A New Year A New Term...2016

It is Term 2 of 2016 and there is still much to do!  My goal is to start implementing some of the things I experienced last year while completing my Post Graduate with the wonderful staff and learners at Mindlab in Newmarket, Auckland.  Therefore, my goal is to create an effective digital learning environment that is innovated and collaborative.


I have organised all new students I have not taught with a Google Account and now I need to plan for students I have taught and are familiar with Google Drive to be an ako (leader/teacher) to support their peers.  My plan is to have the ako help the student log on to their Google Account and then set a challenge of, 3 and no repeats.  3 and no repeats involve exploring a topic or an app like, Google Drive and taking note of the functions like creating a folder and layout thoroughly.  The object is to be able to contribute at least 3 different things that no one else has said.  Each person says one thing and then it moves to the next person until everyone has had a turn then you start back at the first person and so forth.  If someone repeats then that person is out of the challenge.  This is a fun and engaging way to learn about a new digital tool rather than being told. by the teacher or expert other.


Some of the students I taught last year (2015) used digital presentations to present their group inquiry or individual inquiry.  The groups were made up of mixed ability and gender so they could support and learn from one another. They were introduced to Prezi, Google Slides, Kahoot and other digital tools.  Unfortunately, my classroom wasn't ready for a digital learning environment for all as we didn't have a class pod of devices that we could access.  We now have a class pod and I'm looking forward to creating an effective digital learning environment.  Utilising the experts in my class I believe is the key to unlocking engagement and creating curiosity.


Ideas:
Blogger: students publish stories, reading responses, book review, reflection for the week e.g. how they are feeling about achieving their writing, reading, maths, inquiry or sports goal

Google Classroom: assign set tasks to different reading and writing groups and post Home Learning to the whole classroom or a challenge...


Google Drive: students learn here how to access, arrange, organise, and create folders and files (documents, slides, forms...) of their learning and how to share and collaborate with others.

Blendspace: brings digital resources together in one place and share or collaborate with others e.g. videos, images and stories about ANZAC Day.  Assess students or students assess their peers with built-in quizzes and track student progress in real-time.

Study Ladder: assign literacy, topic or maths tasks to be completed at home or school