Reflection Week 9

Reflection 

Week 9

Cohort 2

Dorothy spoke this morning about ubiquitous learning - learning anywhere, anytime, anyway (on any device) and "learning from anyone". The availability of digital technologies and tools makes this possible. This is increasingly the way 21st-century learners engage with their learning and making sense of the world around them. We have a good percentage of students who use their Chromebooks responsibly at home for learning purposes. These students are usually self-directed, they have a good understanding of the implications of the Kawa of Care and they enjoy great parent support. Unfortunately, we have been struggling with a group of students who find it difficult to manage their own learning at home on devices and whose parents are uninvolved. 

Rewindable learning opportunities contribute to the process of ubiquitous learning.  It allows students to revisit learning content in their own time. We should not underestimate the power of rewindable knowledge for the individual. This is precisely what I will be doing with the content we covered during the DFI. 

Thank you very much to all the facilitators for their time and hard work during the DFI.  

Nga manaakitanga

Casper

Reflection Week 8

Reflection

Week 8

Cohort 2

I found the session with Dorothy on an empowered kaupapa interesting this morning. The Manaiakalani kaupapa is not only about empowering students, but also empowering teachers. The whole approach encourages reciprocal teaching and learning (ako) in a digital as well as bicultural environment. 

I like the statement that technology is not just a tool for learning and teaching. It needs to be used to empower our learners. 

Our own Kokatahu-Kowhitirangi School curriculum is a future-focused curriculum with the aim to empower our students for the future in all its different aspects. We focus on teaching the following learning behaviours needed for the future: reflectiveness, reciprocity (ako), resilience and resourcefulness. This aligns well with the Manaiakalani approach. 

Developing computational thinking forms part of this future-focused curriculum. We have only started on this journey with one Beebot and 13 Sphero robots. Our approach will be to integrate it as far as we possibly can with the other core and non-core curriculum areas. 

It is really important for teachers to develop their own digital fluency and capabilities and to adapt to teaching this new curriculum area. If we expect our students to be digitally fluent, we need to be digitally fluent teachers as well or at least resilient and resourceful problem solvers. 

A digitally fluent person can decide when and why to use specific digital technologies to achieve a specific task or solve problems. A digitally capable person can create their own digital technologies solution. Both of these are important as part of the digital technologies curriculum. 

Nga mihi

Casper

Reflection Week 7

Reflection Week 7
Cohort 2

Quite a frustrating start this morning with the grid view on Google Meet not working. It took me about half an hour to solve the problem and unfortunately I missed some of Dorothy's presentation on Hapara Dashboard. However, we all know that when we use digital technologies, we need to be problem solvers, we need to persevere and we need to be resilient - that is what we expect from our students and we need to set the example in that regard.
The session on "Explain Everything" was great. This tool can be used in many different ways for students to create digital learning objects. It can actually be used across the school for different age levels, but you do need an iPad for it. Trying to use it on a Chromebook doesn't work that well.
An emphasis on the Cyber Smart curriculum is really important, especially when you make ubiquitous learning possible by sending Chromebooks home. All the Manaikalani and outreach schools have their own core values, but these are linked or underpinned by the Smart Values. See video below:

Reflection

Reflection Week 6
Cohort 2
Today we again focused on developing our own Google Sites. I share a Google Site (Class Site) with my principal's release and we have developed the site over just more than three years. We redesigned it a few times for new groups and new levels of students but kept a lot of the previous planning and resources. One of my goals is to archive these resources and planning and to tidy up the site. We will also try to look at making it easier for the students to navigate their way around the site and maybe to personalised it more for the group we are currently teaching. One of the people in my group suggested that we use the students to design the icons we use as links instead of downloading clipart for this purpose. I think that is a great idea.
I will need to revisit Gerhard's session from this morning and make further adjustments to our site.
It was also great to look at examples of class sites from other schools. Also very beneficial to critique them and decide how I would like to adjust my own site. There are some great examples within the Manaiakalani cluster of schools as well as the Outreach schools.
Dorothy talked this morning about the (Manaiakalani) kaupapa of being "Connected". Manaiakalani and Manaiakalani Outreach schools are already well connected at so many different levels and this is especially the case for our students.
Dorothy also emphasised the fact that you can't "Connect" if you don't "Share". In fact, all 4 elements of the kaupapa (connected, empowered, visible, ubiquitous) are important. They are all interconnected and can't exist without each other. 
I'm looking forward to next week's session on using "Explain Everything" in the Junior classes (Years 1-3). At our school, this is an important area to develop further.
Nga mihi
Casper

Success at Kokatahi-Kowhitirangi School

Reflection

Reflection, Week 5

Cohort 2 

I again enjoyed the new learning and discussions during today's sessions. Below are some of the aspects I would like to reflect on. 

I realised how important it is to develop Google class sites that are inclusive, differentiated and personalised. The way the class sites are designed is a reflection of what is happening in the different classrooms. Google Sites is an important part of what we use in terms of teaching and learning at our school. These need to be up to date, visually attractive and differentiated in terms of teaching and learning activities. This will encourage student engagement. Two important aspects were discussed by Kerry in this regard; multimodal design for behavioural engagement and multi-textural design for cognitive engagement. Thank you for explaining the difference, Kerry. 

Also, visibility is a very important part of sharing student learning. It opens up the world as an audience (removing barriers), as well as celebrating and accelerating learning. Personal and private assessment information is not shared in this way. 

I've used Google Sites for quite a few years now, but I'm glad that the current version is simplified and much more user friendly. 

I now have a deeper understanding of the different categories of Multi-text resources, but would like to revisit the T-shaped Literacy skills slides from Rebecca Jesson and Aaron Wilson. This is a great time for it as we intensify our teaching of reading by using Multi-text resources.  

We also worked this afternoon on creating a Google Site based on a Multi-text reading activity. A very helpful session indeed. Below is a link to the Site. 

Nga Wero - Culturally Responsive Learning Spaces

Nga Wero Our School Pepeha

Reflection

Reflection Week 4, Cohort 2

Once again, I learnt a lot from our sessions today. 

Dorothy talked this morning about "Sharing" as one of the "legs" of our pedagogy. Sharing is such an important aspect of our pedagogy, especially with implementing a Future-Focused curriculum in a digital environment.  Our parent community became more aware of sharing in a digital environment during the lockdown period. Students were able to share their learning not only with the world out there but also with their parents! While many parents were working alongside their child at home during remote teaching and learning, they became part of the whole Learn, Create, Share process. 

As Dorothy stated sharing online also promotes "learning to finish", in other words, to get something ready to present. With sharing their learning online students see the end product and enjoy the feedback they get from others. 

L, C, S pedagogy is not only linear. Sharing is actually part of an inquiry cycle and can spark a new cycle of learning. 

Dorothy also talked about blogging as a vehicle to teach our students good online citizenship and to be cyber smart. I like the analogy Dorothy is using about using a safe car to learn to drive. That is indeed what it is. 

I found the session on Google Sheets very useful. I use Google Sheets as well as Google Forms very often for administrative purposes and especially in terms of presenting data as part of Achievement and Effectiveness Reports.  

I would like to explore MyMaps further, especially for teaching purposes and maybe to map out our bus routes with more detailed information. 

Below is my attempt to present a snapshot comparison of the number of views we get on a post about a school trip versus a post containing information for parents to read. 

Reflection Week 3

Reflection Week 3 Cohort 2

Tuesday 19th May 2020

Great sessions today as well. 

I really enjoyed it and I suppose it is because the emphasis was on "Create". Dorothy is right, this aspect of our pedagogy is very important. "Create" is basically the link between "Learn" and "Share". It is a simple pedagogy that can be understood by everyone, including our tamariki: Students "Create" to demonstrate what they have been learning and then "Share" it with the world out there. 

I'm quite interested in using YouTube Live to stream our Assemblies/Huis. I have a wide-angle webcam that I can use for this purpose. I just need to find a way to share it out and to get out parent community connected. In other words, our parents are not in our domain and that might be tricky. I emailed Kent in this regard. There might also be issues with privacy and we need to keep this within our parent community only. 

We use Google Drawings quite often in creating images for publishing on our Class Sites as well as on Google Slides. It is also a great place to use and apply your creative skills and to engage students. Below is my attempt at using Google Draw. 

Using Google Draw

Thank you to the facilitators for all your efforts. 

Nga mihi

Casper

Reflection Tuesday 12th May 2020 Cohort 2

Reflection Cohort 2

It was great to revisit some of the things we learnt about in the previous cohort. 

Using filters with my Gmail account is a priority for me now. I receive a lot of emails on a daily basis and I spend a lot of time going through all my mail. Some of the mail is not important at all and I can look at these at a later stage if necessary. They can be filtered out to folders. 

I also like the fact that you can access "Tasks" directly from Gmail. There are sometimes important activities to follow up and it is easy to access "Tasks" from Gmail. I use "Tasks" every day and it helps me to be more organised. 

I will go back to "Toby mini" to see how I can organise my tabs better. I just need to find out whether "Toby mini" stops processing of the tabs as well while they are in hibernation. My computer sometimes slows down as a result of all the tabs I have open. Maybe, I should look at the "Great Suspender" as well, because that might stop the tabs in hibernation from processing. 

I think it is important for me to see how I can use all the Google Apps, extensions, etc. more effectively to save time with administrative tasks. 

Thank you for another great day!

Week 1 Blog Post

Week 1 Blog Post (Revised)

Cohort 1 Wednesday 11th March 2020

Reflection:
The Manaiakalani kaupapa makes it possible for all students to have equitable access to learning and that includes access to digital technologies. It makes it possible to effectively implement the Learn, and specifically the "Create" and "Share" approach. I learned about the importance of using simple digital technologies specifically for this purpose. There is no way that you can implement this approach effectively without using digital technologies in the 21st century. 

I leant a lot of new skills today and I am looking forward to using what I learnt with our students. All the sessions were fantastic, but I think the outstanding sessions were "Google Groups", "Chrome and Drive", "Chrome Extensions" and "Connect the Docs". I can definitely use it for both teaching and administrative purposes. 

I still need to spend more time on using tables on Google Docs. We usually use Google Docs for our newsletters, but it is just in a simple format. I will recreate our school newsletter for next week by using tables and then publish it on here. 

Thank you, Nicola and Dorothy, for a great day of learning.

Cohort 2 Tuesday 5th May 2020

My workspace at the moment when I'm working from home

Reflection:
It was great to revisit some of the learning we did during the first session we had when I was part of Cohort 1. I am now able to explore and use all the new skills in more depth.
"Connect to Docs" was again great, especially in terms of using index links to important parts of a document. I can definitely use this with documents like the School Charter, Curriculum Delivery documentation, Strategic Planning documents or Achievement and Effectiveness Reports to the Board.
I also redeveloped our newsletter again and included our school pepeha as well as some examples of the students' pepehas that are up at the entrance of the school.
It was great to work with Gerhard - very knowledgable and skilled in what he is doing.

A copy of the front page of our newsletter on Google Docs:

Week 2 Blog Post Cohort 1

Blog

Reflection Cohort 1 

One of the things I realised today was that the Māori term "Ako" (Learn) doesn't only mean "Learn", but also "Teach". That makes a lot of sense and it brings balance to this pedagogical approach. 

I think one of the ultimate goals of using digital technologies with the pedagogy of LCS, is to make it possible for our students to become independent and self-directed learners - in other words, to participate fully in the process of ubiquitous learning and doing it in a responsible and effective way. To develop good ubiquitous learning skills is probably one of our biggest challenges. 

Some of the very useful things I learnt today that I can use with my students and specifically for administrative purposes in my role as principal: 

• Linking Google Keep with Calendar. Keep it on the side and take notes. It is helping me to get more organised. 
• Learning new ways to use Google mail, like setting a date to send the email. 
• I also found using shortcuts in Google Calendar helpful. 
• "Toby mini" is a great way to organise all my tabs. I usually have a lot open and it helps me to organise my workflow better. 
• Setting up Google Hangouts from Google Calendar. I will need more time on this!
• Also, using the Task Button underneath the Google Keep button to create tasks in Goggle Calendar. 

Thank you for a great day!

My 2020 Teaching as Inquiry

How can I accelerate learning through Culturally Responsive Teaching Practices at Kokatahi-Kowhitirangi School?

Why have I identified this as an important focus for me?

When ERO visited us at the start of 2019, we agreed with them that we have to further develop Cultural Responsive Practices, especially for Maori. Together with this, we need to further enhance bicultural understandings and practices at our school, as an ongoing commitment to te ao Māori.

What initial steps forward am I going to commit to and why have I identified these as my first steps?

I will be doing the following course through Core Education during 2020:

Te Whakamānawa: developing cultural competencies in learning communities.

How, by focusing on this, do I propose to contribute to and influence Student Achievement Outcomes?

The underlying aim of this inquiry is to learn more about how we can grow culturally responsive teaching practices and pedagogies in our school to support the acceleration of learning for Maori students including at-risk, priority and target learners.

Who may I need support and assistance from and what might that look like as I look ahead to achieving success?

Board of Trustees.

All staff (Teachers and Support Staff)

Core Education

Ministry of Education