Welcome to my blog! I'm Karen Belt, a Deputy Principal, working at Lynmore Primary School in Rotorua, New Zealand. In the past I have taught Years 0 - 4 and used 1:1 iPads to engage and motivate learners and improve student achievement. This blog documents my teaching and leadership journey and my learning processes with iPads in the classroom. I am a Google Certified Educator #SYD17 and I'm proud of having been a member of the inaugural Manaiakalani Digital Teaching Academy(MDTA) program and a Spark Manaiakalani Innovative Teacher (MIT) and an inaugural Manaiakalani Google Class OnAir teacher.

Monday 25 September 2023

BOI Summit 2023 - Day 1

Excited to attend another summit, this time in the beautiful Bay of Islands.  The host school is Bay of Islands College, located at Kawakawa.



Keynote session - Edith Painting-Davis, Principal, Bay of Islands College

Navigating to the North East

For a lot of children the relationships need to be in place for them to learn; what works for Maori works for all (Bishop, Berryman).   Create a pedagogy of relations (Te Kotahitanga).  Any change starts with the staff - having them on board can make the biggest difference.  Close links with whānau - the village raises a student.  Having the relationship with the whānau can really help.  Create a culture of caring in the staff - vigilance, generosity, and acknowledgements  - happy staff, happy students.  This will encourage staff to go above & beyond rather than the 9 - 3 mentality.

Create a balance between relationships, pedagogy and culture - to create the best learning environment for the tamariki in the classroom.  

Simon Sinick's golden circle - why do you do what you do?  Always make sure it has purpose before you do it.  Ensure you allow for teachers to have opportunities to try things - be open to ideas.  Taking the 'risk' is important to ensure you are open to possibly opportunities.


As a leader you need to be responsive and 'up with the play'.  Fight for what the students need in the school - challenge the status quo.  Collaborative leadership is everyone working with a shared vision.  Be consistently present to effect change - lead by example; noticing, acknowledging, recognising & utilising strengths for the benefit of the students, school and community.  Focus on the glimmers and not the triggers!

Session 1: Creating animations in Photopea

Using the online Photopea software, creating images or animations.  Link to slideshow here

Session 2: DFI Reboot:  Workflow

Digital fluency intensive session focussing on technology that improves workflow.  

Google Calendar - set up bookable times (use appointment schedule); set up what information you need when they are making a booking with you

Calendar + Gmail - Use the calendar button at the bottom of the email to offer calendar time slots for the recipient to choose from.

Google Keep  - Create Google keep headers using Google Slides

Link to slides here

Session 3: DFI Reboot:  Media

Digital fluency intensive session focussing on technology that create media using generative AI tools (Canva).   Link to slides is here


Cultural Experience - Waitangi Treaty Grounds

A must visit location that I've yet to see in person, so particularly with the new histories curriculum it was a bucket list visit.  Our tour guide was really informative and interesting to listen to - it certainly makes all the university learning that I have done come alive!  



As I process the learnings of today, I've taken a moment to bookmark some future reading from sessions I didn't attend today (as well as plan my sessions for tomorrow!)  So my "if I could be in two places at once" sessions are:

Getting creative with Mathematics & Statistics

What's New with Google


A full day of learning and cultural immersion - bring on day 2!





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