Reflective Question
How ready are you for another lockdown? What have you changed since experiencing lockdown?…
Lockdown definitely encouraged us, as teachers, to think outside the box... to look for new ways that best met the needs of our ākonga (and us).
I'm sure many teachers were prepared in the sense of using online learning platforms within the class. My team (Years 4 to 6) were in the process of being prepared, but we weren't quite there...
The first lockdown drew attention to the fact that changes needed to be made. We were like a herd of deer in the headlights. The entire primary sector resorted to Dojo for making connections to whānau and ākonga. Because the students weren't used to Dojo as a learning platform, and because often parents were working (or for other reasons) access and engagement was not the best.
Following the first lockdown, Years 4 to 6 were set up with Chromebooks (which took a while). Then we were introduced to Hapara... by introduced, I mean, 'hay, here's this new site, explore it, use it, good luck'. Most of us (learners and teachers) took to it like fish to water. Unfortunately, when the next lockdown came along, the whole team were not confident in its use, so that transition from Dojo to Hapara was put on hold. As a team, we planned together and supported each other on a similar learning platform. It further highlighted the need to change, to move forward.
The Google sites platform is another step forward, and one I (and the whole school) will definitely explore and implement in the coming school year. Also Blog (if still available to students 🤞) as a means to sharing learning.
Today's learning
Screencastify has opened a whole new doorway into the opportunities of support. It allows a rewind of critical instructions and information. It allows a visual and audio platform. It can give ākonga a platform not only to share their learning, but also to teach. If there is one thing I've learned through mixed ability learning, is that ākonga are excellent teachers; they engage in sharing their understanding, and they engage in learning from each other.
Screencastify to support students with Challenge 2: How to use a keyboard
I also added my class site as a gadget (top right). This can be added to as the years go on.
Below is an image created on Explain Everything.
Kia ora Karla,
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to read that you got so much out of the day! Screencastify is such a great tool for supporting learning, in the classroom, but also outside of the usual classroom ie learning from home! And you are right our students are such great teachers, often they learn so well from their peers and the idea that you have to really understand something to be able to teach someone else. Looking forward to seeing where you head to next on this journey with your site and new digital skills.
Vicki
Hi Karla
ReplyDeleteI like your video for your students. That gives them a little more support and introduces the task to students beautifully. You could do these whenever you are in lockdown, but equally I see it working when we are in kanohi ki te kanohi(face to face) settings and it only took you a couple of minutes!
Creating short videos like these that are made by you are excellent additions to your site and support students' ability to learn at their own pace. You could even get some of your students creating videos for you so they get the full experience of teaching their peers, which reinforces their own learning.
Thinking back to my childhood, I used to love pretending I was the teacher. I can remember creating paper books with questions and handing them out to my friends who seemed to love doing them. I guess I was always destined to be a teacher ��