Share - Using Chromebooks

Today we focused on using a range of different devices, we used iPads, Chromebooks, and our mac books.  We discussed things that had worked in our class this week and what hadn't.  I used Kahoot multiple times this week.  My children loved it, we used it for whole class Maths Knowledge.  This ties in with my own inquiry into my teaching.  I had great engagement in this activity and will continue using it in my classroom.

We discussed the 'Share' out of 'Learn, Create, Share'.  There are so many different ways students are able to share their learning.  We can show it to a classmate, class, principal, whanau, our community and then we can share it with the world via our blogs.



We did the Digital Dig together, which is a resource made by Fiona Grant & Rachel Mackinlay.  This resource is amazing, it shows children shortcuts on their Chromebook and how to use basic and more advanced tools on their device.  I learned how I can show my students all of these shortcuts, by using this poster that I created.
By using this with my students it will gift them so much knowledge about their Chromebooks and how to use them much more efficiently.

We then made a screencastify about some of our own student's blogs.  We discussed our children's blogs, how many views they had, what was there most popular post?  Why do they get so many views?

Today was another amazing day, we learned so many helpful things that will my assist my teaching.  One thing that I learned how to do that will help my students is to be able to Screencastify.  I didn't know how to get my students to do this on their Chromebook.  So I will now be able to get them to explain their learning on their device and post it on their blog for their whanau and others to see.

Digital Intensive - Hangouts & Gmail

Today we looked at several different resources.  Our focus today was based on creativity, we discussed the 'CREATE' out of the 'Learn, Create, Share' Model.  We talked about 'empowerment' and how we can get our children to engage in their learning, we then discussed how we can get the children motivated.

We then looked at all the extras that Gmail can offer us.  You can use different filters to put separate emails in different folders.  I was able to make a folder for all the Blog Posts I get so I am able to look at them all at the same time in another folder.  We then went on and looked at Calendars and how you can organize your schedule.  Google Calendars provides the opportunity to share meetings with colleagues whilst sharing documents during the meeting also.  I was able to add several of my colleague's calendars to my calendar.

We then looked at Google Hangouts, how are these useful for teachers and our children?  You are able to have a discussion with anyone around the world at any given time.  You are also able to share documents and chat through Hangouts.  We had a discussion about a child's blog post.  You can see Norah's blog here.  We discussed what 'Create' can look like in the classroom.  We unpacked an activity and talked about the disadvantages this activity had and what was good about it.  This is our Google Hangout below.



I look forward to using Hangouts in the classroom and with other colleagues.  This will also give my children the opportunity to talk to professionals about different topic interests.  Thanks again to Dorothy and James for all of this amazing Professional Development we are getting.

Inquiry Maths - Term 2

Throughout the holidays and this term, I have been thinking about my inquiry.  I was starting to confuse myself, more than help.


There were other needs much greater in the classroom then this for me.  I was unsure of the road map and how it was going to help me. So I thought about looking at teaching place value knowledge to my students. This is a huge need for a majority of my students. I think by doing this not only will it help my students excel, but will better their understanding and fill the gaps in the learning that need to be filled.





To start this, I will observe different teachers throughout my school. I will try group work and whole class work to see what suits my children the best. Teaching place value knowledge is not a strength I have, therefore my students don't get this in their daily learning as much as they should. Buy bettering myself at teaching place value knowledge I won't only become a better teacher but this will also benefit my students.  I believe that if students do not have a very good understanding of place value knowledge, they will struggle to progress in maths. By doing this I hope that I will fill these gaps and give the students what they need to succeed in maths.

Digital Intensive - Forms & Sheets

Today we had our second Digital Intensive Session.  Today we focused on Google Forms and Google Sheets.  We met and discussed what we would be going over today.

We went over Google Forms and made several forms for our colleagues to fill out.  This was awesome as I was able to understand how I could assist my students and use Google forms in the classroom.  One way that I found would be very helpful is by making a Pick a Path (Form linked).  I will use this in my writing program that will give the students a story line, we will discuss vocabulary that can be used, then they can write the paths that they took in the Pick a Path story.

Click on the link here to do my pick a path story.

I learned about a website called Kahoot, where you are able to do a visible quiz with your whole class.  I'm going to personally do this for Maths Knowledge in my class, I think this will be a fun interactive way to teach Maths Knowledge in the classroom.

This was an amazing day and I learned lots of ideas that will enhance my teaching.  Thank you to Dorothy and James for making this happen.

Digital Intensive - Google Docs and Drive

I am very grateful to have been given the opportunity to attend the Digital Intensive course every Friday in Term 2.  We will be looking at lots of different tools we can use to enhance our teaching.  

Today we focused on Google Docs, Google Drive and we looked at Hapara Teacher Dashboard. 

Did you know that you are able to comment on a students' piece of writing via Talk & Comment.  Rather than typing out your message to the student you are able to voice record a message that they are able to listen to on their learning device.  You are also able to use this tool to leave instructions on a document to make the learning rewindable.  

The John Davies Word Cloud is an online app which you can use several different ways, it takes the keywords out of a piece of text and makes them bigger than the rest of the words. (Photo on the left).  We looked at several extensions and add-ons that we can use to assist our teaching for eg. Grammarly, Easy Accents, Select & Speak and Docutube etc.

We then looked at Hapara - Teacher Dashboard and how we can better our knowledge and understanding around the site.  I teach in a Modern Learning Environment where we have 60 children and 2 teachers, today I learned that I am able to create groups for students to be put in to make it easier when having different learning groups during the day. 

There are some tools that work really well for the students, ourselves and then there are several tools that work for both the children and myself.  Below you'll see a Venn Diagram of these tools.