Collaborative Cool

Day  3 has all been about the Coolness of Collaborate Sites.

Hangout with Dorothy:

CREATE ...Hanga - It's all about the Hook!

IMPORTANT: Creativity is a doing word that involves the whole body not just our fingers on keyboards. The digital world can give us a world that turbocharges our creativity .. but it isn't a more important wedge as is illustrated in the image below.

The question is Have our Ako (and us) been given time to be creative in their day/week? Why we imagine we do, it  is really important for us to be reflective and ask this question regularly, almost like a stocktake.

A reflective moment for me is to whether the push for learning at school to be visible and the idea that wherever possible we should always choose digital means that the digital wedge is bigger than the other empowering tools. Hopefully this is something we can engage further with on returning to our school.

The 6 C's of Education in the 21st Century

Chrissie Butler - Universal Design for Learning -

A framework that is based on 3 principles. The first principle is in how we all perceive information. I can't just present text I need to present the information using a multi modal approach in order for the children to perceive the information I want them to as they don't all learn the same way. What engages one learner doesn't necessarily engage another. A couple of colleagues have been to some of her professional development courses and throughly recommend her.

Multi-Model

Multi-model is a way of keeping our learners engaged and interested. Point England hold a full immersion assembly at the start of the term to introduce the topic. When I was at Harrington Hill we used knowledge harvests to hook, enthuse and engage prior to a new unit. Once the children have been hooked behaviourally, then it is time to hook them cognitively. This gives opportunities for the children to go wide and deep with their learning.

Google Sites - This was not something I have had a lot of experience with but I have created a site etc before. Not something I openly set out to do though. We had an opportunity to look through how other educators create multi-modal resources for topics, a great opportunity. We then had a go ourselves.  This is just a screenshot as it is still a work in progress but so far so good ... I think.

Our guest coach today was Danni Stone from Point England School. It was great to meet her in person as her class and our Year 7/8 students are Tuhi Mai Tuhi Atu buddies this year. Our children have made some real connections with her students and it is awesome to see that excitement and connection that happens through the blogs. It's really powerful. So great to meet you Danni  and thanks for all your wisdom and guidance today :)