey from the beginning which is pretty special!   Here we are finally with Dorothy in DFI #25!  Choo hoo hoo!

To assist in improving my capability and workflow it's great to have had sessions today that lead us through some deep diving. Today our first deep dive was around google groups.  Tip - don't invite people to group ADD!
Tools to try out:

  • bookmarks
  • omnibox
  • tab skipping - command 1, 2 = tab 1, 2 etc
  • filing - shift + z adds doesn't move folders

What to use with my own google drive AND setting up students for success for the year:
Google Docs 101!
This was a huge help for me.  Time to tidy up, refresh and renew the skill set.  Boy have I developed some sloppy habits!

  • First - using initials FIRST when naming a doc.  
  • Copy & Paste NOT!  You are actually copying all the formatting, we need to strip it out before pasting so here we go.  Shift command V - pastes WITHOUT formatting will happen.  
  • Voice typing: go to tools 
  • One doc for the month?  This is where you can use heading to mark in the date, students starting out in google docs for the first time find this useful.  Students add date as they add to the writing folder.  
  • EXPLORE - yes that image that sits bottom right of your docs.   Click on it - it enables referencing of any text/images you add through this link...acknowledges in your footer the host of image/text.  Wow that would have taken up to being an A+ student.


Extensions and Addons
Scavenger hunt that checks out the digital skills of your students.
A great number of extensions and Addons were shared today.  Remember to contact your key person in school to have selected addons available to your students. 
Removebg - removing background from images - is soooo choice!

All that I've been exposed today is very useful for my classroom practice and my own personal workflow.  Thanks Gerhard and Dorothy.  Looking forward to week 2 DFI#25.
Kia Ora!