DFI Session Two 2021

 Connecting with Manaiakalani: Dorothy

The Manaiakalani Pedagogy: Learn, Create, Share allows for a common language across school, but allowing for the differences / individualism as school's have autonomy on how they use learn, create, share.

The message that rang clearest was that of when moving into a digital world we can't lose focus on effective teacher practice. The ongoing argument of digital devices and screen time vs the use of traditional methods is a thorn in many educators / leaders of learning as we justify the use of digital tech to enhance learning. We all need to realise that good practice should be recognised as good practice and without good practice in any learning area, student achievement is seriously hindered or lacking.

The challenge for all of us as we move further into digital technologies as a key learning area, is to be able to identify effective practice and share this with our whanāu and community so the benefits of effective practice with digital technology is understood and appreciated and acknowledged as a key driver in amplifying / turbo charging learning.

The wero set by Dorothy was that of identifying and articulating our school's learning model - What are our beliefs about how learners learn? What are our foundations of learning? Are our teachers / learners able to share this when asked? This provocation digs deep into our belief systems of teaching and learning and is worth exploring deeper with teachers, learners and whanāū.

Chalk and Talk  / Deep Dives:

These sessions again provided us with handy tips that can be used in our busy every day lives.  Being able to organise Gmail, calendars and Tabs is extremely useful.  While I'm comfortable with labels etc in gmail, there is definitely room for improvement in the other areas.

Google meet is a tool that we became familiar with during lockdown.  It is a platform that is used to communicate when we all can't be in the same room.  The continued upgrades provides us with reassurance that when in use we are getting the best possible platform to operate from.  

The record function is one to be explored further, particularly when using the tool with small groups as a way to make learning rewindable and accessible at anytime.

Videoing is such a powerful learning tool for either front loading or future follow ups.

Blogging and embedding videos is still something that I need to do more regularly to become more familiar with the in's and the out's of this.  The more practice I get the better I will become.

Unfortunately, the meet recording from my discussion partner did not work, but here is a digital assembly video from our school's time during the alert levels.