Every Interaction Matters

EVERY INTERACTION MATTERS
At the reacent GAFE summit I attended, one of the most inspitring talks I heard was with regard to interactions and how every intereaction we have with each other, even people we don't know matters. I think the speaker was Martin, from Australia who got up and told us the story about when he runs, he acknowledges each person he crosses paths with.  This ineraction can be as simple as a nod of the head or a thumbs up.  He talked about a run he was on one day in Melbourne.  As he ran along his usual route beside the river, he passed an old man with a demeanour that appeared somewhat bleak.  Martin ( I think that  was his name) acknowledged this old man, just the same as he did with every other human he encountered along the way.  This old man grunted, but certainly didn't appear to engage with the runner.  Martin continued on his run and on the way back passed the old man again.  As he approached him with a few metres between them, they were about to "meet " for the secoud time.  Martin wondered if it was appropriate to attempt to engage a second time ( especially since his first encounter had been far from warm) and with that, the old man changed his whole demeanour and stood up and his face lit up and the two men, had a far more pleasant encounter than the first time.  To be fair, some of the facts in this recount may not be enitrely accurate, but the point is that the first encounter mattered and it changed something about the old man,  It changed from a sad and withdrawn encounter initially, to a happier and more engaging exchange the second time. It poses the question what would have changed in the old man's demeanour if Martin had ignored him the first time he ran past him?  Would the old man still have been looking sad and unengaged?  I believe that the answer is yes.  I believe that the encounter and the mere acknowledgement towards that man that day counted and possisbly was a turning point in his day,
It got me thinking about the interactions I have on a daily basis with the children I teach and the staff I work with, the other children in the school, the people who serve me in shops each time I do my shopping, the person I pass on the street when I am out walking and most importantly - my own family at home.  I consider myself to be pretty friendly and I try to talk to most people I enocunter in the day but I have never really stopped to consider the importance of a quick hello or taking the time to hear what someone has to say.  Ater all it doesn't cost any money and it doesn't hurt me and more often that  not, it doesn't even take me any time.  I am going to pledge to continue to be friendly and to interact with as many people as I can as I go about my day.  I am glad that this talk has caused me to stop to think about the impact these simple interactions can have.  I hope I can bring a little brightness to someone's ( who may just need it) day.

GAFE

We attended the GAFE summit in Christchurch on April 27 and 28th  April 2017.

When I signed up to two days of PD in my school hiolidays, it seemed a long way off- but as usual it rolled around quickly.  If I am honest, I wasn't so keen when it came to it.  How wrong was I?  It was great.  Here are a few things I picked up along the way.

Dorothy Burt – GAFE

“The success or failure is about what I do I am a change agent”- John Hattie

The Glass half full and the glass half empty analogy.  It’s a challenge to see the glass half full at times. 

The people who are crazy enough o think they can change the world are the ones who do.   Examples are Rob Siltanen, Elwyn Richardson,Marie Clay, Allanah King- taught children to be global citizens. Tim Harper ( Mt Aspiring)– Never let the challenge of distance overcome the learning possibilities – helping lotes of secondary school kids during the earthquake

Derek Wenmouth- west coast  etc distance is no barrier. 

Equality vs equity- The challenge we face is that of equity – the lives of our young kids are so challenged.  Equity is more important for our children than equality.

A common purpose is how you make a difference in the lives of chn and whanau.

In order to facilitate change- you need the 5 P’s.  These are:

Purpose- know the why

Passion- lots of hard work and desire

Partnership – Collaboration is key

Perseverance – if it was a quick fix, someone else would have already done it.

Proof- Evidence attracts ongoing support, growth and sustainability.

I found this talk to be quite inspiring. I enjoyed Dorothy's manner and while I perhaps didn't think she told me a lot that I didn't already know, she certainly encouraged me to think about attitudes adn potential again and that can't be all bad.  It was a timely reminder and I did enjoy her own personal story of her journey.

Session one

Julia Revell

·         Anytime you change a tool, you are changing the way they learn.  e-Learning and collaborative/co-constructive pedagogies appear to be linked.

• Using these pedagogies – that also foster interaction and co-operation - appear to lead to effective learning and better teacher/student relationships.
• Learning in an e-Learning-rich environment may make peer and collaborative learning opportunities easier, thus supporting students’ cognitive, affective and social interactions. These ways of working may lead to improved educational outcomes.

The prevalence of e-Learning technologies as natural ways of working in technologically-rich New Zealand schools point to ways in which traditional learning (literacy, numeracy) can be achieved in highly motivating ways. Some of these schools demonstrate both the power of an authentic audience for students’ work, and how a school’s prevailing ethos about the social and pedagogical frameworks important to learning, becomes a critical factor for success. e-Learning and implications for New Zealand schools: a literature review (2010)

Genius Hour- Simon Ashby
I got a lot out of this session.  It resonated with me and this was probably beacuse of Simon's wonderful enthusiasm.  I wonder if it could work in out Hub adn work along side PBL?  I see many similararities and liked the agency that it appeared to give the children.

Needs a purpose.

Passionate about it.

Needs to be projects that are empathetic- in other words that can help someone else.

Need to be shared ( with as many people as others)

Every 10 weeks to have a showcase.  Journalist etc The bigger- the better.  To show that the young kids have an impact.

Gives chidren a chance to shine besides reading, writing and maths.

Children can make a google slide show to show and document their learning journey.

Google forms for feedaback

Info on Google sites

Docs

Coggle

First time they do it- it isn’t perfect.  Freedom to share and being told what to do is easy.  many children will prefer this in teh beginning.

Physically messy paint, hot glue, craft knives etc. Need to adapt the classroom and how could this happen.  Give the child some agency here.

Can be collaborative- this can be a strength or a weakness.  They can go as a pair or as an individual.  This can be mixed up.  3 doesn’t work.

Fail fast and don’t drag something out for ten weeks.  Help them to change the driving question.

Visible Learning

Genius Hour Lite 2.0 ( 5 weeks) Includes the whole process. 

What is the role of the teacher?

Motivator

Questioner

Facilitator

Innovator. – may need to encourage the chn to take risks.

Chilli Challenge

Children can evaluate their our learning.  Grade their learning from a 1 chilli- 5 chilli challenge.  5 is very challenging.

Chn need t be organized and need to bring their own things from home.  Make sure the parents are all on board and know how it works.

Your life in jellybeans ( motivational videos fom the presentation.)

Chn want to  give up sometimes

 Manage resources- planning

Spreading the load and being organized

Plan ahead and manage time

Pick your partner wiselu

Choose a topic that is challenging – improve each time you complete a genius hour

Learn from mistakes and plan to ack to them

Don’t waste resources.

Tips

Allow a generous amount of time to come up with the ideas

Put time into the planning

Steer clear of money

Motivate/drive enthusiasm ongoing

Share and reflect

Outside mentor in

Set and stick to deadlines

Celebrate at the end.

Brainstorm every idea- make a list of favourite, too easy, 5 chilli,

To Frame the Question

How might we ACTION WHAT for WHOM in order to CHANGE SOMETHING

Budget

An agreement between the child and the parent.

If it is a priority in some schools – if it is a priority, then budget for it.

DEMO SLAM

Music on your slide show

Insert the video as an auto play when presenting.

Need to shrink the video thing and insert it into the black bit on the bottom.

Sound Trap

GAFE DAY 2 – KERNE KELLEY

The illiterate of the 21^st C will be not those that cannot read and write ut those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn.

Urthecast.com- live stream kinda like Google Earth.

Internetlive stats.com- to see how many worldwide google searches etc

Photos

Backblaze is great for backing up files

Online storage- google drive

                               Dropbox

                                 Box.net

                                Skydrive

Photo specigid

Google photos

Shutterfly

Smugmug

Flickr

Photo scan

  ?.JPJ to

Pixlr Editor

Session 7 – Simon Ashby- Simple Classrooms

Ctrl+? (command on Mac)

Control shift T- opens last tab

Force a copy of a doc Find a doc you own, Copy URL Cont C Compose new email Paste link- will  allow them to copy only.  Take away edit and change with copy at the end of the url- you need hapara thou

Template

Blank doc- no hit the template one and copy

Slides is the same

Anyone can view- add on  so anyone can view

Drive slides pic- collages  

Google Keep

Send from Gmail. – extension  from app store

Black menu- extension- access to everything click and drag

App launcher customizer- can customize the waffle

Crafty Rights- extension- legal images only  in the internet. Only need to add it and forget it.

Quick Create-  new doc really quickly

Save to google Drive

The Great Suspender- if you are inactive- it will suspend the tab to save battery power.

ABP ( Adblocker plus) – Loses the adds

DF Youtube (distraction Free youtube)

Boomerang for Gmail

Hapara- Hilights

Mercury Reader  ( and evernote clearly ) – converts articles to the text only

Emoji your Google Drive

Team Drives

Suggested edits in docs/comments

Office editing docs- editable google format.  – extension

Screencasting for kids and teachers

Light shot/

Addons in docs

Addons in forms

Grammarly

Hipster google

Control alt achieve- website Eric Curts

Shortening websites in your browser bar.

Shortcuts in drive –

Shortcuts in omnibox

Move it – extension

Crafty Text – extension I think

Bonus ----- Earth view from Google

New Google Earth
Upon reflection- for the most part, this was really ood PD.  I got the most out of both of Simon Ashby' sessions.  the Genious Hour was inspiring ans it was great to have so many tricks up my sleeve to add to my computer to make life easier etc.  Some of the sessions were pitched at older children  and some of the things covered were not something I could easily implement in my NE classroom- but having said that, I am beginning to wonder if I can even say that- beacuse I am coming to the realisation that not much is impossible these days with the way we are going with technology! 

Holy Thursday_ Jesus Meal

This year we repeated our re enactment fo the last supper at school.  The children came to school dressed up in clothes similar to what Jesus would have worn.  We had done a lot of work around this and talked to the children about the clothes they would have worn.  The children knew all the lingo
including tunic, mantle and girdle.  We wnt to the supermarket and bought the sorts of food that Jesus would have eaten.  These included figs, grapes, raisins, tomato, etc.  Together we made unleverened bread and the butter.  The chidren enjoyed these hands on activities.  It was great to see them get such delight out of preparing for the meal.  Finally we sat in a circle and ate our meal.  We re enacted the way Jesus would have proken the bread and fiven it to hsi friends. Overall this was an authentic experience for  us all and one I would certainly do again.  Next time, it would be good to see if we could maybe make it into a mini PBL.  Enjoy the powerpoint.

Networking- Focusing on Te Reo

Yesterday we had our third Networking meeting.  This time the meeting was held at Mairehau Kids First Kindy. These meetings came about because I saw a need to connect with the preschools in our area as a new school in the area.  I approached about 6 or so preschools initially in the area to see if they were keen to get together with like minded people who have an ultimate common goal ( to prepare the children in their care in the best possible way to be school ready)  to share ideas and meet each other.  I felt it was important to have a focus for each the meeting as I am concious of the fact that people's time is precious and I want to make sure they feel that they are getting something out of sharing this time together.
This time we had a focus in how we are using Te Reo in our learning spaces and it was an opportunity to share ideas and take these back to our respective centers or classroom.  Our session begun with a Kakarkia and a reintroduction of ourselves as we had 2 more centers represented thsi meeting which was fabulous.  It was a great sharing session of different ways in which we can use Te Reo and intergtrate it naturally into our day at school or preschool.  We discussed some of the more delierate ways to use this and these included whanau trees taht the children take home adn do together as a family, mihimihi's for teachers and children alike and reading books and singing songs in Te Reo.  These were just a few of the many fabulous things that were shared mong the 16 or so teachers that were present yesterday.
This was, I believe, another successful meeting with the teachers.  This is evident in the fact that they all want to meet again next term.  Next term we will have a continued focus on Te Reo and I will think about another suitable topic for Term 2.
Upon reflection- I thnk I need to widen the net with the preschools in the area as I have noticed that Rutland Street Kindy for example and Fundamentals have fed a few of our children through to us recently.  I am happy with the momentum this is gaining and it is obvious to see that the relaxed enviomnent is inviting and I am getting as much out of these meetings as the preschool teachers seem to be too.