Minecraft Coding and Esports

Today I took an online toolkit on how to use Minecraft in the classroom to extend my knowledge on this platform and make learning more engaging for students. 

Minecraft is collaboration, creative, communicative and allows for critical thinking.  There is a classroom mode app that allows for 40 students to work on  group tasks. There are pre-made lesson plans that you can take and modify for certain activities. 

Students can create complex structures to show learning through building i.e. Bees unit 

Unleash esports - There are STEM learning projects and coding units students can use. Each activity needs a learning outcome that they can share with teacher and peers. There is a camera inside the game. This allows students to take pictures on their work online and take selfies of characters in game to prove it is their work. Additionally, an inbuilt photo album. Students can create a portfolio for learning - book and Quill is more extensive (50 page) to write in. Export as a pdf 

Classroom Mode: move students and pause the game. link on final slide (classroom app download)

Border blocks restrict group movement 

Python101 - available in game - coding 

Addition of hardware digital technology that allows students to create games through coding and export them on to a device like a Nintendo. 

There is an Esport course that allows teachers to become educated in Minecraft esports. 

Thank you to Crispin Lockwood who delivered a great toolkit. 

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Educationgate: Minecraft in the Classroom - Put in presentation mode to open extra links inside. 

Coding link attached to slide 

Te Reo for Classrooms with Makaore Wilson

 

Today's Toolkit was presented by Makaore Wilson. Makaore delivered a clear presentation on basic instructional languages we can use in  the classroom and generate into our own everyday vocabulary. It was so good to have a clear list of vocabulary words and phrases with soundbites to repeat translations for my own practice and use and my students.  I find learning Te Reo quite complicated at times due to different dialects, speed of pronunciation. The soundbites were a great attachment as rewindable resources. 

Instruction language: 

Tone of delivery is important in using instructional language within the class. It was good to have a clear teaching of these basic instruction phrases as a teacher who attends PDs I hear these words all the time but I did not grow up in New Zealand so I've never been taught what these phrase mean. I feel a lot more confident in hearing these phrases and using them in class.  My goal this week and onwards to practice and use a new phrase a week; for example Haere mai ki te whariki noho ai. 

I am looking forward to using more kiwaha and in particular "kei kona au - I agree" in my Talkmoves with the students. 

Time Structures: 

ke tei - present tense sentences 

wåmua = past tense 

I - defines that it is a definte past tense 

Example: I te wera te kai - The food was hot 

I tera wiki = last week 

I tere mutunga wiki = last weekend 

I tera tau = last year 

Inatahira = day before yesterday 

verb = tumahi

Pronoun - tukapi 

noun = tuingoa 

Kiwaha = Slang/ colloquialisms 

Katahi ra! Amazing 

He tino toki koe You're a champion 

Tino kino te pai Wicked 

Day 9: External Recognition

We made it 🥳

I have really enjoyed the last 9 weeks of learning. It was a very intense and tedious at times however, I feel highly accomplished and proud that I can go in a class and physically support my students digitally or at least find quality resources for them to use. Our Northland Cohort have been a fabulous and enthusiastic team to work with, constantly motivating each other to try new things and give the challenges ago. They have also been amazing a providing the yummiest kai during shared lunches 😋

Our day at Waitangi was beautiful and a highlight. We are so lucky to have facilitates and educators around to teach current and future technologies as well as sharing cultural and historical knowledge of New Zealand.  My favourite tips and tricks from the DFI workflow would be pinning tabs, making bookmark groups and Google Keep. I also love using slides, youtube playlist and drawings to make my learning and teaching visible on my class site. Since starting DFI, my class probably uses their Chromebooks 95% of the time to complete assignments collaboratively and individually.

I have always wanted to be in career field that supports tamariki to be confident, engaged learners and leaders of tomorrow. Being on the DFI course and with Manaiakalani, I feel positive that I am  surrounded by like minded individuals who are all on the same waka to support each other as educators and our tamariki to be better. Which is a really nice feeling. Although, our time on DFI has ended I am excited about what the future could hold.

Below I created a comparison slide to show how my digital skills have grown over my learning experience at DFI. 

Lastly, I passed the Google Certified Educator Level 1 exam. Now I can tell people am officially 'Googly Certified' haha 🎓

DFI Northland Cohort 2021

 Day 1 - Day 9 

Day 8: Devices and Rewindable Learning

 

"If it's worth teaching or learning, It's worth capturing" -Manaiakalani (DFI) 

Rewindable learning means learners have access to re-watch their learning over and over again. This empowers students to take control of their learning. Today, I was reminded that students who arrive at school with 30, 000, 000 words (no matter which language) by the age of 5 are more advantageous than those who come with less as use of language outside of school links with learning possibilities. Students who do not have as much language being used outside of school can be supported by providing them with access to ubiquitous learning through harnessing technology. It allows us to reduce barriers of learning for students. 

Upon reflection, I haven't created much ubiquitous learning because of my limited skills and knowledge on how to share teaching and learning within the classroom. Developing my skills in DFI I have been able to create some ubiquitous learning on the site and implement routines to make students utilise these resources. However, I do find them time consuming for both myself uploading content and students uploading their own rewindable resources. My goal this term was to make our DMIC learning more visible and rewindable which I felt I accomplished but I would like to apply these skills to other aspects of learning and have the teaching and learning visible in a more effective and efficient way. 

As a learner of the CyberSmart program it was good to understand the two components of being Smart and Secure. Smart is the component that I am responsible for as a teacher creating learners to be confident, connected, actively involved, life-long learners. We are working with learners who are known as  'Generation Alpha' because they are immersed into the digital world from an incredibly young age since the gross innovation of technology and therefore, as teachers and adults we have a responsibility to make all learners Cybersmart. 

This afternoon I created my first Harpara workspace. It was really simple to use and will make students more accountable on managing their time to finish work. It is a lot easier for myself to keep track on their documents.  My activity was about linking Smartvalues and digital footprints  - ideally my next lesson would be following on with the topic to focus on how to be positive online learner.  This is re-constructed from a previous Cybersmart lesson. I'm looking forward to trying out my activity next term.  

Working on Ipads: 

Day 7: New Digital Technologies

 The New Digital Technologies 

This week we were enlightened with new digital resources and information about future technologies which can empower learners and their whanau on taking control of their lives. Technology is not a tool for learners to become a consumers it is a platform that allows learners to become creative directors in sharing their knowledge.

One way we can amplify students creativity and learning is through computational thinking. This teaches students to understand the 6 fundament stages of programming which can be adapted in many areas of knowledge and workspaces. Students become efficient decision makers through practising and following these stages in multitude of ways.

Today we practised programming through using Scratch and StopMotion. My creations are shared below. Programming on Scratch was a challenge as I could not get the backgrounds to change once I incorporated a song. I had to keep checking my sequence and iteration codes to allow the program to flow.

Enabling Access

"I feel like a website developer after the last two DFI sessions."

This week I had a Reading observation which looked at how I execute my reading lessons against the Manaiakalani criteria to find patterns. The feedback was to be more explicit in the purpose of reading. I completely agreed with this feedback as by the end I could of rounded the session better with my group. My goal from this observation is to make the reason for reading more visible and defined. However, I have questioned how and when I make the purpose of learning visible because I'm torn between giving the WALT right away and following an inquiry model that focuses on coaching students through critical questioning to have student think and develop the purpose of learning themselves. For now, I am going to work using both ways of teaching. For example; Students explore the topic to guess what the concept might be, then coach the students to 'create' the purposeful outcome before making it visible and going deeper into the learning. It is a discussion I would like to hear more perspective on.

Today's lesson was about making our class sites more visible and accessible for all to locate the learning in one place. It takes good planning and patience to create a site that has visual appeal and good user experience. I think an engaging site is one that highlights the personality of the classroom and clearly reflects the learning.  My goal this session was to create a math site that visually displayed stages and lesson plans, as well as differentiated learning activities all in one place to create student choice and be challenged in how they learn. On my previous math site, I had 5 subpages depending on math topic and activities uploaded to the page with no organisation or structure. Now I have one main math page and a subpage for DMIC work to be more visible to parents and viewers outside of school. 

I have linked my Class Site below if you wanted to have a look. 

Teacher Only Day (Friday 4th June)

 

I had a really good Teacher Only Day on Friday listening to two great speakers; 

Jase Te Patu and Ngahihi O Te Ra Bidios talk about Mindfulness, Mental Health and Leadership. 

Jase Te Patu has inspired how I begin my mornings with my class and how I support students when they are feeling in the Red Zone. His personal experiences and explanations of the mind and controlling behaviours is one that should be talked about more. 

Day 5: Collaborative Sites

 Visible Kaupapa

Today's Manaiakalani Kaupapa was about making teaching and learning visible to students. Enabling all students to navigate the education system for success by making the planning, process, outcome, assessment visible. In the term holidays, I made a technology reading page on my class site for my students with as much multi-media I could find to get them engaged. It was my proudest page because I find it really hard to create an aesthetically pleasing site to suit all my learners. I found that the kids were more engaged this term but the layout made activities and tasks hard to follow. I have really enjoyed this morning having a look at other people’s sites and how they layout their visible learning. It has been good to get some ideas on how to make it accessible to all learners, parents and other teachers following the Manaiakalani Kaupapa on learn, create and share. I'm looking forward to finding spare time to sit down and get my site organised to be engaged behavioural and cognitively. I would love to be able to add audio recordings to my site.

Here is a development of my learning during the explore and create sessions. These sessions felt very intensive and required a lot of patience and energy. I am quite tired now but happy I've learnt different ways to organise my planning and sharing with students and staff. It was also a bonus to see get access to variety of multi-texts already linked to themes.

Below you will find my planning, my digital creation and my site to follow. 

        

Here is the link to my site HC Maori Technologies

My Google Maps

Today, I had a practice using Google Maps. Here is a little bit about my journey. 

Dealing with Data - Day 4

 Dealing with Data 

Lately in my planning and teaching I have realised how often I follow the Learn, Create Share, learning model without realising. My goal this week is to adapt the layout of my weekly planning and small parts of my term planning specifically following this learning model so others and myself can quickly identify which stages of learning they are in. I hope these changes will enable my class and I to become better at sharing to our blog and finding authentic audiences. 

I really like the catchphrase "I'm ready to share, rather than I'm finished!" - This will be implemented first thing tomorrow! 

In these sessions, we get delivered soo much information. I find that  my brain is always firing with new ways to plan, new ways to engage learners for tasks or how they can share. I really need Google Keep because I’m always making notes during these sessions to add to my end of the day tasks or release minutes as things to include for the following weeks lessons.

Today we focused on spreadsheets. I believe spreadsheets is the one site that is constantly changing and evolving. It feels good to be updated with the new tools and will be very helpful as I get into Report data collection. When teaching statistics or literacy reports, I love using spreadsheets and watching students explore this site and show their creativity in work. I'm looking forward to giving them a similar activity about their own blogs so they can learn statistical literacy and make goals on having better time management in finishing their work so they can share with others. 

This is a graph highlighting a student in Room 11's blogpost across four years. This graph identifies the year that Ahipara School started their DFI blogger program in 2018. In 2020, this students blogposts increased significantly throughout the whole year, especially in the month of June. This student created 25 blogposts throughout the year. That is 8 more blogpost than was made in 2019. An anomaly in this data would be in the month of April where no blogposts were made. In April 2020, New Zealand went into lockdown and students were online learning however, it took a period of time for schools to get devices to students. This would explain why no posts were made during April and suddenly increased in the following months.  This data would be interesting to look into across all students to see the importance Technology played in students learning during Covid lockdowns.