Digital Leadership

 As one of my goals, this term I organised an open afternoon for whanau to come and familiarise themselves with how our students find and share their work on their devices. The main reason for this was because we realised during lockdown how hard it was for parents to support their children with their work. Not all parents are confident in using digital technology. 

Michelle helped me to create a pamphlet to send home to encourage parents to come. 

We arranged it for a Friday afternoon. I thought nobody would come as it was the Friday after our whanau conferences on Wednesday but was surprised that 4 parents came. (I know some people will say, only 4? But I'm a half-full glass type of person).

It was such a successful afternoon that I am excited to have another one in term 2. 

This was our little programme: 

Students created a little Seesaw post with their parents to see how easy it is to do. 

It was great to see how engaged the students and parents were. Feedback from the parents was: 

"This was really good, thank you for inviting us"

"It was good to see how she access her work as she usually just do it on her own"

"This was very helpful, thank you". 

Things that I can do better next time: 

Make a bigger effort with promoting the afternoon. 

Share our experience with other students and encourage them to invite their parents. 

Have a little prepared activity on Seesaw available, so that they can see how they can access the video clips and templates. 

Sharp Reading

 Yesterday I had the privilege of doing a Sharp Reading lesson for Hilton. He supported me where needed and modelled how it should be done. 

I got confused during the "Convince Me" phase. He ironed out how I should not get confused between an instructional lesson and a guided lesson. 

My goals for the next few weeks are to practice clearing the roadblocks and smoothing out the convince me phase. 

Digital Development Green Screen

I had another go at creating a Pepeha on Green Screen. My previous attempt was not great. So what did I do different this time? 

1. I introduced Green Screen on its own. Students had to add a photo of their favourite animal and say something about it. So just speaking on the Green Screen. 

2. Secondly, we did not waste time writing our Pepeha's in our books. I printed the ones that used the Papakura Pepeha and wrote the ones that had their own Pepeha in large writing using a different colour for each line. Which helped to prompt them to stop and watch if the next background photo is on the screen. We practice reading our Pepeha a few times with a buddy, creating a doughnut and sharing with a different person each time. 

3. Thirdly, we typed up our Pepeha on Seesaw, adding photos/drawing to demonstrate the meaning e.g. Maunga (mountain). Then students recorded themselves reading their Pepeha. They only had a photo of their faces on, so the pressure was a little less as they could still read from their book. 

e.g. Laweneta's Pepeha on Seesaw

Paul's Pepeha on Seesaw

4. Lastly, we started working on our Green Screens. First, we downloaded the photos that are linked to our Pepeha. We set the photos to show for only 5 seconds. We then had somebody hold the books up so that we could still refer back to them while creating the Green Screen. 

The Results: 

 

So this session went a lot better than the first time. It still took a lot of individual support when doing the Green Screens. So what can I do differently? 

- I am going to create a visual board with the steps of what needs to be done to create the Green Screen. 

- I will ask Te Roopu Kaiako to allow my group to take turns and recite their Pepeha's in front of their Te Roopu after we said the Karakia. 

- Set up the portable Green Screen so that students can record without moving out of the class. 

Digital Development Green Screening

 So I gave creating a digital Pepeha through Greenscreening a go. It was much harder than I anticipated. The challenge was not as much the digital, but more the Pepeha. 

Here are some of the videos we made.

Challenges I faced.

We were limited to time due to the rotation we have in our studio and because of COVID lockdown interruptions. What I realised was that it was a bit unfair to expect students to learn their pepeha and learn how to Green Screen at the same time. Some students didn't even want to try while reading their pepeha as they said they couldn't read it. Problem-solving or debugging was a major issue. There was no time to take them through possible solutions. 

So what am I going to do differently with my second group. 

I am going to start introducing Greenscreen from session 1, but use an easy topic such as talk about our favourite animal. Then send the pepeha home and creating space in class time for students to learn their pepeha. And then by session 3 start their Greenscren pepeha, which will give them enough time to trial and error. 

Sharp Reading

 Our PLD this year is a Reading focus. We've been introduced to Sharp Reading, a programme developed by Hilton Ayrey and Brian Parker. Both highly experienced ex-teachers. The programme is focussed on making teaching manageable for teachers, maintaining the correct level of challenge for the students and ensuring success for each student in EVERY lesson. I really like the idea of getting the maximum out of each lesson. 

We've complete Unit 1 on a callback day with Hilton. 

Today I started my online course, Unit 2, and completed tasks 1 - 3. Thank you, Simon, for being my online peer practice buddy. 

Things we noticed was to remind students to start with "I think it means" (ITTM). 

Also to focus carefully on what the students are saying in order to not get your mind distracted. 

It is important to have a copy of the guide sheets next to you and familiarise yourself with it before you start. 

And I need to be a little clearer when I am explaining the 1,2 or 3, linking it to "How convincing am I?"

My next step is to practice 2 - 3 lessons with some students in the class. A small group of 3-4 students. 

Digital Development

One of my focusses this year is to upskill on my own knowledge of digital activities in the classroom, based on our Learn Create Share model. One of the first challenges I took on was how to create a green screen video. Although there is an app on the iPads, it took a bit of research and trial error to get it right. Thank you, Justine, for your support being a model etc, while I was trying and testing. 

I'm hoping to support our students in creating their own digital Pepeha during term 1. My possible challenges are: 

1. Students not having the information they need to create a Pepeha

2. Students that don't want to do it because they are not Te Reo speakers.

3. We only have a short time to create the Pepeha, and it does take a bit of time. So students will need to know what to do as soon as possible so that they don't waste time waiting for me to show them what to do. 

How am I going to approach this?

Now that I have created my own, and know exactly what to do, I believe the students will be able to follow my modelling and instructions quickly. Parents have already been notified that we will be doing a Pepeha, and a letter will be going home as soon as we are back at school to gather the needed information. If any students show hesitation on doing a Pepeha, I will bring the topic up in circle time and discuss how we can be culturally responsive to each other. 

Here is my example video. Please note, my focus was on how to a green screen, not on my Pepeha. So please forgive me if it is not done correctly. 

Ti Tiriti o Waitangi

 Yesterday Brenda McPherson  Came to chat with us about Te Tiriti o Waitangi. She shared some valuable information about the origin and the implications of the Treaty. It was sad to hear how the Moari people were treated unfairly and what the implication was for them. It hit close to home for me, coming from an unfair system of appartheid. 

However, as Brenda emphasized, she did not share the information with us to make us feel heavy-hearted but to highlight the reality and the role we as teachers play in the way moving forward from here, especially as the Ministry of Education is not acting on this. 

The question that was left with me to ponder on was, what was I going to change or do next year, to uplift and build our Maori students. 

Our students have the right to enjoy their education, make progress and to achieve. Their culture should be respected and acknowledged as much as possible. 

So what am I going to do? 

I will start of with using the lovely Karakia that Brenda shared on her slide. 

Take the time to learn students names before they start 2021, and use the correct pronunciation. 

Use as many Te Reo words as possible during the day. I used Google Translate to look a few phrases that I often use up, however, I will need to check this with my Colleague Daniel.

Whakarongao mai - Listen

Enoho -sit

Etu - stand

Kanohi ki ahau - eyes on me

roto reo - inside voices

horoia o ringaringa - wash your hands

Further, I will continue to constantly link everything we do to our school values. And perhaps try to get some parents in to have a conversation with our class about building positive relationships and good work ethics.