DFI Week 2 - Workflow

Today was all about enhancing my workflow and how I can use the google suite to help me be more effective, efficient and productive. 

Our first focus today was on LEARN ...

Dorothy talked to us about how to change teaching and learning in this current digital environment and that effective practice should be recognisable no matter where it is being practiced.

Remember:

R - recognising effective practice and thinking how to use this to help you become a more effective teacher.
A - amplifying the opportunities for learners by using the technology that is available now. Every child should be learning in engaging ways that were not available in the past.
T - turbocharger learning by offering new experiences and opportunities. All learning needs to be rewindable (ako tukurua) - turbocharging effective practice! 

and if a teacher can be replaced by a computer - they should be!

Google Keep

Tip - use a label to keep your notes in good order.

If you see something on the internet that you want to keep, use the extension and it will make a note in 'Keep' for you to access later.

Use sharing to collaborate with others - planning with your team etc.

Use drawing to add a sketch.

Take photos to add to notes.

Takes photos to get the text to make it into editable writing.

G-Mail, Calendar and Tabs sessions

These were good refresher sessions for me, reminding me how to keep control of all the documents and information that come in every day. I feel quite confident in how I use these as I use them all the time to organise my work and team.

As I am a list person, I like to use g-mail as a bit of a todo list. When I have responded to or actioned something I file the email or bin it. This keeps my inbox clear and it is easy to find things when or if I need them.

I am starting to use calendar more to keep track of parents and staff meetings and other meet-ups.

I learnt how to use folders in my bookmarks so that I can keep the most used tabs in there and not have them open all the time.

Google Meet

Guest speakers coming into the studio.

Senior buddy tutoring - seniors to juniors, secondary to primary.

Learnt about enterprise - we can not unmute learners in this setting.

Best way to create a meet is on the website - you have to be the first in the meet to enable students to join and if you are the last to leave then the students get kicked out.

Headphones can improve the quality of sound however, if people are in the same room they are very important to use.

Recording a meeting - go to the 3 dots.

CREATE:

After learning the ins and outs of google meet we got to use it with a buddy to look at some blog posts. It was really good to get to practice recording and embedding the video onto our blog which is something that I will be doing more often with the students on their own blogs. The things to remember to embed a video are:

- open the video in a new window 

- get the embed code and paste it into the HTML view.

DFI Week 1: Core Business

Having been part of Manaiakalani for the past 3 years I knew a bit about the background of how and why everything started but today gained a deeper understanding around the reasons for the Manaiakalani movement and the establishment of the trust. One thing that stood out for me from listening to Dorothy's talk was the innovative attitude of the founding group of teachers. Dorothy got us thinking about where we were during 2006, and I remember wanting that extra thing for the students in my class so I totally understood why Manaiakalani began. It was, and still is, about making things work with what you had, and when you want the best for your students that is what you do.

I found the sessions around G Suite really helpful (especially after thinking I knew it all already)! I learned a lot of tricks and tips to help with managing all the documents that I deal with on a daily basis.

I have created a poster on some of the ideas I learned more about or heard for the first time today.

There are two things that I think I could use in my classroom on Monday to improve the outcomes for my learners.

1. Teaching the students how to use the correct formatting tools for the 21st century and especially remembering to use “C shift V” to remove all formatting when pasting onto a document or into their blog.
2. Using voice typing on a more regular basis for literacy. I can see this tool being very useful especially for increasing reading mileage and getting more ideas recorded in writing time.

Not only can I see these tools being useful for my students but also for myself. I think what I have learned today about using the correct formatting tools, using the explore tool, how to remove backgrounds, how to create posters in google docs, just to name a few things, are going to help my confidence and streamline many of the clunky procedures that often slow me down.