DigitaLee

Google has so many functions that can increase work productivity and efficiency. Cleaning up tabs and gmail is a task that I would generally need to do each term however, with changing a few settings (and adding some folders in gmail) it makes it into a much easier process. I have customised my settings and added some filters to sort emails appropriately into the folders which makes keeping up with blogs and google classrooms heaps more manageable. Using Google Keep  I want to try and use Google Keep. I am quite an organised person by nature and I respond well to lists. I have created many notes in different places, but I would love to centralise these so that I don't have to go looking  in  multiple places to find them. I can see where this could also be beneficial for learners in terms of helping to keep them organised with their own tasks whether it be for school, sport, or personally. Using Google Meet This is a really cool tool. I am more familiar with Zoom, however,...

Today has bought some key understandings around Manaiakalani and the basics around digital fluency using Google. Although being a digital tech teacher at a Manaiakalani school, I had only a limited vision of how that was beginning to be unpacked in some of our classrooms. I am looking forward to embarking on this journey as a part of the team and sharing the learning on a broader spectrum through Digital Tech. Google has many tools and functions that enable educators to become more efficient in the way we explore, store, retrieve, create, and share learning.   I came into this course already feeling a bit of an expert around using Google (being a digital tech teacher), however, I found heaps of cool tips and tricks to make the creation of Google Docs more exciting and user friendly.  Generally speaking Docs has been a word processing tool and I've tended towards using Google slides for anything visual.  Introducing Voice Typing to students could potentially be a way of al...

  Questions: How can I use virtual reality to engage my students in developing digital outcomes to promote and preserve cultural identity? How can I partner with the kura, kaiako and ākonga, to develop a localised digital curriculum that celebrates our students and place? I want to focus my research question around building partnerships for the success of Māori learners, and using digital tools for developing digital outcomes. Māori learners, I believe hold a significant role in reshaping the information that is disseminated online. I want to encourage my Māori learners' knowledge and protocols and traditional learning frameworks, to seek inclusiveness within the curriculum. “We see curricula as more than simply program content, and embrace concepts of “knowing, acting, and being” (Barnett and Coate, 2005, p. 3) for the 21st Century learner” (Goode et al., 2018, p.397).  Acknowledging the principle of āta - growing respectful relationships, developed by Pohatu (2005),  ...

  Tataiako (Ministry of Education, 2011) explains the key Cultural Competencies for Māori learners as Wānanga,  Whanaungatanga, Manaakitanga, Tangata Whenuatanga, Ako. These key values underpin and inform my practise as a teacher.  Wānanga: participating with learners and communities in robust dialogue for the benefit of Māori learners’ achievement.  Whanaungatanga: actively engaging in respectful working relationships with Māori learners, parents and whānau, hapū, iwi and the Māori community.  Wānanga and whanaungatanga are possibly the more significant values that permeate my research and practice. The success or failure of any innovation is decided on with the quality of positive partnerships with those who are a part of the community invested in the education of the learners. Masturah and Cazden (Ismail & Cazden, 2005, p88) observe that “culture cannot be ‘added on,” or simply appended to existing school curriculum.”  This runs the risk of instituti...

  I am working in a different environment to what I have been in before. I have a relationship with the school I am based in, but would like to develop a better working relationship with the outside schools that come in to be a part of my technology subject. They too are stakeholders in the program I develop.  Specifically, I have a full immersion Kura Kaupapa school which comes to me on a Thursday morning.  Localised curriculum development a topic that has recently gained traction with the Ministry of Education in the development of the Strengthening local curriculum series (Ministry of Education, 2019).  The idea that has been highlighted is that student’s want an education that celebrates who they are, their place of standing, and the community that they are a part of. Developing a localised curriculum will aid in building and partnering with the community by seeking the input of students, parents, whānau, iwi, and hāpu (Ministry of Education, 2019).  “This e...

I have begun teaching a full immersion, year 7 and 8, Kura Kaupapa unit this term. My program of learning, I think, is fairly comprehensive, but in the first lesson where I gathered student voice, many students voiced that they didn’t see the point in learning computers. I have started discussions with the Kura’s Kaiako about what they feel is important for their ākonga to learn. Through these discussions and research, my hope is to develop a unit of Digital Technology that is both culturally responsive and something that engages Māori learners. Te Rangahau framework is something that I want to align myself with, in particular Ako Māori - A culturally preferred pedagogy, Taonga tuku Iho - Cultural Aspiration, and Kaupapa - the collective philosophy, which refers to a broader philosophy around the development of education with cultural aspirations of the wider community in mind ( http://www.rangahau.co.nz/research-idea/27/ ). My hope is that these aspects of pedagogy will engage the tam...