DFI 8: Computational Thinking

What did I learn that increased my understanding of Manaiakalani kaupapa today - specifically empowerment?

Being EMPOWERED - we want our young people to feel confident and EMPOWERED to drive their own learning.

How can we use technology to enhance learning and empower our students?

Decile 1 students on average have heard 30, 000, 000 LESS words spoken at school entry compare to those entering decile 10 schools.

To have a voice everyone needs to be empowered to be confident to use the technology as we move forward into an even more digital world e.g automated checkout, online voting etc.

EMPOWERMENT = Student Agency.
Agency is having the power or capacity to act and make choices. (NZC 2007)

http://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/Curriculum-resources/NZC-Online-blog/Learner-agency

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

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

What is Computational Thinking?
What is the Digital Technologies Curriculum.

Computational Thinking is being able to give a set of instructions that a computer could follow so that they can become CREATORS of Digital Technology and not just users.
Coding is at the heart of Computational Thinking and the Digital Technologies Curriculum however this is not where is begins and ends.
Its about kids creating their own digital solutions to problems.


We had a chance to try out some of the technology.  Meg and I used a combination of StopMotion, GreenScreen App and iMovie to create a simple movie where the focus was on us using the software so we can take this back to use with our classes.  Here is the SHORT clip we created.
We even uploaded to Youtube!



Monika from the Waitangi Center told us about a free app called FLICK which allows files to be literally 'flicked' from one device to another e.g ipad to Chromebook.  This will be AMAZING for timesaving and frustration in being able to share video files especially.  I am looking forward to trying this out.

DFI 7: Dealing with Data

What did I learn that increased my understanding of being connected with Manaiakalani’s kaupapa and pedagogy?

When we are well connected we are all getting and giving the same messages.  

The possibility of visiting other Manaiakalani Schools in Auckland to see their Learn, Create, Share in action was discussed.  This sounds like something that would really great!

What did I learn that could improve my confidence, capability or workflow as a professional?
In Google Sheets I really liked the tip about being able to 'freeze' a column or columns and then navigate across the rest of the columns.  This is great and something I was not aware of.

What did I learn that could be used with my learners?  
Google Maps - although I was not able to try this out as I did not have access to MyMaps I can see this being used by my class as we investigate our family histories this term.  It would be cool to make one of these maps showing where all of our ancestors originally came from.

I am really enthusiastic about the ideas shared by Alicia Craig from Ohaewai School around using Google Forms.  She shared ideas such as a from for gathering students number knowledge and creating reading responses on Google Forms to help them prepare for online testing situations and make them familiar with such applications.  The thing that most inspired me was the BreakOut idea, I can see the kids being very engaged and motivated by this.  I have begun today creating my own BreakOut for my students later in the Term linked to our Topic and Reading.

I learnt a lot more today about what is possible in forms and began creating a simple example of how a pick-a-path type story might work.

Link to Pick a Path 

We also explored Google Sheets today.
As part of our learning around Google Sheets we created Charts which can be inserted into other Docs.  These can either be "published" and embedded or saved as an image.

 We then also completed a Blog Analysis Graph to show a students blogging history since they began.
 

What did I learn that could improve my confidence, capability or workflow in my personal life?
I learnt how and why to clear my cache!

DFI Day 2

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

The LEARN explanation this morning gave me a better understanding of this area and wha it means and looks like within Manaiakalani.


I am interested in reflecting on and having conversations around what this will look like in how school and how it we can show its specific alignment to our current school kaupapa.

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

I enjoyed hearing about the SAMR model and I want to reflect on the activities I use against this. I have a gut feeling about where I am and want to think about which areas I could begin to make changes so that I am moving up this model.

Organizing my tabs and bookmarks was FANTASTIC! This along with my email organisation and applying labels and setting up emails to move into these folders will save me a lot of time as I find myself frequently using the 'search' function within my email.

What did I learn that could be used with my learners?
I would like to explore the concept of rewindable learning. I am excited about the Screencastify tool and how this can be used to allow students to review / rewind instructions of learning if they need to hear or see this again.

What did I learn that could improve my confidence, capability or workflow in my personal life?
The organisation of the tabs and emails will not only affect work-life but also personal life as it will save me time in locating what I need.

Being able to add 'notes' or 'tasks' from my email or calendar instead of having multiple 'sticky notes' all over my desktop will also be refreshing!