DFI session 2 - WORKFLOW

Friday 2nd August 2019 DFI session 2 - WORKFLOW

WHAT HAS WORKED WELL SINCE PREVIOUS DFI:  Toggling between tabs!  Efficient/helpful. Remove.bg another helpful wee tool.  Tried hard to use Learn-Create-Share pedagogy so learners feel what they have learned/created is going somewhere, and has a meaningful,authentic audience.  Fixed up photo on my professional account so that it’s appropriate, just me - no pets, no kids etc

WHAT HASN’T WORKED OR MADE SENSE?  Have not done Scavenger Hunt as yet.  Can’t figure out how to bookmark, back to top etc.  Can you help me to move a file into my own Drive using the shortcut we learnt about?  I didn’t achieve this when I tried.

WHAT DO YOU NEED HELP WITH?  Accessing and commenting on others’ blogs can now be done as I’ve got the links..  Using Docs voice typing in class effectively. Amie will be coming into school to demo use of Sunshine online as a tool to support fluency in reading.

I enjoyed connecting with Manaiakalani kaupapa and the reassurance that it in no way is throwing the baby out with the bathwater.  References to Blooms and SAMR model, hoping to modify or transform learning for our tamariki… turbo charge!

Rewindable learning:

The concept being that if it’s worth teaching, and worth learning, then it is worth capturing and putting on your Google Site so that learners can access it any time, and rewind to it when they need to.  If it’s worth teaching/learning, it’s worth sharing.

We had a delve into Hangouts and Meet.  You can present what is on your screen to the group.  You can include many people in the group. Can access through gmail, calendar, hyperlink or apps.

Screen castify - thanks Ubby and Briar for the tip!  A great way for learners to record their reading, so you can see all their behaviours, and they can measure their progress from week to week.  Ubby shared her Site. A great hub where all of her planning for EVERYTHING is available. Learners go there, using it as a hub for their reading books and activity, word work, writing material, websites with practise activities etc.  Really enjoyed seeing this very slick model - organised in such a meaningful way. She spoke about very high levels of engagement using this model, as well as the sense of safety and predictability providing children with sound routines.

Briar kindly put me on to yet another clever shortcut; Ctrl + shift + t which re-opens the previous tab you just closed.  Pretty quick way to keep organised, I can see myself using this one. Also, the ‘starred’ feature in Drive will prioritise key documents making them more accessible.  This makes them quick and easy to open.  

Toby Mini is a Chrome Extension to tame your tabs.  ‘Save your session’. Could be good if you open all sorts of sites relating to a particular study or focus (termly integrated study as an example) for planning, then save and share with other collaborators.  Essentially a collection of URLs. Could be good/quite useful at a team level.

I can see the workflow benefit of pinning tabs, the ones you like to keep open most of the time, Drive, Keep, Gmail.

For the CREATE component, we worked in collaborative teams of three to record some discussion around a child’s blog we read, sharing an activity from The Summer Learning Journey.  Not without its connectivity issues, we had some quality, critical discussions as well as lots of laughs. 

 

Turns out soft skills aren’t a big focus at high school, I’m told.  Who knew two men could be so chatty. Lots of fun in our group, and a great opportunity to practise using Hangouts, presenting screen content, and recording using Quicktime screen record feature.

Through lunchtime I was able to delve back into the scavenger hunt… you can do so much without leaving Docs!  Loving the ‘explore’ feature.  

DFI Session 1 - Core Business

Reflection 26th July 2019

I was able to understand a lot more about the kaupapa of Manaiakalani, including where it all originated from in East Tamaki back in 2006.  I enjoyed hearing about the story, their journey to date, and the four main goals that were established at the beginning where they set out to pioneer a programme which could engage their tamariki.  Now that I have a greater understanding the pedagogy, including the Learn, Create, Share model, I am excited about what I can learn throughout the Intensive.

PARTNERING, not buy-in.  Manaiakalani were able to make string partnerships with whanau who were happy to support their children having access to positive opportunities and devices like those living in higher decile neighbourhoods.  Another thought that Dorothy spoke to is the concept that the device is the pencil, not the book.  Sustainable approach, future focused, and relevant.

As I saw the statistics and research outlining the success Manaiakalani has had with accelerated learning, but also extending learners who are already excelling in a range of learning areas, I felt excited as to how this learning could enrich the outcomes of children that I teach.

The Learn Create Share model has fostered high levels of motivation and engagement, and brings a strong sense of meaning to children’s learning.  They know that they have an authentic audience keen to see a snapshot of what they’re learning.  “This writing they’re going to do, is going to then allow them to CREATE something”... paint something messy, voice their favourite sentence, publish their best bit, create an artwork gift showcasing the best part.

There were a number of tips and tricks which I learned to improve workflow and efficiency in the way that I work professionally.  These include:

• Simply type in the name of the app, and then .google.com to get to an app faster.
• Google groups quite effective, like a blog, in the sense that you can use tags (blogs call them labels)... for example instead of searching and searching for agenda you can just go directly to Groups and it’s all stored there in one central location.

• When setting up a Google Group, it is a better idea to Direct add, don’t invite to groups.  However, on the google exam, invite students to the group is the correct way to do this.
• Omnibox is the proper name for the place where you type in a URL!

• Don’t use underline which you think is a way to add emphasis.  It is dated and shows your age.  These days, it is only meant to be a hyperlink, don’t use it as anything else.
• Use shft+Z to move someone else's file and reorganise to your own Drive, but still in the original folder for all to access.
• Never COPY and PASTE.  CTRL+shift+v - this does it without yucky formatting.  Better living.
• Use kids initials first to name Google Docs, so that Hapara can recognise it and file it efficiently… in the right folder from the start.  Never too late to stop the class, and start from the beginning again.  Not wasting time, it’s investing in solid routines and strong foundations to build from.
• Toggle through tabs - ctrl + whichever #
• Get on with the mahi - Tell the kids that they can bling it later.
• Google Docs - voice typing… what an amazing tool!  Use paper cups to help their voices.
• Styles is a tool that I have underutilized in the past.  Can add in contents and then go on to indent with a sub-clause.
• Give them ONE document, so they don’t have to spend HEAPS of time setting it up each time.  Work on this, and use it for a while until they’re proficient.  The trick is to keep MOST RECENT writing at the top of their page.
• SEND THE URL TO THE PLACE WHERE YOU WANT PEOPLE TO READ.  There is a unique url code for each particular part of the document you need their attention to.  For example ‘map’ part of the cross country organisation.  Or executive summary of a professional reading you want to share.  AMAZING.
• 'Back to top’ bookmark quite handy.
• Checklists for Google are out of date the day that they are created.  Don’t get into it.  Keep up to date with features that are released as they're rolled out.
• Google form from the Doc to Form extension I just learned to use could be a handy resource to help gather student voice from children in my class.
• Scavenger Hunt is a resource which I will be able to come back to and explore with children in my class

Extensions and Add-ons:

• Draftback (also eZnotifications) is a great way of ensuring a more robust revision history.  
• Kaizena really awesome verbal feedback that they can hear.
• Texthelp
• Excellent and free tool for removing backgrounds of images - https://www.remove.bg/

Wonderings and things I can sort out/learn about:
Voice over, Video Capture and microphone on my laptop.

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