Covid 19 coronavirus: Teaching in Level 3

A small number of teachers around the country have expanded their bubbles by going into the classroom under level 3 to educate youngsters whose parents can't keep them at home.

The highs and lows include dealing with student anxiety, controlling the rigorous sanitising processes, and the pain of not being able to give a worried child a hug.

Working at school under alert level 3, I am bubble teaching. In our classroom bubble are two teachers supported by a teacher aide. With a maximum of eight children based on whanau/family groups and including a bubble of students in years 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6.

A typical day

The students are dropped at the front gate and escorted in by one of our bubble groups. We try really hard to maintain our distance - the students were really great at following the level 3 processes, and would remind anyone if they were getting too close.

We head to class, hang up our bags (2m apart), walk in to class, sanitise our hands and take the roll and enjoy karakia - everyone on their own seat and distanced - on the mat.

Then we split off to a table within the class to attend to the distance learning via Google Hangouts and the lessons their teacher has set. We roughly all complete some reading, writing and maths broken-up by "bike, scoot and snack" breaks because the playgrounds are off-limits and these lessons are supported by two teachers and the TA. 

Pros

We have been able to work with our bubble of students in a way that suits them best. There are activities available for them on arrival to school and they can ride their bike or scoot around for a good 10-15 minutes before coming in and settling into school work - they love to move. And this is such a child-centred learning experience for all.

As educators, we've been given the freedom from having to conform to a curriculum for the Ministry of Education and reporting to parents on reading, writing and maths.

We have the autonomy to work with children at their age/stage/level and we're able to have freedom from the curriculum and focus on the "key competencies" of life such as building resilience, working with others, critical thinking and problem solving etc- while building knowledge and skills.

We are giving the children opportunities to be creative and build on their passions. Our children have been working to their strengths, building their capabilities and discovering their niche.

Cons

Not all children of Aotearoa have had a good bubble experience. As frontline educators we will need the support of many agencies to help keep some families intact, and some children protected.

Some of the children in Aotearoa have had their anxiety escalated into such a high mode of basic function that we as a society will need to become more aware of and will have to support.

All in all I found this to be a positive experience from both a personal and professional perspective.

Nga mihi nui,
Tracy

Day 9: Revision

What a journey! 

Today was my final DFI session in the Tairawhiti cohort. Reflecting on my learning over these past months, I realise my own self-efficacy. The idea of participating in a workshop about digital technology seemed out of my depth initially. Particularly as I had never used G-Suite or a Macbook. However by having this opportunity to be involved in a collaborative learning environment I have gained skills and confidence in a new realm, a digital learning environment. I have come to realise that I have got a lot of skills to share and my confidence has blossomed. 

The goals of the DFI were:  What did I learn that increased my understanding of Manaiakalani kaupapa and pedagogy?

1. What did I learn that increased my understanding of Manaiakalani kaupapa and pedagogy?
2. What did I learn that could improve my confidence, capability or workflow as a professional?
3. What did I learn that could be used with my learners?
4. What did I learn that could improve my confidence, capability or workflow in my personal life? 

1. Despite learning about Manaiakalani, I feel that working through the content I have gained a much deeper understanding of the why we do what we do. Either that or the cogs are finally turning in sync. Everything within Manaiakalani is research based or tested and trialed by passionate educators over the years. The recommendations are purposeful and proven to be successful in raising learner outcomes.
2. My confidence, capability and workflow as a professional... definitely my confidence. Realising that I can learn a skill within the digital realm. More so, my interpersonal skills mean that I am able to connect with others, to teach and share with them.
3. My learners as tamariki, I'm always picking up more ideas, especially reinforcing the managing workflow expectations and setting that up at the get go. My colleagues in the DFI cohort... I learnt how to apply what I was learning to their prior knowledge and areas of expertise, eg. Not to try and do everything at once. Like when you're planning your reading/writing programmes, you plan goals, and back-map the next learning steps, it's the same with introducing digital learning. Purposeful, small bite sized chunks, in line with the ZPD. 
4. Personal life - organising my gmail, creating a youtube channel and google drive! I have been able to accumulate some resources and photographs which need organisation! Also, using my google calendar. I use it for so many things in my personal life now, great for coordinating the many different facets of my life.

Today's part of the course was looking at the ubiquitous learning kaupapa of Manaiakalani. How do we create a learning environment where learners are empowered and have access to learn when they're not in front of the teacher. The sharing that came from the group was truly heartwarming, how digital technologies have enabled learners to succeed, particularly learners who perhaps wouldn't have it in a traditional classroom environment. 
Knowing that I have been able to offer support to learners (within our classroom bubble), is also a great feeling, knowing that my small amount of digital knowledge may encourage others in someway. Being a part of the DFI has been an honestly rewarding and enjoyable experience. I've loved working with other people and absorb are so clearly dedicated and passionate about what they do that they've been able to put themselves into the learning pit and participate in what can only be described as an intensive programme. 

It's with great joy and sadness that we come to the final session of our DFI. Joy that everyone has come so far and learned so much from day 1, and sadness that our PLG will no longer have this physical space and time to connect. The challenge now is to keep up the momentum and keep in contact as we are one another's greatest resources sometimes.

Ngā manaakitanga ki a koutou

Tracy

DAY 8: DFI Computational Thinking

Kia ora koutou, 

Today the DFI-Manaiakalani kaupapa was focussed around Empowerment. Dorothy explained that digital technology is not just about being a tool! But it is about the transforming of people's lives - children, whanau and teachers. The way we learn, overcome barriers of time, distance and circumstance. In particular the obstacles present in the lives of many; money, housing, health, paucity of vocabulary. She also emphasised the important role that educators play in promoting conversation be that face to face or through blogs. Digital technology offers new learning opportunities and experiences. 

Our deep dive was delving into unchartered territory for many of us, computational thinking; aka coding - which if you were born before 2000's can be a bit of a scary word! 
The computational thinking and coding activity's was very challenging. I watched the Josh Darnit video on the Exact Instructions Challenge which gave me an idea of how specific and broken down your instructions need to be in coding. It highlighted for me the importance of sequence - series of steps or instructions.

The activities we did in teams where we explored computational resources to collaborate to problem solve. These resources support all learners to collaborate and build resilience, perseverance, problem solving, and a great gateway to coding and understanding the method behind coding. 

Next we were introduced to Lightbot. A puzzle game based on coding: it secretly teaches you programming logic as you play! This is great for building perspective as watching the bot, you want him to turn right, but from his perspective, he's turning left. Again more problem solving for tamariki, and more opportunities to build efficiencies. 

We also had time to explore CoSpaces today, an online tool for coding. Our challenge was to choose coding activities to explore. Minecraft was so much fun! The Mihi Maker allowed one to navigate through each task, I thought I published it but unfortunately I was unable to view the animation in action. All fantastic opportunities and experiences offering free online coding tools for learners to practice simple coding skills.

Today's session provided opportunities for me to improve practice and workflow, and discover what connections I can make from computational thinking to learners and contexts. In education, computational thinking is a set of problem-solving methods that involve expressing problems and their solutions in ways that a computer could also execute.

Nga mihi,
Tracy