The Power of Sharing and Collaboration

I really enjoyed connecting, once again, with the other teachers involved in the Spark Manaiakalani Innovative Teacher (MIT) programme for 2016.   This opportunity enables us to share with the group and hear how each inquiry is going and the progress we have all made to date.  Importantly, through collaborating with others we get unique perspectives and ideas to incorporate into our own inquiries as well as providing others with feedback.

Today's session focused on sharing one success from our inquiry to date as well as an opportunity to receive feedback and suggestions on challenges we have come across.   As with many things, the different experiences and ideas we bring to the table provides for unique viewpoints and ways of looking at things which we may not have thought about.  Additionally, today we started working on our presentations for ULearn 2016 and in my case to present at the Manaiakalani Hui later this month - watch this space, as they say!

The collaborative approach of the Spark MIT reminded me of my experiences in the Manaiakalani Digital Teacher Academy (MDTA) in my first two years of teaching (2014 - 2015).  Each week we met and collaboratively shared our experiences as well as receiving professional development on teaching in a digital classroom.   This unique program, combined with the Honours study through the University of Auckland gave me such a boost to my teaching career.   Co-incidentally, an Addendum was recently released as an addition to the evaluation report on the MDTA completed by the NZ Council for Education Research and I had an opportunity to read this over the weekend.  Its great to see the success of the program continue through the intake of ten new beginning teachers earlier this year into the MDTA 2016 program.  Pt England is lucky to have three of these MDTAs and I really enjoy hearing about their experiences each week and comparing them to my own journey.

Sharing my MDTA experiences

Earlier this term I was asked by the University of Auckland (Faculty of Education & Social Work) if I would speak about my experiences in the Manaiakalani Digital Teacher Academy at a dinner they titled "Leading Learning, Changing Lives."  I was extremely honoured to be asked, particularly because I really value the introduction to my teaching career that MDTA and can't speak highly enough of the opportunities I've had as a result.

The dinner occurred late last week, and was an extremely enjoyable evening.  As well as speaking myself I really enjoyed hearing about other initiatives and innovative projects that the Faculty of Education & Social Work is involved in.

As is always the case when speaking, there is always more to say than time permits - three minutes goes very fast and I found myself cutting pieces from my speech in order to meet the brief.   I'm choosing to share my speech on my blog as both a record of the amazing evening I was invited to be part of, but also so it has the opportunity to be read by a wider audience as I'm proud to have been one of the ten beginning teachers accepted into the MDTA program.

For the last three years I’ve been teaching at Pt England School, a decile one school in Glen Innes, Auckland with a population of mainly maori and pasifika students. Pt England School is one of 13 schools in the Manaiakalani Cluster which came about in 2007 as these schools sought to find ways to engage learners and the whole community in their learning, in a hope to better the educational outcomes for our tamariki. For those of you in the audience who may not be familiar with some of the issues in our NZ education system, we have a very long under-achieving tail. How our children perform is heavily dependent on their socio-economic status. 

Fortunately, there are success stories, and I’m here to share the success of the Manaiakalani Schools in partnership with the University of Auckland. The schools in the Manaiakalani Cluster have moved to become digital learning environments, with all learners from Year 4 up having a Chromebook which they use to drive their own learning, and share this with the world. 

In 2013 I was accepted as one of ten beginning teachers to join the inaugural Manaiakalani Digital Teacher Academy. This never before opportunity was a joint venture between Auckland University, Manaiakalani and Google allowing first year teachers to teach using digital tools – to ensure the most optimal outcomes. Digital tools in and of themselves will not help children learn; it is the way that their teachers use these tools that makes a difference. One of the most exciting things is that this is a new field, and we are still learning about the best practice. The MDTA placed me to team teach with a mentor teacher who had over 16 years teaching experience. My mentor teacher, Michelle, and I were also tasked with being one of two classes piloting the use of 1:1 iPads with our New Entrant learners. 

While we were teaching, Michelle and I also completed postgraduate study through the University of Auckland, focused on Accelerating Learning particularly for Maori and Pasifika learners. This highly innovative post-graduate model allowed Michelle and I to study together and gain advanced post-graduate teaching qualifications which were highly relevant to what was going on in our classrooms. 

More often than not, learners enter our school significantly below where higher decile learners would enter the schooling system. The innovations Michelle and I put into place, in combination with the unique learning situation of our class having two teachers enabled us to accelerate learning and produce whole class reading results where almost all our learners achieved the New Zealand standard after one year at school. This is remarkable and had not previously occurred at Pt England School in the last 30 years. 

In my second year of teaching, with my own class of New Entrants, I supported the school wide and cluster wide move in the junior classes to 1:1 iPads, assisting with professional development which Michelle and I had used in my first year. The most rewarding part is being able to use the knowledge that I gained in the MDTA school-wide, and across the communities of schools. I’m not just impacting my own class. 

I’m absolutely committed to teaching and feel privileged to have had such a supportive introduction to my teaching career. But most of all I’m thankful on behalf of the learners I teach. The philosophy of Manaiakalani and our close partnership with the Faculty of Education and Social Work, has made a difference to their lives and is enabling them to reach their full potential - that is why I love going to work each day.


More information about the MDTA can be found here.

This article which was published earlier this week gives an insight into the Manaiakalani Cluster.

MDTA Graduation

Last Thursday marked the end of a remarkable journey with the graduation event for the 2014/2105 MDTA's.  Just over two years ago, I applied to the first ever Manaiakalani Digital Teacher Academy (MDTA) and was accepted into the unique program.  It was an opportunity to be paired with a mentor teacher, team teach in my first year of teaching and undertake an exceptional program of learning and study to assist me at being proficient at teaching in a digital world.

The two years since being accepted have been an incredible journey, with some of the many highlights being:

• attending and presenting at conferences (GAFE, U-Learn, BYOD)
• study towards an honours degree alongside my mentor teacher
• piloting 1:1 iPads in a junior classroom alongside my mentor teacher
• weekly digital learning sessions with the inspiring Dorothy Burt
• two movies submitted to the Manaiakalani Film Festival with both making the evening showcase screening
• working with nine other amazing MDTA beginning teachers

As with any journey, it's been hard work and there were roadblocks to navigate.  One of the unique features of the MDTA program was having Anne Sinclair from the University of Auckland to support us in our journey, and at times keep us sane when the going was tough.  Not only that, Anne visited us in our classrooms and provided valuable feedback on what we could work on to become the best teachers we could be.

Thursday's amazing event reminded me of all that we have achieved in the last two years, which wouldn't have been possible without the vision of Dorothy and the support of the University of Auckland, Manaiakalani Trust and sponsor Google.  I've had an amazing introduction to teaching at an incredibly supportive school and am extremely proud to have been part of the inaugural MDTA.  Thank you for the opportunity!

   

Proud to be part of the inaugural MDTA ...

Nearly two years ago I started my teaching career and was honoured to win one of ten positions in the inaugural Manaiakalani Digital Teaching Academy (MDTA).  This unique opportunity saw me team teach with Michelle George last year and pilot the use of iPads in a New Entrants classroom.  This year, with continued support from Michelle, my own class again using iPads and I continually seek to challenge my pedagogy in order to accelerate the learning for my students.  It's been an amazing journey, a challenge at times, a huge learning curve and immensely satisfying.  I've enjoyed documenting my learning journey on my blog, and look forward to continuing to do so into 2016.

Earlier this month the Evaluation of the Manaiakalani Digital Teaching Academy was published.  Both the summary and the full report is available to read here.

The selection process for the next round of MDTA is currently underway and I look forward to welcoming them into the Manaiakalani Cluster and hope they enjoy the experiences and learning journey as much as I have. 

Half time review

I needed a break these holidays - I'm the first to admit that!  Often teachers are viewed by outsiders as working 9 to 3,  five days a week and having weeks and weeks of holidays to enjoy each year  -  the reality I've experienced is radically different.  Planning lessons and creating engaging activities to accelerate the learning of my 17 learners takes time and that's before the demands of study are added to my workload.  So this school holiday break was gratefully received!

Having said that, I've really missed my class - and despite being away I constantly found myself taking photos or videos that I could share with my class and seeing things that made me think of different individuals.  I'm really looking forward to hearing what adventures they had over the past weeks and jumping into an amazing term of learning.

The past ten days has also given me an opportunity to be reflective and think about my first six months "teaching solo".  The application process for mentors for 2016 has begun and I've also had the opportunity to reflect back on my amazing MDTA journey to date with teachers who are considering applying - I'm constantly reminded of the amazing mentor that I shared this journey with and how inspiring she has been on my first eighteen months of teaching.

Its "half time" on the 2015 teaching year, and as I take a drinks break, these are the things that stand out this year so far:

• A new app - using Tiny Tap has enabled me to really reinforce some areas of rote learning that has made a big difference in reading and maths.  While also giving me a new challenge, in learning the new app, the learners in my class have really engaged with the "bells and whistles" that comes with a more games type approach to learning.  Importantly, this app has fitted into my class routines and rotations seamlessly.
• Seeing learner progress - I'm constantly inspired when I see the progress that my learners have made.  It differs between individuals (as you would expect it to) but in the mid year testing (just completed) it was great how far some learners have come!
• Sharing my journey - I still get as much enjoyment from blogging as I did early last year when I was first introduced to it as part of our very early MDTA sessions.  During the last holidays I really enjoyed my second GAFE (Google Apps for Education) Summit, this time as a presenter and backed this up at the BYOD conference.  I never take for granted the privilege of working at a school which embraces technology in learning and love sharing with others.
• I can see the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow with my Research Dissertation as the deadline to finish is only four months away! Its been hard work to date (particularly with working full time) but I've really enjoyed reviewing the existing literature around the use of digital technologies in the classroom and embedded some of this into my ongoing inquiry.  My timeline for the next term with my dissertation is intense, but definitely made easier through knowing that every word written is one word closer to being done - if only I could get a degree through blogging :)
• My classroom environment continues to inspire me.  The changes I made at the end of last term continue to be working amazingly well and allow my learners choice of work spaces.  

• Attendance - I've really struggled with learner attendance issues this year, and have had very few days with the whole class present.  I never noticed this was an issue last year as we had such high attendance throughout the year.  Its hard to make progress with learners when they are not in the classroom and I do take this personally as I want the very best for every learner in my classroom.
• Managing the behaviours in my classroom again was a challenge this term.  I have a few learners that respond to different things on different days - if only they had a light that told me which thing they would respond to on each day!  I continue to use positive reinforcement constantly in the classroom and see many positives resulting from this but also know that the attendance issues referred to above also have had an impact.  I can see so many huge positive differences in the learners in the last six months and this reinforces that I'm on the right road with my behaviour management.  Above all I want my learners to feel safe and secure in the classroom environment and inspired and motivated to learn.  The less time I need to spend on behaviour management, the more time for learning!

• Complete my research dissertation - I really hope to be extremely close by the next term break
• Transition to using Class Dojo for class management - this was extremely successful last year and much easier to maintain in a busy classroom 
• Continue to innovate with the iPads - I've signed on for an exciting opportunity next term - watch this space.
• Fulfil the requirements to become a Fully Registered Teacher - just two terms to go!

My Own Class for a Term ... time to step back and reflect!

I vividly remember finishing my teaching degree at the University of Canterbury and being so over the word "reflect" that I never wanted to hear it again - let alone use it!  I find it somewhat humorous that I have become SO reflective in my practice that I do it, at times, without even realising I'm doing it.  I don't think I fully appreciated the value of reflection until I finished my degree and was out in the "real world" teaching.  Now, I find myself constantly reflecting and thinking about lessons - how they went, how I could improve on them, what my learners thought, were they engaged? Not only am I constantly reflecting, but some of my best ideas have come from reflections!

So, with that said, and four months into having my own class, a time to reflect and think about the year to date in terms of my teaching and my own personal growth as a teacher.

The Highlights

Planning - I'm feeling more and more confident with planning each week - I have my routines sorted and find myself monitoring and checking the progress of my learners.  My groupings in the classroom are fluid and I continually change my groups to fit the needs and learning stages of my learners.  As a side effect of this, I see that different friendships are developing as learners work with different peers when groupings change - I think this is a good thing and helps with the general cohesion of the class.

Classroom Environment - Deciding to change the learning space to suit a more digital environment has reaped rewards.  The learners choose different spaces to work and I find some of my more behaviourally challenging learners settle more quickly when given the independence to choose their working space.  I find it easier to monitor what learners are doing with the distinct learning spaces.  Importantly, I enjoy walking into my class each day and I feel it is more inviting for my five year old learners.

1:1 iPads - I definitely think I've continued on from where I left off last year.  I've been strong with my routines (continually having to reinforce these with new learners arriving) and continue to be consistent to ensure that learners understand how to use their iPad within the boundaries of Room 19.  Again, I've tried things - not always successful - and seek to continually find ways to ensure the learners are engaged in what they are doing.  Once again, repetition is important, and the iPad is a great way to ensure repetition in activities to reinforce learning (eg high frequency words).

Inquiry 2015 - Investigating higher order thinking in literacy with five year olds was a challenge and I wondered at times if I'd attempted to inquire into something that was going to be "too difficult"!  By breaking down what I wanted to achieve in the first term I surprised even myself with the tasks I created and my learners responses to them - I'm excited to be continuing to explore this area into Term 2 and see what is possible!

Digital Enhancement & Research dissertation - It seems somewhat comical that something that is taking up a significant portion of my spare time could be a highlight!  I found the Summer School paper, Digital Enhancement, to be thought provoking and particularly useful and applicable to our digital learning environment.  Once again, it was great to work with my MDTA colleagues - we have some of THE best discussions and are always extremely supportive of each other.  Further to this,  I was inspired by the willingness of teachers to assist in my research project and while it is still early days, I'm excited by what I have seen to date.  Having said that, I won't be sad to complete my Honours at the end of the year and take a break from study for a while!

The Challenges

I choose to see challenges not as failures, but as opportunities for me to grow as a teacher, learn from things that may not be successful, and be a better teacher as a result.  Like every learner in my classroom, I'm constantly learning, and will continue to do so.  The things I've found particularly challenging this year have been:

Managing Behaviours - I didn't fully comprehend how time consuming this could be, or how much I would doubt myself when I seemed to take one step forward and three steps back!  That said, when I reflect on the behaviours that some of my learners presented in the first weeks of school and compare them to where they are now, its been an encouraging journey.  It is great to be able to draw on the expertise of my mentor teacher, Michelle George.  While we are no longer team teaching, she covers my release one day a week so I'm able to discuss individual learners with her and she understands where I'm coming from and can provide ideas and suggestions to try out.  As I move into Term 2 I can see the importance of continuing to reward and reinforce the behaviours that are acceptable in Room 19 as well as continually seek ideas from other, more experienced teachers that I could try with my learners.  I also think its important to continually reflect on how far my learners have come - particularly on the days that don't go so well.  Teaching can be hard work - I'm dealing with unique individuals, with unique personalities and some days its just not going to be perfect!

Managing 200+ iPads - This has been a challenge over the first few months of this year and I struggled for many hours to identify and iron out some issues we had - and quite a few times I was very close to giving up!  I've really enjoyed the learning I have done around Meraki and Apple Configurator over the past 15 months - and will happily accept the "geek" nickname I've picked up from a certain fellow teacher at Pt England - I enjoy technology challenges and I'm now glad I didn't let this one get the better of me.  I know that there will always be new learning in this area and that thought is super exciting (here's hoping its not as "time intensive" as it was last term!)

Work/Study/Family balance - The demands of completing a dissertation while teaching full time continue to impact on my work-study-family balance.  It is a topic of conversation that continually arises during my PRT meetings with Michelle.  This year I have found it slightly easier to chip away at my assignments and dissertation but there is always more to be completed.  I'm trialling a new time management system this term as a way of having one day off each weekend, while still being up to date with my planning, assessments and assignments - so far so good (but it is only week 3!)

I'm a great believer in having goals, even if they are known only to yourself - something to work towards and pat yourself on the back when they are achieved.  As is required by my PRT portfolio, every term I have goals and things that I (or my mentor) think I need to work on in an effort to improve my teaching pedagogy and practice.  Having said that, some goals I don't mind making public:

• Complete my research dissertation
• Continue to reflect and modify my behaviour management to suit the ever-changing needs of the learners in my class
• Continue to innovate with the iPads in order to ensure continued engagement and projects which allow visible, repetitive learning
• Share my knowledge with other teachers/educators (blog, Manaiakalani Toolkits, ULearn)
• Fulfil the requirements to become a Fully Registered Teacher - just three terms to go!

Sharing via our Manaiakalani Toolkits

It was great to host another HTML session with Matt Goodwin this afternoon and share some of our knowledge with other teachers in the Manaiakalani cluster.

We used the same presentation and resources that we had used at the recent GAFE summit and were able to support the group with using HTML on their Google Sites.  I really enjoy the toolkits that our cluster offers twice a term  -  its great to share ideas and be able to contribute and assist other teachers.

Nearly Day 1: 2015

Tonight is the eve of the start of my second year of teaching and the first year with my own class!  I'm hugely excited about meeting my learners tomorrow and introducing them to school at Pt England!

I've been working behind the scenes preparing my Class Blog and Site for 2015 and these are now live!  Part of the great thing about being a Google School is most of the work can be completed from home so I could also enjoy some family time!  I wanted to personalise both my blog and site appropriately for my five year old learners and their families.  I admit to spending ages deliberating around what to call my blog for 2015.  In the end, the majority of my class are starting school for the first time, so they are effectively launching their learning journey - hence Launchpad i-19, (the i to signify the iPads we use for learning and Room 19 is our class number!)

Already its been a busy start to 2015 as I attended Summer School at Auckland University and have now submitted two assignments for this paper.  We also had Professional Development for all junior teachers as the school launches the 1:1 iPad program in the junior school.  It's been immensely satisfying to be involved in the whole process and assist in preparing the devices for the learners.  I hope to take the time to document the Apple Configurator/Meraki process over the coming weeks so others can learn from our experiences.

For now, as I finish off the last few things before the official first day of 2015, I can't wait!  I'm ready to launch into teaching for 2015 ... follow my journey!

Learning into practice ... being inventive with activities!

As summer school progresses, today we put the theories of the last few days into practice with some activities to assist in cementing our learning!

While many of the activities are not "as" suitable for five year olds, I found the overall variety of the activities both interactive and engaging - they all made me think and relate back to the readings but because they were all different it added to the resource bank of possibilities while giving the group as a whole an opportunity to engage in dialogue!

In no particular order a few of the activities we completed today ...

• Create a rap to summarise key points of a selected theory of learning - now, I'm not at all a fan of rap music but still found this task entertaining.  It also made me think about how I could rephrase the intended message to fit the verse of our song.  Importantly, in my own classroom it wouldn't have to be a rap song, it could be a poem, a ballad, or set to the tune of a nursery rhyme (I particularly like this one and will try it with my five year olds!)
• Create a newspaper headline to summarise your learning - particularly liked this one because you had to explain your meaning in just a few lines!
• Positive and Negative view point - this was a collaborative Google Doc with a table to type ideas against a number of view points.  What I particularly liked about this was it scaffolded us to think about the positive and negative side of each scenario.  So often its easy to just consider one side of a position.
• Visualising your position - this was a great activity, and I really enjoyed it which is interesting given I can't draw at all - but it was all about representing how you position yourself with regards to learning and learning theory.  My image (below) comes from my learning being pieces of a puzzle, hence the jigsaw pieces on my t-shirt.  The people on my shoulder represent the learning communities I involve myself in and being keen to share my knowledge and skills with others.  The yellow question marks (representing blonde hair) is for the reflective nature of my practice, always considering how things have gone and what I could do next time to improve.   I love my job and going to work each day, hence the smile, and the heart.

Unpacking the SAMR model of learning

Today our Digital Enhancement paper unpacked a few different models of learning.  While I'm very aware of the SAMR model it was a great refresher today and I particularly like this image which links to Blooms taxonomy.

So often when models of learning are introduced, we don't have an opportunity to see it in action or think about how we can apply it to our own teaching practice.  One of the practical activities we had an opportunity to explore today involved revamping a suggested lesson to incorporate a digital transformation - definitely a case of many teachers heads can come up with some amazing ideas!

At times I think I struggle to achieve at the transformation level with my five year olds - I often think that the same activity could be completed with paper and pens, although would definitely not be as engaging.  I was reminded today however, that adding the video and audio components allows for the learning to be visible, even after it has occurred - and this can't be achieved with simple pens and paper.  I'm re-energised about extending my planning and aiming for more transformational learning in 2015!

As we pass the halfway point of our week of lectures, I'm impressed by the content and the purposeful activities which we undertake to help us cement the learning.  We have had some amazing discussions and its great to get an insight into others thinking, planning and teaching pedagogy!

Online Presence ... my brand!

As part of the MDTA program, I'm completing a Digital Enhancement paper at the Auckland University this week.

One of the thought provoking messages from the first day, was around a digital online presence, or a personal brand.  In the current age of social media, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are commonplace, and so different to when I attended school in the 80s - an electronic typewriter was a "luxury"!

Consider this video clip:

I was already aware of the importance of what I post online and the digital footprint that I am creating as we often share this message with the learners at Pt England.  Privacy settings are available for a reason but you also need to be vigilant and check them often.

I enjoy sharing my learning experiences via my blog and seeing the visitor numbers increase (and which posts are more popular!)  But, in all honesty, I'd still blog without the visitors - for me its a place to be reflective about my teaching practice and the things that work (and those that don't) in an environment where I don't need to APA reference and can look back on my previous experiences and reflections - something I have been doing as I plan my lessons for Room 19 in 2015.

Through my blog, I'm aware I'm creating an online presence - and I'd like to think that presence shows me as a reflective practitioner, with a strong passion for technology-enhanced learning, innovation and a willingness to share my teaching pedagogy with the wider educational world.

2014 ... a year in review!

Usually at this time I just "think" about the highlights of my year and I've never had a blog before and therefore a vessel to review them via.  That all changed this year as embraced social media, in particular blogging and twitter and have enjoyed being able to share my successes, thoughts, attempts and meanderings.

I've grown so much as a teacher this year and look forward to extending that growth into my own classroom next year and at the same time completing my Honours degree - I have one summer school paper and a research project which I'm awaiting ethics approval for - once again, "watch this space" on that one!!

As we move into 2015, I feel I've accomplished plenty in my first year of teaching, and received an opportunity that very few beginning teachers have had - the support of a mentor teacher to assist in my transition to the classroom - the Manaiakalani Digital Teaching Academy (MDTA) made this possible and this unique opportunity has made for an amazing year!

So, without further ado, here are just some of my highlights as I think back and review 2014!

• The 19 unique individuals who will forever be the very first class I had the pleasure of teaching!
• Sharing my knowledge with the school and cluster with HTML toolkits
• Sharing my experiences on my blog (and the Auckland University Top of the Class blog)
• Getting to know the wonderful staff at Pt England School who make coming to work every day such fun
• Piloting the iPad 1:1 in the junior classroom - it was a challenge that I embraced and enjoyed, despite the hurdles and occasional bumps along the way - opportunities for learning and growth, each and every one of them!
• Explain Everything - wow, what an app!  We've used it in SO many different ways and I know I will continue to do so in the future
• The Manaiakalani Film Festival - wow - what an experience, can't wait to do it again next year.
• The MDTA weekly sessions which gave us opportunities to debrief and talk about our weeks  and more importantly, explore new tools to assist us to be at home in a digital world
• and last, because it means the most:  Michelle George, my mentor teacher - you are amazing!!  I will never be able to thank you enough for your support and encouragement this year - I'm a better teacher because of this experience - you shared a class with me and were supportive no matter what, always allowing me to try new things, while providing expertise and experience that you were so happy to share, each and every day.   

I'm sure I've missed things, but the wonderful thing about my blog is the history - I can look over the experiences of the year at any time in the future!  I can't believe I've been teaching a year - its been exciting, enthralling, exhausting, eventful, exhilarating and emotional - I wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere else!   

Google Educator ...

As part of our final MDTA PLG we had the opportunity to start working towards our Google Educator exams.  I managed to pass two during this session and have completed the final three needed this weekend!

Completing the required study before sitting these exams reinforced much of the knowledge I already had but also introduced features I hadn't previously explored before in the Google product range.  Here are some of my "new" favourites:

• Gmail Task list - I really like how you can link a task to an email you have received - rather than clogging up my inbox with unfinished tasks, I'm adding the task to my task list which automatically associates it with the email  - I like dealing with my emails immediately and having a relatively clear inbox - the task list is allowing me to achieve that even more than before
• Creating custom calendars and embedding them into a Google Site - my class site links to a weekly calendar which I created this year using a Google Sheet and update weekly - now I realise I'm double handling.  Next year I will create a new calendar for my class and simply embed this into my Class Site - this will ensure its constantly updated and also shows parents and whanau upcoming events.
• Google Chrome Themes - I had known these existed but haven't explored them.  Much like my computer desktop, I like an occasional change and by picking a new Google theme it gives my browser a fresh "new" look - maybe a new theme for 2015!

At Pt England School we use Google!  I use the Google range of products both at school and privately and its through the continued use that I have got better and better - I'm constantly exploring the apps and extensions available to see what could help me in my professional (and personal) online world!  Its now official however, I'm a Google Educator!

Our last MDTA PLG session

Its with a touch of sadness that I blog about our very last official Manaiakalani Digital Teaching Academy (MDTA) PLG session.  We've met every Wednesday since our first session back on the 20th of January when we walked around the area covered by the Manaiakalani Schools and up Mt Wellington.

During the sessions, Dorothy has covered such a huge range of digital tools including:

Google Sites

Google Docs & Sheets

iMovie

iPhoto

Garage Band

Twitter

Word Art

Screen Recordings

Hapara Teacher Dashboard

Google Analytics

Blogger
Infographics

Makerspace

While we will continue meeting informally next year to share our experiences as we move into our own classrooms, it won't be quite the same as our intensive sessions each week.  Its been a privilege to share this journey with my nine fellow MDTAs and I look forward to following their teaching journey into 2015.  

A special mention and thanks to Dorothy Burt for planning our sessions and sharing her knowledge in such an engaging and creative way every week, which in turn showcased the principles and philosophy of Manaiakalani: Learn - Create - Share!

I have created a Showcase of my MDTA year here

My First Year in Review

As part of our final weeks of our MDTA PLG we were asked to create a video as a summary of our year.  I found it difficult to condense what I wanted to share into just five minutes and when I look back over my year am amazed at what I've packed into such a relatively short time.

I feel I have grown as a teacher and am definitely looking forward to the challenge of my own class next year.  I will definitely enjoy my last few weeks with Class 20 of 2014, and look forward to being able to watch these lovely young learners grow as they move into 2015 and beyond.

Once Upon a Time .... my Film Festival movie journey

Once Upon a Time .... As part of our MDTA learning journey we had to contribute a movie to the Manaiakalani Film Festival! We had many sessions throughout the year on using iMovie and I definitely can tell that I've been on a major learning journey! Prior to beginning this year, I'd never made a movie before, and today I see my movie on the big screen - not once, but three times (including the evening session!!)

Once Upon a Time .... There were challenges!! I wanted to use the costumes as my learners really enjoy "dressing up" - show me a five year old that doesn't! I decided to use the Green Screen and create a fairy tale land - a tall order indeed! Finding backdrops that suited my needs was hard, and I have learnt from this experience that pre-deciding on the backgrounds in advance makes it much easier! You can film to the background rather than try and fit a background to your filming!

Once Upon a Time .... Sound was an issue! Again, I made many discoveries that I will use in future films to ensure I have high quality audio to work with - I had to try and rerecord my audio and match it up to my actors which took a significant amount of time! 

Once Upon a Time .... We have a movie! I can't wait to see the reactions from the learners when they view it (for the very first time - no previews were given to them!) on the big screen later today. The filming experience, from scripting, to costumes, to editing was an amazing learning journey and I'm actually excited to do it all over again next year. Its an experience which I believe my learners will benefit from being a part of (even though it is more teacher directed at my level) and they will be able to look back on in later years with pride.

Once Upon a Time ....

UDL ... thinking about how I learn

As part of our MDTA session today, we explored the educational framework of Universal Design for Learning.

We were presented with multiple means of researching this topic and it was extremely interesting to hear from my fellow MDTA learners as to how they approached the learning - we all went about it differently, despite beginning presented with a scaffolded framework of information.  I've always thought I was a kinesthetic learner, in that I feel I learn best with a hands on 'doing' approach.  Today however, I opted for a more lecture style presentation, which was a combination of auditory and visual, rather than the more kinesthetic approach, which supports many learning theories that we learn through a combination of all three approaches.

During my research I found a number of visual representations which I found particularly connected to my developing understanding of UDL.

As part of our session we shared examples of UDL that we have incorporated into our teaching practice this year.  I found it extremely valuable to do this as a means of reflecting on my practice, and relating the opportunities I've given my learners to this framework, as well as hearing examples from other MDTAs.  

Exploring Scratch

As part of our MDTA immersion day, we explored the Maker Space movement.  I chose to investigate Scratch and created a small animation as I learnt how it works.  Scratch is an exciting way for learners to "create", an integral part of the Manaiakalani "Learn, Create, Share" framework.

My simple animation took less than thirty minutes to create, and I'm sure I will be using this great Maker Space tool in the future.



If the project does not load above as it is an unauthenticated script, please use this link: http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/30767218/

Sound Explosion ... learning from the experts!

After completing our Manaiakalani Film Festival movie last term, today we had the opportunity to visit an expert in the field of editing sound!

Ben Sinclair works at Images & Sound in Auckland and we were welcomed into one of the sound studios today while he demonstrated some of the techniques he uses to create a soundtrack of television/movie quality.  

"The soundtrack can influence the mood of the entire movie"

Ben demonstrating some of the sound effects he is able to add

Some of the take away messages from today's session for me were:

• Include an ambient backtrack such as traffic noise to fill 'holes' in your sound
• Film pieces of ambience (eg in the school playground) to use as a backtrack for your movie
• Add sound effects such as footprints, bird noise or rustling of leaves to make your movie appear more authentic
• Capture just the music and effects, removing the voice from your soundtrack to enable voice overs in a different language
• When recording voice, have the microphone above the actor/actress pointing downwards towards their mouth to remove the 'ppppp' effect - use of a filter can also assist with this
• Aim for a 75% voice level in order to balance out your sound so no one speaker sounds much louder than the rest
• Never underestimate the importance of getting good vocal sounds when filming - the better the quality of the original track the more you are able to do with it in the editing phase

We also had the opportunity to experience the sound proof recording room - despite being right next to a motorway with cars rushing by, all you could hear was a slight hum of the air conditioner.

Inside the recording studio

We were also lucky enough to be shown two of the visual editing studios, where colours and effects can be added and manipulated as part of the editing process.  Once again, the importance of capturing raw footage of the best quality was emphasised to enable these editing experts the best chance of making the final cut look the best it can be.

Yes!  That is my movie that Ben is listening too - oh for more editing time!

I'm definitely inspired to explore further following the tips and ideas I picked up today ... I wonder if I can convince Michelle to again let me lose on this terms PENN movie??  Watch this space!

Art Attack!

As I head into my last term of team teaching with Michelle George I want to draw on the successes I’ve had with our learners over the past three terms and the growth I’ve experienced as a Beginning Teacher.

I continually feel lucky to be part of the MDTA (Manaiakalani Digital Teacher Academy) programme and know that I’ve experienced a different (and probably more supported) pathway than a usual BT.   I’ve been well scaffolded and had a great role model into the pedagogies of Pt England School and also had support in developing my own personal teaching style.   Having this level of support helped me try things that I may not have, and also allowed me to be involved in a 1:1 pilot class with iPads in my very first year of teaching – for someone with such a passion for digital learning environments, this has been an amazing challenge and allowed me to grow even further.

Last term I created a site for our Integrated Learning topic – Game On.  The learners accessed the site pages through the use of QR codes, which proved to be extremely popular and successful.  It gave the learners an opportunity to take control of their own learning and make decisions on what they wanted to learn about within a modeled and supported learning environment.

The beauty of using a Google Site was that I was able to add to it throughout the term.  This was highlighted during the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony – the learners were hooked and wanted to explore independently and were able to choose to do this with the additional page.   As we explored and used the site throughout the term I also made modifications and took note of things that could be improved, or weren’t as successful. 

As we begin our last term, the Integrated Learning topic is “Art Attack” – focusing on The Arts curriculum area and based around a trip we have in week 2 to the local river.  Initially I thought this topic would be a challenge to create a “Site” for – let alone integrate with QR codes (the learners all asked for QR codes again this term)!  However, the wealth of available material on You Tube around art has made it relatively easy for me to create several pages that learners can explore, giving them ideas on different types of art and ways to create it.   The viewing of these clips will help enhance their vocabulary with topic specific words, which will feed into their writing.  Once again we have a rich topic wall with vocabulary, images and QR codes for learners to refer to and explore throughout the term. 

It’s been great to be able to go to some of the resources I created during my teacher training (never throw anything away) as both displays and inspirations for the term.   Art is not a curriculum area I have strength in, but I look forward to undertaking this learning challenge and to sharing the results of our Art Attack later this term!