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

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: