3 hour exam ... are you for real?

Today is the day where we complete our 9 week Digital Fluency Intensive. Intense it has been, challenging, stretching, even easy at times but most importantly lots of fun. I have loved getting to know other teachers, networking, sharing ideas, hearing the struggles and hearing the celebrations. It has truly been the best PD I've ever had. 

But first, the exam. We knew coming into the Intensive that we would finish with a Google Educator Exam. It is a 3 hour exam, practising the skills learnt on the course. 

Many people were feeling really nervous, and even though I had decided not to stress about it as the time approached to begin I started to get nervous energy coursing through my body. It is amazing how we feel as adults before something like this. How do our students feel before they sit down for a PAT Test or E-Asttle? But it is good to be in the Learning Pit and it is good to have these feelings. Getting in the arena is the big battle! And here I am, in the arena. 

I, of course, panicked as soon as I saw the first question. In fairness, it was on Google Classroom and we don't use that. Thankfully we could use the 'Review Later' button and I moved on and felt calmer as I hit questions I was confident in. 

The exam is split into two parts; multi-choice and practical scenarios. The practical scenarios were much easier as they were doing activities and once you got into the swing of things it felt just like what we normally do every day. I finished with just an hour to spare and only three questions to review. The hardest part was pushing the submit button. But submit I did and then the nervous wait ...

Whew ... 

So, the end is here. I have learnt so much and strengthened my own knowledge of what I can do. I have been reminded of the WHY of why we are doing this. Having the input around the pedagogy has been the standout me. Dorothy's wisdom has allowed me to engage again with the WHY again and given me the words to be able to explain this learning to others. I really don't understand why people feel so resistant to it. Learn Create Share is so powerful and it truly changes the students learn as well as the way I teach. I see the benefits of this, not just because the data tell us it works but because I can see the engagement in my own students. 

Sometimes it can feel like adults don't understand this process but it isn't about them, it is about the students. The evidence is in the classroom though. I received an email from a colleague who worked in our school a few years ago and they left because they couldn't see how it would work in a digital environment. They said this:

"By the way. What a stunning programme you are running in Rimu. I have had a glimpse of what you have been talking about all along but did not have the vision to understand."

It was so gratifying but humbling to receive this email. We run a good programme. Our students are happy and engaged. They are learning. The use of digital is enhancing and engaging them in ways a worksheet never could. Learning is interesting and exciting and they want to be at school. 

TURBOCHARGE! 

That is what this DFI has helped me to do; personally, in my teaching, in my role as School Leader, in my next steps as a teacher and as a Learn Create Share advocate. It is exciting and I can't wait to see what the next steps look like. 

Is it scratchy in here?

Did you know that sharing is a really important part of the Learn, Create, Share circle? I know when we first started this journey a number of years ago we didn't really understand that it was to be more than just a blog post of perfectly finished work. What we have discovered and learnt is that we don't just share to finish our learning, we actually share to learn. The brilliant thing about having a blog allows us and our students to share even further than just parents and teachers.

Something that really stood out to me was Dorothy sharing this:

As teachers, we ask our children to write for an audience and there is a compulsory audience who is forced or paid to listen or read this. An authentic audience is someone who chooses to listen/read your work.

This is so true. The students know and expect that we will read there work. In fact, they get frustrated when we don't read it, but they don't always have an expectation that anyone else should care about their work. But seeing the excitement on their faces when someone they don't know or someone they really care about, particularly an adult, writes on their blog helps us understand why it is so important to share with that wider audience. Authenticity is what these students need, in a world where nothing is really that authentic ... and they know that.

Do you agree?

Computational Thinking! 

This is something I've done two PD's in before, however, because I am not using it in my classroom I have forgotten most things. Because I am Learn Create Share leader and using digital technologies in the classroom then this is something I haven't thought much about. But today has been a good reminder that we have to teach this from next year and that you don't need to much stuff to be able to teach it. No need for fancy robots (though that would be fun).

We started by doing an unplugged exercise where we were sorted, just like a computer algorithm. In this exercise, we had to google the distance to where we were born and then 6 at a time got sorted from furthest to closest. It was pretty easy and you can see how that would be quick to do in a classroom with any sort of data.

Getting Sorted:

Kawana came to us from the Pam Fergusson Trust, who are working with teachers to get ready for the new digital technology curriculum. Kawana has a background in computer science and is passionate about helping Maori young people access this area. You can check more out at https://trailblazers.pamfergusson.org.nz/

A key part of today's learning was around exploring the concepts of computational thinking. This involved thinking about ethics and morals, understanding binary and the practical side of using different types of apps. We also spend some time looking at the new Digital Readiness site that the government has put together for teachers before the 2020 launch. 

My biggest learning was around using scratch to make something. This is definitely a learning pit area for me. I have spent a tiny bit of time exploring but it has been a couple of years. It is logical and involves problem-solving (as all math really is) and it wasn't as hard or as complicated as I remember it being. You can check out my process in the slide below. 

There is much that I've learnt that we can use in the classroom. In fact, we have put Computational Thinking into our Tuesday plan for Term 4, a great way to do some creative problem-solving in a different way. I am looking forward to this.

What do you to introduce computational thinking in your classroom? 

How many tabs can a teacher have open at one time?

Following on from last week's learning we continued the journey of working smarter, not harder.

Our main focus was on learning how to use Google Hangouts, plus a few extra tips and tricks.

Google Hangouts:

Today we experienced Google Hangouts, firstly 'hanging out' with Dorothy, where she spoke about LEARN and we listened and followed on a shared screen. Following this, we then 'hung out' in small groups learning how to share our screens and speak about our favourite place. You can see below some screenshots of our first conversation as a group and what it looks like. It is amazing how something simple like turning a microphone on and off and sharing a screen seems so complicated for the first time.

Later on in the day, we had a go discussion a students blog post from the Summer Learning Journey and having it recorded at the same time. I don't think it was truly successful, for a number of reasons; lack of understanding around the task, tech issues (the recording didn't do the sound initially), nerves around most of us not wanting to 'fail' or 'look stupid' ... or maybe that was just me. But it could be a great thing to try with students and for staff to use at different times. 

Workflow:

We continue to be given skills/extensions/apps/ideas to make our workflow better. We focussed on three things; emails, calendars and Keep. Many of the things in email and calendar I had already explored so it didn't feel so helpful, though I did get to change my email background to a personal photo so that was nice.

Keep, however, was a different story. This seems to have many uses - list-making, note-taking, a place to keep ideas and lists and the ultimate hack ... turning text from a picture into text! That is mindblowing and we can't wait to try it out with our Sharp Reading sheets. We have already started to make a list of comments or pictures that we want to use often. Another member of our group uses it to drop digital stickers into their students work because the children missed the stickers. You can share lists between others so that is helpful for Angela and I and our workflow. 

In terms of thinking about the pedagogy that sits behind all of this, I would like to take some time to reflect on what Dorothy talked about. 

Learn is the sticky idea that most people struggle with. We are all, always learning but Learn is the bit where we access what we already know. Dorothy spent some time breaking the idea of Learn down a bit more. 

Exploring the idea of RATE was a good reminder.

R - recognising effective practise

A - when we have recognised it then amplifying that effective practice. This does include understanding the data and then amplifying that across other classes

T -  Turbocharge is where technology clicks in and allows us to amplify our effective practice

E = Effective Practise

What do we do that does this in our class? Do I do this? Having some time to explore this would have been helpful. I also wonder if it is something that we should be exploring as a school? What does YMS see as Learn? 

Hmmmmm, more to process around some of this but the tables are being packed up and my brains stopped working.

And the answer to the screen title is .... Many, many, many tabs (though One Tab or Toby Mini will help you to control the many).

DFI ... a new journey for me.

Beginning today I started walking a 9-week-long journey exploring digital fluency. Even though I have been teaching using digital devices for over 5 years I still have a lot to learn. Angela (my work wife) is also attending, which is and will make our teaching stronger. Already we have created a google doc for Maths Week using what we have learnt.

Today's session was called: Core Business. 

It has covered the origin story of Manaiakalani, shared succinctly and passionately by Dorothy Burt. Gerhard Vermeulen and Mark Maddren took us through a very full day. Mostly we were going over some google basics and how to work smarter not harder. I found it to be helpful, a reminder of things that I've forgotten, and new things that I want to use to be smarter in my teaching and work life. 

There was some simple learning; how to make your bookmarks icons only, how to copy and paste without formating (a key for blogging), how to use the explore tool in teaching and for our own work. I'm sure I've been shown these things before but these things slide out of your mind when you don't use them regularly. 

Some new learning for me was: 

• Using tables in docs but colouring the lines white and having the boxes coloured so it changes the way they look. 
• Getting a free icon sourcing page!
• How to use commenting and explore tool together for extending learning.
• Voice typing now has a New Zealand option. This is so great for us and for students.
• How to keep my personal and work Google accounts totally separate user account change in the toolbar, not just in the account. This is really great, especially to keep searches and work-life separate. 
• Command + number allows you to jump between tabs. This can make life faster when you are moving between tabs.

It was a good learning day. I am looking forward to what the journey ahead is going to bring. I feel that it will enhance my teaching greatly, as well as making me a more efficient teacher. I look forward to what it brings.