This has had huge repercussions for our whole community. Luckily for me (and my learners) being part of a Manaiakalani Outreach Cluster has put us in an excellent position to allow our learners to continue with their learning (even if it is from a distance!)
I was thrown into using Google Meet pretty quickly this week with giving our senior students (about 20 out of 90 attended school on Monday) a crash course in how to access a meeting. This was swiftly followed up by a crash course for staff on Monday afternoon.
Our Friday DFI also needed to be rejigged so that we could all stay safe and attend this PD from home. While we're at home over the next 4 weeks I think this is a great way to utilise my time by up-skilling.
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| 6 clusters, 20+ people in a Google Meeting! |
I've never used Google My Maps before so today was a great introduction to this tool. I found it relatively easy to use, and think this would be a great tool to use in the classroom. Some of the possible uses could be:
- to map out where students went during their holidays - they could annotate their favourite memory or add their top tip
- as part of an inquiry topic, plotting where ancestors travelled from before they settled in New Zealand
- calculating distances between locations, calculating how long cross country is
- pinning different countries that students in the class are from
- mapping out the fastest (or most direct) route from school to a school trip destination then seeing if the bus driver follows that route!
I think I'm utilising google forms pretty well, particularly to collect student or teacher voice and keep tabs on where students are at with the learning. I'd like to explore pick-a-path stories once we're back at school.
Google sheets is another tool that I use - it has so much more to offer so it was great to have the opportunity to run through some of the other features. Lots of handy tips (particularly how to filter data) and extensions to explore over the next couple of weeks to hopefully increase my workflow! Tracking student progress and completed tasks is definitely another way that I can see this tool being utilised across my team.
I really loved Robyn Anderson's blogpost about using student's own blogging statistics to look at trends and patterns. This real world maths would be so engaging for my own learners - I could see it benefitting my new bloggers as something to aspire to, as well as motivating those learners who are in their third year of blogging.
Another aspect from Robyn's lesson that really inspired me was the amount of blogging that students completed. In comparison, my learners (particularly those who know how to blog) are really not getting the blogging mileage that they should be. This is also reflected in my own results.
While my Year 4's are learning how to blog, I'll be working with my Year 5's and 6's to analyse their blogging frequency. I like Robyn's idea to display the graphs in class, as well as sharing them online. I believe this will keep students motivated to blog and hold them accountable for completing their learning tasks.
Online sharing will allow for amplification and for instant connections to be made. In saying that, here's my class blog. Now that I've shared it on here and have stated my goal, I'm making myself accountable!
Kia kaha and stay safe NZ!
Hi Emma, I'm impressed your managed three devices at once! I'm really keen on the blog data lesson too. Watching the student videos made me think about how we can embed blogging as another part of the day/week so that it's not seen as 'another thing we have to fit in.' Were there any favourite extensions for Google Sheets? I missed out on that part.
ReplyDeleteHi Phil,
Deleteyes I always have that challenge about how to embed blogging! It's a challenge between teaching my Year 4's and new students how to blog vs embedding it into the programme for those students who already know how to do it. Could be another good tuakana-teina option in my class!
Still exploring the extensions (Gerhard gave us so many!) but some of my favourites are split names and crop sheet. So simple, but they save so much time!
Kia ora Emma, thanks so much for sharing all these aspects of your practice here. You have provided a lot of food for thought. I appreciate your open and transparent reflection as it will resonate with so many of your colleagues.
ReplyDeleteYour ability to 'turn on a dime' on the day we heard about the lockdown to support your learners on the one hand and your colleagues on the other is impressive. Particularly because you were not a lot further down the journey than they were! Awesome effort.
Dorothy
Hi Dorothy,
DeleteI'm so grateful that we had that google Meet session at DFI before we went into lockdown! I think it may have been too much teaching myself, and then students and staff all in one day! I am pleased to say that we now have our students, teachers and our support staff (including our admin, learning assistants AND caretaker) utilising google Meet now. I've been blown away with how open and keen our staff have been at keeping the lines of communication open. We even have some learning assistants running Meet sessions with small groups!
Hi Emma. Thank you for your leadership, and sharing your expertise and new learning with the staff. It has made this experience so much easier for everyone. I really like your ideas for using Google My Maps. I'm intrigued to see it in your class, once we're back. If you're concerned about the blogging, why not see what your students say about opportunities to blog? I'd be keen to know when they see it being particularly useful, relevant and easy to incorporate into the Tuffery Class programme.
ReplyDeleteThanks Sheree! I am definitely keen to use My Maps once we're back in class face to face!
DeleteWe've had an increase in engagement on our class blog over the last few weeks since I've started posting a "blog ponder" each week, so that's been a small step in the blogging journey. Thank you for the suggestion! I will ask Tuffery Class for their thoughts!