Observing a modelled Te Reo lesson

Lisa Watson (facilitator of Te Reo Māori) came into my class to support myself and my students with our learning of te reo by modelling a lesson. I was able to observe her lesson about te huarere (the weather). 
We have learned how we can say what the weather is like where we are, and what the weather is like in different locations throughout New Zealand. 

"Tena koutou katoa.

Ānei ngā tohu huarere mō apōpō.

Ki Kaikohe, ka pupuhi te hau". 

I wanted the students to make the most of the lesson, so I reflected and decided to extend on to the lesson by integrating it with digital technology. Students will create a Green-screen production of a weather forecast. This will make a relevant follow-up activity for the students to help them engage in te reo in real life situations, and to allow them to easily remember and recall what they have learned. 
Standard 6: Provide opportunities and support for learners to engage with, practice and apply learning to different contexts and make connections with prior learning.

LEARN CREATE SHARE: Manaiakalani workshop Term 4 week 1.

I completed Challenge 3, Visible Teaching and Learning workflow, in the Kaikohekohe Teachers LCS workshop. I reflected on my own Visible Teaching and Learning Workflow to complete this activity.
It has made me realise where the gaps are in my own practice, and made me think about how I can get it out to my students' families for more whanau involvement.

Call back day #8 October 2nd, 2018.

What is the why behind everything you do?

4 values that are most important to me.

• Uniqueness
• Supportive
• Inspirational
• Determination

10 values of who you are.

• humourous
• inclusive
• challenging
• creative
• honest
• ethical
• encouraging
• reliable
• efficient
• respectful

My goal for term 4 is to work smarter not harder.

Ways I can achieve this are by utilising support systems within my classroom, school, and home-life.

The Miriam Centre
Presentation by Hillary Nobilo & Duncan Anderson

Click on picture link to website

Information was presented by Nobilo and Anderson on current understanding on brain development in the early years specific to vulnerable children.

What I have found interesting is the different stages of emotions that children experience, and the different parts of the brain and the jobs they have. 

Signs a child may be triggered

Anxiety, fear, and worry about safety of self and others (more clingy with a teacher or parent).

• Worry about recurrence of violence.
• Increased distress (unusually whiny, irritable, moody).
• Changes in behaviour.
• Increase in activity level.
• Decreased attention and/or concentration.
• Withdrawal from others or activities.
• Absenteeism.
• Increased somatic complaints (eg: headaches, stomach-aches, over reaction to minor bumps and bruises).

Call back day #7: October 1st, 2018.

MAC Maori Achievement Collaborative

What is your confidence to provide a 'Culturally responsive' learning environment?

Te Tiriti o Waitangi = Professional standards.

KEN Toolkit: Running a work shop

For KEN toolkit #3 I was asked to run a stop Motion Animation workshop for teachers from our KEN network.
This was a last minute request, however I feel it went well. The teachers who attended seemed to enjoy the session, and took away with them some new skills to pass on to their students.
I thought I would be really nervous, but this was not the case at all. All in all I think it was a successful session.
What went well was my communicating the knowledge of the skills I was teaching. 
What I found challenging was the fact I really didn't have any time to plan anything. 
What I would do differently next time is think of potential questions or scenarios I might be asked about, and have answers/solutions for those.

Creating - Above the line SAMR

"'Above the line' task design drives a transformation of teaching practices and classroom roles. These types of 'modified' and 'redefined' tasks are motivating for learners because they are increasingly authentic and engage students in higher-order thinking." 

(https://sites.google.com/core-ed.ac.nz/connected-learners-share/creating). 

Learning provocations:

• Consider how modification and redefinition tasks are different from substitution and augmentation tasks. What is it the difference?

Substitution and Augmentation have little or no creative or adaptive function.

Modification and Redefinition tasks allow for more ownership and creativity by the student.

• Think about a 'practice' activity that you do in class, to reinforce student learning - how could you redesign this task so that is a Learn-Create-Share activity that operates 'above the line' in the SAMR model?

Discussion at KEN PLG: Vocabulary and Language Inquiry

During our KEN PLG's we have been discussing areas of weakness' across our cluster. The following areas have been identified from the data gathered.

• Vocab/language 

• Generative Feedback/Feedforward 

• Student agency 

• Teaching critical thinking 

I chose to partake in the Vocab/Language inquiry.

Link to what I have implemented in class.

Reflection on Literacy

My focus this year has been based mainly around literacy. I am trying to build within my students a love for reading and writing. My aim is to build on their vocabulary, so they can then be more successful when reading and writing, and therefore comprehension. (6)
I have tried to incorporate more te reo across my planning so students are more culturally responsive. (1,5)
We are taking part in a nationwide blogging program called Tuhi Mai Tuhi Atu. Students explore and then comment on other students blogs from different parts of New Zealand. I believe this has been an amazing teaching tool for my students about communication, reading, writing, and social etiquette. (3,6)

We have utilised writing rubrics, which enable students to be active participants in the process of their learning. They can see where they are, and how they can make changes for improvement. This has led to lots of class discussion and critiquing of work. 
The students are becoming more responsible and taking ownership of their education. (4)

DFI: week 9

Well that 9 weeks went fast. What an incredible journey. I met some great people, and was able to share with them, and learn from them along the way. It was such a pleasure to witness the growth within our group over such a short period of time.
I highly recommend anyone taking part in the Digital Fluency Intensive as a way of up-skilling and building confidence within the digital realms of education.

I successfully completed Level 1 Google Certification, and am looking forward to doing the Level 2 Certification.

DFI: Week 8

The focus area of the Manaiakalani Kaupapa this week was Empowered.
Creativity Empowers learning.
You cant truly be empowered without being Visible (sharing ideas), Ubiquitous (working when you choose), and Connected (collaborative, social).

DFI: Week 7

Sites

We looked at other teachers sites and critiqued what works well, what doesn't. It was interesting to see the varying sites, and this made me re-evaluate my site, which I am mostly happy with. What I realised was that I had too many clicks to get to 'Other Curriculum' areas. So I put all the buttons for all the areas on to the Home page.
I think this will be easier for visitors to my site to navigate.

From DFI-Leading Learning Using Google Sites by Clarelle Carruthers.

I also learned about DMIC. I had never heard of it. I read some research articles about it, and I like the idea of the benefits from heterogeneous (mixed-ability) groupings, based on strength-based and social capabilities, rather than based on a maths level/stage.

DFI: Week 2

Unfortunately I was away for this day, but I still took part by working through what was on the agenda (the best I could).

Each week we Connect with each other. This is where we discuss what we have tried, what has worked for you, what hasn't worked for you, and what you need help with. I find this is great to hear other peoples' successes and struggles, and often I have something in common with these things, which makes it relevant and of value to myself, and therefore my students.

DFI Week 6: Multimodal & sites

What did I learn today that could be used with my learners?  

Today I learned more about different types of multi-modal usage within sites. I learned about using Breakouts within your site to make learning more meaningful and engaging for students. I didn't even consider doing anything like a Breakout (possibly due to my having a limited amount of understanding about what this actually is). It is definitely something I will consider doing in the future with my students.

What did I learn that increased my understanding of Manaiakalani kaupapa and pedagogy?

The importance of Digital Technologies supporting and enabling visible teaching and learning. How it is important for students, and whanau to have the learning journey visible. Visible to the learners, teachers, whanau, and colleagues. “Removing barriers to learning”

Visible teaching is:

• accessible
• available
• advance

DFI Week 5: Hour of Code

I completed The Hour of Code. What an awesome way for my students (and myself) to better understand and experiment with coding.

I discovered the importance of giving clearly thought out step-by-step instructions, and especially giving a starting point. I plan on using this in my class linked to Procedural Writing.

DFI week 4: Creating infographics

Some of the things I learned today were creating Infographics, and when sharing a YouTube video, how you can set it up NOT to play suggested videos at the end. This in particular appealed to me, as I use YouTube videos in my planning all the time, and find it frustrating when they play inappropriate videos at the end.

This DLO is an Infographic linking to the YouTube video on how to share without the suggested videos at the end.
Unfortunately it is not currently working interactively through Blogger, but you can have a look on my class site for week 5. 

Digital Dig

To better understand how the students Chromebooks work, and how to teach them to use their devices more efficiently, I took part in the Manaiakalani Digital Dig. It was really helpful, and easy to use. I can see this will be a very beneficial lesson for my students. I had my students do the Digital Dig before, but not with them. This time in class I will do it with them. I think this will be a good way to model and scaffold for their learning.

DFI week 3: How to make groups in Hapara

This is a brief rewindable learning I created using the Screencastify tool.

The video shows how to make groups within Hapara Dashboard. This is handy for grouping students according to reading, writing, maths levels and stages, or any other reasons you need to group students.

Even though I use Hapara regularly, I had not used this function before. I also have used Screencastify several times in the past, and find it a very valuable tool for modelling to students.

DFI week 1: DFI Reflections

• What did I learn that increased my understanding of Manaiakalani kaupapa and pedagogy?
• What did I learn that could improve my confidence, capability or workflow as a professional?
• What did I learn that could be used with my learners?   I learned about some new handy Google Add-ons that I can implement within my class, and also within my professional life. Some of these were fun tools that would be great for students to use, and some were tools which would help myself in the day-to-day running of my teaching program.

• What did I learn that could improve my confidence, capability or workflow in my personal life?