And just like that the wall is full ... or is it?

DFI Day 9

And just like that the wall is full ... or is it?

9 weeks of intensive, brain crunching, snake pits and tornados of information is over. However I don't think it is over, just like my wall isn't really full. There is always room for more. More learning, more information and more excitement over applying the learning. On reflection, while I know there have been some weeks where I have left here thinking, 'What on earth? or 'How can I get better?' there has been more excitement about the fact that it's Tuesday and I was off to the DFI course today and what cool things would we learn today and then how can I use that information in my day-to-day, etc. 

Before I completely sign out of the course, let's have a look at what we got up to today though:

Ubiquitous Learning - Presentation                                        Ubiquitous Site

Ubiquitous carries the idea that learning takes places outside of the traditional school/classroom in the
digital era and barriers are removed:  

Barriers of Time - 24/7 potentially ie the time of the child’s choice (Empowering the learner). The time of
the teacher (adult learner) choice eg online Toolkits

Barriers of Geography- anywhere in the world, not just inside the school walls

Barriers of People- not just from your assigned teacher standing in front of you - anyone, including
experts, other teachers etc

Barriers over the Pace of learning - go faster/slower, rewind over and over, skip easy stuff…

All the Manaiakalani clusters have similar data over time, supporting the problem of limited learning happening outside of school hours. What this shows is great acceleration (learning) during the school year, then a sharp drop over the summer holidays. This is not new news, our children go BACKwards over  the Summer months. Ubiquitous learning is essential to arrest this. Summer Learning Journeys were designed with this in mind.

Blogging Supports Writing - Research

Summer Reading Slide - Article

Apps to explore:  Chromebooks

• Screencastify
• WeVideo
• Pixiclip
• Explain Everything
• Movenote
• FlipGrid
• EduCreations

Apps to explore:  Mobile phones / iPads

• Showme
• Explain Everything

Add more if you have them

• Loom - Windows option

But wait .....

that wasn't all!

We then had the chance to sit the Google Certified Educator Level 1 Exam and I am happy to say I passed. I'm not gonna lie, there were nerves going into this but its always great to remind ourselves of how our learners feel when we ask them to do something. My feelings will be very similar to theirs when they are asked to do something similar that takes them out of their comfort zone. It is also a timely reminder of how different people cope with or react/respond to different situations. 

So what now ...

Yes I will miss my Tuesday opportunity to meet up with  and learn from experts and colleagues so now I need to keep this momentum going! The feeling of accomplishment is high and in fact that is a very clear goal for me moving into term 4 and 2020. I will be proactive around the continuing development of me as an educator and in about connecting with colleagues.

Thank you DFI, thank you!