Post Grad: Session 1 - Collaboration

  

This is showing the pathway to Master's.

Creating Connections and Collaboration

I thought it was interesting that the experts couldn't agree on a definition for collaboration. However, for the purpose of this course and our learning, we do need to have an agreed understanding.

This example makes it clear to me:

Takeaways

So we started by making connections with a Padlet map, seeing where people are coming from. Interestingly enough, one of our members was a student teacher in my MLE at a previous school.

It would be interesting to get together with others close by. I am the green mark.

Insights

So, currently we agree that:  Collaboration is when everyone participates together. We are not going off with their own, then bringing it back together and sticking together haphazardly. The important decisions are made together. 

We have a great bunch of people, and after setting some very general goals like handing in assignments on time and expanding my Professional Learning Community. It will be interesting to see if I continue and get my Master's of Contemporary Education.

My words of advice to Tatou (All, including me) -

Google Summit - Workshop 2

 Don't Search for it - Make it with Gemini

Steve Smith - Ex High School Teacher (22yrs)


Generative AI - image
You can use Gemini to simplify or upgrade text / relevel text
Gems are now shareable
A tutor 

Children can ask for help with a task

Create your own Writing Prompt images - these images are copyright-free - no one owns them

Need to be really specific - student
Say what you see -


PARTS - structure for informing Gemini, writing GEMS
Persona - give it a persona, who is it
Aim - what is the aim

Recipient - who is it for
Theme - what is the theme, ice cream, dinosaurs
Structure - how do you want it created, haiku, or persuasive 

Create Using Canvas

Natural Language in Natural Language out - image icecream

You can ask it to score, create a badge
3D simulation of the planets
Make the game faster - add a speed slider, add arrows for direction
Make it look like a phone screen

Can be added to class site/blog - 

Create using Canvas - copy code, open site editor, click embed and paste code.

You can use in many ways:

Name Spinner
Drag and drop
Haiku Generator

Can do for those who need help with language, readers... using the + add specific vocabulary and meanings, relevel if needed e.g. Level 3 NZ curriculum

Getting what you want - Make sure you turn Canvas on - flash or pro will both work, pro will show thinking flash won't.

Deep Research - 5 a month (research assistant)

Deep Research - has a limit
Under 18 and Adult version (free) walled garden - stays inside your kit (Core service under Workspace terms of service)

• Doing a unit on ice cream - Want to know about major developments?
• Unlocking potential STEM and Sports Grants for Auckland School - Doesn't update, need to do another deep research each year
• Do you want to know the best way to do a Post-Grad study?

Other Workshops: 

Keynote Speaker - Eric Curts: Levelling up Every Learner

Reading Helper for Every Student - Chris Betcher

Hipster Google - Eric Curts

Special Guest Mr AI Chatterbot - Eric Curts

Thanks to :

Albany Senior High School
Deploy Learning, working with Google to run events
The 112 schools/organisations here
Google Staff 
Sponsor Everway (Texthelp)

Ice Cream School

Match the term to its definition!

Terms

Definitions

Made with fun by Gemini

Sweet Success!

You matched all

8

terms correctly!

Goggle Summit - Workshop 3

 Hipster Google

 Tools you Probably Never Heard Of - Eric Curts

For Searching

Search Cards 
Emoji Kitchen - Great for writing prompt - students create and use it to get started - or as the turtle grows
Google Translate -
Google Conversions/
Google Calculator
Roll a dice - with a different-sized die

Communication Tools 

Little Language Lessons - No Te Reo/ Pasifika yet
Google Lens - Best on Phone - it will then tell you about the image - E.g. Flowers/plants, translates signs, also built into Google Chrome - Great for translating graphics
Reading Mode -

Creative Tools 

ChromeOS Flex - Turns old Mac and Hp -test it - if it works, it takes less ROM
Time-lapse (built into Google Earth) goes back to 1984- can go back and see the development of the area/location
Google Fonts site - 1800 fonts available, you can search using various categories.

Time-lapse Papakura using Google Earth - Images in 5-year increments

Autodraw
Whisk - Part of Google Labs - Flow - experimental
Androidify - is back - great for about me
Say what you see - Google Arts and Culture
Odd one out - Google Arts and Culture
AI Quest

Music
Music Lab
Music FX

Other Workshops: 

Keynote Speaker - Eric Curts: Levelling up Every Learner

Reading Helper for Every Student - Chris Betcher

Don't Search It - Make it with Gemini - Steve Smith

Special Guest Mr AI Chatterbot - Eric Curts

Thanks to :

Albany Senior High School
Deploy Learning, working with Google to run events
The 112 schools/organisations here
Google Staff 
Sponsor Everway (Texthelp)

Google Summit - Workshop 4

 Special Guest Mr AI Chatterbot

Eric Curts

There are many ways to use AI as a Guest in the Classroom. It is not only available for students to use, but it can also be teacher-led, and students understand more appropriate ways to use AI to enhance an experience rather than do the work for them.

Use AI with Students, exposing them to AI. You can tell Gemini how to behave and to come from a certain perspective, used in this situation, AI can be a guest in the class.

Click on the image to view this resource in full.

AI Interview - ask it to be something that it is not, e.g. a historical figure...
Preload/ prior knowledge before reading the text
Eric has created prompt templates to help inform AI of the role they are undertaking. - inform the AI to strive for accuracy and fairness in your responses, avoiding stereotypes or biases. Not 💯 foolproof

Teach them to be critical thinkers - test before you do in class
E.g. Dame Whina Cooper
Gemini will give additional sources and links to show where the information is from

We asked Dame Whina Cooper (Gemini AI)
Where are you from, and who are your parents?
What is your favourite colour?
The answers were detailed and related back to Maori values.

Games you can create using AI

Choose your own Adventure

Taboo
Emoji Kitchen

AI Debate
Marmite vs Vegemite





AI Co-Writing
Take turns with AI to write paragraphs

Other Workshops: 

Keynote Speaker - Eric Curts: Levelling up Every Learner

Reading Helper for Every Student - Chris Betcher

Don't Search It - Make it with Gemini - Steve Smith

Hipster Google - Eric Curts

Thanks to :

Albany Senior High School
Deploy Learning, working with Google to run events
The 112 schools/organisations here
Google Staff 
Sponsor Everway (Texthelp)

Google Summit - Workshop 1

 Reading Helper for Every Student

Chris Betcher

Building Literacy with Google Read Along inside Google Classroom
Read to or Read with
Article: suggests Parents don't enjoy reading to children - The Guardian.com

Read-along was originally developed for Android phones with children's books. AI listened to the child read and would help, then moved to a web application

Gamified - level up success jingle - Moved into Google Classroom and therefore can assign books and give feedback, and teachers get analytics

Levelled reading and Decodables - Higgety adding more
Common words struggling with, give a summary of accuracy: correct, got with help, didn't try, and tried but did not get it right. Gives CWPM - correct words per minute
You can create groups

Can use Gemini to create books; they can include words students struggle with, but there are no pictures. Only create text which you can download and copy to other places

Due to copyright restrictions, it is not advisable to add text such as School Journals, but it is available only to your class.

Gemini Gem - storybook gives a storyline and name, and will create with images. Pirates in the backyard. You can also listen to the story in Gemini. These are not downloadable or movable.



For more, check out Chris's YouTube playlist, click on the image.

Other Workshops: 

Keynote Speaker - Eric Curts: Levelling up Every Learner

Don't Search It - Make it with Gemini - Steve Smith

Hipster Google - Eric Curts

Special Guest Mr AI Chatterbot - Eric Curts

Thanks to :

Albany Senior High School
Deploy Learning, working with Google to run events
The 112 schools/organisations here
Google Staff 
Sponsor Everway (Texthelp)

Google Summit 2025 - KeyNote Speaker

Level Up Every Learner with AI

Key Note Speaker - Eric Curts

Eric spoke about how it is essential to ensure that we are helping our students level up their learning, and they can do so with the use of AI.

Games where you can level up and the sound of achieving - draws people in, E.g. Super Mario, Pokémon, World of Warcraft

As teachers, we want to provide opportunities for students that they may not have otherwise.

When talking about Levelling Up; 

Eric is referring to not just supporting educators but also EMPOWERING STUDENTS using AI:

In the 80s, Bloom investigated the value of moving the bell curve

We want to move the bell curve to the right (2 sigma problem)
Move 2 percentiles if students had their own personal tutor (AI)

Looking at Summative Achievement

Low Curve (Blue) = Conventional Classroom (1:30)
Middle Curve = Mastery Learning (1:30)
Tall Curve (Red) = Having a Personal Tutor/AI (1:1)




Not only using AI to help us as educators, but also to help students directly.
If we don't empower students, they miss out.

Personalised Learning Power Ups

1. Google Gemini - Using Guided Learning: Gemini can explain the basic information and ask each student questions, bringing them into the discussion and encouraging them to think critically. Using Google Gemini, Teachers can create fun quizzes and games where students want to continue levelling up and provide the opportunity to double-check their knowledge.
2. NotebookLM - Students can add content to NotebookLM and then generate audio overviews, video overviews, mindmaps, quizzes, and flashcards. Methods that help students in the manner they prefer to process information.

Feedback Power Ups

1. Google Gemini GEMS - premade tools such as the Writing Editor - Students can use it to help write, but Gemini asks for information to encourage students to write for themselves.

2. Snorkl provides instant feedback - You can supply a question for students, and they record their voice and whiteboard work to explain their answer. The AI gives feedback on their answer and reasoning.

Creativity Power Ups

Here are a few of the different places you can use AI to be Creative:

• 
  AI Experiments
  
• Goolge Arts & Culture
• Google Labs
• Whisk
• Flow
• Art Remix
• Learning Light
• Music FX
• Musical Canvas
• Gemini Canvas - write code to make a spelling snake game or any type of game you can use to engage and reinforce learning

Accessiblilty

Gemini can have students speak, or they can choose to listen

Gemini Live - on phone - ask it to explain and take a photo of what needs explaining

Google Meet - translation as they speak in their language

Everway - Read Write (we have this) - setting choose voice works on the free version

AI is here to help us like Iron Man; we need to have a person in control

Think back to the teachers you have had. What impact did they have?
- Relationship/Connections, Encouraged and Inspired!

DEMO SLAM

There were many great demonstrations but the best 2 were:

Using Gemini Storybook to create a story with images. 

Eric Curts shared the Gemini AI in Google Classroom, sharing the links and then finding ones we might not know. Click on image to open

KarAIoke

Other Workshops: 

Reading Helper for Every Student - Chris Betcher

Don't Search It - Make it with Gemini - Steve Smith 

Hipster Google - Eric Curts

Special Guest Mr AI Chatterbot - Eric Curts

Thanks to :

Albany Senior High School
Deploy Learning, working with Google to run events
The 112 schools/organisations here
Google Staff 
Sponsor Everway (Texthelp)

Printing using FlashForge

Wonderful Partnership Opportunity with Vaka 

Updated Printers and new filament. 

We started with Tinkercad and made a keyring with our name.

Vaka is a STEAM-driven initiative, and they bring a wonderful Pasifika perspective. 

Measina and Taonga Workshops - provided by Vaka help to develop an understanding of the meanings of the shapes and patterns.

We found this helped students with attendance issues; they felt a connection and passion to be at school.

Here is a short video showing how to create in Tinkercad and move your creation into Orca. Orca is the platform that we use to ensure our objects are reading for printing.

RPI 9 - Sharing

Green is a strength, so they obviously stayed the same. 

Blue was teaching practice to strengthen and integrate.

Orange is now more confident that it is being integrated into my planning and reading. 

So next year I want to have the ground rules and role prompts, 

from the beginning and be referring to them daily, and then weekly. 

Sharing Kaupapa - Fiona

Authentic Audience is important to have Connected learners willing to share. This then helps to deepen learning and experience with the text they read

 

Edublogs - Holds a record of students learning, reading and other interests

Teachers can gather lots of information from previous years and where students are working at now and previously. We can read alongside and independently to give ongoing feedback.

Share to learn and Share finished learning - not just the finished or polished 

As teachers we can ask - Are you ready to share rather than are you finished?

Participating in Reading Communities

Need to up our game with reading, due to the aim of teaching to the NE, we tend to be in SE quadrant

Include Outside the class to add variety, not just read outside but be creative and act out, use the school grounds, and whanau discussion with students to build a more robust and diverse understanding of what is being read.

Sharing with Audience and Sharing by Collaborating

In Te Mataiaho - Communities - share values/interests - building conversations as communities 

Reach others across motu to make connections and share reading experiences, love of books and comments through Tuhi Mai Tuhi Atu.

The idea of a Blog spot on the group slides - to remind/ indicate what is expected to be blogged that week is wonderful. Along with remembering not everything has to be blogged.

Visible Learning

Blogging has an impact on student learning - engagement, self -expression and higher-order thinking 

Over Summer if students are engaged in reading less slide back as shown in the research from SLJ

Be deliberate about when blogging. - share reading choices, response to text 

Vocabulary task - revisiting enhances learning 

As teachers, we can encourage a peer check to lower the load for us.

Does not have to be finished or perfect - We can add a disclaimer to blogs

Effective descriptive Feedback

We share to reflect on the situation and how it went - 

When we share too often it is hard to receive constructive feedback. Students can pick what they want to receive feedback on, and help the workload.

Students can add a sentence to show they understand Success Criteria, such as I know I will be able to do this when…

These comments and Success Criteria "You looked engaged, stayed in your seat" - are dispositional

We can use Multiple modes of feedback,  

Mahi Tracker - seen, checked dropdown on the comment

Collaboration and Connecting

Reading to (dogs in school) animals non-threatening 

Commenting and Responding in not linear or a neat/clear cycle 

• “The future is not some place we are going to, but one we are creating. The paths to it are not found, but made; and the activity of making them changes both the maker and the destination.”

• — Peter Ellyard

Sharing with Whānau

How do we share reading challenges with Whanau - Notice Board 

When using Culturally related text - ask the family if they know about Tafoe or Hoe

Response to text or part of Reading Challenge

Send a map if the library is local

Invite parents to author visit or book a day

Invite whanau to share myths legends

Next Steps

• Create a space - main kete
• Checked out a couple one with choice of course- emulate

RPI - Reflection

 We are approaching the end of the RPI, and the best question is:

 How are we going to maintain the RPI Kaupapa?

Like all teachers, I have a dream ...

Currently, to make my life easier I have a set of Vocabulary slides with various activities on and I add this to the Response to text slides, once we have a set of words both teacher selected and student selected I choose an activity that best fits the needs of the students. 

Some groups, I get them to select the slide and they can use it like a template to modify and create their own.

   

 These students will report back to the larger reading group later in the week. My reading groups have around 8 and break into pairs for the reading response activity. 

I also want to do this for the graphic organisers for the Figurative Language, just for quick reference. First, I will need to modify and possibly make them into slides for they fit nicely into response activities. Will see how this could work.

Next Steps

Creating a site with the headings:

• Vocabulary
• Summarising
• Evaluating
• Main Ideas
• Making Connections 
• Inferring
• Point of View

The site has a range of digital and other activities, that cater to a range of abilities. Allowing everyone to use references. 

RPI 8 - Create

 Create Kaupapa

Dorothy was sharing with us today how Crete is a valuable aspect of the whole Manaiakalani Approach. The best part is we can all be creative in our own way, it doesn't matter if we 'can't draw as well as' That Guy.

Even better still, it's a great way to engage with others, in the class and around the motu.

The digital affordances allow everyone to be creative, just be mindful of AI content generators. Their interpretation and the author's meaning don't often match but can open up ideas for discussion.

Why Creativity is so Important

Students bring their own voice, and interpretation to what they are doing, and as it engages both the cognitive and emotional sides (and all senses) of the brain people are fully engaged = GOOD READERS.

Create to Show Learning

There are many ways to create digitally and students who think it is all about art can relax, using digital tools means we can use our bodies to dance, sound/voice, and tactile (clay, paint, follow instructions).

Making things routine is easier for students (and teachers) to complete as they know the expectations, and they can be done anytime during the reading.

Students can do short creative tasks with tighter instructions with restricted choice and constraints, looser instructions, still with constraints but less, once they are more experienced in the teacher's expectations and the digital affordances.

Stencils are reusable for different texts but allow for student creativity and collaboration. Just like traditional stencils, they are timesavers that give students the ability to succeed. Helping them to focus on higher-order thinking (HoT)

They can even have multiple creates for one text, using different tools.

One-shot Film

Fiona spoke about One-shot Films, with her years of experience and film-making this is a simplified version, One minute one shot to share the book/novel you are reading and why it is a good read for someone else. I did a couple ...

As we talked about in T-Shaped Lit discussions, Students can read, present and add reflections to their videos, WWW: What worked, What would you do next time, What do you need help with or What did you notice, What do you wonder ...

My reflection is more of a reminder - SMILE (Even if you would rather be behind a camera)

And if they do it vertically they can make it into a fake tiktok video. I didn't notice that iMovie had a feature that rotates video, which is also helpful if students are using Chromebooks to record.

Where to Next:

• Record with students, Record Students, Record Discussions
• RECORD RECORD RECORD