Supporting Connections, Learning and Whanaungatanga

Our Manaiakalani Cybersmart Learning includes supporting our young people to critically examine information online and we are enthusiastic to be piloting a media literacy programme Newshounds this term.

The programme includes a series of podcasts created and presented by Amanda Bower and Bryce Corbett. After five sessions we were excited, this week, to join Amanda online in a scheduled Google Meet. Learners shared feedback and also had the opportunity to ask questions, hearing directly from Amanda about her experiences creating the weekday news podcast, Squiz Kids Today. 

In this context it was important for Amanda to see the learners and hear what was being said in the room. All learners joined the Meet on their chromebooks and Amanda could see and hear learners as they spoke.

Being Cybersmart has empowered our young people to connect online, confidently making the transition to online learning over the past two years (see The Josh Smoothie a Technology lesson during lockdown 2020). 

This week's opportunity was also about thinking beyond video conferencing as a tool only for learning in lockdown. Using Google Meet to connect with Amanda, was an opportunity for our learners to experience how we can harness the technology to tap into the knowledge and experience of an expert. This exemplifies The Manaiakalani Programme's Learn | Ako pedagogy. Harnessing  the affordances of technologies to offer new experiences and opportunities not accessible prior to digital technology.

We often see our schools utilising local experts, parents, professionals and community members to help further learning in the classroom. How are we continuing to harness the connectivity digital technologies enable to connect with this expertise and knowledge at a distance? 

Tohatoha

This week we turbocharged our Share | Tohotoha pedagogy and invited educators from across The Manaiakalani Network to connect and share in our Term 3 Manaiakalani Staff Meeting. With registrations upwards of 500,  harnessing the affordances of technology and our network of connected learning communities across Aotearoa resulted in an awesome display of connected learners sharing.

He aha te kai o te Rangatira, He kōreo, he kōrero, he kōrero

The session was designed to be conversational with small groups formed in response to curriculum level and Teaching as Inquiry topics. This was an opportunity to connect and share strategies with educators who have been focussing on similar achievement challenges. We shared conversation starters and each group met online for 45 min.

We believe sharing is fundamentally about people making connections. Early feedback - the opportunities to connect with teachers and school leaders, specifically to hear how schools are approaching their unique contexts, was valued.

This week's DFI also focused on share and how our young people are harnessing their class and individual blogs to connect with an authentic audience across our network of schools. We were reminded that sharing is also an opportunity to understand the importance of completing a task... an important life skill...

PLUS seek feedback on progress (being ready to share at any stage of the learning process) and the opportunities this can attract when sharing online... (versus cultivating celebrity status in a social media soaked world. I've written about this in the past...

How are you "harnessing your ecosystems?" How are you scaling up your connectivity and attracting the people and resources you need to find your potential?

Enjoyed the Dealing with Data sessions which provided inspiration for stepping up my sheets game with Data Validation and Conditional formatting to manage our Summer Learning Journey project. Learning how to harness the extension Autocrat has definitely been a bonus (thanks Dave Winter).

Using Google Forms as a Writing Frame has been a great place to start and further conversations in our DFI bubble today helped me to think about further opportunities to personalise learning (thanks Herman and Lars)

Google Maps have always been a favourite. If you're new to using Maps with your learners start here with one of our Summer Learning Journey activities.

Hanga

Thinking about creativity today and reminded how being creative also encourages collaboration and problem solving. 

I have shared on the Blogger platform for many years. In 2022 our young people moved to edublogs to share their learning. 

Creating a media gallery is a smart, image formatting feature in edublogs and a time saver. 

I was able to set this up while editing, however the formatting would not save when published. 

A problem shared and thanks to Lars from my DFI Bubble a solution!

This requires activating the CSS plugin and updating with the following:

.gallery > figure { width: auto; }

Getting creative with Google Slides and Drawing

I demonstrated today how to create an interactive poster to share in a blog post.

While Google Drawing is a great go to App to create a poster or graphic any hyperlinked content will not be clickable in a blog post.  Google Drawing Resources

An option is to create an interactive poster using a Google Slide.

Example: Using a Google Slide, embedded in a blog post, enables hyperlinks to remain active.

This option includes removing the Google Slide navigation bar.

Examples and instruction links here

Note to self:

Read: Elwyn Richardson and the early world of creative education in New Zealand' by Margaret MacDonald. Recommended Robin Sutton What a gift - being creative in selling the 'creativity' message

Rent: The HeART of the Matter

Ako

The Manaiakalani kaupapa and pedagogy recognises effective practice in any learning environment AND the digital learning environment.  Why is this important?

The last two years have highlighted how critical this has been for learning and effective practice in any context.

We know for learning to accelerate, our learners need to be able to access learning beyond a physical location and time (McNaughton 2018). This has meant new tools for learning and a new pedagogy to support learning outside of school.

In Term 1 this year we were challenged again with schools open and learners either onsite or learning from home.  Listening to a podcast earlier this year, and the following from Derek Wenmoth resonated for me...

"All schools are now being challenged to consider -  “What happens when we need to think about learners/teachers and the learning/teaching independent of the location/place? How do we make participation in learning accessible when not determined by physical location”  

For our schools the Manaiakalani kaupapa and pedagogy (Learn, Create Share) is how this happens. 

For teaching and learning beyond the physical classroom and traditional school day, including harnessing tools for ubiquitous learning e.g.  Sites, Hāpara Workspace, Blogs, Being Cybersmart.

We have over many years harnessed our kaupapa to understand and explore how to harness the affordances of technology.  Our Learn pedagogy prioritises recognising effective practice in any learning environment PLUS the digital learning environment to amplify and turbo charge learning.

Our Learn pedagogy prioritises recognising effective practice 

Existing practices enabled us to move to distance learning and during this time our focus on Limit the Links - Kia iti ngā kuputoro has served us well. 

 

Decision making and actions were guided by our existing practices as a learning community. This includes, pedagogy, workflow and our understanding of how we design learning that is visible, accessible and rewindable.

If you can search for your school website … one link to rule them all!

Our kaupapa and pedagogy continues to provide a common understanding for learning design. There is value in thinking about this strategically -  as a school and a learning community. This enables coherence and consistency for learners and whānau to navigate and access learning.  For teachers it offers opportunities to transform the way our young people learn.

I valued the opportunity to share with Jemma today in our online DFI. We used Google Meet to create a screen recording of our conversation about a learner blog post and how the technology has been harnessed to both amplify and turbo charge learning. 

Hanga - Creativity Empowers Learning

Opportunities for kanohi ki te kanohi as a community of learning have been challenged during the past couple of years. We valued this opportunity to harness the collective creativity of our teachers this afternoon to connect with Create as a vital element of The Manaiakalani Programme. 

"The idea that creativity fosters wellbeing - and as a result improves learning - is backed by a large body of evidence" see recommended reading

Over the past three years our community of learning Create staff meetings have focused on reminding ourselves that creativity can be an opportunity to hook young people, to engage and awaken interest and curiosity. It need not be a Peter Jackson Production 😉

Plus we know opportunities to behaviourally engage our young people can be enhanced with digital technologies the ability to create with our heart, body and mind is not new.  

Thanks to teachers who have shared workshop resources online 

Create to Learn

Manaiakalani Class OnAir connects audiences with the Manaiakalani pedagogy, Learn-Create-Share by offering an authentic window into the classroom. From learning design and lessons on demand, plus teacher reflections and learners' blogs, the Manaiakalani Class OnAir site provides a unique perspective beyond that of a classroom visit.

Listening to Manaiakalani Class OnAir teachers, Charlotte Gaston and Clarelle Carruthers yesterday, I was reminded of John Dewey's quote from our Create to Learn Staff meeting last year.

Additionally the opportunities to collaborate and share, and how this is planned for and practiced, have been generously shared during this Tuhi Mai Tuhi Atu Meet and via the Class OnAir Site.

Each episode includes an extended plan, lesson video, learning content, teacher reflection and learner generated content.

Thanks to Charlotte, Clarelle and all the teachers who have contributed to the site. Highly recommend taking some time out to explore using the new navigation links that have been added to the home page.... Thanks to Anne Sinclair and Matt Goodwin for curating.

All On Air Teachers' pages include links to their learners' blogs and I encourage everyone who visits to take some time to comment.

Yesterday's recording is available on demand including links to the Manaiakalani Class OnAir site.

Look out for further Meets later this term including Secondary and Te Reo Māori.

Tuhi Mai Tuhi Atu Teacher Meet May 13th 2020

Shout Out - Connected Learners Share

Manaiakalani Mail Out Term 2 Week 3

This week I invited educators from across our communities of learning to shout out and shine a light on a Blogger.

Based on the numbers from our Twitter feeds we barely broke the surface.

Catch Up On Demand and explore the links to some awesome blog posts, from our young people sharing their learning to some inspiring teachers reflecting on their experiences teaching online.

Show these bloggers some  ❤️ and leave a comment.

Tuhi Mai Tuhi Atu 

Harnessing the power of blogging to learn, create and share

Tuhi Mai Tuhi Atu

Over the past three summers The Summer Learning Journey has provided clear evidence of the significant, positive effect that sustained blogging over summer can have on the writing and reading ability of our young people.

During this week's Tuhi Mai Tuhi Atu Meet teachers shared individual blogging programmes they have designed to support their learners to continue harnessing the power of blogging to learn create share in the school holidays throughout the year.

How have they engaged their learners, kept it manageable and continued to encourage their students to keep blogging?

Thanks to Jo Earl, Danni Stone, Kiriwai Tapuke, Robyn Anderson, Clarelle Carruthers and Matt Goodwin

Watch on-demand plus connect with these awesome educators and access links to their blogging resources.

Tuhi Mai Tuhi Atu Teacher Meet April 22nd

Tohatoha - Connected Learners Share

A valued element of sharing - kanohi ki te kanohi

It was all about the impact of sharing at our Manaiakalani Kāhui Ako, Connected Learners Share Staff meeting this week. 

The purpose of this hui was for our people to:

• understand the impact of Share/Tohatoha for our learners and their wellbeing and achievement
• connect with the valued elements of sharing, in the world we live in

"It is a basic human instinct to want to share. Sharing connects us to others both emotionally and practically" (Connected Learners Share)

As a Kahui Ako we acknowledge the valued elements of sharing identified by our educators. We also know sharing positively, makes a positive difference for our young people, their wellbeing and achievement. 

Summer Learning Journey Milestone Report 

Additionally by recognising and embracing the increased options we have to share in today's world our young people are empowered to harness the digital to connect and share in ways that elevate the positive. 

Content and feedback from participants for our Connected Learners Share staff meeting:

• Keynote (Dorothy Burt)
• Breakout Session: The valued elements of sharing  
• Connected Learners Share  1:World 

Speed Dating

"Give them something to do..."

From Rockets to Rock Stars ... 170+ Manaiakalani Teachers Create to Learn 

This quote from John Dewey incapsulates the theme of our Manaiakalani Kāhui Ako, Create to Learn Staff meeting this week. Our goal was to focus our thinking on what we can learn by having an opportunity to create.

Through creating we want to remind ourselves of the origins of Learn Create Share and Creativity Empowering Learning. Opportunities to create, hook our young people into learning.... to create engagement and awaken curiosity, excitement and passion (Create to Learn Dorothy Burt).

When we approach Learn Create Share in a linear fashion, the opportunity to Create is often the culmination of extensive learning and teaching e.g. Our Manaiakalani Film Festival, Annual Fia Fia, and Art Fair.

Lots of awesome learning opportunities here! However, if we recognise the cognitive engagement that ensues when young people are creating to learn, this staff meeting's focus was advocating for increased opportunities to Create to Learn.

Ideally when we identify and plan for opportunities to Create to Learn, creating does not need to be a Peter Jackson production.

It can be quick and scheduled at a stage of the learning where it will have the most impact.


"Creating provides students with an opportunity to reflect on, synthesize, and come to a deeper understanding of what they read and know – or think they know" (Dr Rebecca Jessen)

Manaiakalani May Toolkits: Harnessing video to tell and share stories

Participating and contributing to the annual Manaiakalani Film Festival is a highlight of our year. Films are premiered at Hoyts Sylvia Park in November and need to be submitted by the end of Term 3.  To prepare your learners to participate and contribute in the Manaiakalani Film Festival it is essential to identify opportunities to Learn, Create, Share  throughout the year. From planning and presenting to storyboarding, editing and filming, identify opportunities for your learners to harness video to tell and share their stories as soon as you can. Increased opportunities to take ownership of the process early in the year will empower our young people and build their confidence to participate and contribute to the film festival.

Our May Toolkits included strategies and recommendations for teachers and opportunities to learn the skills our young people will utilise when creating their film for the festival including Creating a Learning Story, Creating a Short Film and Create a One Shot Film

Mind of a creator...

Creativity Empowers Learning...our professional learning focus for Term 2.
Planning for our PLGs and I have been comparing and contrasting Edward Lee's thoughts on being adventurers with opportunities to create to learn. Taking risks, trying new things, messing around and not always having a solution or answer immediately.



 "There's a lot of visual literature, there's a lot of written literature, about pretty much any topic in the world. So as a culture and a society we've stopped being adventurers and we've started to be scholars and by not doing that we lose a lot..."  Edward Lee, Mind of a Chef

So you are planning to create 100 student blogs...

“Is there a template that can be duplicated... can we push new blogs out to students through Hapara teacher dashboard?” 

The short answer is no, however whether you are creating 10 or 100 blogs there are some recommendations that will support the process and potentially save you a lot of time. 

The Effective Blogging site is a must read before you start creating student blogs, especially the Student Blog Protocols.

Familiarise yourself with the process on the Effective Blogging site and follow the steps for organising and creating individual blogs. By following the steps and recommendations a single blog can be created and set up in a few minutes.

Some additional tips...

Create a folder for your blog's .xml file template and the text doc with the html for the blog gadgets so files are easy to locate and access when you need them.

In addition to the gadget html the text doc should also include descriptions that you are going to use in your blog header and teacher emails that you will copy and paste into your blog layout. 

Multiple users in Chrome

If you’re a facilitator supporting multiple schools:

• Create a separate user in Chrome for each of your blogger admin accounts. 

• Bookmark the master spreadsheet and Blogger Dashboard for easy access

Create a text doc with the html for the blog gadgets for each school you create blogs for as the teacher information and headers will vary.

Organise them in separate folders on your computer. This will also help when the time comes to teach others in the schools to take over this responsibility.

Templates and text docs set up for individual schools are organised in folders

If you're on a Mac use Exposé or your computer’s dock to quickly move between docs and your browser as you are creating each blog. This is a lot faster than moving or minimising/maximising windows.

Initially teachers will not need to be as familiar with the processes above however there are some key messages for teachers and students when they start blogging.

The Manaiakalani Cybersmart site includes further support for getting started with Blogging

"There's a #FirstTweet for everything"

Seven years ago today I sent my first Tweet... a time before the RT, #tags, clickable links, @usernames and the celebrity Tweet! 

It's interesting to look back at those first few Tweets and the beginnings of a truly inspirational professional learning network.  Try it, especially if you've been Tweeting for a few years. 

Find out the date you sent your first Tweet here

Personalise the bold text below with your Twitter username and a date range that includes your first Tweet.

from:username since:yyyy-mm-dd until:yyyy-mm-dd

Copy and paste into the Search Twitter field from your home page at Twitter.com

My first interaction on Twitter was with @mguhlin ( +Miguel Guhlin ) 

Plus some familiar faces popped up when I checked out my first followers and my first follows using Tweet Tunnel.  

Twitter has certainly been a game changer for my learning.

How I manage my Twitter in 2014

"Create to Learn"

The Manaiakalani Digital Immersion PLG is designed to support teachers in their first year teaching in a digital learning environment where learners are 1:1 with a digital device. Teaching as Inquiry provides a framework for Manaiakalani Digital Immersion PLD and direction for the facilitators who are supporting these teachers.

Learn
During last Friday's Digital Immersion PLG we used the following hypothesis, in response to the ongoing evaluation of Manaiakalani by The Woolf Fisher Research Centre, to ground our thinking and dialogue.

'The learn-create-share cycle generates opportunities to learn from texts and across texts and to explain/reflect/demonstrate that learning, through creation' (via Rebecca Jesson)

We took time to explore current practice while referring to the ‘Create to Learn’ hypothesis to support our thinking in response to the following questions:

• How often are you including opportunities for students to create to learn?
• Where and how could you include increased opportunities to create to learn?
• Teaching as inquiry - identify possible teaching and learning opportunities aimed at achieving the outcomes you have prioritised for your inquiry.

Considerations for Teachers' Inquiry:

• What are the learning needs of your students? Effective pedagogy and the digital learning environment
• What are your learning needs? SAMR: scaffolding use of technology to support learning

Create
Explain your Teaching as Inquiry focus in the style of a CommonCraft or RSA Animate

This session included an opportunity for teachers to deepen their understanding of their Teaching as Inquiry focus and to consider the possibilities afforded as a result of creating to learn in the digital learning environment.

Share

Explainer videos have been shared on blogs, Google Drive in our Google+Community, with colleagues and students. They will contribute to the documented evidence of each teacher's inquiry and can ground further thinking and professional dialogue with facilitators and school leaders.

Videos shared on Vimeo