2021 DFI - Day 6 - A Coach's Perspective

DFI day six already! Another great day focusing on the kaupapa of connected and on Class Sites...

Connected:

Dorothy's presentation reminded me of the need to encourage participation in the Ako Hiko Google Currents community. I think there is still a lot of apprehension when it comes to sharing our practice but there is so much potential for us to learn from and support each other that I think it is essential.

Dorothy's toolkit about attracting an audience to your blogs was very useful. I will use some of these ideas while planning Cybersmart sessions in future terms and will also unpack them further with our Ako Hiko ambassadors who are starting their roles in Term 2. 

Class Sites:

Having time to view some sites from other clusters was extremely valuable. I found some great examples where the teaching and learning is visible on the reading or maths group pages. In many cases the learning was also fully rewindable and had links to T-shaped literacy. These will be good exemplars to use with teachers I work with this year.

In the afternoon our bubbles had time to work on their own class sites. It was a good opportunity for me to reflect on my recently built Poetry Slam site (our Poetry Slam is next week and all online if you are interested in joining us).

Ngā mihi

Phil

2021 DFI - Day 5 - A Coach's Perspective

Kia ora koutou,

This week's adventure into the Manaiakalani pedagogy was based around visibility. I don't think you can repeat too many times that the default is to make everything visible. This applies to everything from planning to assessments.

I've been really impressed with the class sites in the Ako Hiko cluster, especially over our multiple lockdowns. I think a next nudge for us is having more of the teaching visible on the sites. This could include teachers' planning and assessments and as we have discussed at this term's staff hui, more rewindable learning.

I enjoyed hearing about the purposes of Class Sites and Hāpara:

Class Sites - making the teaching visible for learners

Hāpara - making the learning visible for teachers

Class Sites:

It was my first time presenting to the whole group today. It made me realise how much content there is to cover when creating a site. I also learnt that simple themes aren't the best for macrons.

In the afternoon our group was collaborating on a Jamboard to share resources for our sites. We found a few things frustrating such as not being able to add a hyperlink and text boxes being a bit awkward. A good reminder here that with any Google Apps you can send feedback. In Jamboard this feature is found by clicking the three dots, in something like Docs it is under the 'help' section. The more requests they get about a certain feature the more likely they are to fix it!

See you next time for Week 6!

2021 DFI - Day 4 - Coach's Perspective

Kia ora koutou,

Day 4 of DFI already! Today we heard Dorothy talk about tohatoha or share. I really like the definition of an authentic audience...

 "people who choose to view your learning"

i.e. they have other options of what they could be viewing. This will be useful to explain to learners, especially when I could be reading and commenting on hundreds of different blogs in the Ako Hiko cluster.

Also a good reminder about why we use Blogger as a platform for sharing...

MyMaps

I had the idea to use MyMaps for story writing. Here's a story I created today which will require the audience to read each section carefully and do some research to find out where to go next on the map. I'd be really keen to hear any feedback you have on it.

ps. I realise I got way to deep into this so it's a bit over the top...

Sheets

I don't think I'll ever stop learning new tips and tricks about Google Sheets. Today I learnt a new way to split data into two or more columns:

data - split text to columns - then choose your separator (usually a space)

My bubble also had great fun learning how to move charts onto separate tabs and then exploring the best way to embed sheets onto our blogs. Here's what it looks like when you move a chart to its own sheet and then embed it:

2021 DFI - Day 3 - A Coach's Perspective

Kia ora koutou,

Thanks for stopping by. Just clocking off from another awesome day of DFI.

Create

In terms of the Manaiakalani pedagogy, today we focused on hanga (create). Even though I've sat through this presentation (or something very similar) numerous times I'm always inspired by it and new ideas always jump out at me.

This video got me thinking about how we can make sure students want to be at school. As one person said while discussing his school experience, "I just wanted to be there." I'll definitely be watching to full version when I get the chance.

 

I'm also going to be digging into this blog post in the future. I was scanning it and the following paragraph jumped off the page and gave me a slap in the face. This pretty much summed up my current thinking about my role as a facilitator.

For all this what has been forgotten that it is the quality of the teacher that ensure such modern environments are conducive to learning; it’s the pedagogy, or teaching beliefs, that teachers hold is all important.

Media

Media is very much at the front of my brain at the moment after Term 4's Cybersmart focus on Smart Media. There were lots of good reminders in Dorothy's session about how how powerful it is to consume and create media.

I started thinking about what media I can create (or encourage other teachers to create) that will engage learners and help them make emotional connections. For example, this video made me feel quite emotional. It could be a good inspirational resource for our film festival this year, especially when students are thinking about who their audience is and what their main messages are...

Slides

The one post it note rule was a great reminder. If you're take home message doesn't fit on a post it note then you've got no chance. I think I've also fallen into the trap of reading my slides to people a few times lately so that was a timely nudge.

My new learning for today was adding GIFs to Google Slides after a good question for one teacher. This one is from Giphy.com.

I really enjoyed the create session I ran on pick-a-path slides. It was also a good chance to share the awesome work that Charlotte, Rita and Isabella did last week. You can check out their blog post here.

Bring on Week 4!

Ngā hihi

2021 DFI - Day 2 - A Coach's Perspective

Another great day on DFI, this time focusing on workflow. I'm so excited about finding new ways to save a few clicks or a few seconds here and there. I'd also love to know how much time I'm saving myself on a yearly basis by using all these tips and tricks.

Ako - 

It's always a great reminder hearing about amplifying and turbocharging the learning. This week Auckland has been back in lockdown and I've found it interesting to have a look at some of the class sites in the cluster. I'm so impressed with the amount of learning that is visible on some of the sites, especially as it's only week two of the year for some schools.

Google Keep - 

I use Google Keep constantly and have it open alongside my Gmail. One thing I hadn't thought of doing is to have it open alongside a Google Doc so that I can add text directly form the Keep note to the Doc.

I also keep meaning to use the grab text and scribble features in Google Keep but never get round to it...

Gmail - 

I have never heard of confidential mode before (even thought the icon is right there). I can't think of a situation where I'd need to use it at the moment but it's interesting to know it's there.

Taming the Tabs - 

I've noticed teachers get very protective over their tab preferences. There are very strong allegiances to Team Toby and Team OneTab. It was good to see another option available that lets you create groups of tabs. It would be awesome if this was developed so that the groups were saved for future sessions. 

I think all these tips and tricks have a time and a place, it's just figuring out which one suits a particular need most effectively.

DFI 2021 - Day 1 - A coach's perspective

Kia ora koutou,

This time last year I was starting the DFI as a participant. One DFI badge, two lockdowns, a switch to full time Education Programme Leader and a lot of Google Meets later I'm back as one of the coaches.

First things first, every member of my bubble was absolutely fantastic today and I'm so proud of them already. Lot's of great questions to keep me on my toes and some wonderful creations using Google Docs.

What stood out for me today is that you can never know everything. Even having done the DFI last year I still picked up lots of new tips and ideas today. Everyone is a teacher and everyone is a learner.

For example Dorothy's session on Google Groups made me think about how I use them with different people, especially when it comes to people replying to messages. Do they realise the messages have come through the Google Group and that everyone can see their replies? A conversation worth having.

Google Docs continues to impress and surprise. I'd never thought of sending a link to a specific heading in a Google Doc and I didn't realise that you could increase or decrease text size using command-shift-< or >

I think I'll try using Google Docs when I'm advertising the 2021 Ako Hiko Student Led Toolkits (check out last year's toolkits here #shamelessplug).

Can't wait for session two!

Term 4 Manaiakalani Hui

On Monday 14th and Tuesday 15th December I had the wonderful opportunity to attend the Manaiakalani Hui at the National Library. Above all else I really appreciated the chance to connect face to face with the extraordinary team of leaders and facilitators from around the country. On Tuesday we each had five minutes to reflect on our journey over the past three years. Further down this post I've included my reflection slides, but I also wanted to document and share some of the gems I picked up from other people during the day...

Amie @ Tairāwhiti

Amie reminded me that I should be blogging more (other than what I'm doing right now obviously).

She also mentioned meeting weekly with principals. This is something I'd love to do as I've gained so much insight and so many ideas from brief five minute chats with principals this year.

Cam @ Kootuitui ki Papakura

Cam simplified her main goal for next year as getting her schools to work together. This is very much on my radar for Ako Hiko and it's been great to see people working together in our T-shaped literacy PLGs and to hear of teachers wanting to visit other schools next year. 

Cheryl @ Tairāwhiti

Cheryl mentioned talking to individual teachers: What's your data? What's your starting point? What do you want out of this? This is a great reminder for when I start off with the new teachers I'll be working with in 2021.

She also talked about an unrelenting focus on reading which has come up a lot this year and is worth keeping at the forefront of my mind.

Dave @ Manaiakalani

'He aha te rākau hei whakatō mā tāua?' (What tree shall we plant?) This is a great reminder when thinking about what new opportunities we can offer in 2021. I need to remember to talk with teachers, leaders and principals to make sure their needs are being met in order for them to fully invest in new ideas.

Another great quote from Dave, "It's not what you do, it's what they do when you're not there." This got me thinking about sustainability. How will I support the teachers I've been working with in 2020 to make sure the great progress continues? And how can I work with lead teachers to make sure there is consistency across (and between) schools?

Fiona @ Manaiakalani

'Leadership empowers strong teams.' I'm lucky to have an amazing group of lead teachers and am looking forward to working with them next year. I'm also mindful of making sure I give them opportunities to develop and grow their leadership.

Herman @ Tairāwhiti

Herman discussed 'community feels' which reinforced what Cam talked about. He also talked about rewindable learning and what that looks like. Another timely reminder for orientation 2021.

Nicola @ Hokitika

Nicola fed back how people felt overwhelmed with lots of information at orientation days and suggested that it might be worth chunking this information. This is something I will definitely have in mind as I prepare the orientation and site building days for 2021.

Sharon @ Te Ara Tūhura

Sharon emphasised how important listening is (luckily I was listening to her). Especially in terms of listening to teachers and where they are at. You can then use this as a starting point to know what to work on with them next.

As promised here are my slides. My reflection on the last three years was slightly different in that I spent 2018 as classroom teacher and AP at Wesley Primary, 2019 travelling in Europe and Canada while trying lots of part time and voluntary jobs, and then 2020 taking on the EPL role at Ako Hiko.

 

A common theme that came through most reflections was the importance of relationships. I can't wait to meet the teachers I'll be working with next year and start building those relationships.

Another key point I will keep in mind while facilitating is making it explicit what strategies I am using with the class. There was an interesting discussion about our role as facilitators and I think if we are trying to promote effective practices then these need to be pointed out to the teachers we are supporting.

I hope this is helpful to others. Thanks to everyone in the team for sharing their reflections. Let me know if you have any thoughts or questions.

Happy holidays everyone!