All googled out for this week!

Today I successfully completed the Google Level 1 exam. It was intense but the time went quickly. Tips for those about to take it.

1. Create some forms of different kinds.

2. Explore calendar functions and email functions.

3. Don't speed, I had time to spare and wish had taken more time on the scenarios, allow 10 minutes for the scenarios.

At the end of this DFI, I am the most proud of the confidence I have gained in using the google suite. I regret not implementing more in my classroom. I think if it was in Term 1, I would have integrated things into my program more effectively and been able to create for literacy sites for Topic.

I am looking forward to next term and creating some exciting new mahi for my students.

Good luck to my amazing 'Digital Bubble'

Scratching my head.

I'm feeling a tad nervous about the up and coming exam next week. I am going to do a good revision Thursday afternoon to make sure I feel a bit more confident. Today we learned about empowered learning. I feel it fits in nicely with our Enviroschool's guiding Principle, Empowered Students, which should really be the basis to all of our teaching focus.

I feel a bit more confident to start using the I-pads for more than just Epic and Matific. I am going to plan in animation using slides for next term and Fusion to add Scratch Junior so we can get coding. A great start will be the Minecraft coding challenges, I am sure the kids will love it.

Here is my first attempt at a Scratch coding project. I am sure I will get better with some input from the students.

• First Scratch project

Digital Whiteboard

Today was a good day in the Digital Fluency Intensive. I understand better why it is encouraged that all students have access to their own device to work with for the year. It is about equity and creating independent learners. As a teacher, it is very hard to juggle devices and try and provide fair opportunities for everyone in the classroom.

I have a greater understanding of how to use screencastify to enhance my lessons. I was just using a google meet to record lessons, not realising there was a much simpler way. I am going to use it for my extension math group to encourage more independence and rewindable learning for them.

I like the explain everything whiteboard app but I am concerned about the cost involved. It worked well on my iPhone but I couldn't get it working on one of our school i-pads.

Here is a cheeky creation from explain everything.

Collecting my toys back into the crib.

Well Boom, suddenly I have to suck it up and re publish my site to the web. The frustration and anger I felt earlier this term when I found myself with a good quality site that the kids were engaging with daily during lockdown to having limited devices to use back at school has finally subsided. 

Today I have enjoyed opening up my site and having it critically viewed by my bubble peers. They had some real useful suggestions to move forward and make my site more engaging and encouraging creativity with my students. I have learned so many great ideas from having a look around other's sites and feel inspired to try new things. My biggest challenge today was adding audio to my site. 

I feel more confident to share my planning and make the learning in my class more visible after seeing what others share on their sites. I have a bit of work to do updating everything and changing some things. Next steps in the classroom is for me to organise what devices we do have available and start encouraging my students to use the site. 

This is me after a day in front of the computer. 👀

Getting creative with Google Sites

Today's DFI session was a good one for me as it gave me time to practice some of the skills we have been learning over the past few weeks. I enjoyed the multi-modal task of creating a site for a literacy inquiry for students that encourages them to explore different types of texts and information sources. I will definitely be trialling this out with my top reading group and could even use the one I created today. Here is the work in progress.

Seeing a range of different Google Sites actually gave me encouragement that the site I created for Lockdown was actually quite effective. The extra time I took to making navigation simple and the information I presented for my students clear paid off when I looked at it compared to a range of sites. I feel a bit disappointed that I no longer have access to enough Chromebooks to keep my site updated and in use by my students.

I am finishing this Friday with renewed vigour and appreciation for Google Sites.

Nga Mihi

Making data fun

Today surprised me. Dealing with data is definitely not the most favourite aspect of my job but I found that the tutorials today are going to be useful and fun to use in the classroom setting. I especially liked the work we did with google maps.   My students love it when I bring up google maps and google Earth on the big screen to show them where different places are and to find their homes or favourite spots. Now I have the tools to create special maps with them. I think our first project will be to make a map of a shared class pepeha. 

Here is a map I created of my favourite jog around town. 

Media Mayhem

Today definitely challenged me on a whole new level. I am finding the amount of information given to us during the lecture-type whole DFI meet unhelpful and to be frank time-wasting. I appreciate my tutor Kelsey immensely as she is able to guide me without making me feel overwhelmed or zone out. I am so glad I was put in her group.

I feel I understand the pedagogy or Manaiakalani and don't need another massive talk about it next week. Let's get into more create!

I loved the google draw tutorial with Kelsey and am definitely going to have some fun with the students who have Chromebooks. I am really excited about making our Vision map digital with our Taiao warriors. I think if I spend some time looking back at the slides from this session I will be able to pick up some more useful tips.

There was some good information about the visual aspect of slides that I can take into my own presentations. I am a little confused as to what media to use- Slides or Google Draw? but I think after some playtime I will discover my favourite.

A colleague today suggested I invest in some blue filter glasses as I have been experiencing headaches after this Friday in front of a screen. I think I will try that next week.

Here are some cute dogs for you. Nga mihi.