DFI Session Eight

Tēnā koutou katoa,

Today we heard Dorothy talk about the term empowered. It was a good reminder around why we use this term rather than agency, which has so many negative connotations with some members of our communities. Every time I see this puzzle graphic I'm reminded how interlinked and co-dependant the terms empowered, visible, connected and ubiquitous are. One way of empowering our learners and our communities is by ensuring the other three parts of the puzzle are happening.

The fact that one third of learners in decile one communities are transient is something that I was very aware of while teaching at my previous school. Hearing this again today made me think about the Ako Hiko story and how important it is to capture this so that we can share it to new learners and whānau so that they can gain a deeper understanding of what the cluster is all about.

Kerry's section on the Digital Technology Curriculum was very interesting and informative. We were gifted time to explore a plethora of resources. As Kerry said it is important that we are using a consistent language and teaching programming skills and fundamentals rather than individual coding platforms. The apps and sites will change over time but the language remains the same. A good glossary for me today includes:

Input
Output
Sequence
Iteration
Selection
Variables

How confident are you with these terms? And not just confident in your own understanding but with your ability to use them with students?

These are all resources I found useful. CS Unplugged for the activities that might be perfect for distance learning and for students with limited internet access and Kia Takatū ā-Matihiko for the self-assessment tool that helped me see where I am at on my journey into the new curriculum.

Exemplars

CSUnplugged

Kia Takatū ā-Matihiko

In terms of my workflow as a professional, I've spent some time in the last few weeks trying to create engaging, creative and fairly independent activities for students. Exploring these sites today helped me realise that there are already a vast array of resources out there and that maybe some of my time is better spent elsewhere (warning some of these sites are very, VERY addictive).

Minecraft

Flappy Bird

Toxicode

In the afternoon I had an awesome time creating a game with Scratch. By going through the process from start to finish I was able to appreciate the debugging process. Mistakes and failures are all part of learning and students need to be encouraged and support while solving problems and getting over these hurdles. Enjoy!