Day 9-Becoming a Google Certified Educator- YESSSSS!!!!

17.9.2019- Session Nine

Focus: Revision

Today was my ninth session in the DFI (Digital Fluency Intensive) course. These are some notes (at the top) and reflection from today (at the bottom).

Connecting with Manaiakalani- Ubiquitous Learning

Presentation

The students can do the learning at anytime. At home, at school, whenever suits them. Learning is rewindable and can be reviewed again at a later date. Learning can happen outside the school day of 9:00-3:00.
It also includes school holidays. Generally children would drop in their writing and reading after the summer holidays. By being ubiquitous and using the 'Summer Learning Journey' children do not drop off in learning, they continue to progress as they are continuing to learning even when that are not at school.

Children who were successful blogged more than twice a week. Through the research it has suggested that using blogging practices over the summer has positive gains in student learning, even with no teacher present.
Blogging Supports Writing Outcomes The Summer Reading Slide
The Summer Learning Journey had positive results in student spelling, word sequences, punctuation and sentences that are complete and accurate.
Using technology is making thins possible that have not been possible in the past.

By making it rewindable children who are away don't need to be caught up. As a teacher there is a lot to do already without having to catch children up on previous learning, hooks, videos etc. Why might they be absent? It may be sickness, caring for others, sports events etc and things that are out of their control. Why would you want to disadvantage their learning because of this. Some children may also need extra support for a variety of reasons so having the ability to rewind and revise is helpful for them.
REMINDER: it does not need to be me as a teacher making the videos. The kids can make the videos to share. It can reinforce the learning for them and they are always willing to share their work.

Opportunities for Teachers

Stay Connected to Social Media (PLN)

CoL Teachers: Collaborative Inquiries
We Share on our Google+ Community here
#gafesummit
#edchat
#edchatnz
@teachinquire
@teacherslcs

Other resources:

teachertools.co.nz - models all of the strategies

Reflection:

Today we reflected on our learning from the past 8 weeks and sat our Google Certified Educator Level 1 Exam. I must admit the nerves were racing and I didn't know how I would go, but...... I passed! With plenty of time to spare. YAY!!!!
The stress I was feeling was for nothing and I am relieved. I have not done an exam since I was at Uni which was 11 years ago. I have been reminded and can better relate to how some of our children feel leading up to exams and assessments. Phew!

I have had a great 9 weeks being a part of the DFI. I have learnt a lot. I feel I better understand the Manaiakalani pedagogy. In the past I was more aware of "Learn, Create, Share" and I did not know about "Connected, Ubiquitous, Visible, Empowered". This has increased my confidence working within a Manaiakalani cluster. 

I am also aware that I know more than many others at my school and other schools. I have been able to share some of the things I learnt back at my school in full staff morning slam dunks and with my syndicate. Everyone I have shared with has been very appreciative of what I have shown them. I have been able to learn ways to work more efficiently and conserve my time. 

I have come to be more confident with many digital technologies. I was previously quite overwhelmed by the idea of 'Coding'. I have, since starting this course, used Coding apps with my Year 1-2 students and they have loved it. Alongside this course I have also been doing a course on 'Developing our School Library Services". We have very short opening hours so I have been able to develop a School Library Site with the skills I have learnt on this course. 

I have used Multi-Modal resources to engage my learners in further learning from their reading books and as part of Pirate Week. I look forward to further develop these skills.

Overall I am really happy with how this course has gone. The trainers have been very supportive and I have been able to learn a lot of practical skills I can use both at work and in my personal life. This is a course I would highly recommend for other teachers.

Data, numbers and analysing - Session eight

10.9.2019- Session Eight

Focus: Dealing with Data

Today was my Eighth session in the DFI (Digital Fluency Intensive) course. These are some notes (at the top) and reflection from today (at the bottom).

Connecting with Manaiakalani

"Empowered"

It is expensive but it is not just a tool. It gives opportunities for students and transforms learning and experiences for children.

The tools and skills we provide these children help to empower them.

A lot of the Manaiakalani families survive on $19,000. They are very clever in the way they use this money. The "Working Poor" are the families in our first Manaiakalani Cluster. It is very dis empowering for our people living in state houses when they cannot control their living. They cannot afford to dispose of rubbish, go to the Doctor.

Children in these areas start with the same learning as the average 3 year old. They have been exposed to 32 million less words. Pasifika families, in particular, use a lot of non verbal communication.

Due to low Oral Language the Manaiakalani Schools right from New Entrants are having "5+aDay" conversations. A conversation that goes back and forward, like a ping pong game, 5 or more times.

Google Forms

URL-Forms.google.com.

We got to create a form. This is something I have not created for but I know a lot of others on this course have.  There are a range of question types you can add. Using the "Required" option is a good option to select so the answer has to be filled in.  A form has to be useful. There is no point doing a form if you cannot do anything with the data. You may need to identify participants to be able to follow up. Be careful to share it properly by clicking the link. Do not copy the URL as it will take people to the editable version. Unless it is personal stuff, the spreadsheet next to the form is really powerful. Using a drop down menu will keep the data tight and more accurate as people can write the same thing in multiple ways which can provide inaccurate data.

Change the settings in "tools" change "notification settings" so that you are only notified when changes are made or a new form is submitted. 

Google My Maps

This is different to 'Google Maps'. Sharing is handy to see how far people are from you house or how far they are to the place you are picking them up. This would mean a lot of trust between the person you are sharing with.  You can customise your own maps, add markers to create a walk or play to go etc. Picture books that go on a journey, school holiday destinations, history lessons etc this could make the lessons more interesting. You could give out different research or journey sections for each child. You can import data from a google spreadsheet to add pins for a range of locations, which is what we did. This is my map.

Google Sheets

We got a chance to play with the spreadsheets. We learnt to hide protect sheets, order data, make graphs etc.

Analysing Data

 

At the start of the year one teacher gets her students to make a data story with hypotheses about their own blogs blogging history. As a teacher you can view the pages views etc from the statistics section of blogs which you can show to your students as you are 'admin'. 

Make out own analysis from the list.

Blog List Sidebar Gadget 

Reflection

It was fascinating hearing just how bad the situation for some Manaiakalani students really is. It was good to hear how Manaiakalani can empower some of our students to take back some control. I hadn't thought about the power these kids are given through the programme before.

I found looking at the data today was interesting. I have learnt a bit about spreadsheets today which will come in handy. I mainly use spreadsheets currently for my planning. I was advised that I could use spreadsheets for making student lists and making analysis of assessment data. I was also suggested that to make my Jump Jam team list with class details, year level etc that I could get the children/families to fill out a google form. This way all the info would be collated into a google spreadsheet that I can manipulate however I want which would save me typing names and details out at the start of the year. This I thought was a great idea as it can take me some time to add all these details. 

I liked going through some example of exam questions for next week. This made me less worried about what next week's exam would entail which was good. I will attempt to do some study for this on my CRT day tomorrow. 

Another great day with more great learning. I am looking forward to putting all of what I have learnt to action, particularly next year. 

Day 7- Media

3.9.2019- Session Seven

Focus: Media

Today was my Seventh session in the DFI (Digital Fluency Intensive) course. These are some notes and reflection from today.

Deep Dive- Live Streaming

With Kent Sommerville from Pt England School

Live Streaming -Link

Live Stream link added to the school webpage-Extended whanau in other areas can view which is a great benefit to the families and really embodies the Manaiakalani "Share:. E.g children can perform a Tongan dance and their family in Tonga can watch, or the Cross Country etc.


Using You Tube is the easiest way to Live Stream. You set up an event well in advance.
Check out the viewpoints and best spots prior to sharing the link and going live.
On Youtube under live streaming you can stream from your laptop camera.
You don't have to be 'Live'. You can choose to make it public later. It gets saved into your You Tube account.
Drones also work well. (DJI brand for the staff drones work well) These work with your phones.
This could be cool to use to share many of our school events with families. E.g Poetry and Speech competitions, Belfast Got Talent finals, Cross Country, Athletics Day, Sports events, Jump Jam dress rehearsals etc.

Connected/Kaupapa

With Dorothy Burt- Slides

The Manaiakalani schools in Auckland formed a connected network way back in 2006. Primary, ECE, Catholic Schools, Special Schools and High Schools working together.
Now there are several more clusters that have come together to create a very powerful connected network with a shared language (Learn, Create, Share, Connected, Ubiquitous, Visible, Empowered). On this course we cover all areas of these languages.

We bring these languages together with the children. This is a programme that goes through the terms.

If we are able to connect out students, connect to our cluster and connect through the clusters around NZ then the students are able to "Share". It is not just about the digital share, we embrace the face to face connection as well. The digital just turbocharges the sharing. As does face time with families, Skype with people overseas etc.

The cluster webpages, Twitter and online tool kits connect Manaiakalani Teachers even further.
It's all well and good to be connected but if people don't know it is there, then how connected are you. There is a need to educate students and families about how to connect to the resources and sites.

You Tube- Chalk 'n Talk

Creating your own channel and a playlist as a teacher, not as a child. This does not work as they are too young. As a teacher you are sharing your channels and playlists.
You can share a playlist with others to collaborate but the playlist needs to be public.
You can get an embed code for your playlist- go to edit, when in the playlist option.
This is the playlist I created.

To set up Live streaming you need to access "Creator Studio" accessible through the profile icon.

Google Drawing
Anything with the grid background in drawing will be transparent when you use it on a site etc if you download it as a 'PNG' file.
Tips and Tricks
About me

Google Slides

Presentation
If you are doing a mini animation (embed code- delay is set to 1000, take out a zero. Embed start=true start straight away)
Teacher planning- is all done once on the slideshows not a slideshow for the kids and then planning separately for teacher use in a google doc.
If you have the item in "view only" comments will not be seen. Only editors can see the comments. This is how to can comment on planning but not have parents and students see the comments.
Put all instructions for children down the side of the slides in the "background" in a text box or audio instructions as they will not show in the presentation or when they embed on their sites. Audio is particularly good for the younger students. Unfortunately you cannot record in slides you need to have it pre recorded. (Heaps of free recording apps through chrome store)
Unsure if this is in google docs as well or not. Check in "Incognito".
Examples of slides

Pick a Path

My Racing Car Animation

Junior Planning

Senior Planning

Senior Planning - Maths (DMIC)

Planning can also be viewed on previous teachers sites e.g. through Pt England

Create: Making Meaning

Time to get creative.
I made an animation for Talk like a Pirate Day.Use ctrl+d to duplicate slides.
Teach the kids to move 4 arrow directions at a time.

This could be an awsome thing to make for "Storytelling" in Writing time with speech bubbles etc. To Embed on the blog you go to file-publish to web-select size- Auto change slide timing to 1 second-copy embed code- paste into the html- change the "delayms=1000" to "delayms=100"

Blogger Settings for Kids Blogs. How they are set up and why.

Today's Reflections:

I have felt that I already knew how to do the You Tube Playlist as this is something I have used a lot in the past including making my own videos to share. I just have not thought about the embed code to share. This is something I will use going forward on blogs and the webpage I have set up for my class.
Live streaming from You Tube is however new to me. I had never thought about the possibilities of live streaming before but there are so many opportunities for us to live stream. Getting a drone in to do some of these events would be a fantastic way to share learning and school events, particularly because we have such a high diverse range of cultures and families from other countries at our school. It would be very cool to be able to share events and connect with families abroad.
I enjoyed getting the chance to have a play around with Google Slides today. I think there could be many opportunities for kids to use slides in an animation for something. Storytelling would be great as would any kind of writing. Being able to animate a story, add sound effects, speech bubbles etc would really enhance the learning and sharing of our students. I think our older kids would benefit from this a little more than our younger ones as they may find it a struggle. Adobe Spark is a site that does a Image Carousal that you can embed into your google site which may work better than the image carousal in the sites. This is something I found challenging from setting up sites after last week. I will need to explore this app.