Mini lessons with GIFS - Prt 1

So one of the biggest issues in my year level is having new students in our chromebook classroom and getting them up to speed on the basics. In our writing programme, we have been encouraged to teach mini-lessons instead so I am thinking about doing the same for Cybersmart.

I have created a folder that is named "Google Basics" and it contains slides that cover all the basics of Google drive e.g. Moving work out of drive and into folders, renaming your work, etc. All my slides will follow the same basic layout, WALT, Good example, Bad example, and a GIF showing you how to perform each task.

This is how I made the GIF - seems like a lot of steps when you read it but it only took about 3 minutes to make:

1. Screencastify yourself performing the task (use Browser tab only, don't embed the webcam, don't bother with the microphone)
2. Convert your screencastify to a MP4 - use online-convert.com because it converts files from your drive.
3. Create a GIF on gify.com- I just added a caption with the keys that are used.

Alternatively, you could make a video, however I have found that a lot of students in my class miss the key instructions whenever I share a video with them. GIFS are straight to the point. Anyway, I plan to use these slides this week so I'll update on here how it went.

Tuakana Literacy - Pt 3

What I have tried since the last meeting?

Spelling

I have asked the tamariki for words that they may need help spelling with. Now I have to write these words on coloured strips of paper. We had a big korero about the words we are using for spelling, one next step we are planning to implement are topic words as well as words from the essential list.

Writing

I have been doing 3 tier in class and blocking off writing time, I am glad to say that I finally have work from my class. Dana and Jess shared their R.W.L site for writing which I would like to do for my own class.

Next steps:

1. Word wall up in class.✔️
2. Start a topic word wall.
3. Spelling words - 5 x topic words + 5 x words from the list.
   5 x Maori kupu.
4. Sharing mahi - not whole writing, just 2 sentences.
5. Re-do my writing site.

Session eight continued - Hanging out with Google Hangouts

For the second half of our day - we were asked to explore Google Hangouts in small groups.  This was perfect as Toni, her team teacher Verbina and I are all planning to connect with a school in Auckland through google hangouts.  There were a lot of technical difficulties, the entire cohort was exploring hangouts so the bandwidth could have been affected, the microphones were picking up a lot of "noise" etc.  After speaking with Gerhard, he said that we shouldn't experience this issue when we connect with Tamaki Makaurau. I will upload a reflective blog after next week giving everyone an update on how the google hangout went.
Tips for teacher's planning to use Google hangouts:

• Practise with your class first, it is pretty hectic and pretty crazy - teach them how to mute their mikes, take turns, etc - let your tamariki go crazy on it under your watchful eye, then after the craziness settles, connect with others.
• Headphones make the difference - make sure everyone has headphones.
• No glass or windows behind the speaker - this creates a glare and your face is not clearly seen.
• Make sure the students on the hangout are not close by unless you are keen to hear a very annoying screeching sound.

Below is a screencasting of Toni, Dwayne and myself, as you will notice there is no sound, not sure why (could possibly be the muted microphone? I have no idea) and underneath the video is, of course, some funny photos we managed to capture during this exploration.

Above is a picture of Dwayne's screen whilst presenting his screen with everyone.



And this is Dwayne's Korero - Take one lol

Session five - Coding Crazy and Makey Makey Madness

Today we explored coding through code.org and Makey Makey. First, we looked into coding through a website called Code.org.  I really enjoyed this website because it was straightforward with teaching how coding works.  My tamariki have recently been looking into coding through the CSFirst website, but I feel that my students are quite lost when it comes to this website, maybe this is a more simplified website for them to explore.

Next, we were given a quick tutorial of Makey Makey.  This was a very hands-on activity which I also enjoyed.

Makey Makey important tips:

• If you don't connect to "Earth" - nothing will happen.
• You can connect your Makey Makey to anything that is conductive.
• Can be connected with scratch, code.org

Below is a screencast of me having a little tutu with Makey Makey.  Putting it all together was a little tricky but, once everything was hooked up it was very fun.  I could imagine my class creating their own game with code.org or scratch, and then using Makey Makey as a way to create a joystick of some sort.  I may revisit code.org later after I receive more feedback from my students about how they would feel about this.

Using Google Forms to promote student agency

This term our Kaikohekohe Cluster have decided to look into 4 key areas where we feel we need improvement.  At our PLG meeting, the cluster split into 4 groups with the intention that each group will then create a mini-inquiry into each of these areas.  I have decided to choose student agency as my focus because I believe that fits well with my main goal in my classroom.

While looking into effective practices that promote student agency,  one key practice that stood out was exposing the students to their data and to the curriculum, progressions, etc.  Of course, me being me, I rolled the idea out into my classroom the next day and I decided to use Google forms to help me introduce this to my tamariki. 

How I did this:

• I rewrote the  NZ Curriculum level 2 achievement objectives for Reading/ listening and viewing in plain language in a google form.
• Explained to the students what the NZ Curriculum is and that we would be going through indicators in level 2 together in small groups.
• In the small groups, we went through the google form together. The students completed this on their own,  I was only there to help clarify some of the statements.

Interesting thoughts on this exercise

• There was a lot of rich conversations that came from this exercise, my students were very interested in the curriculum, and a lot of them found themselves on common ground, most did not make connections, most did not know affixes and suffixes, most did not choose books to read that they enjoyed  - they just chose any books.
• I realised that I had made some assumptions about some students prior to this exercise, I am glad I had done this especially before report writing, this has also forced to really think about what I am teaching (or what I am forgetting to teach)

Where to next from here?

• Continue to use google forms to gather more of my student's voice.
• Find other teachers who have implemented this practice into their learning environment.

Session four - Drones, Drawings and Animated slides

Today we had Kent Sommerville from Point England school to talk to us about Youtube and amazing ways to connect and share your classes learning with whanau and people around the world.

I learnt more about my Youtube channel, I was aware of my channel and use it to post some of my classes work as well as my own.  Kent showed us two ideas we can think about (playlists and live stream).

We also had a chance to explore Google drawings and Google Slides.  I have made a couple of google drawings for my class and below is my animation I had little tutu with.  It made me a lot more aware of the time and effort my tamariki put into creating an animation and I'm looking forward to showing them what I have learnt.

Things I m going to try this week

• Embed my Youtube playlists on my class site.
• Post a reflective blog giving an update about the soundboxes in class.
• Set aside some time to look back into the resources given today.

Beginning my digital fluency journey

This morning we began our digital fluency course with introductions at the beautiful Taipa Area School.  I am really looking forward to working with the Northland Cohort as we grow together in Gsuite and all the other amazing things that technology has to offer.  I am also looking forward to travelling back to my old Kura - Northland College every second week.

Check out my introduction on slide 16 and click on some of the images.  It takes you to my class site, this blog page and other things my class and I do

Here are the Label's that I will be using while I have this Professional Blog.