Hannah & Kelsey - T3 - Tips and Tricks for Google Sites

Today I took part in a google hangout with Hannah and Kelsey from Pt England School all about tips and tricks from Google Site.

One thing that I think that I will use from this tool kit is showing the students how to add a link on their blog to the task on our class site by getting the 'TITLE' link. This is called an anchor point.

Planning pages in edit mode - Creates a clear navigation system (through navigation bar)
and allows ease of workflow/editing. Its useful to have a planning page so you can plan your site in advance.


Opening an embedded google slide:
- positives - students can look at the google slide on the site and it looks nice
- negatives - students have to click to open it up then click again to make a copy

Making Buttons:
Its a good idea to add all details of what you used to make buttons to make it easier to make future buttons with the same parameters.

Hannah and Kelsey's - Tips and Tricks for Google Sites 

I am off to try out a few of these tips and tricks!

Digital Fluency Intensive - Cohort #2 2019 - Day Nine

Ubiquitous Learning - Learning can happen anywhere!

Dorothy joined us today via Google Hangouts to talk to us about ubiquitous learning.
Ubiquitous Learning Slide Deck I love ubiquitous learning, The concept of 'Anytime, Anywhere, Any Pace From Anyone' has definitely increased my understanding of Manaiakalani kaupapa and pedagogy. The school day can extend well beyond the 8.30am and 2.30pm bells.

Students can remotely take part in the classroom program as long as they are connected. I have had examples of this in the past few weeks as I have had a number of students away from school yet they have felt well enough to access their learning on the class site. We have home learning each week but I have noticed that some of the students have begun to finish off learning in their own time at home which has been amazing.

The idea of learning ;Anytime, Anywhere at Any Pace' has improved my capability as a professional as I have begun to record my lessons to enable students to re-visit them in their own time. One of my maths groups were struggling with their place value learning so I recorded our group session and uploaded this to the class site so they could watch it to reinforce their learning. This is something that I know I should be doing more often but have not liked recording myslef. DFI has given me the confidence to get over it and JUST DO IT! 

Today I sat the google Google Certified Educator Level 1 and passed. I found it tricky in places and was quite relieved that I passed in the end. 

This DFI course has been the best PD that I have been part of in the last 5 years. I have new found confidence in my teaching using technology as a tool and feel that my digital world is far better managed both at school and home. I feel that the Manaiakalani pedagogy is going to accelerate the learning of my students. I have made my own class site adjusting up my class site to suit the needs of my class and it has increased the agency in my class. Rewindable learning videos made by my students and I has meant that the students are now able to learn wherever they are able to access the class site. It felt like students previously said my name many times a day and now it’s hardly heard. This has been a significant shift in mindset for my students and I. Thank you Venessa and Kerry, you have both been magnificent.

Digital Fluency Intensive - Cohort #2 2019 - Day Eight

Today we had two visitors to our DFI session; Dave Winter and Dorothy Burt. Dave is the Manaiakalani Education Leader and it was great to have him here today sharing his vast knowledge with us. Dorothy came to korero with a focus on being connected and sharing. It is always very interesting to listen to Dorothy and these sessions allow me to understand just a little more about the Manaiakalani pedagogy.

We started our session with Venessa (Creating Google Forms with Venessa) introducing us to Google Forms. I have only used forms in a limited capacity but after today's session I realised that there are so many other uses.  A few ways that I will use google forms in my class with my learners is to get feedback from them on various aspects of our classroom, for eg, relections, engagement, class site etc. There are also many other ways that I can now see myself using google forms with my students and whanau.

Dorothy spoke to us about sharing and making connections. There are many ways to make connections but the best connections come with sharing. She listed a number of things that need to be taken into consideration when the students are learning to make connections digitally such as; being cybersmart, being part of a supportive environment, leaving comments that are 'Positive Thoughtful and Helpful'. 

My understanding of connectedness within the Manaiakalani kaupapa and pedagogy increased as I have a clearer understanding on how Manaiakalani enables kids in Northland to connect with others in a kind way. WWhat did I learn that could improve my confidence, capability or workflow as a professional?e are helping to create a generation of students who can be kind online - helping kids to be internet awesome! Online toolkits and Tuhu Mai Tuhu Atu are just some ways that connections can be made. 

Kerry introduced us to 'Google My Maps'. This is the first time I have ever used this google app and I was really impressed with the possibilities that it could offer my students. They love google earth and I know that they will really enjoy having a tutu with this app too.

One of the key concepts today was dealing with data which is something I feel confident about as I have used Microsoft Excel for years to manage my class data. I have been comfortable using excel but this year I have moved across to Google Sheets with a lot of trial and error. It was great to get a few tips and tricks today.

These tips and tricks have definitely improved my capability as a professional. Looking closer at data today, creating a graph, putting it into a poster and publishing on my blog showed me how easy it is to do. I am going to do this for my recent inquiry data.

In my personal life I know I could use google sheets for organising aspects of my husband's business and also financial monthly reporting for our local basketball association. This is going to be a 'work in progress!'

Digital Fluency Intensive - Cohort #2 2019 - Day Seven

Introduction into Computational Thinking

It’s not about teaching students how to use digital devices, it’s about giving them an understanding of the computer science principles and programmes that drive digital technologies. The aim is to enable them to learn how to design their own digital solutions and become creators of, not just users of, digital technologies.

The Digital Curriculum  aims for students to become creators and innovators of digital technologies, not just users.

Dorothy's korero was all about EMPOWERING our students and whanau. Technology is NOT just a tool! 

There are so many opportunities for our students to create a pathway in life by accessing technology that is available to them. There are many examples of how 'everyday' people have used YouTube as a vehicle to make a living for eg. Stay at Home Dad and make up tutorials. Technology is empowering students and their whanau to have access to opportunities that have never been possible before!

An example that I have seen where a student has been empowered and harnessed the power on technology to create opportunities is the business Potiki, Georgia used Kickstarter to get her project off the ground - Georgia's Kick Starter Page. This young 12 year old business entrepreneur has created an opportunity by making quality poi and offering videos for users on how to use them. She has a facebook presence, a media following and she sells a quality product.





The digital curriculum reminds us to keep in mind that many jobs available now for our students were not available last decade.

Whaea Monika spoke to our group about the Raranga Matihiko programme which aims to deliver innovative digital technologies while increasing access to national and local exhibitions and collections. Students take part in many unplugged activities including logistical thinking, spacial awareness, communication and lots of team work. The then learn to use digital technology to enhance their learning. Monika took us through an unplugged activity and gave us time to work on coding using Scratch. She encouraged us to think about coding as logical thinking and students can use coding for digital story telling.

How could you use computational thinking to allow your students to explore digital storytelling? There are so many ways that computational thinking can be used to explore digital story telling. Animations like Scratch are engaging and motivating to use and being able to watch something that you have created from SCRATCH is quite empowering. Check out my Scratch project from today. 

We also had an opportunity to use the VR goggles, Stop Motion and Dashbots too. This has been something that I have been keen to try for awhile and I finally got the opportunity and loved it!

Today I felt empowered as we were introduced and given time to practice new technologies at Waitangi. I feel like this has improved my confidence when coding using Scratch especially and I see a number of ways that Scratch will engage and motivation my students to explore digital storytelling. I am looking forward to using Scratch with my students during Maori Language Week, to explain the water cycle (one of our topics at the moment), for our Free Writing Friday, explaining math strategies, there are so many ways that this could be incorporated into our classroom!

There are always things that I take from DFI that I think would improve my workflow. Patsy shared a site that she had made for their school trip to China and it made me think about the basketball association that I am part of. I think that a google site would make everything for the association more visible for our members and ease of use would improve for our committee members too. This will be my next work in progress.