ULearn 2022

~ Equity guides the waka of education ~ 

Supporting themes...

Manaakitanga | Care
Mana hapori | Community
Mahi ngātahi | Collective responsibility
Māia | Courage

Sessions I tapped in to...

1. Addressing The Taniwha in the Room 
Kaihoutū - Mariam Arif (Ethnic Liaison Officer New Zealand Police)

This kōrero was confronting to say the least. It's also something I am very interest in hearing people discuss. 

Mariam explained the partnership that existed between herself and us, the viewer. The viewer was there to get information and she was there to make that information accessible. 

She then began with a mihi in Māori, with translations on the screen. After a few slides, she explained that onscreen translations would stop from that point however she would keep speaking in Māori. 

I could immediately see the controversial point she was making. By not translating, we lost meaning. By losing meaning, we lose interest and patience. Disengagement. Disrespect of exclusion. Feelings of superiority come to those still understand - those who are in the know. Feelings of superiority create feelings of supremacy. 

I leave this here as my jumbled explanation will lack the eloquence of Mariam's kōrero. 

2. Mindfulness - Tools For Kaiako Wellbeing

Kaihoutū - Dayna Taramai (Lead Facilitator M3 Mindfulness M3 Mindfulness)

I had chosen this breakout session as work fatigue/burn out is a real thing among teachers. I'm aware how thin we spread ourselves. Not only at work, but at home, raising tamariki, taking that all important time for ourselves, etc etc... I got lots of little snippets from this session.

If you can name it, you can contain it. If we can name our feelings, we can contain and manage them.

Mindfulness allows us to be fully present.

We have 60000 thoughts a day running through our head! 

Half in the past, which can lead to depression! Half in the future, which can lead to anxiety! 

Mindfulness is not calming down - interesting. It's not about 'feeling better'. It's about acknowledging the feelings we are having and allowing things to just be. We are human beings, not human doings! 

Mindfulness  deceases activation. Mindfulness slows stress responders. Mindfulness cultivates self awareness.

Tahi ~ rua ~ toru ~ hā (breathe out on the 'hā')

hā - breathe

3. Aotearoa New Zealand Histories Paewhiri

Rosalie Reiri - Kaiwhakahihiko | Activators (facilitator)

Dr Nēpia Mahuika - Kaiwhakahihiko | Activators (Te whare Wānagna o Waikato | The University of Waikato)
Dr Arini Loader - Kaiwhakahihiko | Activators (Senior Lecturer in Māori History Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington)

I was interested in the thoughts of these kaikōrero leading up to the introduction of the new Aotearoa histories curriculum. Dr Nēpia Mahuika was a particularly strong speaker in this 

Key takeaways...

If we don't have a past, we don't exist.  

History both sustains are destroys our identity. 

For a long time Māori history was not given the recognition it deserved. It's legitimacy was tainted. It was myth, just stories, pre-history (not even counted as 'worthwhile' history). 

He pātai ~ Is this new curriculum Transformational ~ Decolonial ~ Māori?

Are we just singing the same old song without even realising? 

Wero for kaiako and tamariki - be critical!

We have to start somewhere... so where do we start? 

Different iwi have different starting points. But it's all to do with story telling.

History in a linear time is a Western concept. Indigenous communities talk about circular time.  

Big Idea 1 - New Zealand history is NZ history is a continuous ongoing story.  

Which is the best way to begin? Thematic approach? Chronological approach? 

'Know' section - local contexts. Stories within stories. 

Deliberate decisions need to be made. 

Patricia Grace begins her stories in the centre and then writes her way out. 

Western history is embedded in empirical and reliable research. We can not judge the evidence of the new curriculum by Western standards. If we do, we are missing the point! 

Māori story telling is a beautiful thing - totally agree with this statement Nēpia made! Perfect poetic licence and metaphor that invokes meaning for people..

This new curriculum is moving from a settler narrative.

While we want to provide space for everyone's stories, not all stories are equal. 

Māori have the biggest narrative in this country. It's hundreds of years older than everyone else's. 

Every other narrative is stitched in to the tapestry of the narrative that has been created. 

Begin with the Māori stories. Then, when you weave in the other stories, they're not being weaved into the nation state narratives, it's being weaved into what actually happened to native people.

You can't decolonise by looking for balance in an already unbalanced history world. You need more Māori content, because there is already so much non-Māori content.

 

4. Ending Streaming In Aotearoa
Kaya Renata-Staples (Tokona Te Raki Kairangahau)

Piripi Prendergast (Project Manager, Tokona Te Raki)

  

This session appealed to me because I am on the fence when it comes to streaming our tamariki.  Our involvement in DMIC has created a shift away from streaming, a shft I was not comfortable with when we first began - but now I see some great benefits. But when it comes to skills based teaching, covering those foundational skills ....I'm still 

Some research to check out that comes to the conclusion that streaming does not work- 

He Whakaaro ~ Does streaming work?

An interesting statement made - Streaming is racist.

Around the age of 6 - kids know where they are and that that is where they will stay for the rest of their education, primary school, secondary and so on. Therefore they are excluded from a large part of the workforce as they don't have the skills needed.  This is more prevalent with our Māori and Pasifika tamariki.

Aotearoa has the second highest rate of streaming in the OECD, second to Ireland. This has created huge disparities and inequities in our education system.

It's not the silver bullet, but ending streaming is one of the steps we can take.    

Research dated back from the 50s suggested streaming was damaging.

Why did we do it any way? Tomorrows Schools - wanted schools to reach out to their community, gave schools so much autonomy and made schools little islands in themselves.

Tokona Te Raki is currently building an awareness campaign and an online resource supporting teaches and schools who want to put an end to streaming.  

Piripi addressed the patai - What about the top kids? Research shows over 2-3 years, there is an initial lift for some but then it peters out. Teacher voice  - noticing those more able kids are being challenged and realising the other skills that are necessary to work through problems. 

Alternatives to streaming 

- Group work. Each child has a roll.

- DMIC - already on that train

- High Expectation Teachers. Three things HET'S do - wipe out streaming, big emphasis on relationships, and goal setting. For every one year of learning, a child with a HET should make 2 years of progress, according to Piripi.

5. Decision Making In Response To Valid Information - Wānanga
Amy Chakif (Evaluation Associates)

I selected this session being a new member to the leadership team in 2022. Definitely got to take away some good information here.

Bypass or Engage leadership approach?

Bypass

Weak critique - do we end up with the best plan?

Compliance rather that commitment

Lip service and everyone gets on with their own thing. 

The meeting in the carpark after the meeting!

This approach can feel efficient but not in the long run.

Problems with teaching and learning persist. Lack of traction.

Engage in critical analysis!

You will feel that moment of being exposed, a ping of discomfort. Allow yourself to have that moment then move on! 

Clarity of purpose

Be really clear with staff when inviting views. Is their feedback really going to be used, or is a particular decision going to made regardless?

Clarity of learning, clarity about the goal you are trying to achieve, or the direction you want to go in.

You don't need whole-hearted agreement around a task, you need sufficient agreement to progress

The difference between 'Why did you do that?' and 'Why did you do that. you idiot?!' 

Curious, not furious!

 

The Ladder of Inference  ~ Vivienne Robinson

We are good at jumping to conclusions - heading right to the top of the ladder.

Not truths, but interpretations

Different experiences with lead to different conclusions.

Be humble.

Avoid claims like, "In reality..."  

Erroneous conclusions about other peoples, situations, and what to do

Practice climbing down the ladder.

Things become more abstract as we climb up the ladder

Seek valid information before running away with unchecked bias! 

Amy runs a Leading by Learning workshop. 

There are a couple more sessions to come that I didn't get a chance to watch...

Using Pūrakau hei ako Reo Māori nā Beth Dixon

Te Reo o Pūrakau

Āheinga reo - language function - te take mō te kōrero
Puna reo - wete reo, kīwaha, whakatauki, waiata - a spring

Rautaki - language strategies

Momo o ngā Āheinga reo...

- Ngā Patai me ngā whakautu

- Tūhonohono - conjunctions - "Ahakoa...", "kātahi ka..."

- Whakaahua - describe

- Whakamārama - explain

- Te tohu o te rā - sign of the times (time sequence words)  - "I ngā wā o mua..." 

- Take me te Pānga - the purpose and the function/the reason - "Nā te ... i ..."

He aha te Pūrakau?

- He kōrero tuku iho

- He kura huna (hidden message)

- He nuku reo (language device) 

- He mea whakaahua

- He hokinga mahara (remembering from back in the day) 

- He take (reasons)

Ngohe Pai ~ Cool Activities to try!

Kimihia tō Hoa 

Kurangaituku - Hatupatu

Wahine - Tane

Porowhita - Tapawhā

Patai pāngarau (3 + 2) =  (5) 

Oma ki te Tiki Kōrero

Kōrero, whakarongo, pānui....

Dictation ngohe

Use with whakataukī, kīwaha te mea, te mea

Use clothing and colours - eg kaioma looks at what the person in the pikitia is wearing/what colour is their tshirt? Back to kaitā pikitia - they colour it in.

Kupu Whatungarongo - Vanishing Cloze

Tuhia he rerenga ki runga i te papa "Nā tērā i puta mai ia"

Mukua ētahi kupu, ētahi kupu...

"Nā ..... i puta mai ia"

"Nā ... i .... mai ia"

"Nā ... i .... mai ..."

Ko Wai ka Toa! - Who is Better!

Whakatairite - to compare

Arguments

Nā te mea.../I te mea.....

Waihangahia he Pūrakau

Create a new ending for a pūrakau. Eg. Maui me Tamanui te Rā. Whaka

Kupu hou 

poherā - mythical

whakangahau - to entertain

ngohe - activity

muru - repossession

kiripuaki - character  

E rite ana te ira - same gender

Reo tūhonohono - conjunctions

piko - comma

parahau - to defend, justify

ororite - rhyming couplets 

whakatangata - make it a pronoun

Nō mai rā anō - from back in the day 

whakarata - to soothe

Te kaha ake - the strongest

I wehea rāua e Tane Mahuta - passives - They were separated by Tane Mahuta

Kupu/rerenga tūhonohono

Mea rawa ake - next minute

Heoi anō - however

Ahakoa - Even though

End of session reflections

E toru ngā mea hou ~ 3 new things

He maha ngā mea hou! Engari, Momo o ngā Āheinga reo - I can be explicit about teaching these and drawing attention to them. Grouping them and making connections with the tamariki. 

E rua ngā ngohe kia mahia ~ 2 new things to try

1. Kupu Whatungarongo - Vanishing Cloze

2.Kimihia tō Hoa 

Kōtahi pātai ~ 1 question

How on earth will I remember to use this in my akomanga!?

Kia wana te ako ~ Ako Panuku PLD

Ko Beth Dixon te kaiako mō te mahi i te rā nei. He wahine matatau i te reo Māori. I really enjoy listening to this wāhine. It's not often I get the chance to listen to someone else kōrero Māori and it's an extra bonus when I can access that person's level of reo. She manages to keep it light but cram it full of the business at the same time. It was also a real pleasure to come together with Te Puna o te Reo - my colleagues Christine and Heather. We work together each day, however it can be difficult to touch base in our own akomanga. Today we got to sit together and kōrerorero, whakarongo, whakawhiti whakaaro, and extend that whanaungatanga further afield.

Kuapapa mō te rā nei - Reo-ā-waha i ngā wā katoa! Ko tērā te mātāmua o te whānau reo. Ko te pānui me te tuhituhi te pōtiki. Teachers can be so quick to shift to a pānui or tuhituhi focus. He aha ai? Oral language should be at the forefront of mahi ako i te reo Māori.

My takings from the day...

A goal for me to to be more explicit about what we are doing and the take (reason) for it. Āta whakaakona māriretia - explicitly learn!

Reference made to Sheena Cameron and Louise Dempsey - 2016

“Traits of effective teachers of oral language”

Kupu hou

Pōhēhē - to misunderstand

Āhei - be allowed

Tīpako - to pick out

Ngako - the gist

Ngohe - activity 

Hōtake - programme

Mau taringa - head phones

Whai wāhi - find time

Kūwhewhewhewhe - wrinkles on the skin

Pātata - close Kei te pātata au ki a …

Hiriwa - silver

Mātotoru - thick

Tāroaroa - tall (person)

Tīwekaweka - messy

Anuhea - ugly

Whakaarihia - acting something out.

“Ko te ngohe ināianei…”

The activity now is…

Maumahara ā rongo ~ Auditory Memory

5 steps…

Whakarongo

Pupuri - retain

Āta Whakaaro - Process

Maumahara 

Whakaputa - produce

He kemu - He rite/re

A good follow on from our huri haere kemu - tuku mai he kupu Māori 

Rule! - Rite ki/rereke i

1 - “He rite te …. ki te….”

2 - “He rereke te … i te…”

3 - He rite te … ki te …”

Haere tonu…

Tangohia te kupu ‘rereke’

Whakarongo tīpako- Active listening 

Whakarongo Ngū - Passive listening

“Kei roto i te moana a Tangaroa…. he…”

“Kei roto i te kāputa o Kuia… he…”

A good site to checkout -

https://esolonline.tki.org.nz/ESOL-Online/Planning-for-my-students-needs/Resources-for-planning/ESOL-teaching-strategies

Pao, pao - He kemu

Take a short waiata. Tamariki say one word. in a circle, each child in turn says the next word. Kaua e waiata! Eg Tūtira mai ngā iwi. Tutira - mai- ngā -iwi....

Things I’ll take away

Mea hou ki ahau… New things I have learned today

• rite/ki, rereke/i

• Maumahara ā rongo - auditory memory - examples - kemu

• Momo whakarongo - types of listening x 4 (I'll have to come back to this)

Ngohe ka mahia ahau…Activities I'll use asap

• He rite te …. I te …

• Kimihia hoa - using pikitia

DMIC with Massey University

We covered a few basics today. This was a great session - perfect timing for my intro back into teacher maths after a year off on maternity leave. 

Groupings

A few good reminders here... when we group children by ability they often raise (or lower) themselves to those predetermined levels. For example, the 'lower' ability children stop trying so much - "Why should I? I'll most likely be wrong anyway, and my peers and my kaiako probably expect that of me too." The more able tamariki puff their chests out and compete to see who can finish first - often quite loudly. This is an exaggeration, but you'll understand what I mean.

Grouping children completely randomly is a new concept to me. We discussed how random grouping can eliminate social barriers, decrease reliance on the kaiako and increase reliance on co-constructed answers, and increase enthusiasm.

A suggestion was to try a computer generated randomiser. You could also use cards, sticks with names or numbers, shuffled photos. So many options! I'm looking forward to giving this a go.

This quote from the presentation really struck a chord with me, and is something I've spent years trying to address -  In order for group work to be effective and meaningful the teacher needs to stop asking questions and students need to stop asking the teacher questions. 

Assessment tasks

There has been a massive misconception with these! We’ve been doing it incorrectly the whole time! 

Launch the task as you usually would.

Read, discuss, use talk moves, “what do we have to do here?”

Children work on the tasks individually but can share their ideas.

It is not a test! Repeat, IT IS NOT A TEST!

No time limit - IT can be worked on over a number of days.

I am be looking forward to getting our latest assessment back and having another go under these more favourable conditions. I think the tamariki will really thrive from being able to bounce ideas off each other.

Knowledge/Hotspot/Warm-up ~ Number Strings 

Some great ideas here that i look forward to trying with my tamariki during our warmup.

I know some of my tamariki would love looking at problems like these.

Really interesting that Number Strings don't need to use numbers. Why had I never thought of that? 

I believe this was our last lot of Professional Development with Kelly and the team. Though there are still aspects of DMIC I'm on the fence about, I see a lot of benefits and am keen to renew and strengthen my maths programme. 

Seesaw Ambassador Mandatory Refresh 2021

Fab timing; this is just what I felt like doing at almost 39 weeks pregnant! 😂 But I know how valuable this information is and I'm very much Team Seesaw when it comes to ease of use and wonderful learning opportunities in the classroom with tamariki teina. So, I know it's going to be important.

But, because I also know my baby-brain will be mush for at least another year, I have decided the best way to ensure I don't forget everything is to make a list of all the important things I'll need to remember when I'm back in the classroom. 

1.  Seesaw Messages - You can now message groups (whānau and tamariki) rather than the whole class. You can also message all your classes at once. Not helpful for me, but perhaps someone like Christine.   
2. Voice buttons - Audio recordings can be attached to shapes, pictures etc... 
3. Lock function - You can lock size and/or location of items
4. Ambassador Benefits - used to be the same as Seesaw Plus. NOT FROM AUGUST 2022!!  They want our money now... so you'll only be able to access multipage posts, create 500 activities, and contribute to the Library. You'll no longer be able to add 5 kaiako to your page,  or have 25 active classrooms (not really relevant anyway). Not being able to add kaiako will be a pain; you'll only be allowed two. if we wanted to upgrade to Seesaw for Schools, we will receive 20% discount if we sign up before September 2021. Hornby only needs Seesaw plus @ $120 per year. 
5. THIS link is really helpful for teachers starting out with the free version of Seesaw. It also includes steps to get whānau onboard.
   
6. Anything else I might need will be HERE. Including training, trouble-shooting, updates etc...
7. Extra courses available from July 26th - Aug 13th if you want to brush up on activities and curriculum areas. Check out web.
8. If you change schools - make sure you change the school you're connected to at the bottom of your dashboard. If you don't you'll loose Ambassador status!

Done!

More Digital Fluency gold with Emma Planika

Todays session offered a brief refresh on the changes to the Technology curriculum, along with some fresh ideas for the classroom.

Computational Thinking

We started off with a focus on unplugged learning and how that could look in the classroom.

1. Select a number of blocks/lego/shapes...
2. Create something! 
3. Partner up with someone. Shield your creation. Give verbal instructions for you buddy to re-create what you made. This is a great opportunity to explore vocabulary and develop oral language. 
4. Digital aspect - Use Book Creator to show steps. 

Input vs Output - The input might be something simple like taking a picture. The output could be making it talk in Chatterpix, or posting it to Seesaw. This is making links, and using the language. So important! 

Debug - Ok, so you made an incorrect step somewhere, lets go back and 'debug' - fix it! Use the language.

Algorithm - a set of instructions that need to be followed in order to reach a specific outcome.

Another activity

1. Use shapes with body movements to show each shape. Eg. a tapatoru could be a dab, a porowhita could be a full body turn.
2. Now tamariki put together their algorithm for friends to follow! Note: make sure algorithms are linear (easy to follow, left to right, like the writing process). 

Developing Digital Outcomes

Progress Outcome 1 spans 3 Levels of the NZ Curriculum. 

Cool ideas

Visual digital kete on the wall - have a selection of digital apps so that tamariki can discuss (with visuals in mind) which app will best suit their task. Less is better! Add apps as the year progresses.

We played around with a short poem, used Draw and Tell to illustrate, then Clips to bring it together as a movie. Next steps would be to add audio, but I ran out of time. So easy, with opportunities for app smashing. When using Draw and Tell - once you've finished your pictures, you can drag them together so they automatically save in order as a video - Great idea if you're using Clips. However, if you want to use something like Chatterpix, they need to be saved as individual pictures.  This would be great to use in pānui, or toi kupu. 

Another great session with Emma, very useful! I look forward to implementing this once I'm back in the game. 

 

DMIC Math PD with Jon and Monique

Our session began with a 30 minute run down on developing knowledge skills. Even though we are moving away from the rigid nature of the Numeracy Project, Monique stated that knowledge still needs to be taught. We know these foundation skills pave the way for strategy thinking. I think a number of staff were relieved to hear this as we had been under the impression that learning basic facts was no longer en-vogue. 

Here's an example of what this could look like in your daily math session (Thankyou Abby Frost for creating and sharing this mahi with us) - 

1. Choral counting using a hundreds board.
2. Choral counting in 2's, 5's, 10, odd numbers, etc...
3. Number of the Day - before and after, how to represent with materials (tens frames, tally charts, find it on a hundreds board...)

Then, choose something...

1. Subitizing dots (ability to instantly recognise how many). Dice, Numicon shapes, arrays...Youtube has lots of videos! 
2. Odd one out. 2 X 2 grid with random numbers. Tamariki has to turn and talk then justify which one os the odd one out.  Can use shapes too (eg. misconceptions of triangles).
3. Number strings. If 3 + 2 = 5, then 13 + 2 = ? 23 + 2 = ? 73 + 2 = ? Why? Use ratio tables, look for relationships. Look at what we know to find out what we don't know. 
4. I have ...., what do you need? I have 10. You have 2, what do you need?
5. True/False questions. Placement of the = sign. Eg 10 = 7 + 3, rather than 7 + 3 = 10. Misconceptions of = sign.
6. Decide, decode, defend - see picture below. This activity looked fabulous for older tamariki.

Key ideas we revisited today -

• Low floor/high ceiling = everyone can get started and everyone can get stuck! 
• Look for ways to raise the status of all students! Eg, look for opportunities/interests/anecdotes from children who might not always have a voice in maths.
• Students should not be grappling with both the difficult numbers and unfamiliar contexts
• Anticipating possible solution strategies is so important.
• Groupings/pairs - strategically engineer who will be with who. Quick responders can be paired together to see how many ways they can answer specific questions. Change pairs frequently.

Today was a more valuable DMIC session and I feel a renewed energy towards beginning a fresh math programme with my cherubs this term.

  

Numicon with Margi Leech

Today we sat down with Margi Leech from EduShop to find out more about Numicon.

Where did it come from?

Maria Monstessori - A constructivist or "discovery" model, in which students learn concepts from working with materials rather than by direct instruction. Looking at patterns and relationships. 

Catherine Stern - a German psychologist and educator. Developed mathematical manipulatives similar to cuisenaire rods.

Maths is a multi-sensory approach!

Maths can become too abstract too quickly for tamariki. They might give up trying to understand the  concepts, and rely on trying to learn rules instead.

Important People/Sites

John Hattie - Visible Journey in Maths. Seeing learning through the eyes of the learner. Check him out!

Oxford Owl for planning sequences

Numicon Site

Addition and Subtraction & Number Knowledge

Even and odd numbers ~ Skip counting ~ add/sub (placing shapes on top of each other).

Multiplication & Division

Fractions/Percentages/Percentages

Mahi-ā-ringa for the classroom

Addition - arms crossed to make a 'plus' Tapiri - add together

Subtraction - arms out wide in a line. Don't use 'minus'. Tangohia - take away

Multiplication - arms to make an 'x'

Division - 2 fists on top of one another.

Good ideas

• Display photos showing definitions of words and tamariki 'doing' the word.
• Use for basic facts questions when tamariki are working on their own. Some could use independently, some could work with teacher.
• Use whole class - Teacher Resource Book - Pattern and Algebra - introducing the = symbol. Balancing. 
• Numicon shapes are wonderful. A huge range of free resources are available on the Numicon site.

Questions I am left with

• Spiral approach - revisiting strands more frequently. A fabulous idea but how would this look in school wide planning?
• How could this look in conjunction with DMIC?
• How is it so different from Numeracy? (both follow concrete to abstract approach)
• Is this just a giant sales pitch? 
• Why is this not Ministry funded if it's so amazing? 

Investigating Play-based Learning

Play based learning has been a relatively new concept for me this year. It's something I'm very interested in, however hadn't really looked into until recently, and to be perfectly honest, I've never been too sure I have my head around the idea. The times I have implemented what I believed to be 'Play Based Learning' have always made me slightly weary. It's been after lunch and maybe we've finished our mahi early. Or maybe it's a Friday afternoon and we all need a break from our more structured mahi. I've laid out the lego, the blocks, play money, cards, some mindfulness colouring, and maybe some other Numeracy equipment and let the kids go nuts. Is this really what it's all about? It didn't really feel right, but I knew the tamariki absolutely loved it and I did see some pretty awesome skills being developed - problem solving, team work, mediation, negotiating, reflecting, not to mention, inventing and innovating and some pretty fantastic story telling. All in a learning environment that was led completely by the tamariki.  

A quick google offers this definition: "Learning through play is a pedagogical approach where play is the valued mode of learning – where children can explore, experiment, discover, and solve problems in imaginative and playful ways. "

That makes sense to me and makes me think that perhaps what I have been doing hasn't been too far off the mark. I just feel like I was missing something... 

Today we were invited into a relatively new kura to observe their play based learning pedagogy in action. And what an eye opener it was! Some aspects were absolutely inspiring, and I'd love to see us implement in our kura. Other aspects were definitely food for thought if nothing else. 

Here's a run down of my understandings and things I found really interesting

• This kura sat down as a whole staff and investigated what they wanted play based learning to look like BEFORE they began implementing it. The WHY, HOW, and WHAT were at the centre of their thinking, which came from the Golden Circle approach from Simon Sinek. 
• They based their pedagogy on research and made links back to their school curriculum, and their values.
• All the above info, research, and thinking was displayed as a working document in the staffroom. It was impossible to miss it.
• In the learning spaces, the stations fell under headings (which could be curriculum based, key competencies...). They were Gross Motor, Cognitive, Fine Motor, Language, Emotional, Co-operative. I really liked this aspect. It showed thought had been given to stations.
• Stations were selected based on observations and conversations with the tamariki (so pulling out random equipment 5 minutes before is not ideal).
• A wall was dedicated to displaying this info for tamariki. Each child's name was laminated on a sticky card and they would select their station prior to beginning (I think there were 2 rotations back to back in each block). Tamariki could opt into which ever stations they liked, whenever, as often as they liked. Interesting. Is it ok to only do the same thing over and over again?
• Stations had a max. number of tamariki allowed ranging from 3 to 15.
• Play based learning programmes were implemented in 3 blocks - morning, mid morn, afternoon, with kai breaks in between. In that time, small groups were pulled for literacy, numeracy, topic areas. This was an eye opener and begged the question - how did they ensure curriculum coverage, not only of specifics within literacy and numeracy, but also science, social studies, the arts, PE, reo Māori?   
• There were a number of staff walking round monitoring the groups. What was their role? I didn't quite get this far but I wonder what ideas they had around questioning, encouraging, scaffolding etc..? 
• To be honest there were a number of groups where (from an outsider looking in) not much appeared to be happening. Lots of chat and fiddling with things, but not much experimenting, exploring and discovering seemed to be happening.

This was a wonderful opportunity for us to explore PBL and perhaps give us a starting point for our own journey at Hornby Primary School. I'd definitely like to see it in action in a few more other learning environments, perhaps a kura more similar to ours in terms of decile and socio-economic backgrounds of our community. 

I'm looking forward to seeing where our journey takes us.

Creating with ipads ~ PLD with Emma Planicka

Today could have been the first day of my holiday break.... but I decided instead to spend the day with a pretty awesome individual who's certainly given me a major skill boost in all things Seesaw and Apple over the past 4 years ~ The lovely Emma Planicka.

The importance of creativity in the classroom was our focus for the day. We began with a really cool warm up activity using Quickdraw with Google. You get 20 seconds to draw an object assigned to you. Very cool. I know some of my tamariki would really struggle with this, but what a novel way to shift thought patterns and shake up the ol' hinengaro.

Once again, as covered in our DFI course, Digital fluency is key! Tamariki need to know how to do the basics (take photos, unlock their ipad, hold the ipad correctly etc) before they can develop digital competency. Little and often from the very beginning of the year is the way to go and makes up-skilling so much easier later in the year.

Emma made reference to some of Sir Ken Robinson's ideas around creativity. In one of his most famous TED Talks, he shares the idea (among many fabulous thoughts) that creativity is as important as literacy and should be treated with the same respect. Also, that schools educate children away from creativity. Food for thought. After 17 years on the classroom, I've certainly seen a shift in the importance placed on creativity, particularly working within a Learn, Create, Share kura. I really like that these ideas were expressed long before the digitally savvy classrooms of todays schools. These ideas are just as relevant now as they were in an unplugged era. Emma then made a link to the SAMR model. When planning, she suggested we ask ourselves, "Where does my planning sit within this model?" Is there room for creativity? 

A quote that really appealed to me this morning linked both to Sir Ken's kōrero, and the SAMR model, "To learn is not to consume ideas, but to create, and re-create them." Paulo Freire, Brazilian Educator. 

We explored and created with some very cool apps.  

Cool tips and ideas...

• Build a digital kete on the wall. Fill it as the term goes by with apps we have learned how to use. Give students opportunity to decide which app they think best to use for a task! 
• Use Markup to play with photos. it's an easy way to get in some digital fluency skills. It's in the camera.
• Sketches School - 2 finger tap to undo, 2 finger tap and slide to redo! Use the scalpel to copy and paste (drag with 2 fingers to the right).
• In any app, if you want to open another smaller side app (for example, camera roll) - gently scroll up from the bottom, the select the app, hold, and drag to the side.  
• Share arrow = 'sharrow!'
• Make use of Accessibility features in Settings - use assistive touch to enable modelling on the Apple TV. Go to Settings, Control Centre, Accessibility Shortcuts (under More Controls). This puts it in the right corner drag down menu.
• Use 5 finger pinch to close down apps!
• Opening the search bar from the home page - swipe down form the middle. Will also show you the most recently used apps. 
• Chrome Music Lab - a fun and free app to create sounds. Can you save sounds?
• When tamariki accidentally split the keyboard, just use 2 fingers to slide it back together!
• Sharing from Garageband - Left hand menu, hold finger on your creation until menu drops down. Select share

Drawing using Markup

Playing with Sketches School & Keynote

Creating using Clips and Garageband

That's a wrap, folks!

We began the our final day with Dorothy and another insight into the Manaiakalani pedagogy. Today ~ Ubiquitous Learning. The word 'Ubiquitous' has certainly been a new word for me in these last few years. What does it mean? Put very simply - "present, appearing, or found everywhere." So then, what is ubiquitous learning? It's learning anywhere, anytime, anyplace, from anyone. Distance learning certainly fast tracked us on that journey! 

Ubiquitous learning goes hand in hand with Rewindable Learning. Another new-ish term for me. We talk a lot about this concept and the importance of it through a Learn, Create, Share lens. Again this is something I struggle to get my head around and I've chatted to a few colleagues over the years about it; particularly in the junior school. To be completely honest, I'm not sure I have a clear grasp on what rewindable learning should/could ideally look like in a junior setting... YET. I employ multi-modal learning opportunities (only in reading at present), 75% of our learning is accessible via our class site... is there more to it than that? 

We discussed the following points with Kelsey in our small bubbles - "Reflecting on the kaupapa of the Manaiakalani programme in light of Covid-19, and your readiness for rewindable learning... What are you most proud of? What do you regret? What have you taken forward into the 'new' era of learning?" 

My reflections on those questions and my own burning questions...

• I'm grateful to Covid-19 for throwing me head first into the deep end and pushing me to step outside of my digital-comfort zone. But what am I proud of...?
• If there was to be Lockdown: Season 2, I'd enjoy the opportunity to put my new skills into action. But otherwise, I have 'no regerts' at all around what we did in Season 1.  
• How much, and what aspects of learning should be rewindable? 
• What is the purpose of making it visible/rewindable if my Year 2 tamariki don't require access to that particular material on more than 1-2 occasions? 
• Even if they are accessing material on multiple occasions, why does it need to be all be through our site? 
• Unless we go in to Season 2, why does a junior child need to access learning from home? I would hate to think my cherubs were sitting in front of a device doing more mahi after school hours - although they are sitting in front of a device for far too long after school, and it's spent playing Fortnight or watching Tiktok. 
• Everything on my site is visible to whānau at home - How many would look at this at home with their tamaiti?  

I recall our staff sat down together and shared ideas around how our teaching would change post-lockdown back in May. I don't believe my teaching has changed at all as a result. Although I'm certainly ready for the next wave, should it hit. Everything was visible beforehand. What we did during lockdown was certainly not what I'd ideally do in the classroom, or outside of a pandemic, by any means. But that begs the question - am I missing something? To be continued I think....

So, the real fun began at 10am when I logged into the Google Level 1 Certification exam. For 3 hours straight I furiously clicked, copied, and pasted, and wracked my brain for any memories of how to use the plethora of Google apps that we'd spent 9 weeks prior learning about. I look forward to getting my results - which I was a bit disappointed to learn will take 14 days to process. Must say, it was an amazing feeling to click 'submit' at the end of it all. 

After lunch we had a 30 minute Slam presented by all the facilitators. This was to load us up with some last minute tips, tricks, and apps that hadn't been included during the previous weeks. Some good stuff in here! 

My goals going forward are...

• Use ScratchJR for pepeha - this looks like a really fun way to display pepeha and whakapapa. 
• Play round with a Google Forms - lost track of how long I've been saying that.
• Meet with the Learn, Create, Share team to discuss a plan forward for blog commenting.
• Take a moment to reflect, and look back over the past 9 posts. 
• Can I implement 1 new learning each week? Each fortnight? 

Ngā mihi nunui ki te whānau Manaiakalani! Special thanks to Kelsey for all your support! I look forward to moving forward with a bursting kete matauranga! 

Ngā manaakitanga. 

Nearly there!

Todays session was on Computational Thinking. 

Dorothy kicked off with some discussion around the word 'empower'. Manaiakalani is all about empowering learners and teachers. She discussed the idea of rangatiratanga, which means people taking back control of their world around them, in this case, the digital world. 

We need to check our understanding and that of our students and whānau of why we use digital learning tools. They're not 'just a tool.' If we see ipads and chromebooks as 'just a tool', then we may as well revert back to the trusty pencil. Digital tools transform the way we learn. "They enables students to enter and explore new learning opportunities, overcoming barriers of distance and time." (NZC, 2007).

We also discussed that which can dis-empower our learners in low decile schools. Access to money and resources, prior life and learning experiences, conversations with parents all contribute to empowerment. So if we look at tamariki who miss out on large chunks of that, we know that equity becomes an issue. Digital devices owned by the child allow for empowerment, not only for the child in terms of learning, but access to resources, empowerment for parents (getting a credit rating, bringing connectivity to the home etc). 

I always enjoy listening to Dorothy's morning kōrero and today was no exception. It was so uplifting to hear her addressing the ways we can help empower our students and whānau and get them taking back that control.

Next was a Chalk and Talk with Kerry on the new Hangarau Matihiko ~ Digitial Technologies Curriculum.

This new addition to our curriculum allows tamariki to tell their story. Their own voice can be heard. They can be directors and producers of their learning. We talk about being 'Digitally fluent' all the time, this means being able to decide when and why we would choose to use specific digital technologies. We can create our own digital technologies solutions. It underpins everything that follows.

The curriculum is broken down into 2 sections. 

I have struggled to get my head around what computational thinking really means, however found this helpful definition ~  It’s the process of breaking down a problem into simple enough steps. When children develop computational skills they are able to articulate a problem and think logically. It helps them to break down the issues and predict what may happen in the future. It’s helping them to explore cause and effect. Kerry broke it down even further and explained that teaching a child to cross the road is a really good example of an unplugged computational thinking activity. Eg, stop, look left, look right, look left again, make a decision...

After morning tea we had a Chalk 'n Talk from Vicki about prepping and registering for the exam next week. This will be Level 1 Google Certification (following an American exam system). Sounds like there is an exam just to get in to the exam! This is our opportunity to get a piece of paper that's recognised on an international level. It's not a reflection of our understandings of Manaiakalani pedagogy. It sounds extremely full on and I can't say I'm looking forward to it!     

We had the opportunity to play round with some coding activities after lunch. I tried to do a mihi maker using gamefroot however the wheel of death spinning round and around stopped me from entering the page. I will definitely try again as this looked like a really attractive and fun way to share pepeha and develop coding skills at the same time. EDIT: After chatting to a colleague, I found that Gamefroot would not be the best user-friendly app for my tamariki.

I also need to add in some functions here on my site to make sure I hit the requirements for this course. EDIT: preeeeeetty sure that's done!

I will be back to tidy up this page and add my coding creation later! Edit: Nope, that's it folks.

iPads, and Chromebooks, and Blogger, oh my!

 The focus today was all about using devices and being CyberSmart. 

We began with Fiona Grant who talked about being CyberSmart and how this looks within Manaiakalani. The term Cybersmart is all about empowering people. It's about creating successful digital citizens through intentional programmes that support that kaupapa. It's all about keeping our tamariki safe, and being smart and secure. It was a good reminder to check out the CyberSmart programme on the Manaiakalani site. There are term by term units of mahi to implement with the tamariki. Term 1: Smart Learners, Term 2: Smart Footprints, Term 3: Smart Relationships. I always begin the year with a strong focus, but have never looked beyond Term 2.  I also really liked the look of this programme by Google for another attractive option to share with the tamariki.  

Some interesting points to note/thoughts I have at this stage: 

•  For children to develop as digital citizens, they need to be making choices about what they want to share. What they are creating and sharing has value and can make an impact. So then, what are they proud of? What will their whānau be proud of? Our tamariki are posting what we tell them to post, there's little room for empowerment in this respect. 
• We used to tell tamariki - don't share anything personal. But actually, we want to empower them to make their own decisions. They can decide, "Is this information I'm happy and proud to say/share? What does it say about me and my digital footprint?" 
• How are we supporting our whānau to connect with their child's online learning and how to be CyberSmart? This is very timely for us at kura. At the moment we're running a blog commenting competition across the school for parents and whānau. On the whole it's failing horribly due to a number of factors. Poor visibility after the initial sales pitch, staff not pushing it with their children, parents just not wanting to comment! It's extremely frustrating. So many factors... where to begin? 
• The meaning of an 'authentic' audience - which we covered a few weeks back. This is an audience that CHOOSES to view/comment on what you are sharing. So here we are currently trying to beg parents to comment on their child's blog (and the majority still can't do that) for a period of 10 weeks. What happens after that? 
• Manaiakalani push the blog commenting format - Is it Positive, is it thoughtful, is it helpful? This is great however very intimidating for our parents and whānau. We just want them connecting, so we're encouraging them to give feedback as simple as, "Ka pai my boy!"  
• Do my tamariki need individual bogs? We're implementing a lot of the learn, create, share kaupapa I've picked up over the past 7 weeks, but 1 email address for the whole class is not cutting the mustard. This would mean I'd need more ipads so we could be 1:1 (smiling sweetly at you here, Gary). 

Manaiakalani have aligned the Principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi ~ Partnership, Participation and Protection ~  to their kaupapa. These principles transcend time and generations and are relevant to a child developing their digital footprint. It's all about engagement through 1:1 ownership. Dorothy also touched on the BYOD kaupapa. Bring Your Own...Disaster?? Had a wee chuckle here. Different devices do not allow for equity and access.  

After this wee chalk 'n Talk we had 30minutes to play with a Chromebook. This was really helpful as we've been using our TA's Chromebook to allow us 1 more device to use in the classroom. Some really helpful shortcuts can be found HERE.

After second break we had a chance to focus on ipads which is very relevant to me. Lot's of discussion today was around tamariki having their own devices. This is something we're hopefully working on in my akomanga. We're currently on 15 ipads and 1 mac for 19 tamariki. Not too far off. Dorothy mentioned that a stylus is essential for fine motor coordination! We had time to pay around with Explain Everything after this chalk 'n talk session. It's been sometime since I've used it and I know my previous experience hasn't been overly user-friendly. Perhaps now I've had time to explore I'll feel more confident. As you'll hear in my kirata below, it's tricky juggling Seesaw and apps pushed by Manaiakalani. 

We also created a rauemi that would help us introduce the Kawa of Care kaupapa we implement with the tamariki. I really struggled with this... again due to our use of Seesaw in the junior school. I'd really love to hear from other junior teachers who feel that pull between Manaikalani and Seesaw! Here's a wee rauemi I made anyway. 

Goals for the week 

• Trial Google Forms. I've been saying that for 2 weeks.
• Re-introduce Explain Everything with the tamariki. Keep a positive attitude.
• Hassle the powers that be for 4 more ipads. 

Today was another full on day, and I certainly wasn't expecting anything less. Kelsey also taught us some great tip for Blogger which I'm definitely starting to get the hang of a little more. At this point I'm really struggling with some of the thoughts I shared earlier. Where to even begin? Am I over thinking it? Lots of discussion to be had, me thinks. Right now I'm off to enjoy the sun. 

Ngā mihi nunui ki a koutou, kua pānuitia āku whakaaro.