Final day digital intensive and Level 2 exam

Today was the final day. It was all about the exam. For me, because I already had level 1, I sat the Level 2 exam. I had done a lot of preparation for the exam, however, I still did not feel overly confident of passing.

I found the exam draining. I only just completed all the tasks and I was not able to go back to the questions I had skipped. Carefully reading the questions were important as it was scenario based questions. The multi choose questions were really hard. It was hard to eliminate incorrect responses. I felt much better during the task questions.

I feel this course has made me understand how connected all the google apps are. If you can navigate 1 you can pretty much navigate them all. I'll never know what my score was. It had to be over 80 percent to pass. It gave me a real buzz when I got the email through.

Id like to thank Gerard and Dorothy for all their help and support over the last 9 weeks. Also Angela Gattung for giving me the time to go attend all 9 days. I think there will be a lot of skills and good practice that I will be bringing back to Papakura High and the Kootuitui cluster.

Day 8 Digital intensive reflection

Today we learnt about the new digital curriculum. I had read it before, however, I hadn't quite got to grips with it. Given that it is to incorporated by 2020 and across the entire curriculum I believe it was important to unpack and find meaning.

I found it very useful unpacking the key terms and ideas. I feel I have a much better understanding now of what it all means. I do have a concern that other teachers are not going through the same process and my hope is that all teachers seek professional development so they can be incorporated this into their teaching

Using scratch was fun. I had experience with pencil code before. Scratch was similar and I found it useful understanding the 'do this if' function. Coding is a valuable skill that I wish I had taken seriously when I was young

Binary was something I had heard of but knew nothing about. I enjoyed the mathematical element to it. I would like to pursue this more

For the next week, I plan on studying for my Level 2 exam. I would like to think Dave Winter and Angela Gattung for their time and their resources in helping me gain a much better understanding of google sheets

Day 7 Digital intensive

Today I am starting to think about my Level 2 google exam. I will be attempting this in week 10 so I don't have much time left to hone my skills. Of particular concern is sheets. I feel i dont use them often enough to have enough understanding just yet.

Fortunately, Gerhard Vermeulen has kindly supported me and also shared with me this Level 2 skills checklist. I plan to spend the next few weeks working on this checklist and to be honest, I feel quite excited to learn more.

There are so many new skills that I am learning from this course. I feel it is going to ease my workload and de-stress me. One tab is one such extension that will help organize my browsing. I also now feel much more confident in using google hangouts. I made a comment that the day will come where we can teach from our home.

I remember watching back to the future 2 when I was a child. In one scene the dad is at home and his boss appears on the TV and fires him. It feels like the future that I was so excited about is here.

I have underused hangouts in the past. Meeting can be accessed from hangouts and students and colleagues can also connect so much easier.

Here is a screencast of a hangout we were having today about the digital curriculum.

Day 6 Digital Intensive

Today we reviewed and critiqued visible teaching and learning. Most of the day was focussed on quality learning sites. This year I have been working on using the new google sites. This has enabled me to rethink how I might share, so today came at the perfect time for me.

My colleagues at the digital intensive reviewed and gave me feedback on my site. This is what they told me.

 


I set myself a goal of creating a visually appealing homepage with information about me and links to relevant materials. I also wanted to create a  multi-modal health webpage that will engage learners and reflect visible teaching and learning.

This is my site so far

Karakia for staff meeting

I have an unhelpful belief that I cant learn a second language. So today I feel proud that I was able to convince myself to lead the school karakia prior to the staff meeting. This required a lot of positive self-talk and positive affirmation. Given I preach these concepts to my students I felt it was time that I did something to change this unhelpful belief.

Fortunately, I also have my colleague matua Leroy who set me the goal of saying the school karakia to the staff. Without him challenging me I probably wouldn't have done it. I also found the students very helpful and ultra positive about my attempts at the Maori language. I learned how using the Maori language to Maori students can help in developing relationships and also gain respect. I was also pleased to discover my Maori colleagues being so supportive despite my mispronunciations. Anything is better than nothing as one colleague said. This will encourage me to attempt more language.