Site Excitement!

Site excitement!

According to Dorothy we are halfway. It has certainly been good to be embarking on this online delivery in the term break. Today's session felt not so overwhelming so that's positive. It was a particularly relevant and timely topic of building a site. So...

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

The 4 elements of Manaiakalani are to be visible, ubiquitous, connected and empowered. It was the visibility that was talked to today. In the past the learning journey could be hidden, learner's success often depending on the cultural capital of a parent. WALT's and SC opened up learning. However it is not just the learning but the planning, process, outcomes and assessment that can be visible.

A few examples - don't want to be emailing work to children, limit the links. Don't make the learning invisible, unnecessary passwords. Feedback to be timely and appropriate.

Kerry spoke to the topic of multimodal learning ( engaging the hook) Aiming for behavioural and cognitive engagement. The content is king! As teachers we are competing with the likes of You Tube. We need to be asking What suits my learners? what differentiation is there? What opportunities to deepen and extend their thinking? Multi modal meaning writing, video, song, graph, animation...additionally we want our children to be exposed to multi textual reading, a piece they can read independently, then a scaffolding, complementary and challenging text.

• What did I learn that could improve my confidence, capability or workflow as a professional?

How to build a multi modal site, which I will need to practice with and add to this week. It was suggested that we create a new site each year for our own professional learning. I was pleasantly surprised that I managed to keep up with the instructions the first time round for building a site. However along the way I did get lost navigating between 2 hangouts and 2 screens and thinking I was in the wrong email account. With Cheryl talking me through I managed to add a link to our group slides and then publish the site. Need to revisit though.

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

I already have a class site that was set up by our DP before school finished last term. I could insert a page for each week to begin with perhaps or insert pages for my reading groups. I do need to be sure it is something I can sustain, is worthwhile and of course multi modal!

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

I think until I repeat the learning and do it for myself I can't really say I have learnt it!

• What did I take out of today that would help me connect with my learners?

A question that Dorothy posed at the conclusion. Reflecting on having this week posted a video of myself leading school prayer and the feedback I received. I am thinking it is important that I send a video to connect with my Room 7 children next term. If I can put that on my site as part of a weekly 'reaching out' it would be a good thing to do.