Ako Hiko Demo Slam

Professional Development

Completing Professional Development at home will always be interesting. Are there going to be any interruptions (who's going to need 'Mum' first)?

Starting with a Demo Slam, a quick 30-second demo or a brief from teachers on a tool they find helpful. I like this idea.

There were 10 different ideas. Some were informative, as the Twitter feed from student's blog posts.

Five I want to try:

Mote - is an extension to create recordings for slides. However, my version has a trial period.

Talk and Comment - recordings for anywhere, another extension and possibly a better one without a limit.

Natural Reader - this is a way for students who are ESL/NESB to listen to a text. It is an extension that can be pushed out onto Chromebooks.

We were reminded to look inside Hapara at documents shared and unshared. As students may be working from home and their work may not appear in the learning log or on their blogs.

My favourite, as I am always taking screenshots a way to take them and have them on the clipboard (not on the desktop) for a quick paste into whatever I am creating. See the image for the buttons.

We then took a quick look at the observation results for Ako Hiko around T shaped Literacy. I feel I am behind with this as I have struggled to access this information previously. I am thankful for the Literacy Exemplars that are available from various Manaiakalani Outreach Schools and teachers. I am also grateful for the Multi-text Database available to use to help build T Shaped Literacy. 

What is T- Shaped Literacy? It is the opportunity to read a breadth of texts, articles on a similar topic and compare through discussion and deeper questioning to build understanding. 

Today we were breaking into discussion groups to share how we as teachers do that part. There were four discussions:

1. How do we create/design opportunities for students to create?
2. How do we create/design opportunities for students to share their learning?
3. How do we encourage students to led discussions?
4. How do we encourage students to think critically?

I was part of the first group, after completing the Manaiakalani Innovative Teacher Course last year, I felt I could offer students and teachers a variety of opportunities for a range of learning. E.g. through google cardboard, virtual trips through zoos, museums that we can't access due to lockdown...

We are not just providing learning opportunities for students, we are giving students the chance to record their learning in a way that is relevant to them. E.g. At University, we all took notes differently. 

Students all learn in different ways. Some retell the meaning through action or dance, others' would prefer to write about it or just talk about it. As teachers' we have to allow for these differences.