Helen's Professional Blog

Today we've had a deep, but very quick dive, into google forms, google maps and google sheets. I'm pretty comfortable with using google forms & have previously used this app.  I've recently made the shift to google sheets from excel & have been using basic features for my own purposes of data analysis.  My new learning today was pivot tables.  These will be useful for organising data in different ways - particularly if there are selected points of interest to analyse & interpret. I'd never used MyMaps before.  We completed some simple exercises of pinning locations, using the measuring tool & uploading data from a google form database to the map.  The teachers in our group may find a fun use for this with their classes.  As for me, maybe I'd use it for tracking or measuring personal travel.  Time will tell. Here's the map I created.  The pins show my DFI colleagues best holiday destinations.  I've also pinned my school. ...

Today's little ripper of a session was at Tonui Collab (formally Mindlab). We've had a great day exploring, hands-on, digital technologies. Our morning kicked off with Dave Winter, the Manaiakalani Programme Outreach Co-ordinator, presenting on the Visible component the Learn, Create, Share pedagogy.  Visible learning through digital affordances opens the door of the classroom and the learner to whanau, professional colleagues and further afield if desired.  It also means that learning is re-windable.  Students can catch up if they've missed something or if they need to revisit learning.  Visibility of learning can be found in class and individual student blogs and through the google sites spaces that teachers set up for learning.  Students can find what they need for learning within a couple of clicks.  They can find exemplars of the learning, instructions, rubrics, information, learning tasks etc... (if the teacher has this set up for them).  Da...

Today we've had a deep dive into the Cyber Smart curriculum and have had a play on the different devices that our students use - Ipads & Chromebooks. Delving into the Cyber Smart curriculum has been very useful & I can now see how this links to the Learn, Create, Share pedagogy. Also, as a principal who sometimes deals with hoha parents, I can better articulate what it means to be cyber smart & how this kaupapa,  & way of being (behaving in online environments) underpins the use of devices in teaching and learning.   Be Smart, Be Alert, Be Strong, Be Kind,  Be Awesome! Sandpit Time on Devices To be fair, a teacher TELA laptop is a hell of a lot nicer to use (drive) than a Chromebook but the Chromebooks are durable & well priced for our whanau.  We 'DFIers' went through learning a range of short cuts for using on chrome books.  I think that our student learners would very quickly learn to use these shortcuts to navigate themselv...

Today's session gave us a crash course on multi-modal learning and use of Google sites. As teachers. this is directing us into the CREATE aspect of the Learn, Create, Share kaupapa and pedagogy of Manaiakalani. We had a look at other teacher's examples of multi-modal planning & learning platforms.  These were examples of google docs with hyperlinks to resources, learning activities & video clips, etc...  The next stage was funked-up versions of these that way more visually appealing.  This is where teachers would have a class site.  Their learning was visible & accessible 24/7.  Class sites can have a page (or several) dedicated to the particular learning area or learning theme/context.  This can be kids one-stop-shop for information (LEARN),  & learning activities.  (Create & share). As a principal, I need to think about how I can use these tools & the pedagogy in my leadership.  For now, I have dabbled in the c...

DFI Day 2 began with delving into the LEARN aspect of the Manaiakalani LEARN, CREATE, SHARE kaupapa & pedagogy . Our challenge is to recognize effective teaching practice, amplify the good practice & turbocharge it!! As a school, we can unpack what LEARN means for us in our context in relation to the needs of our tamariki & the desires of our school whanau. This is something that our leadership team are currently working on based on community voice. Also, through the learning outcome data we get from Wolf Fisher (Auckland University), we have the opportunity to look closely at our top-performing teachers. This will provide an opportunity to inquire into what these teachers are doing better - particularly if they have a trifecta of accelerated learning in reading, writing and maths :) Back to DFI stuff... What did I learn that could improve my confidence, capability or workflow as a professional? Tidying up my chrome toolbar has been really handy. I'v...

The Principal Becomes the Student I've previously dabbled with the Google suite of apps and used Google Drive out of necessity in my professional life but to be honest I still feel more at ease and in control using Microsoft Office products to create.   Today's first DFI (Digital Fluency Intensive) session had moments "Whoa! Can I keep up?" and "Yeah, I've got this!"  I have to say that in this first session I have learned truckloads & today's day out of school has not felt like a chore. Here's a few of the things that Dorothy Burt, aka Mrs. Manaiakalani, has put me (and my esteemed colleagues) through in our very first DFI session: 1. 'Marie Kondoing' our google drives.  Yes, these are in desperate need of a tidy up and reorganization.  It will make life simpler, faster & easier.  Make folders, colour code & have calendar years on them.  Simple!!! 2.  Useful tips and tricks.  This included keyboard short ...