Today's theme was revision, and we were finally going to sit our exam!
My mind has been preoccupied over the last week with other issues, so I have not had the time to revise or prepare for this exam, but I went through a few of the issues I have been having with Google Sheets, as this was the area I felt like I needed to focus on if I were to pass.
We quickly went over Google Classroom today; I had been using this programme for a while so was quite used to its features, which helped me in the exam. I am considering creating a workspace on Hapara, but had been put off by the format, which I didn't quite understand.
We then started our exams, I tried to move quickly through the sections, double-checking each set of instructions to be sure I followed them accurately. I managed to finish with over an hour to go, which I was pleased about, and passed.
Wednesday 13 November 2019
Wednesday 6 November 2019
Eighth Day of DFI
This week we were focussed on Computational Thinking. We have been preparing for this in our curriculum for the last 6 months or so; the original talk and definitions seemed to be limiting computational thinking to coding only, but the recent talk has been about any sort of formulaic thinking, such as a recipe, or structure of thinking to problem-solve. This is much more like what we do in the Social Sciences, and it will mean that we are much more likely to be able to match what we already do to the new curriculum.
At lunchtime we had the chance to experiment with some of the tools which students are using for story-telling. I made a quick movie with a stop motion camera, this allowed me to see how it could be simply set up in class to tell stories by students which relate to the topics we study. In the afternoon we were asked to tell a story using one of the digital tools which we had experienced earlier in the day. I chose to use the dash robot tool; I thought of topics which I am currently teaching and learning about, and the story behind chocolate leaped out as an idea.
I thought of a series of tasks and sounds which the robot could do in order to tell the 'back story' of chocolate. I was able to record myself about 10 times to add these voice recordings into the presentation at the right time. It was a bit basic, but hopefully it has told the story in a different and memorable way!
Using this tool to tell this story did not seem very authentic; I think if I had had the time, stop-motion movies would have been a better, less 'gimmicky' way to do this.
Below is a recording of the dash robot presentation:
At lunchtime we had the chance to experiment with some of the tools which students are using for story-telling. I made a quick movie with a stop motion camera, this allowed me to see how it could be simply set up in class to tell stories by students which relate to the topics we study. In the afternoon we were asked to tell a story using one of the digital tools which we had experienced earlier in the day. I chose to use the dash robot tool; I thought of topics which I am currently teaching and learning about, and the story behind chocolate leaped out as an idea.
I thought of a series of tasks and sounds which the robot could do in order to tell the 'back story' of chocolate. I was able to record myself about 10 times to add these voice recordings into the presentation at the right time. It was a bit basic, but hopefully it has told the story in a different and memorable way!
Using this tool to tell this story did not seem very authentic; I think if I had had the time, stop-motion movies would have been a better, less 'gimmicky' way to do this.
Below is a recording of the dash robot presentation:
Wednesday 30 October 2019
Seventh Day of DFI
Today we were focussing on media and how to use some of the other tools on Google.
It was interesting to see how we could set up youtube playlists. I had been sharing links with 3 of my students via Hapara Dashboard only a few minutes earlier, but was now able to set up a playlist containing all the links I had shared with them, and then embed this on the subject website.
This will allow me to set up playlists for each learning intention within each subject, and the students can use the site as it was originally intended, as a "one stop shop" so that all relevant information is on there. We also looked at how to livestream to youtube; this might be good for school events, but you need plenty of equipment for this (perhaps we could ask for more money in our budget for 2020?)
We then had a tutu with Google Slides. After seeing a few, we were able to start thinking about creating an animation of our own. I chose to do something simplistic, which may amuse my own children, but I can see how this may be something which our students could do (probably more as a starter activity at the start of a topic, than as the main presentation, but possibly it could be used for this purpose).
The last task of the day was to create a new drawing as our 'About Me' section on our blog. I used a tool called colourpick eyedropper; this meant that when I'd copied the school badge, I could use this tool to find the exact same colours used, and then turn these into my background colours, so that my photo matched the school colours, linking my photo with the school subtly!
It was interesting to see how we could set up youtube playlists. I had been sharing links with 3 of my students via Hapara Dashboard only a few minutes earlier, but was now able to set up a playlist containing all the links I had shared with them, and then embed this on the subject website.
This will allow me to set up playlists for each learning intention within each subject, and the students can use the site as it was originally intended, as a "one stop shop" so that all relevant information is on there. We also looked at how to livestream to youtube; this might be good for school events, but you need plenty of equipment for this (perhaps we could ask for more money in our budget for 2020?)
We then had a tutu with Google Slides. After seeing a few, we were able to start thinking about creating an animation of our own. I chose to do something simplistic, which may amuse my own children, but I can see how this may be something which our students could do (probably more as a starter activity at the start of a topic, than as the main presentation, but possibly it could be used for this purpose).
The last task of the day was to create a new drawing as our 'About Me' section on our blog. I used a tool called colourpick eyedropper; this meant that when I'd copied the school badge, I could use this tool to find the exact same colours used, and then turn these into my background colours, so that my photo matched the school colours, linking my photo with the school subtly!
Wednesday 23 October 2019
Sixth day of DFI
Today our focus was on using devices.
We experienced using iPads and Chromebooks - I use Chromebooks during staff meetings as I don't have a laptop, but I didn't know all the Chromebook shortcuts; it felt today like we were learning a language which was similar to the one we know, but had lots of little 'twists' which were confusing at first. Once I found the shortcuts for Chromebook it was easy to use them to get the same results as I do on a laptop or desktop.
I had never used an iPad before; it was initially daunting, but I kept asking questions of those around me and the instructors, and was able to pick up how to do things quickly. We used this to make presentations at a Primary level; this seemed to be easy to pick up and apply.
The last main thing we did today was to create a screencastify. We were tasked to create one about an aspect of being cybersmart; I chose to create one about smart surfing, as this is something I am currently focussing on with my Year 9 and 10 classes. My first effort was 9 minutes long, so I tried to cut this down to 3 minutes; I was not entirely successful as my second attempt was 5 minutes, but it was a reduction in the time the first one took! One of our staff uses this tool a lot with her classes to create 'rewindable learning'; this will be good for students who are auditory learners.
My 5 minute effort is below:
We experienced using iPads and Chromebooks - I use Chromebooks during staff meetings as I don't have a laptop, but I didn't know all the Chromebook shortcuts; it felt today like we were learning a language which was similar to the one we know, but had lots of little 'twists' which were confusing at first. Once I found the shortcuts for Chromebook it was easy to use them to get the same results as I do on a laptop or desktop.
I had never used an iPad before; it was initially daunting, but I kept asking questions of those around me and the instructors, and was able to pick up how to do things quickly. We used this to make presentations at a Primary level; this seemed to be easy to pick up and apply.
The last main thing we did today was to create a screencastify. We were tasked to create one about an aspect of being cybersmart; I chose to create one about smart surfing, as this is something I am currently focussing on with my Year 9 and 10 classes. My first effort was 9 minutes long, so I tried to cut this down to 3 minutes; I was not entirely successful as my second attempt was 5 minutes, but it was a reduction in the time the first one took! One of our staff uses this tool a lot with her classes to create 'rewindable learning'; this will be good for students who are auditory learners.
My 5 minute effort is below:
Wednesday 16 October 2019
Fifth Day of DFI
Today we spent time going through our current websites, checking them, developing them, presenting them to get feedback from the others in the group.
The biggest 'glitch' today was finding that many PDF files which I'd added to the site were not viewable by those outside the school. After a fair amount of time, and some trial and error, Kerry and I found ways to make sure these files were viewable. Despite the shared settings seeming like all files would be viewable, they were not; the only way to fix this seemed be to be embedding the files, or deleting them and re-adding them, which will be a lot of work, but I may just wait until students tell me they can't see the file, then I can quickly edit the site to make the link work. Over time this will fix the glitches!
Just trying to embed the screenshot below of the website revealed that it may be a glitch in the laptop, rather than something else. I think if I log in to this laptop while the laptop is physically plugged into the school system with a cable may fix all the issues!
The more workable the website, the easier it is for students and whanau to find their way around, and the more obvious the learning. This will lead to improved educational outcomes for all.
The biggest 'glitch' today was finding that many PDF files which I'd added to the site were not viewable by those outside the school. After a fair amount of time, and some trial and error, Kerry and I found ways to make sure these files were viewable. Despite the shared settings seeming like all files would be viewable, they were not; the only way to fix this seemed be to be embedding the files, or deleting them and re-adding them, which will be a lot of work, but I may just wait until students tell me they can't see the file, then I can quickly edit the site to make the link work. Over time this will fix the glitches!
Just trying to embed the screenshot below of the website revealed that it may be a glitch in the laptop, rather than something else. I think if I log in to this laptop while the laptop is physically plugged into the school system with a cable may fix all the issues!
The more workable the website, the easier it is for students and whanau to find their way around, and the more obvious the learning. This will lead to improved educational outcomes for all.
Wednesday 18 September 2019
Fourth Day of DFI
Today was all about creating sites.
The pedagogy behind Manaiakalani was reviewed, and multi-modal was reviewed as a foundation of how we should be setting up our sites.
I had set up a departmental site approximately 5 years ago, which has been transferred onto the new google sites, which required about 5 hours of 're-jigging' to get it to work. The main idea with this is to put all resources and information on, so that students can go onto the site in order to review/refresh their learning.
We were asked to create a site; this was a challenge as I couldn't immediately think of something which I wanted to make a site about. I settled on the school trip to Cambodia in a couple of weeks; this site can also double as an exemplar for Year 9 students when they are studying other cultures during either the Migration or Kiwi Culture units.
It was a bit of a 'refresher' for me, as it was a while since I'd set up a site; I have been editing and adding to my current site, but it was good to go back to the basics again and remind myself how to do things.
The pedagogy behind Manaiakalani was reviewed, and multi-modal was reviewed as a foundation of how we should be setting up our sites.
I had set up a departmental site approximately 5 years ago, which has been transferred onto the new google sites, which required about 5 hours of 're-jigging' to get it to work. The main idea with this is to put all resources and information on, so that students can go onto the site in order to review/refresh their learning.
We were asked to create a site; this was a challenge as I couldn't immediately think of something which I wanted to make a site about. I settled on the school trip to Cambodia in a couple of weeks; this site can also double as an exemplar for Year 9 students when they are studying other cultures during either the Migration or Kiwi Culture units.
It was a bit of a 'refresher' for me, as it was a while since I'd set up a site; I have been editing and adding to my current site, but it was good to go back to the basics again and remind myself how to do things.
I'm not sure if I will go to the bother of creating a new site for every topic I plan to teach - this seems to be a bit of an overkill at the moment. I will probably create a new section onto the departmental site, in order to keep expanding the choices available to students each year.
Wednesday 11 September 2019
Third day of DFI
This week we were focussing on Google forms, maps and sheets.
Up to now I had only filled in Google forms, but was now creating my own. It seemed pretty easy to set up, but there are a lot of further 'layers' with all the settings etc to make them look prettier and work differently; this will be something to tutu with in my own time.
Google my maps can be used in a number of ways; this could help you plan a route, plot different places or measure distance. I am sure there are plenty of ways we can use this in Social Science in future, such as plotting human rights abuses around the world.
Google sheets was the one aspect I was not looking forward to - up to now I have been very loath to try and set anything up on excel, as this seemed to fit with people of a more mathematical bent than myself. Once we'd gone through a few of the 'bells and whistles', it became more apparent how you could use it. I still feel like I am only scratching the surface with this programme, and it also seems to be very much about presenting numbers in 'interesting' ways, rather than in-depth analysing, but the more use I make of it, the more I will pick up I am sure.
The big 'annoyance' this week is the use of the phrase 'analyse', when 'describe' would be more accurate. As a high school teacher, analysis is a much more in-depth thinking skill which students are expected to demonstrate in Year 13 for all their assessments. What we seem to be asked to do is to summarise or describe the information.
Below is my summary of one of the students' blog sites:
Up to now I had only filled in Google forms, but was now creating my own. It seemed pretty easy to set up, but there are a lot of further 'layers' with all the settings etc to make them look prettier and work differently; this will be something to tutu with in my own time.
Google my maps can be used in a number of ways; this could help you plan a route, plot different places or measure distance. I am sure there are plenty of ways we can use this in Social Science in future, such as plotting human rights abuses around the world.
Google sheets was the one aspect I was not looking forward to - up to now I have been very loath to try and set anything up on excel, as this seemed to fit with people of a more mathematical bent than myself. Once we'd gone through a few of the 'bells and whistles', it became more apparent how you could use it. I still feel like I am only scratching the surface with this programme, and it also seems to be very much about presenting numbers in 'interesting' ways, rather than in-depth analysing, but the more use I make of it, the more I will pick up I am sure.
The big 'annoyance' this week is the use of the phrase 'analyse', when 'describe' would be more accurate. As a high school teacher, analysis is a much more in-depth thinking skill which students are expected to demonstrate in Year 13 for all their assessments. What we seem to be asked to do is to summarise or describe the information.
Below is my summary of one of the students' blog sites:
Wednesday 4 September 2019
Second Day of DFI
Today we looked at using hangouts as a tool to meet and explain things.
This seemed to be a good way to have mini-tutorials with each other, so you can show the others what you are talking about as you talk about it. This will be a good way to meet within our department when some people are not able to be at the meeting; we can share 'how to' as well as talk the other people through the skills that we are talking about.
Hangouts seem to also be a good way to have one-to-one contact with students; if they are not in the same room, or if they are at home revising and we are free. This also seems to be able to either add to our workload, or make it more flexible, depending on your point of view and how flexible you are allowed to be by management!
Learning about Gmail, organizing folders and setting up labels and filters was very useful, as it allows the inbox to become much clearer, and is an easier way to file information away, and recover it for later use. I think I will still keep emails unread in my inbox in order to remind me to read it and action it!
Google Keep also is a good tool - this can be used to set up reminders for yourself, or multiple people. Up to now I have tended to do this sort of self-organisation on paper in my diary, and will still probably do so, but the fact that others can be added into lists/reminders can enable tasks to be shared between people much more easily. I can see that this could be easily used when organising large events at the Fire Station, as we are now using a system called CIMS 4 which allows for much more organised and focussed delegation, and Google Keep can be used to break down tasks within each delegated group. Students can also use this tool to organise tasks within groups when doing large projects such as setting up a business, by setting up a list of individual tasks, sharing with the rest of their group, so that others in their group can see if everyone is doing the tasks allocated to them.
Calendar has been a tool that I have not used much up to now, as I have a paper diary which I use regularly. At the moment I am not entirely sure that I will ditch the paper calendar, but I can see the use of putting everything online. I find that I need to be over-organised, and plan each day rigidly, but usually remember to do everything I need to do. Getting into the habit of checking the calendar will be something that I can see that I need to do in future!
This seemed to be a good way to have mini-tutorials with each other, so you can show the others what you are talking about as you talk about it. This will be a good way to meet within our department when some people are not able to be at the meeting; we can share 'how to' as well as talk the other people through the skills that we are talking about.
Hangouts seem to also be a good way to have one-to-one contact with students; if they are not in the same room, or if they are at home revising and we are free. This also seems to be able to either add to our workload, or make it more flexible, depending on your point of view and how flexible you are allowed to be by management!
Learning about Gmail, organizing folders and setting up labels and filters was very useful, as it allows the inbox to become much clearer, and is an easier way to file information away, and recover it for later use. I think I will still keep emails unread in my inbox in order to remind me to read it and action it!
Google Keep also is a good tool - this can be used to set up reminders for yourself, or multiple people. Up to now I have tended to do this sort of self-organisation on paper in my diary, and will still probably do so, but the fact that others can be added into lists/reminders can enable tasks to be shared between people much more easily. I can see that this could be easily used when organising large events at the Fire Station, as we are now using a system called CIMS 4 which allows for much more organised and focussed delegation, and Google Keep can be used to break down tasks within each delegated group. Students can also use this tool to organise tasks within groups when doing large projects such as setting up a business, by setting up a list of individual tasks, sharing with the rest of their group, so that others in their group can see if everyone is doing the tasks allocated to them.
Calendar has been a tool that I have not used much up to now, as I have a paper diary which I use regularly. At the moment I am not entirely sure that I will ditch the paper calendar, but I can see the use of putting everything online. I find that I need to be over-organised, and plan each day rigidly, but usually remember to do everything I need to do. Getting into the habit of checking the calendar will be something that I can see that I need to do in future!
Wednesday 28 August 2019
First day of DFI
Overall this day I have learned some tricks and new tools which will help me use some of the resources I currently use more effectively.
I have learned how to link people into sections of google docs by using +their email; this will help me to focus peoples' attention onto specific sections of text. I can see that this function will help me focus senior History students onto specific parts of text when we are analysing information.
I have learned how to use tables within a doc to split up information more effectively, and then hide the table borders. This will make documents more seamless and professional.
I have also learned how to use the 'title' function in google docs to split up large documents, and make them more easily searchable by students. This will help them to find information more effectively.
I used the table borders skills I learned to format this end-of-year write up for the Under 9 rugby team which I coach.
I have learned how to link people into sections of google docs by using +their email; this will help me to focus peoples' attention onto specific sections of text. I can see that this function will help me focus senior History students onto specific parts of text when we are analysing information.
I have learned how to use tables within a doc to split up information more effectively, and then hide the table borders. This will make documents more seamless and professional.
I have also learned how to use the 'title' function in google docs to split up large documents, and make them more easily searchable by students. This will help them to find information more effectively.
I used the table borders skills I learned to format this end-of-year write up for the Under 9 rugby team which I coach.
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