Adrienne Reeves

Day # 7 Media - this was lots of fun and numerous ideas to use now! Today began with a clear focus on connected learning. One of the issues I am facing within my school is " we want to use google classrooms ". At a recent conference with teachers from all over New Zealand - the use of google classrooms came up again. Some maintained that the only difference between google classrooms and hapara is hapara highlights. I have never used google classrooms and was not able to respond. However, Dorothy's presentation this morning re-affirmed that the Learn Create and Share pedagogy is principled on visibility and connectedness. It is argued that google classrooms does not provide this. However, it is clear that I need to do some more research on google classrooms if I am to effectively explain the advantage of hapara. I use hapara for all of the functions it provides and I have just started using workspace which I have described as maybe the 'best thing since sliced bread...

Session #6 Dfi. Dealing with data, and much more . Today was a very busy session and there were times when I thought that I might not have enough take-home knowledge. For me it is important that I take something home from these sessions,' this is part of the empowerment that I need if these sessions are to have professional gain for me. Dorothy SHARED the journey for some of the students in her area which reminded me that it is not just about empowering students; this journey is also about empowering fellow teachers. That principals in this region have allowed teachers to attend these sessions during the week is commendable, and shows a realisation that 'digital' is real in the present educational environment. However, as attendees, our commitment goes beyond attendance and participation in these sessions for the 9-week duration. As I have previously shared, I have been holding wine and chocolate sessions at my school. At these sessions I have been able to share some of ...

Today's sessions, #5 Dfi (digital fluency intensive) was once again informative, thought-provoking and full of learning opportunities. Zoe and Vivienne of OMGTech! were like a breath of fresh air - they are energetic presenters, know their 'stuff' and kept us alert and involved for the duration of their presentation. I finally know what SCRATCH is and I even managed to build a really simple program game. It is not flash but this whole process is about learning and if I can learn something to take and away and build on then this course is meetings its objectives. Here is my cat and butterfly game and yes I know that it needs development but I have made a start. So , what else did I learn today? My education portfolio also includes being a member of the HETTANZ subject association and one of my foci in that role is professional learning for members. Viv and Zoe today, demonstrated that they are an untapped resource for HETTANZ and as an executive member of the associa...

Today is day one of Digital Fluency Intensive, on the West Coast of the South Island. As the title suggests it has been an intensive day of learning, creating and sharing - the pedagogy underpinning the vision of Maniakani. The program today was full of 'take-home value'. However, this value is dependant on me actually doing something with the learnings. It was also great to learn about the beginnings of the Maniakani journey which I think started as aspirational and is now in a phase of inspirational sharing. From today, I can go away and do some homework, particularly on the aspects of today which I don't feel fully conversant with. I am also really keen to run some after school sessions with interested teachers from Westland. Additionally, today's session has identified some aspects which could be addressed with the teaching staff at Westland High School by our facilitator Nic. She and I can discuss this, and decide on an action plan. The key areas covered tod...

Session # 4 enabling access & learning sites. Today's session was informative, inspiring and included time for learning site maintenance and full of SHARING. I have only just started to use workspace on hapara and today I was able to work out how to embed a workspace into my learning site. However, I see that the submission slot on the evidence card is not visible on the learning site. This means my students will need to sign into hapara and go to workspace to submit their assessment evidence. I need to investigate this further with the experts in the Maniakalani group as I am keen to have my learning site as a one stop learning shop - I would like to avoid students having to move from site to workspace and vice versa. The increasing exposure to workspace is going to be really useful for my short professional learning sessions with teaching staff at Westland High School. As my confidence with using this tool grows I will be better equipped to SHARE its virtues with my fell...