Week 4 - Collaborate Sites

A beautiful day in Paihia School today, thanks to Jane and her staff for providing a great setting for our Week 4 DFI.

So our mahi today was to create a multi-model document and create a google site in 5 mins.
Yeah... Right!

Hahaha this site took me 3 hours to get to this point - Title page, 4 subpages and 4 partially created multi-model pages.

I think I'm a bit rusty.

A Little bit of Homework

Well, Mattie and I practiced, videoing a Google Hangout. I still find this difficult to know which button to click, so to video the Hangout. Here is the second attempt of our video, as the first attempt wasn't recorded......Hmmmmm.

Third Week - Dealing With Data

My Google Maps

GOOGLE FORMS

My google Form

USING GOOGLE SHEETS TO HELP ANALYSE DATA

Well, I feel quite successful this week, as I have completed a few tasks.

I've been pondering on the word 'creative' and providing opportunities for our students to become creative when they present their work.

Before this is to happen, we the educators have to be creative. Our students must be in front of educators who can model creativity, provide resources/notes/DLOs where our students can feel supported when they are creating a presentation of their knowledge and skills.

School Principals must also provide opportunities for their staff to observe creative teachers, attend PD, PLG, toolkits and develop teaching networks; and BOT must do likewise for their Principals.

I truly believe that the kaupapa and pedagogy of Manaikalani learn-create-share, provide our educators with these solutions, through the sharing of blogs, websites, google sites, PLG, toolkits, staffmeetings, Woolf Fisher Research papers and area principal networks.

Second Week - The Power of a Hangout.

What did I learn that increased my understanding of Manaiakalani’s Learn kaupapa and pedagogy?

The humble Google Hangout - I usually use this App when I am contacting our school contractors. The last time I used this hangout was last Friday; when I needed support from the Solar Power Provider to help me navigate our wordy 'Contract.' Today I discovered that hangout is more than a on-line telephone.

Today I saw the potential on how to incorporate this tool into our students' learning, with the right task, groups of students can get together to evaluate and analyze pieces of work or debate about an issue. Below is an example of a group of discussing the learning that took place in the set task and the benefits of sharing the work on his blog.

Understandably, our movie is a bit long due to not knowing how to use hangout confidently... but the potential is there.

What did I learn that could improve my confidence, capability or workflow as a professional?

Ok, the first this I really changed to suit my needs as a Principal, was to rearrange my email system.

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

This week, I quickly whipped up a unit of work, for our Year 7 students as I found myself relieving.
I decided to base the finished product to be presented on a linked google doc. Something we
learned last week.



What did I learn that could improve my confidence, capability or workflow in my personal life?

I'm not sure I have an issue with confidence or capability because I always give it a go. I try
different things and if I see the benefits for our students, then we introduce the digital tool, app or
program in their learning. As for improving my personal workflow, most of the google apps I'm
using, however, I am looking forward to my 101 lessons on google sheets and forms.

First Week Down - OMG Baptism of Fire

I came out the class like a stunned Mullet... happy but stunned. I think the fast pace of the day is what took me aback. Thank goodness for Kerri and Vanessa's notes, I say. A bit of homework will help me to finish all my requirement for DFI, and I think I will have to do a bit of work in the holidays.

I was actually surprised about how much I knew, and how much I could accomplish using Doc and Blogging.

Because I don't teach, I found myself falling behind in the digital world, especially now that we have Google Teachers in Tautoro. So enrolling in DFI will help me to catch up with my teacher's lingo as well as support me with Governance and Management decisions that will help to Future Focus our school.

As for learning and understanding Manaiakalani kaupapa and pedagogy, I am totally into it.

When I first visited Point England School in 2013, I knew I wanted in. I wanted to be an innovative teacher for my students. I wanted to be less of a micromanager and more of a facilitator, who could create a learning environment where students could take more risks with their learning and where students would enjoy learning and wanted more of it. I wanted to bring back passion to all of my students' eyes.

Now I'm a Principal, I am creating a school, where all of its teachers have that same understanding - "use your passion to light the eyes up."

My learners are slightly different as I have our BOT and teachers/staff with the students. My learners are the school leaders - Senior and Middle Management. I think if I use these google tools more, I will gain more confidence which will rub off onto the staff and especially the teaching staff. This knowledge will eventually trickle down to our students.