Maths is everywhere all the time!

The last day is here and I am kinda sad, well actually I am very sad! What am I going to do next term? I will miss the professionalism of this group and all the knowledge, fun, challenges and new stuff.  Although I can now see time on my hands to go back and re visit all the stuff, treasure, valuable goodness that has been shared....I wonder if I could still get a day off every three weeks to just explore and continue to learn?! Have a feeling there will have to be wine involved in that one!

I enjoyed today's morning focus and the share element of our world. I do enjoy sharing or watching the kids share. There is something special about watching engaged children chatting about an idea you have just given them. The way you can see the cogs in their brains turning over and connections being made, possible one of the true joys in teaching. I have enjoyed watching my confident maths goers share their learnings, especially when their learnings were not what they thought they were going to be. It has been great to watch the less confident mathematician share ideas that have surprised themselves, and the confident ones.  One of the biggest wins for me has been the doing the maths talk as a warm up and then getting the children to share their thinking on a slide show. This allowed my to front load, do a bit of explicit teaching, maths discussion and then see the children understanding through their reflections...oh and it ticked the blog box! My kids are very fast at blogging now too! Here are some examples...I will work on embedding!

No I have lost my chain of thought! been a bad day for technology - I was late arriving due to having to talk to boys about using a toilet - they are like ten - what is that about?! And I couldn't get into the breakout spaces, then my mic for the google vids won't work and now I can't work out how to embed a couple of my maths talk slide shows. Must be go drink a gin time.

I have taken away a lot of great things from this time, (planning, maths talk, digital activities, AI games that I created, TIP charts, curriculum knowledge, sharing, misconceptions, maths is everywhere all the time)  and am sad to see it come to an end. I am looking forward to continuing to grow as a teacher, especially when it comes to maths and feel an passion not to give it up next year. I am bidding farewell to some of my other responsibilities - I haven't told my boss that yet so let's keep that between ourselves - so I can make maths, my class programme and the team I look after my priority. I think there is too much here to just let go of and move on, I want to keep the momentum in my mind set going. Maybe I will even keep blogging....

Thank you ladies!

What's the chance?

 Well another MPI day has flashed passed in front of me. As I walked into the staff room at morning tea time, I sighed, a big heavy sigh. Another teacher commented 'Oh, another grumpy day at school'. I was quick to correct them and let them know I wasn't grumpy and that is was more a positive sigh as my head was filling up with more ideas about maths. I have always loved maths but this MPI course has supercharged that love and now, as a not so smacked on maths minded human, I can confidently say I don't only love maths I am beginning to live, breath and devour maths! I have always been a "I could teach art all day every day" kinda teacher. Now I am a 'I want to teach math's all day' kinda teacher with the underbelly of "Let's do it through art!" Now if that class was outside, I would be happy!

I had lots of fun over the last couple of weeks doing the maths talk in my class, I did target number and what doesn't belong. The children and well into the rhythm of how they work and we are blogging about it each week which tick that other box. The engagement has been great to watch, especially from those who at the beginning of the year firmly believed that they hated maths. Maths talk has opened a world to them that involves them and they succeed at.  When I presented Choral Counting at the latest MK Summit, it was a bit of a disaster as my slide show didn't work, so I winged it! It was great to hear the teachers say they loved the idea and were going to use it in their own class the next day. A number of them took away my examples to and genuinely  seemed to enjoy the session. I was chuffed, not because of me, but because of the enjoyment they saw in maths and how something so simple could help them. Thanks MPI!

Anyway - today - so much once again. Love the idea of data cards and the nz census site - I have already shared that with my staff and can't wait to get them into my class. Today was such a refreshing look at the statistics and how it can be in the class, I loved the slow reveal and the questioning, the PPDAC (which I had never heard of) and interactive sites and all the rest. Farewell to the simple bar graphs of how we get to school - they are as bad as the pizza and fraction nightmare!  

Thank you again ladies! You deserve a wine! 

Shape up or Shape out!

 Thank you ladies for another knowledge fulled day with so many avenues to explore. I often wish I had half the knowledge and expertise you all seem to have - little bit jealous maybe! There is always so must to go off and explore so thank you  for your work Elana, Georgia and Donna! 

What is even funnier - well for me anyway - is that at the end of the day when there has been so much given to us, I am still stuck on the first slideshow that Elana shared with us - Maths Talk. So much in there I am thinking it would be forever before I got through all that stuff. I love maths and making connections for the kids and teaching them it is everywhere all the time, that certainly gets my brain moving! Which it was connected directly to my planning so I didn't have to slow it down and produce the perfect plan! Thank you, for sparking so much - I will  hopefully find the time to implement that. Which brings in the next thought of planning - I commented last time about having to get that sorted and to a place that ticked all the boxes while not taking 20 hours a week to do and actually being of some use. A part of me wishes I was a beginning teacher again, and could start with all that energy and a clear mind, and not a million other responsibilities. Experience may not be my friend in regards to this.  

I loved the web sites especially Polypad. I enjoyed the iknowit site too and while exploring noticed you had to pay for it. I often wonder how school manage all the sites. In my head it would be great for the same sites to be used by year group - say 4, 5 and 6. This would cut back on the actually teaching on  how to use the sites and probably getting the best from each one. Then there is the cost - do school pay for whole school subscriptions or teaching teams pay for subscriptions. I can actually see you face reading this and you thinking - is she really asking that?! Obviously it depends on the school and how they operate. I like the idea of teams getting subscriptions so the whole school isn't committed to a site they will not use. There I have answered my own question, I should comment on that! 

We have just started the journey of refreshing our planning to ensure we are covering everything and our planning contains all that it needs across the school. A difficult journey as you are stuck between that place of this is what is needed and we respect you as an individual therefore allowing you to have your own style - a style which must fit in with our planning template - and there in lies a sphere of a problem. 

I am now going to leave it there and go sort my planning, I have a funny feeling the heater in this fabulous new building has finally kicked in and the heat is starting to get to me - it's only taken 5 hours.

Lets finds a funny picture to brighten up this blog post!

Well that is interest - I asked AI to create a picture of a frazzled teacher with 3D shapes and this is what I got - I think AI might be a bit sexist!

 Thats better - she looks in control - now who is being sexist?!

Enjoy the week!

Well lets hope this will measure up!

 Today's MPI was all about measurement now measurement is all around us all the time and possibly the one area of maths that gets forgotten. I am loving how the approach from MPI is presented in a way that clearly shows the connections across all the areas in maths. I am loving sharing with the staff, the importance of seeing maths as an every day thing, and not compartmentalised boxes which I feel it has been seen as in the past. Thees presentations are taking the guess out of how to see all the strands and elements working together and I hope my understanding and workings with it will enhance my teaching and that of the staff too, especially be ticking those boxes two or three at a time! 

I can't wait to use the number stings in my class as there are a few children who struggle with maths, but are visual and once they see a pattern are off. I find the maths talk parts very empowering for me as a teacher and my children which has been very rewarding in class.  It is amazing how something so simple can be so effective. 

Planning for me and getting all this knowledge functioning in my class in the biggest struggle. I use to be very good at planning but have found this year a bit of a show and not a good show. I am not sure what it is, maybe I have thrown the baby out with the bath water and need to go back to working with what I know has worked and changes smaller bits instead of the whole thing.

I

 need to embrace the technology side more. I find in my class that anything on the chrome book means children will muck around and nowhere near as much work gets done, compared to book work. That is possible me not laying the foundation down properly and something I would love advise on.  I am old school to and find marking a book as I roam around the class easier than check online stuff after school - is that what other teacher do with online work?   

I greatly appreciate having more time to explore so thank you for that. I admire all the teachers here and inspire to be half as good as them ... that is one thing I find with PD, you can be trucking along thinking you have nearly got this and then after a day like today feel like a beginning teacher again!  Thank you ladies - another information packed day!

The X Factor: Demystifying Algebra or is it?

 

MPI today was a much more stress free day for me this time round, I didn't feel as rushed and appreciated the thinking time we were given to process the information. The slides seemed to flow better for me too while the knowledge shared made clear sense. Not that I think any in the past haven't made perfect sense so maybe its me who is in a better space! The most exciting development about this experience is .... I have a much better understanding of algebra and how to present it to the children in a way that makes sense. I have loved maths all my life and watching children 'get it' fulls my heart. With the Numeracy Project my mead went round in circles and tired itself in knots sometimes. This new curriculum with the science of learning behind it and the scope and sequence has cleared things up for me and made me believe in myself as a teacher again ...well that and these MPI sessions. We have been told to insert picture to make the blog more interesting so here is a photo of some wool - I come from a long line of knitters and have a knitting club at school - the children are into finger knitting at the moment and groups of children frantically knitting can be spotted all around out school. What maths would you do with this picture?

My class and I are just beginning to look at multiplication and division. A topic that terrified them last week. So five days into it they are all loving it, with pattern spotting being the main drive. I can see how clearly this will fit into algebra and solving number problems which I cam excited about. I have used the maths talk approach and estimation learning from last week and children are really thriving with the wondering and discussion.

I share a lot with the staff and hearing there feed back has been great. So another photo of a quilt I recently made - I started this year off with the goal of making sure the children in this school know that maths is everywhere. I had a laugh the other day as I was chatting to some kids at lunchtime and one mentioned something which I quickly turned into a maths question....'No, I'm done with math's today, its not math time!" she responded.

May the love keep coming I say and empowering all those around us!

Thank you ladies for all the hard work! I'm off to do duty again!!

A fraction of the day .....Day 4 of MPI

 Oh my gosh. my head hurts and its not even lunchtime yet! And now it's time for the blog post. As much as I enjoy all the incredible information that is given in these professional development days, I struggle with the shortage of time to between ideas and tasks. 'Lets put a pin in that and pivot" rings loud in my ears as I have to drop what I was doing and flip onto something else. I am having flash backs to university days when i worked on the belief that 1 hour in the lecture was two hours in the library - I have a funny feeling I may have said that in an earlier session.... and if I did well so be it...I now have 20 hours to find so I can get my head around all the information given today. I am trying hard to work out how to access all the resources already made and created by the thousands of teachers in our country - I would love the ministry to have lesson plans and activities linked to the  AO's so I could spend less time creating stuff. Now I am feeling that someone is going to come forward and say - here are the links - they have been here for years!  Now it is confession time - I have used the ARB's but find them, at times, out of date and not at all useful. Eako drives me nuts - I think the idea is great but as a teacher I find it annoying and time consuming, thats confession 1. Confession two - we were shown the link to Spring in to maths - a very useful site I think after the brief look I had at it - I have never seen or heard of it before, which as an experienced teacher and lead in maths, scares me. I never thought I was a teacher with my head in the sand but am now feeling that I most certainly am.  Or is it that so much information is thrown at us we miss the important or most useful sites and concepts? Then my mind goes to the fact that everyone is different, what works for one, won't work for another.  It has to at some stage become simpler! I spoke to a teacher recently, who is in their 4 year of teaching, and asked her if she uses base ten blocks. Her response was "I use to have them in my class but don't know." I asked why and she responded that she had no idea how to use them. 'Lets put a pin in that and pivot" we have five minutes left and I am thinking this blog post isn't really what I should be doing!

I have had a mixed week this week in my class, I am struggling with fine tuning the planning, I feel like I am juggling a hundred ideas and none of them are sticking or working together - the need is to simplify and know I have got it. I spend time creating lots of thing but they never seem to get used to the depth they deserve. And now I have duty ........

Numbers adding up or are they?! Day 3 descends...

Well today was hard work. We started off this session with home work - to be honest, home work has never been a highlight for me, in fact I am not keen on it at all. So I have decided to make a stand and change the word from homework to .....Consolidation Time or Strengthen It or maybe Stabilisation Requirement! Sounds way more fun than homework! I din't really do the Stabilisation Requirement time well this time so it will be more of a focus this coming time!

Learning Intentions and Success Criteria - I love this part of my lessons and think it is one of the most powerful parts of a learners journey. I think I really started focusing on this when my son and daughter were is high school, they would bring home an assignment and ask for help, the first question I would ask them is 'what is the LI and SC?" They would just look blankly at me! Which I then reflected through my own teaching. I often ask myself 'How can a child succeed if they don't know what they are to do?'

Pilars of the maths - I am enjoying learning more about this and hope to explore it more. I need to make this part of my daily planning. mental note to self - print it off.

Class Site - Dorothy was wonderful as always. It was great to get a reminder of the class sites and has made me think about how I can improve that and get it up running. I use it more for reading but need to refresh how it can and probably have virtually everything on it. I feel that has fallen off the plate and needs to be rescued.

Stock Take - what a great way to reflect on what has or hasn't been happening. In an ideal world most of the elements have been present at some stage. This term has been a crazy term, yes I can see you all going "When isn't it a crazy term?" and I don't like using that as a reason why things aren't being done. Within that though, I haven't had two consistent weeks this term which makes planning, routines and embedding a foundation a tad difficult.  I feel like I have constantly been chasing me tail not just with maths but everything else we are doing - I know I am not alone in this emotion! The detailed information shared has given me hope and excitement of getting things back to were they need to be. The resources and ideas are useful on so many levels. I have to get my head around them, and then, allow the team to embrace them. I feel good about this and know that in time we are going to be amazing. Thankful for all that you have given us this time and all the times before.

As it draws to an end....my head is swirling! During these sessions, I often find myself four slides behind the speakers as I am still engrossed or processing that slide! Thats a me problem - very much a processor.... I did have a light bulb moment today in the midst of it all, I remembered from varsity that we worked on the belief that '1 hour in the lecture meant another 2 hours in the library'. The only way to really get your head around what was being taught and offered to you. So with that in mind, its 5 hours in front of the screen is 20 hours exploring and consolidating! Thank goodness I have 3 weeks in between! Oh and we have the holidays this time!  

Feeling good, exhausted but good!

Use these prompts to get you started (Note: the prompts are not prescribed questions and should only be initial fuel for a wider reflection).

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

• What did I learn that could improve my capability and confidence in teaching mathematics?

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

• What did I learn that could be shared within my wider community, with either colleagues, or whānau/aiga? 

*Feel free to add images / slides to make your blog more interesting

MPI Day 2

Well we have made it to day two! Another good day of receiving copious amounts of information. Found this session or should I say lesson, very useful although not as heavy as I thought it was going to be. What did I learn that increased my understanding of the kaupapa and pedagogy of the Manaiakalani Programme ? I was lucky enough to have had Sharon come in recently and chat to our staff about RAT E - not rate but rat -e! the importance jof data and how we can use it came back to the forefront of my mind and I loved knowing that everyone has the chance to be great.

“If it’s worth TEACHING, 

it’s worth capturing.

If it’s worth LEARNING, 

it’s worth capturing.”

This is possible the biggest take away and the importance of rewindable teaching. This is something I have never really mastered. A few seeds have been planted on how I can do this better! I am hoping screen cast or google record will be my next best ...tool!

What did I learn that could improve my capability and confidence in teaching maths?

I have heard Elena say often that we are not throwing out the old which rings very true to me. I love math's, am no expert although I certainly have experience that allows me to be successful. I have taught to the whole class for a few years now and feel that groups within any area have to be fluid and change at the drop of a hat. I feel I can take new ideas on and keep developing my teaching pedagogy and style. What did I learn that could be used with my learners?  I will continue to fine tune the maths talk - loved seeing the subitising activities in the sessions today and that will become a part of our daily routine for the coming week. A refresh on looking at the DATA and sharing tis with my team will be a focus too while making sure the LI and SC are clear.

What did I learn that could be shared within my wider community, with either colleagues, or whānau/aiga?  As mentioned I will share the subitising with my team and the planning also - just as a thought! As the maths lead, I will also share the PAT data slides to help our team reflect on their DATA.

I am now going to try and attach what I made from last week.....this is a screen shot of the ground rules that have been adapted to fit in with our PB4L-SW explicit teaching program. Till next week!

Well I am back - I haven’t grasped this professional blogging thing, to be fair, I haven’t really given it a chance. I have always found it difficult to express myself to other and reflect on what I have done or I'm doing. I tend to do it in my mind ...late at night! I am a processor sure and need that time to go away and reflect. By which stage the moment has gone and my input not needed! So now I am back, trying to reflect now...so the rest of my life doesn't get in the way and I miss the post! Yes I will use the questions as my prompt - let see were they lead me!

What did I learn that increased my understanding of the kaupapa and pedagogy of the Manaiakalani Programme? it is always a treat to listen to Dorothy and todays take way for me was the revisiting of the pillars of learning - there always seems so much with the MK pedagogy so it was great to have a refresh with the pillars - my ain mow is to put them in my planning more!

What did I learn that could improve my capability and confidence in teaching maths? The biggest learning is although I know lots, its ok to be an experienced teacher here, as there is still so much to learn. I love that about education - the learning never stops.

What did I learn that could be used with my learners? I love the survey - something I have done in the past but not for a few years, that is will be on next weeks plan. I also enjoyed the use of pictures. I have always used everyday pictures in maths but never with such open ended questions and thinking - can't wait to give that a go.

What did I learn that could be shared within my wider community, with either colleagues, or whānau/aiga? There was a lot to share, as the WSL I like to share one new idea a week so this week I will share the new curriculum info to help the teacher check their planning. Then it will be the video Boosting Maths.

Bee Inquiry

I enjoyed making this Bee Inquiry Slideshow as it is September which is the month of the bee. We are looking at the Bee and the impact they have on our world this month and this slideshow is our starting point, I am hoping it will cater for the online home learning and transfer back into the classroom.

 

Handwriting through pictures

 Here is an example of how I do handwriting, parts of speech and oral language in my class. Very simple way to tick lots of boxes and the kid enjoy the discussion and writing.

Play School -

 So being in lock down has brought me back to the wonderful world of DFI! Oh how I have missed it!  Here is my latest literacy slideshow I have made in the hope to engage a few more of my kids!  Has a nod to the past too! Thanks Sharon teaching me how to turbo boost my slideshows!

Te Kau

 

Iwa

 Final day of DFI,  we have just finished the 3 hours exam and a delicious shared lunch, and Mark wants us to be reflective! 

I have enjoyed learning about the pedagogy of Manaiakalani.  I feel like a kid who has been given one of those gifts that is layer upon layer of wrapping paper, and each layer brings more excitement as we get closer to to the end. Although in this case there is no end.  I am hoping to take all the slide shows back and somehow keep looking at them.  I am wondering how I get the pedagogy embedded into my team along with regular blog posts. There is nothing like .........I have completely forgotten what I was going to say in that sentence or where it was going.  Is this age, tiredness or the distractions taking over.  Mark made the comment about Jen's blog and how good it was to read as it identifies her learning style. I would have to say I have learnt that I need a quiet space with little or no talking around me. The table next to me during this journey, has been noisy and at times I have found it difficult to work due to this.  Maybe that is why I have presently forgotten what I was typing!

It takes 14 days for the results of the exam to come back - that's funny in today's world of instant responses!  I am now just waffling so should stop as this may impact my profession! 

Waru

 DFI - second last session! For the first time ever, I have butterflies when I think of the exam which I know is more about reading the question correctly!

I am once again shattered today and finding coming up with something to reflex on difficult! Feel the bullet point side of my personality starting to take over!

Empowering - I am wanting to write something amazing and intelligent in regards to this but can't remember enough about it to make that comment! That is because I am tired not because it was boring, I assure you.  I will need to go back. The one thing that won't leave the front of my mind is economic inequality and how this is so prevalent in our country. Growing up in the peaceful Waitaki valley as a farmer's daughter who never wanted for anything then starting my teaching life in South Auckland reminds me of the economic injustice that is everywhere.  I loved South Auckland, I miss the joy and love for life those kids had. I have often holidayed in Auckland with my own children just to let them see how lucky they are, and how other kiwi's live while making the most of all they have. To be involved in something that is empowering children and their families is a pretty cool feeling! 

I completed the moral and ethic challenge in regards to the cars and the thoughts and discussion around that was great.  The balance of all this great technology and the essence of human life and the environment will always be a massive challenge to balance out.  In an ideal world, making money wouldn't be the underlying reason for doing anything. 

Enjoyed the coding - Especially the Minecraft one, we use Scratch a lot at the moment in our class and would like to look into Minecraft also!  So I made this comment as a reminder before I went on to the Create part of our agenda and discovered the website Code in an Hour with all of its amazing resources. So I have been lost in the world of The Grinch, Minecraft and Mini Mihi.  I like the idea of setting a coding challenge up for the kids on a Friday afternoon, reminded me of Stem challenges.  Something for our team to look into.

Oh this is short!  I am tired and ready to go get my beautiful daughter!  As said before, I have throughly enjoyed this PD and will somehow continue my learning process!  Here's till next week and the exam!  Can't wait!!

Whitu - DFI

 I can't believe we are up to our 7th lesson for DFI, the time has gone so fast and to be honest I am not looking forward to the time ending!  Wonder how I can get involved in DFI level 2?! 

The Cybersmart Session we great, I have only just started to beware of these amazing lessons, resources and ideas. Thank you to all involved in creating the concepts, lessons and resources! Talk about making my life easier!  The idea of elevating the positive and empowering the children to be smart online from a positive angle is refreshing, and yet something that has been around for a long time.  As someone who always sees the positive before anything else, which at times can be detrimental, it was great to see such a positive approach!  The approach of do instead of don't. I love the saying " The idea that everything is private was interesting too as I had never thought of sharing in that way, and presenting all information as personal, whether you choose to share it or not clarifies the concept of what is private so quickly while empowering those who chooses to share.

Hapara sounds amazing especially the visibility to the learners and the ease in which it seems to work and am looking forward to using that in the future! 

Explain Everything

Explain Everything    - So Marvellous Mark has been teaching myself and the class all about Explain Everything for the last three weeks.  Have to say I am a bit of a fan, of EE that is! Ok, and Mark! The children have embraced and run with Explain Everything, and we loved all the Toy videos that they have created. I have used them as modelling books in maths and the children quickly explain how they have solved problems - something I have struggled to get them to do using paper! To now see the potential I may embark on becoming an EE expert! The ideas are beginning to develop and I am excited about how this app can and will enhance my learning and the childrens! I will endeavour to add some of my EE videos! 

PS Managed to attach my class blog to the blog list Go the Gadgets!!

Ono

 Enabling Access

Wow what a day today was!  Loved every bit of it and wish it wasn't ending!  I have really enjoyed exploring the sites,  I think consolidating some of the earlier information that has been given to us, has been fantastic!  I can see the fog lifting and the embracing paying off!  Still way at the bottom of this amazing mountain but certainly enjoying the climb.  I am looking forward to next year when a bank of resources and knowledge behind me, has grown!  As I now explore the online tool kits, resources, weekly newsletter the MK have given us, I certainly have a better understanding of what they are about and how I can use them!  Makes me smile when I think of our DP coming back into a staff meeting a good 18 months ago and trying to tell us we would all be creating a site today to be used in class, most of us had very little idea of what she was talking about and why we would need a site, let alone spend time trying to use a programme very foreign to us, especially as we didn't have devices in our class. Boy how things have changed! I get it now, and the importance of laying a foundation for all learnings! 

My site is very basic and simple, it was good to get feedback from fellow colleagues and I have made a number of changes.  I am also asking myself a lot more about what it is I want the children to get from the activities on the site, the learning isn't as meaningful as I would like it so will keep making the changes! I have mastered the addition of audio on a number of slide shows which will be the weekend job!  I am hoping the lower children in class will thrive on this - although we don't have headphones we do have large plastic boxes they can stick their heads in for privacy!

Thank you Mark, Emily, Dorothy and Sharon for all the professional learning you have given and continue to give!!

I am a leader in PB4L at our school, and will now be putting all our resources onto a site so it is easier for the staff to find and again give them the experience of working with a site. Short post this time - access enabled and I am off to get my daughter - all about the balance of time!

Please explore my ever changing sites and give feedback if you feel the need!

Class Site

https://sites.google.com/nbc.school.nz/ohiaclasssite/home

Sight Words Site

https://sites.google.com/nbc.school.nz/sight-words/home

E noho rā

Libby!

Rima - DFI

Sitting listening to the WWW where everyone is talking about what they are doing and think, I am feeling I  am not doing near enough homework or is that home learning! To hear what some are doing and how they are using things was great I need a system where I am going back and using the rewindable learning so I don't forget anything.  This element, WWW, has made a number of lights go back on, can't believe I had forgotten so much in a week - is forgotten the right word I then ask? For me I have to go over things once or twice to make them stick, I guess I am lucky it is only once or twice and not 10 times as there is so much to remember. I had a moment with Mark today when creating a new site for my sight words when our wires and ideas were crossed and I had to start again. In reflection it was my desire to find the shortcut that landed us there.  I often find myself thinking there must be a quicker way to do this and then spending time searching when the first concept would of worked. Tech is always changing so much and so quickly, I do wonder if I am not equipped for the everyday updates!  And yes that massive clock at the front of my brain keeps appearing reminding me to keep looking up and keep the time and balance where it needs to be.  I feel like I have wasted this session a bit as I have drifted off into my own activity. I want to learn more about learning pathways and how I can use this with my literacy and maths planning, I will need to go back and explore the web sites in my own time!

The discussion on Collaboration this morning with Dorothy once again underlined one of the most powerful tools in teaching - sharing ideas, resources, experience etc has always been the biggest learning resource for me.  It is funny how things have changed, I can say that as I'm an old timer, when we were at university training all those years ago, we use to film ourselves so we could gain a better idea about how we were teaching. We would then sit and criticize each other of all the things we had done or not done. The thought of sharing that then, so openly was terrifying and yet now I have very different feelings towards filming myself and putting it out there for the world to see.  To be so open and confident that you are sharing your teaching to teach and help others puts such a different spin of things.  I haven't yet managed to video myself and put it up on my site, looking forward to that! 

Mark's comment "tired from teaching instead of tired from behaviour management' hit a chord with me. I often find myself asking 'why are they behaving in that way, what have I not done? 

I have enjoyed the journey of learning how to effectively use a class site. Prior to shutdown a few months ago I had never really send or even heard of a class site so to have created one and be using it everyday now it great fun.  My head now filled with what else can I use on for - sight words, inquiry, planning,  etc. I loved the idea shared of getting the kids to create the buttons for the class site to add more idendenty in it for the children.

I need to look more into multimodal to get more of that into my class.  "That" what is that!? I don't really know what multimodal is but am sure I will work it out.  I think that is one thing that I have really begun to take on during the DFI, a huge amount of information is presented to us, information that is incapulating, by thinking and remembering that all this information has a starting point and small steps are all that is needed to master all the learning makes it much easier to wonder through.

Here is the link to my DFI speed challenge - took me 5 min and 33 sec! 

https://sites.google.com/nbc.school.nz/dfi-speed-challenge/home

This is the sight words site I created for my class site! Need to complete all the audio, maybe a child could contribute to that! 

https://sites.google.com/nbc.school.nz/sight-words/home

Here's till next week!!

Wha - DFI

 I am exhausted today, not sure why so it is a short blog post with possibly little depth.  I am loving this journey, DFI has always been a interest and something I enjoy learning about, 20 odd years ago I use to help design web sites as a fun thing to do, wish I had followed the passion back then,life leads us round and round.  Which brings me back to the fact that I want to make sure I am using my time wisely and ensure the planning and  teaching I am doing with the children is something they and I can grow on therefore allowing ourselves to have a solid foundation for future years (and I get to spend time with my children). 

To have Share broken down to the simplistic concept of something that we have been doing since Adam and Eve and the happy feeling sharing brings us all has continued to brighten the light, and understanding of how sharing works within the pedagogy.  It has made me want to increase the amount of time I comment on present and past students blogs more.  To reflect on how I am sharing the children achievements now it is very limited to in the four walls of the classroom. I need to work on how I can increase the audience that sees how wonderful the children are.

I had my eyes opened to the My Maps element of Google, as I didn't even know this app was there. Once again my mind is swirling. I have planned my next road trip, actually it's a road trip I have been wanting to do for ages with my own children(one day), and I will challenge myself and my team to organise a treasure hunt around our school backyard for the school kids. Oh that reminds me I still haven't looked into Google Keep! 

I enjoyed having another look at Google Forms and changing how I use them. I use them a lot for reading comprehension but loved seeing how Sharon was using them in a much more sophisticated way! Have revisited my daily journal and changed that around for next week. This is something my kids loved during lockdown so we have continued it, I had been using the data as a maths focus during lockdown and haven't continued that but will now look at how we can get that going now too. 

At our team meetings we always begin by sharing whether we have Cares or Concerns, a way to share our professional experiences, opinion and worries - I will add to that a Slam Dunk segment so we can share what DFI success we have all had that week! Thanks Emily!

Toru - DFI

We start today on the reflection and realisation, that I had said I would learn to use Google Keeps last week ....... and haven't even looked at it!  Should of set myself a reminder! 

Connecting with Manaiakalani:

I sit listening and thinking about all that Dorothy shares and my own children always come to mind - I want my children to have experienced this style of learning and teaching! I can't help but think how different it may have been for them, especially for my daughter! Yes when I say own children I'm not only thinking of my class but my babies, who are teenagers and at the end of their schooling life! I wonder if it's not too late to start again!  I do get excited about all I can share with them, and can see them looking at me with those eyes that say "really mum, do I have to listen?'  It was good to see the create element again and to increase my understanding of it and the power creativity gives. Now to work out how to get it into my daily programme and teams outlook! I am excited about create, it looks fun, beneficial and empowering.  The words "problem solvers, communicators and collaborators' have stuck with me and to think I can contribute to creating children along those lines fills me with joy. To imagine the world fill of 'playfully creative people' makes me want to change the way I run our team meetings (as a starting point) - how can I get Learn, Create and Share into the agenda?  

Questions I have got from listening to Dorothy.

Am I looking at the whole person and the sensory elements? 

Am I remembering that creativity needs to be hands on and there needs to be lots of creating before the learning is cemented?

How do they create and not just watch it?

How do I see create differently, include it in my daily programme for my class and my team?

What stuck with me from the morning google meet, and I really want to follow up was the idea of school tv, chn sitting and watching that - in today's classroom where covid and rebuilds dictate space, instead of our assembly, school tv has an opportunity to begin!  Secondly, would be the The film festival idea - getting that in my class, then maybe the school sounds like a challenge I could enjoy.

Luckily, my colleagues has just pointed out that I, at the age I am, have 40,000 hours left of teaching - lets hope I use them wisely!

Google Slide:

I embarked on the google slides exercise which was great and something I can see being used for me, and the kids. I use google draw a lot and yes there was a number of things I didn't know about. Love the little tricks I now know.  I am thinking that doing that small exercise often will help me remember. 

 Then I discovered 'pick a path', was instantly taken back to my childhood and those books we all read were you could pick what happened next by turning to a different page! We are looking at narratives in class at the moment and I  like the idea of doing slideshows with that where there is different options for the children's own stories. Our class also spends time with problem solving on Fridays so using the concept of pick a path in this area lead me to beginning to make the below slide show - yet to be finished as of today's date, but will work on it.  There is a bit of the old 'poke and hope' feeling I often get with maths apps, will see how we go.  Finished and tested on my 18 year old boy - he got it and I think enjoyed it! His comment was 'It's very good!"

Am enjoying the pace and level of learning I am doing!  Here's to the next week, keeping this going and using the knowledge! Might go back and look at google .....what was it....google keeps!!