Cheryl Torrie- Blinging Blogs with Images

Cheryl Torrie- Blinging Blogs with Images- Teacher Professional Development

Cheryl presented a great slide show that demonstrated how to create collages of photos to embed in our blog posts. These collages could replace the long 'scroll-down' photos of the novice blogger, namely me.

She gave a variety of apps and websites for this purpose.

To demonstrate my fledgling understanding of this I have embedded one of my own collages using random photos (from various Science lessons) that were stored in Google Photos.

Lunapic was one app. that created artistic effects from photos. I have attempted an example of this here with a shot of my siblings and me.

Marc Gibson - T3 - Using flexible learning groups within the curriculum

Marc Gibson -Using Flexible Learning Groups Within the Curriculum

As part of our digital professional learning, Marc Gibson presented the way his school worked with 75 students in a class of 3 teachers. Students worked in flexible groupings that sprang out of the workshops and the roles of teacher as "Taskmaster" and "Coach". Learners select workshops based on their learning needs (taken from the Literacy and Maths Learning Progressions).

The systems within the class were well unpacked with students in term 1 of the year, timetabling was changed each week and a method for students to upload their work to a Learning Progression was established. Students select and sign up to at least 1-2 workshops in each subject area on Monday with the help of a teacher.

Teachers have a different role each week over a three week period.  In Reading the coach works on the end goal  and students work on one task for the whole week, a task that fits with any book. A set of 8 texts is selected each week. Students click on the title to see other complimentary reading and challenging reading related to the book. This meets the requirements for "Multimodal" learning. Students do not work in ability groups although the lower readers do work together but are still part of the book choices for homework etc.

The class site is shared with parents so they can see what the book choices  and tasks.

In writing the students have to complete one piece of writing for the week. During this time the ESOL students leave the room.

In Maths there is a Hotspot activity in the main learning area e.g., fractions. The teachers work in three roles as coach, problem solving and workshops. There is also a Heart zones activity which is more like play based learning. The workshops plug the gaps in the knowledge. Each students has to complete one artefact to show they have learned it. For problem solving teachers work with groups of 18, on 2 problems a week. The students have a specific process to work through.

Each child has their own digital copy of the progressions that are highlighted once they have proven that they have learned it. From these progressions the teachers can target the learning and address the gaps.

So what does this mean for my teaching?

It took much time to set up this school's systems.  They now have a cohesive mode of teaching and learning that meets students' needs, motivates students and raises ability.

Of course this new system needs to be from the top down in a school setting such as ours. School management needs to engage with the process and not see it as a quick fix strategy. It requires commitment over time.

I could...

• Trial the workshop idea on my class site and have a variety of reading books for the book choice. This would work more for my readers who are achieving at a good standard
• For my underachievers daily guided reading and mileage is worth continuing and their workshops would be based around their need for decoding and alphabet skills. Their voice needs to be factored in to the planning
• Process writing would continue along with choices for some different genre or types of grammar. Nothing is new there.
• Problem solving options help create mixed ability groupings and sound better when students mix themselves for maths through their choices (rather than the predetermined mixed groupings that I have heard other educators talk about)
• Workshops that plug the gaps in student knowledge also sound worth doing. 

There is only one teacher in my class of 26, so this limits the flexible nature of groupings and options. However, it would be good to include a few of these ideas in the planning  as part of my own inquiry.

Evidence of reflective and professional practice-Term review

Term Review for Term 4 2018

The term review provides evidence of reflective practice that forms new goals for the following year. It is informed by a range of data; narrative, formative and summative.

In addition to the review I have created...

• a Google Sheets data workbook to track student achievement over the course of the year
• a data analysis "Quadrant" sheet that names students who require extra support
• wedge graphs to show individual student progress in Reading, Writing and Maths
• a Senco data tracking sheet, a Senco data analysis report, a Senco Improvement Plan and a Senco Annual report that support the students who are Tier 2 or 3 for assistance.

Digital Fluency Intensive Reflection 19.9.18 Week 9

Digital Fluency Intensive Reflection 19.9.18

Manaiakalani Pedagogy

Ubiquitous Learning  and Rewindable Learning.

• Anytime 
• Anywhere
• Any place

Rewindable learning helps this accessibility and makes it easy for learners to go back and revise their learning. For priority learners, blogs and blog comments help students to progress in literacy throughout the holidays or at least not slip back.

Rewindable learning

We reflected on one way we have scaffolded ubiquitous learning and I thought about the "old" technology of modelling books and charts of success criteria. I look forward to the new ways of  supporting rewindable learning through blogs that capture the learning and other people's comments as well as the resource links within the site. Also there will be helpful links for parents who can hook into the class resources.

Students can make tutorials by using Screencastify to share with the class. Other app.s to explore for this purpose could be ...WeVideo, pixiclip, explain everything, Movenote, Flipgrip

Opportunities for future teaching and learning

• The COL person in the school (MK)
• Click on the MK labels
• Teaching as Inquiry- Manaikalani Innovative Teachers- PLD 
• 1 hour a week with the facilitator next year
• Tania Coutts- online facilitator- registration for Tuhi mahi tuhi atu
• Twitter feed- hash tag based, following groups, worth discussing as a staff
• Google + , set up a default to publish this to Google + website (see the slide deck about Google plus on minutes- What's the fuss about Google plus... share to Google plus from your blog post. Join communities (of schools and clusters).

Looking back over the eight weeks reflect on what you have learned, created and shared.

I have learned about the different Google Suite app.s and have created drawings, documents, worked within Drive, sorted bookmarks, arranged my calendar, worked with Quicktime, Screencastify, tasted ideas for robotics...

Reflect on what you know you need to focus on and gain more fluency in. Consciously decide where to get the help you need.

I will be moving into creating my Class Site fully, in preparation for next year's launch. I will be searching for resources from other Sites that will help in this construction and will be working closely with our facilitator and pilot teachers to fine-tune the Site. I need to sort out the ipads and PCs in readiness for the class Site.

Identify your strengths and what you can contribute to the wider community of learning and learners.

I feel quite confident with Sheets and Forms, Docs and Drive, blogs and playlists.

Digital Fluency Intensive Reflection-Week 5

Digital Fluency Intensive Reflection -Week 5

Visible Learning

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

Blogging opens up learning!          Sites turbocharge the learning!    

Manaiakalani's evidence shows that utilising digital technologies to create visible learning and teaching has a two-pronged effect; effective teaching and accelerated learning.

Hook learners in to engage with the learning by having the learning visible on a Google site.

Why visible?

• It is about communicating with a real audience and purpose in mind
• It gathers feedback and comment
• It challenges and stimulates thinking
• It engages the learners
• It extends and deepens learning

What is visible?

• planning
• process
• outcomes
• assessment
• teachers' own inquiries

Who is it visible to?

• students
• parents
• senior managers
• teachers at school
• teachers in global community
• students around the world
• the global community

Site content needs to be...

• accessible
• available 
• (in) advance...and...with no surprises

It needs to consider...

• the role of the teacher (highly effective teaching)
• the nature of the assigned tasks (SAMR)
• the nature of the sites accessed (rich multimodal opportunities)
• the degree of student choice and collaboration (options/choices (multimodal) for creation and presentation)        -Rebecca Jensen Woolf Fisher Research AU 2014 report

Students like a head start, to preview the whole unit or week's learning. 

What did I learn that increased my confidence, capability and workflow as a  professional?

Danni Stone presented "Creating a Multi-Modal site".
It was interesting to learn, for the first time, how to use Google Drawings and Google Sites to create a Site for class lessons. I learned how to format the contents of the site. We created our own "Garden with Science"  site  with links to video file, audio file, written activity, sheet, URL to web links (see link below). Students would choose what and when they would learn from the site, thus creating a differentiated, inclusive style of learning. I like the way that "rewindable learning" can be integrated into the site so that students have a point of reference for prior learning. I also liked the way other subjects can be integrated on the same site page.

Handy guidelines for site content include communicating the learning intention, the task and the direction that the class is heading. It is reassuring to hear from others  that it takes time to build resources and planning a site creation gets faster  the more you do it. 

https://sites.google.com/s/1GoFdkrQGLnqZXWOB22gf9GKRJMlaJz3I/p/1ZBf3cFGv3xH_edqQUs8xpwt-vt_sR-KE/edit

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

Everything I learnt today applies to my students. The presentation of planning and learning as a site is really succinct and definitely a step up from units of work typed with links! Learning will be deeper because of the variety of links and content that can be included as well as a range of responses that factor in higher order thinking.

I like the idea of an immersion assembly where students share a performance about their inquiry for the term. A goal setting page on the site is a good idea for students. Linking reading and writing to the inquiry makes sense as it is best practice. It's wise to keep plans fluid and flexible, as often not all content is covered in a week. Add another page to the site for work to be covered.

What did I learn that could increase my confidence, capability and workflow in my personal life? 

I am not sure how sites might apply to my personal life other than reduce the tonnes of paperwork accumulated each year.

Connected Learners Share      A reflection on blogging.

 Simon Scott writes about the impact that students sharing their learning had on his delivery of writing.

Simon uses a 3-step guide for students to write a quality blog. 

He explains that surface features such as punctuation improved greatly and these needed less teaching time. His literacy teaching shifted away from worksheets that focussed on surface features to students reading other people's blogs and commenting or asking them questions about what they wrote. 

What will I trial with my students?

My very young students mostly read at a very basic level so their ability to read other blogs may be limited to start with. I think that blog posts they create could be very visual with images, video links, or slides they have created. In this way they will be able to engage and comment in their own simple way. 

What support would I need from the outreach facilitator?

As I am new to this type of programme I would need on-going assistance to not only set up my site and student blogs but also see exemplars of what other junior teachers have done with ipads. 

Esther's DFI Week 2 reflection

Reflection Questions for Week 2

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

Dorothy explained the  place of “Learn” in Manaiakalani. Her video is contained in the agenda for the day. It is future focussed and is about increasing teacher effectiveness and accelerating learning outcomes in a digital environment.

Recognise: Teacher and student competence in learning

Turbocharge: The digital component-create

Amplify: The share feature

Schools need to have their own definition of “Learning” on their landing page or school site.

Higher Order thinking is to the fore e.g., Blooms Taxonomy

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

Confidence and Capability:

The course was helpful in the following ways....

Workflow:

Bookmarks- We looked at how to use bookmarks and organise bookmark folders that contain resources and links.

Calendars- We used settings on Google calendar to make appointments and send invitations to others. I will set up a Senco calendar for scheduling key tasks and invite people to IEP meetings etc. I might share this with the specialist teacher too.

I will sync calendars to my phone. I was able to send a hangout invitation using the calendar, which was a first.

Hangouts: This was definitely a steep learning curve for me today. It was my first time using quicktime. Etiquette for hangout needs to be understood by all before starting. Having different roles for the creation of this movie was interesting. I could see that this could be an effective means of sharing/collaborating once my capability is improved.

Small group hangout video

• What did I learn that could be used with my learners , capability or workflow in my personal life?

The hangouts potentially have real benefits for me as Senco, to share and collaborate for the benefit of students with additional needs (SWANs). They could be used for IEPs if parties could not meet although it could disadvantage parents who couldn't attend. Groups of students across the school could collaborate about a topic, perhaps as experts or expert to novices, or about a shared responsibility such as the PB4L group.

Esther: Digital Fluency Intensive Week 1

Digital Fluency Intensive WEEK 1

Content/App.	Task	What I Learned
	Google Keep Installed on phone and laptop. Explored possibilities	Pinning, Sharing, Collaborate button. Recordings into google doc or email. Photo of a page, use photo, grab image on text, it types from photo. Photo album, include on blog. Keep handy links/URLs in keep to use later. Create a comment and a link about surface features to insert in student work.
	Profile adjusted All email accounts entered Photo entered. Task bar set up.
	Teach documents to students. Set up student folders that are shared with teachers. Group stories Create a chain doc. By sharing a common template with specific people and someone else contributes to it Control shift V= remove format. Docs as a tool for creating visual media.	Highlight text, Command C, format it first before pasting as paste without formatting. Copied docs= put your initial before the title. Do not underline anything. Highlight title and “Normal Text” for heading 1, subheadings= Heading 2. Put cursor before first title, go to insert, table of contents. Your headings create URLs Command F for searching keyword e.g., digital Incorporate the chain activity into class programme- narratives, facts….
	Clean up your drive by making year folders Disclosure arrows, Folders to be shared	Transparency for all planning by sharing folders
	Adjusted my blog to make Teaching as Inquiry as a visible page The correct template has been set up	Use tables to manage my images. Infographics: use png images to colour the background (Table properties) Only access images via Explore Tool We made an infographic We did the scavenger hunt to try out the various Explore features
Skill checklist	Using the “explore tool”	Try out: Voice type, Add ons, Script editor, citation tools.
The 4 Goals of DFI	Our teachers are supported to acquire fluency using the basic tools our young people use for learning Our teachers are supported to acquire fluency using the basic tools required for effective teaching, planning, assessment and professional learning Our teachers are supported to understand how digital technologies used effectively can have a significant impact on accelerating achievement outcomes Our teachers are supported to understand how the Manaiakalani pedagogy and kaupapa has been co-constructed over more than a decade to maximise the impact of effective teaching and learning in a digital learning environment.
To do Next:	Try out some of the above app.s.