DFI Session Four

Distance learning at its finest today as we looked at 'tohatoha' or 'share.' I loved Dorothy's idea about your audience being the people who CHOOSE to listen to you. This resonated with me, especially in the current climate. The students who are choosing to access their learning via Google Sites and connecting with their teachers via Google Meet are the audience. So how do we reach and engage the students who are not choosing to check in? Or can't?

The deep dives into MyMaps and Google Sheets were very interesting today. These are two areas that I'm not as confident with. It was then challenging to lead a group on Google Sheets but I feel much more confident now than I did at the start of the day in both areas.

I used MyMaps to create this map of the schools in my cluster with some options for walking (I wish), riding or driving between them. I learnt how to add new layers, which had previously confused me, and change icons as well as calculating distances and areas. I'm also planning on creating a pepeha using MyMaps.

I need to keep using Google Sheets to become more confident with what I've learnt. Turns out I knew some of the trickier parts like conditional formatting and filter views but had missed some basic tricks like resizing columns, date formatting and locking columns and rows. 

I will definitely be using the Google Sheet activity where students create graphs to show their blogging activity. This will be especially interesting with the Summer Learning Journey and distance learning.


And a huge shout out to Dorothy, Gerhard, the other facilitators and participants for making this unique learning experience happen! Ka pai!

DFI Session Three

Today we talked about create. It was interesting to reflect on why creativity stops being valued as students move form Kindergarten to primary and then high school. It also made me think about how often teachers have the opportunity to be genuinely creative? How can our use of technology free up enough time or teach us new tools to allow for greater teacher creativity?

I've always loved this quote from John Dewey. Definitely something to keep in mind when planning. I also like the reminder that there is no upper limit when we are creating, especially when we talk about differentiating and extending students. The doc that was created by Manaiakalani is a great reminder (sorry that I keep saying reminder) of the range of different create activities that are out there.

When we covered YouTube I learnt how to make my channel unlisted (can't be searched for) by going to:
 studio - settings - upload defaults
 then basic for visibility and advanced for disabling comments 
I also learnt how to embed playlist in a Google Site and how to stream live from my webcam.


Google Drawing is a tool I am very familiar with but I still learnt a few new tips like using the zoom and curve tools when tracing an image. Also I'd forgotten about the replace image function.

And my shortcut of the day:
ctrl + shift + arrows to send objects forwards or backwards.





It was really interesting listening to Dorothy explain how she plans and creates her Google Slides presentations. I love the idea of thinking about 'What's my story?' and if I can't fit the take home messages onto a post-it note then I need to rethink my presentation.

Then while playing with Google Slides I got more confident creating my own slide decks (with the help of Slides Carnival) by clicking on:
slide - edit master - attribute
I can now edit slides other people have made (and of course give them credit). And I was able to create an animation and pick-a-path style quiz...

DFI Session Two

Today we got to experience Google Hangouts/Meet. I had already used it many times but today I became familiar with some other features such as turning on captions and sharing my screen with others. I became more confident with creating Hangouts via Google Calendar. It made me think about the possibilities of teaching without necessarily being in the same room as students. I might have a play with this in the coming weeks. 

Google Keep is another app that I have used for years but have never dug deeper enough to find features such as labels and reminders. This should help me organise my many lists and remind me to return my library books on time. I will definitely use the audio feature (after clicking the + button) to record thoughts as I rush between classes. Photo to text (click photo - more actions - grab image text) looks like an amazing feature when looking for resources!


And there's always more to learn about Gmail. From now on I will archive all emails (rather than deleting them or letting them sit in my inbox). I've already archived hundreds of old emails and set up 'reply and archive'. I will also experiment with scheduled send (so that people receive emails when they are fresh in the morning) and I have set up a filter so that all emails from blogger go straight to me 'everything else' folder (settings - filters and blocked addresses - create new filter).

Away from the tech and tools side of things, I found myself again reflecting on the RATE acronym (recognise, amplify, turbocharge, effective practice). I want to encourage more teachers in the cluster to amplify their practice but also need to ensure I am modelling this in my cybersmart sessions in class.