Computation Thinking

Today Dorothy went over how we can empower our children. She started talking more about why it is important to empower children. The background of many of the children in the area she works in come from very low-income families. This impacts on many areas of their life some of which I hadn't even thought of.  We are using more and more technology in our everyday life and if you could imagine what it would be like to not to be able to use a computer or have access to the internet this would definitely make some things in life tricky. It is also such a barrier for many things. Having good access to technology can empower not only the children but also the families.

I really liked this poster as digital technology can be all these things and this is something that needs to be remembered when planning and discussing with parents.

We went over how to use Scratch and Hour of Code and given a few ideas on how to include these in your class programme. It was great to have an opportunity to look at Hour of Code and I found this quite easy to use I would like to include this in my programme at some stage.

Media

Today we went over how it is important to allow the children and family to see the planning as this allows access to their learning. Kent explained how some of the parents at his school had not had good experiences at school. By allowing the adults to see their children's learning in their own time this meant they were more comfortable and keen to check out the learning.

The interesting thing about You Tube today was that you could embed your own playlist so that the children only look at those videos. This could be very helpful to help children stay focused during research. I included one on the maths workshop for some videos on fractions which will be good as the children do like watching videos and so this way they are learning and staying focused.

Today we saw how the teachers are sharing their planning at Pt England School and that they use slides for their planning. The bonus for this is that when it comes to writing reflections on their lessons this can be not seen by others as they write it in the comment section and only those who the slide has been shared to can see these. This is something I was concerned about but by doing it this way it works. It gets me thinking if I should do more planning in slides, or not.

We had another look at Google Drawings and how it is a great tool for children and teachers to be creating on. I made a word bank drawing in which the children can edit and put in some interesting describing words. I needed a bit of assistance ensuring that only a few selected children can type on it there are a few options to do this.  Drawings is great for creating and I plan to use it more for the create side of my activities.

Google Site

Google Sites

Today just confirmed how having work visible is important not just to other teachers but also for children, families and really the community. By using the google sites it can really be easy for this to happen. 

We looked at some great examples of Google sites used at all different levels including high schools. I love looking at how other people set up and use their Google site in their everyday learning. I have found in the little I have done with the children using a google site, I have found that they enjoyed using the google site and were more engaged. 

After some feedback and by looking at other sites I am starting to make changes to the hub site. I need to make it more simple and eye catchy for the audience. I look forward to putting more work up on the site and using it more in different areas. I am starting small but will continue working on including more reading groups and use it more in other areas.

Here is the start of some of the changes I have made to the Hub site. 

Collaborate Sites

Google Sites

Sharing- We discussed more about the importance of this and how we have been doing this for years as it does not always have to be digital. However, the ability of what we can do in the digital world really helps us to reach a larger audience. 

Google Sites- We looked at how this can really help to keep your planning and be a place the children can access their learning. After looking at some Google Site examples of these it was really interesting to see the different levels how this is being done. The multi module's are similar to hyperdocs which I have had a go at. I will definitely continue to work on this as I got some great ideas from other peoples mutli moduls. 

Below is an example of what we started to work on. We have looked at different ways to get the children to cover the learn aspect and we were working on the create aspect. This was going to be a Google Drawing in which the children would be rearranging some pictures. 

My next step is to include more work for different levels in my class using the Google Sites. 

Click to Google Site

Dealing with Data

Today was full of information on how to present data in different ways. We started with the importance of creating and how this can be done in a variety of ways. I did like this quote "creative skills helps students become better problem solvers, communicators and collaborators". It mentions how the whole body can be used when thinking about creating, this is definitely something I need to keep in mind when planning.

Google Forms- I have only used this twice I think with the children, however, I have filled out many forms and can see why people use this tool. I see how easy it is to use and I am thinking I can get the children using this. It can be used for a variety of ways and the pick a path story idea intrigues me.
Google Sheets- I admit I really only use this for planning and have not really used it too much for analysing data. I have learned quite a few tricks for this and how you can convert the information into charts. I have also below embedded a google chart in the blog and I got this information from someone's blog. This is just one way it can be used but gathering the information and being able to display this into a chart is cool.
Google Maps- I was really interested in how this can be used as have never tried this. Below is something we worked on using the information used from a google sheet which was pretty amazing. One of the teachers plans to use this to map where certain animals are which is perfect as we are looking at native animals so this got me thinking about including it in my planning.

It was interesting today to see how you can use google sheets,google forms and google maps all in together. 

Workflow

Workflow

Today, when Dorothy was talking about Manaiakalani pedagogy she mentioned about rewind and flip learning which I found was interesting. She associates flip learning with how in America they use this with some high school students by getting them to watch a video of the teacher teaching to watch the day before. If it is rewind then it is there for the children to refer to later or when they are having trouble or can't remember something.

I liked this slide about how technology can be used to accelerate a child's learning.

Google Keep- This is an extension I already had but had not really got into using. It can be helpful to take notes and lists. This can also be linked to your calendar and you can send out notifications. With Google Keep you can take a photo of a text and it will type it and then you can copy and paste this. It could be used for stories you don't have enough copies of etc.

Gmail- I recently learned about snooze and schedule when you send an email which I might use. I don't get a huge amount of emails but for those who do look into the settings and maybe configuring would be a good idea. This means that the emails go into different folders before you even see them.

Calendars- I gained more confidence with using this and how this can link to Google Keep. Also how this can connect with Google Hangout.

Google Hangout- This is something I have been on but not set up myself I have gained more confidence in order to set this up and use as we used a few times today.

Tabs- We were introduced to One Tab as an extension and this lists the tabs all under one. This didn't appeal to me but will for others. Toby Mini is another extension which I think I may use after talking to some others. This is one in which you can group different tabs under one heading. This could be handy when I am in a team meeting and I need to have the same tabs up every time. Or it could be handy when doing an assignment or planning and you have a few different tabs with resources.

Today's learning was about workflow so mainly beneficial for me to help with being more efficient with my time and how I organise my personal life. So today was very useful for me. As far as the learners are concerned the Google Hangout could be used to maybe to connect with others in the community or the world.

Digital Fluency Intensive

Today I learnt some new skills as well as reinforced some of the skills I already had. It was good to gain more confidence in some areas. I particularly liked learning about setting up headings correctly in order to lead me on to other parts of a document. I can see how this can help my colleagues as well as my children. 

The use of the Voice Typing is an interesting one and I plan to look at this more and have a real play with. I like the idea of trying voice typing with some children who are reluctant to write and have all these wonderful ideas. Currently, my colleagues are looking at different ways to teach writing and this might be something that could be tried.

Another useful thing I learnt today was about setting up a Google group as although I belong to some I have never known how to set this up myself. This could be useful in the future for groups which don't just involve people from my school.  

By doing the scavenger hunt this did make me feel confident that I can do a few things to do with  documents. It is interesting what I already know, however there is a great deal to learn still.  I learnt some new tricks which I plan to pass on to others which is always good and hopefully this will help with workflow and reinforcing I can use it too.