Angel's Learning Adventures

Wow!  I did it!  I just completed the DFI course!  😇 Before I began my DFI journey, which was strongly recommended by my Principal and staff members, I was a bit apprehensive about having to organise my family around an extra full day of work.  However, I quickly grew to look forward to my Friday Fundays doing the DFI.  It was a good blend of big picture thinking by exploring the Manaiakalani kaupapa as well as picking up new technical skills with the Google Suite.  It was also an interesting experience putting myself into the shoes of my students by experiencing my first ever online test. Learning about Manaiakalani's pedagogy and kaupapa of Learn, Create Share has given me a fresh lens to explore my personal pedagogy.  It is so simple and yet so effective.  I now intentionally plan my lessons and RE support for my team around these three words - What are we learning?  What can we create?  How are we going to share our learning?  This helps to focus our discussions and planning m

  Having empowerment gives one the confidence to tackle any challenge that lies ahead.  The DFI course empowers teachers to become fluent and more confident in the digital world so that they can in turn engage and empower their students.  Empowering our students is about giving them a voice, ownership and choice.  Over the last 8 weeks, the DFI course has unlocked several digital tools and new ways of thinking so that we as teachers can do just that for our students.  Another way to positively impact our students is to active engage the parents and whanau in their child's learning journey through leaving positive, helpful and thoughtful comments on their blogs.  We can empower our students by teaching the appropriate skills to blog by upskilling them in ways to navigate the internet, making choices, developing and having their own voice, and sharing their ideas and opinions online.  Ultimately, we hope that our students will become empowered through their learning so that they will

Today's session was all about the effective use of devices to enable the students to learn, create and share.  Being cybersmart is one way that we can empower our learners and support their digital learning.  Manaiakalani have developed the Kawa of Care as a digital citizenship programme to empower our students and community.  The Kawa of Care allows us to navigate and harness the power of the device, while teaching our students and community the responsibility and skills that are required to connect and work in cyberspace. One thing that stood out for me was how the principles of the treaty of Waitangi have been woven into the Kawa of Care.  Partnership, participation and protection transcends time and challenges us as educators to ensure that our students have rangatiratanga (sovereignty), equity and access over their device.  To be honest, I have never thought about these themes in light of the treaty before, but it has struck a chord with me.  When the students own their own de