MIT - Prototype @KPMG

It is time to start creating our prototype.

I have been using Hapara to feed the students activities such as Making Questions and Using Questions to inspire writing along with Onomatopoeia Slides. I have found this frustrating because if I update the slides, I have to resend and I can't take back what has already been shared. I prefer the idea of the activities going on the class site (for trialling) then if we find a mistake we can update and the students can make another copy or copy the part (slide) that is updated.

Here is the beginning of my prototype: Creating Writers Site.

The start of the content on the site which I have checked in incognito.

As you can see, some parts are coming soon. Other ideas I have for the activities include: introducing and using Speech, Setting, Strong Emotion, Fact, Definition, Funny/Pun, Never expected and Quotes. This is not an exhaustive list, however.

My next question is: Should it all be on one page? If not, how do I separate the content, so it makes sense?

I also would like to redo some of the videos so the content flows better and therefore providing a distinct difference between introducing an activity and using it.

Having looked at what others are starting to do, I am also considering adding a Kahoot for each topic as a fun way to help identify or test learning.

I look forward to receiving any and all feedback on this prototype.

Numicon - Uses and Usefulness

We started using Numicon in our Junior School to help bolster numeracy in our school.

I could see how it was useful for adding, making tens, and adding with ten. I was told it is so much more but, as I only had access to the coloured number shapes, so it was hard to believe.

Today 

The Numicon number shapes are weighted. If you put the shapes for 2 and 2 together on the scales, it weighs the same as the 1 and 3 which is the same as the shape 4. The new Cuisenaire rods are also weighted in this way.

 

Numicon is great to help students to move from the concrete use of materials to the idea of imaging for the more abstract concepts.

As for all new learners in a topic, the mathematical language is often lacking. With Numicon students can show their understanding through manipulation of the shapes. Group discussion helps students to learn the language through talking. 

 

Students and teachers often learn while they are fiddling. A teacher can be explaining the method to the group while they are moving the shapes. While reinforcing the concept to a slower learner, the group can continue to work on other examples to show their understanding.

The more they touch the more they enjoy, the more they enjoy the more they engage.

 

Breaking Barriers - Teaching Handbook

Assessment Booklet

Learning Sign Language

I have wanted to learn New Zealand Sign for a few years and use the NZSL app to help when I try to sign.

Having students in class with hearing issues has made this more urgent and important.

Thanks to Kayla and NZSL each Thursday for the next few weeks a few colleagues and myself are learning Sign Language to help our students.

Here is one video link we used. This list covers what is in the video.

   

We have talked about how there are other ways to learn sign through song. It is one way I like to learn it through praise songs.

 

I have also included the slide that has some ideas if you wish to pursue this further.

Culturally Responsiveness - What is it? - Part 2

Is it about being 'Culturally Responsive' or having 'Relationship-based Learning'? 

We were sent home with a few articles we could read with a focus on Values (one I have already talked about Respecting Students) 

Encouraging Student Voice TKI

According to a study done by Dr Jude MacArthur (2009), Students want their teachers to:

• get to know them
• give them opportunities to talk about what school is like for them
• listen to their views
• take their views into consideration when planning and teaching
• support them to make school a better place
• allow them to be part of the whole peer group and to be fully involved

That means teachers need time

• to talk with students and whanau
• share ideas and experiences with other teachers
• consult with colleagues who can inform them about eh effects of students impairments on their learning.
• to develop respectful and equal relationships in their school

The Importance of Teaching Tolerance to Children  You are Mom

Tolerance is being willing to understand other points of view. That means as teachers and students we show and teach consideration, respect, commitment to others, and an even social playing field. 

The first way to teach tolerance is through our own judgement. This means we need to be tolerant ourselves, by showing respect, empathy, and good treatment of others. 

Honesty: The Plain and Simple Truth by Frank Sonnenberg

Everything depends on honesty. Why do you think in front of a judge you are asked to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

Relationships can't be but on mistrust and lies, we don't like to follow leaders if we mistrust them. Our instinct when we hear something with our ears and our eyes see something else is to not believe because our brains are telling us something is wrong. 

Many forms of dishonesty include:

• Misrepresentation
• Fabrication
• Exaggeration
• Denial
• Lack of Transparency
• Redirection
• False Recognition
• Broken Promise
• Cover-up
• Hypocrisy
• Bait and Switch
• Living a Lie

Any way you look at it when people distort the truth they put their credibility at risk.

When you stand for honesty you believe in yourself and everything you represent. Honesty is a way of life showing you deeply care about trust, relationships and value the importance of a solid reputation.

Hence - Never lie to someone who trusts you and never trust someone who lies to you!

School Values - Rubric: Where do I fit?

Onomatopoeia - Student Work

MIT - Reflection on a trial of writing tools with distance learning.

We have been learning about Onomatopoeia through distance learning.
Through Google Meet, we have a focus of one slide each day to ensure understanding.

Here are the slides created for students to engage and add to so show what they are doing. The master now has access to video teaching, which was added in case they needed more support.

This first one of my favourite slide 9.

The second one slide 4 and 5 are great and how they used callouts.

This one the way they have used the onomatopoeia in the story is awesome.

The beginning sentence on slide 8 models how we can start with Onomatopoeia.

Cultural Responsiveness - What is it?

Is it about being 'Culturally Responsive' or having 'Relationship-based Learning'? 

We started out reading a range of informative articles and light to read. 

First, we all read ... 

Strategies for Teachers to Develop Positive Relationships with Students. By Derrick Meador

Best teacher practice maximises learning potential by developing positive, respectful relationships.

The first thing in the year we need to do is earn their trust. This with mutual respect helps to develop a thriving classroom. 

As teachers, we have to Provide Structure, Teach with Enthusiasm and Passion, Have a Positive Attitude (which is hard when you feel unvalued, you can smile and be positive but you are constantly waiting for the other boot to fall). Incorporate Humor into Lessons, Make Learning Fun (we all wish to have fun all day every day, it makes learning so much easier), Use Students' Interest to Our Advantage, Incorporate Storytelling into Lessons, Show an Interest in their lives, Treat with Respect and Go the Extra Mile.

Then we could pick one of the following, but as I said they were relevant, 
reaffirming and easy to read.

Why Respecting Students Is Essential for Teacher Effectiveness. By Derrick Meador

This article talks about how respecting students boost teacher effectiveness, but our showing respect at all times including tense moments gives them the mana and self-worth to learn. Educators should be adult enough, professional enough and smart enough to conduct themselves in a controlled manner. Teachers must think before they react and choose words carefully. (Who wants to end up on YouTube.) 

It is the old adage - If you don't have anything nice to say better to say nothing at all!

Building Strong, Trusting Student-Teacher Relationships is a must as School should be a safe haven and students should trust all of their administrators, teachers and staff members. Their differences should be valued. We need to have patience and understanding, sometimes the best way to do this is to take a deep breath, think about your response and choose your words carefully before you say anything. Berating and embarrassing students is a sure-fire way to make them feel unworthy preventing learning. There is a difference between having high expectations and unreal expectations. 

Everyone deserves a second chance!

Relationships take time, they don't happen overnight!

Focus on These Four Areas to Create a Classroom Environment Conducive to Learning. By Matthew Lynch

Physical Space

To create an environment conducive to learning you must first focus on the physical space. 

We need to consider: Do we need a mat space, where will students keep their belongings, tables and furniture in mostly moveable but we need to consider body side how students will move in and out or the class... and don't forget the wall space. 

Getting Students to Co-operate

This requires a neat and organised environment helping students to co-operate. Most teachers start with clearly defined rules, routines and expectations, which include transitions from place to place and these usually need to be practised to correct undesirable behaviour. Then these need to be maintained.

Creating a Communal Atmosphere

Everyone needs to feel they belong, and that includes teachers and students, whanau, along with auxiliary staff, Everyone is needed to make a school run smoothly! TO do this we need to take an interest in each other, a real personal interest. 

In the class that means your care include the curriculum, instruction, assessment and society. We need to lead by example if we show we care, it is easier to encourage them to do the same, aiming for collaboration.

Classroom Climate and Culture

Now the class has a sense of community we can build a positive atmosphere to help accelerate learning. We as teachers are constantly encouraging, modelling co-operation and have a focus on individuals and lessons are well-organised, progress smoothly and free from interruptions.

MIT - Using Questions and Google Expeditions to Inspire Writing

Using Questions to help your Writing

We are looking at Explanations for this next term of learning (after Covid19). Explanations usually start with a question or at least answer a question.

I have included links to Google Expeditions and other experiences that could also help the students by inspiring writing.

With this in mind, I created another video and slide set about using Questions to help with writing. This slide set help children to understand the purpose of a question and what questions start with.

 

Questions are a great way to start a narrative or explanation as they focus the writer and reader on the same topic. Eg.

When was the first time you had bacon and eggs for breakfast? 

Already you are thinking back to the last time you had bacon and eggs, you may even remember the first time. I remember it was our go-to breakfast before a day of snow skiing on Mt Ruapehu.

Why is the grass green?

If you don't already know it is to do with the passing of light through objects, whereas the sky is blue due to the refraction of light on the particles in the atmosphere. Two great questions to write explanations about.

Here is the set of slide I used

Another Resource on Questions

MIT - Using Google Expeditions

This term we are studying water and the ways we use it.

Google Expeditions is an app you can download for your phone or iPad and it has The Water Cycle showing the basic steps of evaporation, condensation, precipitation and collection. Being an expedition each image showing a different step can be rotated and explored from different angles with an explanation of what you can see. Although students can't use this through chromes the teacher can cast to a Tv or through a projector.

It will be interesting to see how this explorative tools will help students to write an explanation about The Water Cycle. I will also investigate to see if I can find other ways such as virtual tour through waterways to show students how and why we need water.

Of course, there is Youtube too.

MIT - Design Thinking: Evolution Session @ KPMG

Evolution is the gradual development of something, in this case, my Moonshot Proposal.

The goal of which has changed due to the changing environment in which we currently live.

I started with:

I would like to be able to encourage students to write interesting and detailed stories.

Which turned to:

Engaging Y5 boys with descriptive writing.

Now it is:

Engaging students with writing through Distance Learning

There have been many ideas to help inspire children during the lock down period and to help keep them entertained while unable to physically visit places. I suggested to a parent today their child might like to go to 'San Diego' and walk around the zoo. They could start with Google Earth to get a birds-eye view of San Diego and look around the city before zooming into the zoo.

Click on the Map to travel from Auckland to San Diego.

Then view this clip to see what it would be like to be on the tour through the zoo before looking at the live cams to investigate the zoo animals further.

There are 12 different live cams or videos from around the zoo and children could just focus on one or two to create a piece of writing. Then look at the animal's blog (some have videos, others pictures).

Many sites with live cam I noticed needed restrictions to be removed, which would hinder viewing from different places for students.

You could pick an animal from Auckland Zoo and check out the video and the same animal or a similar one at San Diego and compare environments/habitats and types of animals, such as the Burrowing Owl and Morepork, or the Elephants, or the two types of Baboons.

Along with these ideas, I have also been attempting to create my own Screencastify(s) helping students to make their writing more meaningful. But I keep starting over, still working out how I can edit and link different shots. However, here is the slide I intend to use to encourage the use of Onomatopoeia.

Distance Learning with Tui Whanau

Here it is, a perfect opportunity to practise distance learning.
                           Well, there has to be something positive from Covid19.

Today is our first official day for distance learning. I am excited to see who comes to Google Hangout and has a go with this different style. I can't say new as I have been using Tui's google site over the last two years to engage and help with digital learning. The new part for me is the hangouts. I have set a space in my kitchen (where the table is). I could go into the tiny office (but it is a mess) which I use for crafts, scrapbooking, painting, drawing and storing teaching stuff I have put away (actually I have multiple of these places, the office a bedroom and the attic) maybe now is a good time to sort to more and cull lots! 'But I might need it!!!'

First place to tidy will be the office, especially with everyone home. 2 teenage boys trying to study and attend hangouts and me trying to teach. One goes to his room one is in another bedroom. Hubby in lounge/kitchen cleaning oven (with no airflow, cough, cough, not Coronavirus).

Looking at myself in the Hangout I can see I still need to make some changes I love the art but the light is reflecting off it and into the camera, which I find distracting so I can imagine the students not wanting to look and pay attention too.

And seeing the light from the window and reflecting off the posters I have tidied the office some and now working in there. This has the benefit of no interruptions. Still not the tidiest of spaces but 'I need that!'

MIT - Design Thinking: Experimentation Session @ KPMG

Wow - we are in changing times. When we were going through this process and discussion we thought it was only a likely possibility that we would end up in Isolation with Distance Learning. This meant the ability to change our Moonshot Proposal to up the anti and develop it for Distance Learning.
Exciting Stuff

So we are experimenting with learning through Google Sites, Hangouts and Blogging as a way to see the end process. Click on the image below to see how we started.





My moonshot proposal is more general again - just focusing on writing with distance learning. Still very excited to be part of this.

DFI - Christchurch

DFI 2020

Christchurch

A great day thank you Christchurch beautiful and sunny. 

Everything ticked over nicely, running to time with the Facilitation of DFI Workflow. I even was reminded how to embed a video so a longer videos can be posted using embed code through the HTML page, to a post rather than having to ask students to make it shorter.

Step 1: Create your recording.

Step 2: Save recording to your drive.

Step 3: Open in the drive, click on 3 dots in the top right (on the black screen within the window playing with the movie clip.

Step 4: Click on open in a new window.

Step 5: click on the 3 dots at the top again for embed code.

Step 6: Click on embed code and prepared to copy and past it.

Step 7: Once embed code is copied, go to blog post HTML page and paste.

Hopefully, the final result ends up like this. It is so easy. Now I just have to remember it!!!!

DFI - West Coast

2020 DFI

West Coast

Always a lovely place to visit this time I had the pleasure of the flight from Christchurch to Hokitika being cancelled and the lovely 4-hour bus trip through Arthur's Pass. What a gorgeous view.

What is new in the world of Google Calendar, Gmail, Hangouts and Google Keep.

My new find is Dynamic Gmails, 

I have been using them for Manaiakalani Innovative Teacher when we did the 5 Whys for our Moonshot Proposal. It was an easy way to respond to the questions through Gmail, rather than having to open up the slides with the comments on the side which was rather small especially when trying to see the whole dialogue.

Looking forward to tomorrow and the flight in 30 minutes back to Christchurch

Tried putting my trip together in Google Earth - Voyageur here's how it simply looks. 
Click on image to view in Google Earth.

Google Earth - Toolkit

I am looking at ways to inspire boys to write.

Today we had a sports day with many of the local schools. There were three codes cricket softball and touch. After school, I was in a Google Earth Toolkit through Manaiakalani and thought if I revisit the day's events through this medium.

Link to Google Earth project about our Sports Day.

It will be interesting to see if this helps remind the students of their day and how it could stimulate writing.

MIT - Design Thinking: IDEATE Session

Crazy 8

For our proposal, we had to come up with 8 ideas for how we thought it could work. It was time to think outside the box. I like using images but we weren't allowed to just draw we had to give a brief or scenario. 

The final product had to be digital so reading to the students wasn't enough.  Finding a way children can have an experience inside the classroom was tricky and the idea for virtual trips come about. It is my shooting for the stars. I am excited because I am starting to see ways it might be able to happen.

I am aware, however, that Visual Reality cardboard box glasses only let one person view the phone. Looking at the image above, you can see my colleagues' preferences from all the dots and googly eyes. Then we talked about the most popular idea and how we could develop it. I am wishing we had a green screen a 360 go pro and many other tools to help.