Akoranga 8 - DFI

Kia Ora Everyone.

Day 8 of our Digital Fluency Intensive PD, and what a rewarding session it was! 

Today we had our eighth session on digital fluency with Manaiakalani. 

The session today was based around Computational thinking. Very excited to see what this session has in store as I enjoy learning more and gaining new knowledge.

What is computational thinking?

Computational thinking (CT) means thinking or solving problems like computer scientists. CT refers to thought processes required in understanding problems and formulating solutions. CT involves logic, assessment, patterns, automation, and generalisation.

In our coding lesson today we were given exploring opportunities to give coding a go and/ or extending our current knowledge on coding. I chose to recreate the 'Flappy Bird' game. Creating and learning new coding skills today, was by far the most enjoyable task of the day. I will be using this resource and skill to teach my students coding and the many activities that can be created through simple coding. I think learning simple coding at our students year level, will improve engagement and gain more interest in our classroom tasks.

The certificate of completion of coding.

Below is the 'Flappy Bird' game I recreated.

If you'd like have a try!
Flapp Bird

Akoranga Whitu - DFI

WOW! What a day!

Today we focused on devices, the devices our student's use to be exact. It was surprisingly enjoyable and at times annoying when we were to pretend like we were students using the iPads and chromebooks. It was a great way experience what our students experience when using their devices, it was also great to be able to familiarise myself with the devices used in our classroom. I found a few of links that would go hand and hand with my lessons. Happy to have create a bank of links to assist with lessons in our classroom and shared among our staff at KPC.
Here is one of the many tasks we were given today- identifying what each key on the chromebook keyboard.

The other task we were given during our 'CREATE' session seemed very hard at first but turned out to be quiet enjoyable. I started my task using the Explain Everything app and quickly realised that this app would be amazing for our junior classes who are using ipads. 

Akoranga Tuaono - DFI

Day Six of our Digital Fluency Intensive PD! Blown away once again, by the mount of knowledge our facilitators know about Google and digital technology. Every session thus far has been very insightful and rewarding for myself as I am consistently learning more and more! Today we continued our journey towards understanding the Manaiakalani pedagogy of 'Learn, Create, Share' focusing on the kaupapa 'connected'. 

The session today was based around Google Sites. I was interested to see what this session had to hold as I am already familiar with Google Sites. We spent most of day evaluating, updating and editing our classroom websites. Remembering the golden '3 click rule!' Using my classroom site evaluation data collected by my peers in my DFI group, I manage to make a few adjustments to my classroom site to better the learning experience for my students. 

I understand Google Sites are very beneficial for our one to one digital classrooms, but the set up of the Google Site requires a lot of man hours to make them meaningful, engaging and easy to navigate for whaanau, students and colleagues. I look forward to developing my classroom website further and adding new tricks and learning experiences for my students. 

Below is my classroom website. 

Classroom Website - KPC Tuakana

Akoranga Tuarima - DFI

Kia Ora Everyone.

Day 5 of our Digital Fluency Intensive PD, and what a rewarding session it was! 

Today we had our fourth session on digital fluency with Manaiakalani. 

The session today was based around Collaborate- Sites. Very excited to see what this session had to hold as I am always interested in gaining new knowledge and tips around google sites and learning more about multi-modal.

In our google sites PD we learnt the many ways you could set up and use google sites. As having experience using google sites as my classroom site, I felt comfortable following along the tutorial. At this time we were given a task to create a 'new google site'  showing your ability to 1. Create a site folder in your drive - making sure the permissions have been set to anyone with the link can view. 2. Create a google doc or drawing - where you will add all links and information you're wanting to add to your site. 3. Create your google site. 4. Add pages to the site. 5. Add a youtube clip, story book, google slide and a image. My google site I created is based around Matariki and her sisters, as the Māori New Year is creeping up I wanted to make sure our school has a one stop shop to find all relevant information they can use in their classrooms, whether it be stories, videos, songs, activities... etc. While working on this task I felt that I had executed all relevant steps, however, if I am wanting to use this resource in the classroom I need to add more detail and translate a few points so not only will I be able to use this in a rūmaki class, but our bilingual classes will also be able to use this. 

The golden rule when setting up a google site

3 CLICK RULE

It should only take the student, colleague or  whānau 3 clicks to get to the destination. 

Clicks:

1.Website site

2.Sub page

3.Activity

Feeling very satisfied of today!

I will be sharing the google site on my blog as soon as I have completed it!