Google Certified Educator - Level 1

I did it! I sat the exam yesterday and this time I passed! I was really relieved because if I failed I would have to wait 6 months before being allowed to attempt the exam again.Once again a massive thank you to Dorothy and James for sharing their knowledge and being so patient.

Manaiakalani Digital Immersion Intensive - Day 9 - Final Day

I sat my level 1 Google Educator exam today. I obtained 78%, unfortunately 80% is needed to qualify. I'm thrilled at obtaining 78% - I did better than I expected! I'm now really excited and ready to sit the exam again. I have to wait 2 weeks (google's rules, not mine) before I can attempt the exam again. That means I will be sitting the exam in the school holidays - watch this space!

I have learnt so much from Dorothy and James - a huge THANK YOU to you both. I would also like to thank my principal and the school BoT for affording me this amazing opportunity.

Manaiakalani Digital Immersion Intensive - Day 8

Unfortunately I was unable to make class this Friday-stuck in bed with the 'flu. I will use this time to study for my Google Educator level 1 exam. I am really nervous about this exam and am considering opting out!

Manaiakalani Digital Immersion Intensive - Day 7

Today after our usual feedback of what we trialled and how it went, we were fortunate enough to zip off to Pt England to see Pat Snedden receive his Queen's Award.
It was great to see that the student's played such an integral part of the ceremony with beautiful waiata and a rousing haka.

Most of our day was spent going over sites today. We created a site to use to store all our registered teacher criteria evidence.

Manaiakalani Digital Immersion Intensive - Day 6

As usual we started our session with a report back from the week. This is always a great way to start because although we are all learning the same content at this course, it is great to listen to the creative ways other teachers are implementing this new learning in their classes.

Visibility is a great tool for our students to share their learning with their whanau. It is important to set our default to 'public' to enable learning to be visible to all.

We used a Chromecast to cast and share our sites today. This was another great learning opportunity because although we use our Chromecast at home, I had never thought about using it in the classroom - that is something I definitely want to try this week!

Building a site was the hardest but probably most satisfying task to date! Here are the instructions to build your own site - give it a go!

Manaiakalani Digital Immersion Intensive - Day 5

The day started with the group sharing what worked with our classes and what didn't. It was awesome to hear how our tamariki are engaging and challenging themselves with regards to their learning.

We were lucky enough to have Fiona Grant join us and take us through the Manaiakalani Cybersmart programme. One of the things she mentioned was that Cybersmart needed to be a deliberate act of teaching, not relying on the students to pick it up incidentally.

In Week 9 (just 4 weeks away and our final Digital Immersion Intensive day), we all get to sit the Google Educator Level 1 Exam .

The most challenging part of the day for me was creating my own site using html. I was really nervous about this as I had never created a site from scratch on my own!         

Have a look at my first attempt here.               

                                                                          

Manaiakalani Digital Immersion Intensive - Day 4

Screencastify

Today was another full-on day jam-packed with new learning. We used not one, but THREE devices today- our laptop,  a student Chromebook and the iPad.
We used Chromebooks to get a student's view. We completed a document doing shortcuts - this was awesome! I found there were more shortcuts than just ctrl x, y and z! I will definitely be sharing this activity with my class!
We used the Ipads for Explain Everything. This was really great! It was the first time I got to see how the iPads are used for learning in the Junior School.
The cherry on top today was Screencastify. Screencastify is a simple video screen capture software for Chrome.Screencastify is the easiest way to record, edit, annotate, store, and share video screen captures. Record a specific tab, or your whole desktop at the click of a button. Have a look/listen at my fist attempt.
 

Manaiakalani Digital Immersion Intensive - Day 3

This week we learned what to do (and what not to do) when creating a Hangout. Hangouts are useful as it negates the need for everyone to be in the same place at the same time.



Follow these simple steps to create your own Hangout:
Hangout steps:
Calendars > Create a calendar Event on a specific day/time. Name it.
Note it immediately creates a Hangout link > Green Camera, “Join Meeting”
Edit the event > invite Guests (type in their email) > Save > Agree to Send
Hangout > Click Join Meeting link in calendar event > browser will open Hangout
check your face and surroundings (back lighting etc)!!
MUTE microphone > Click green JOIN button
Toggle between Mute and unmute when you want to speak.
Chat > select blue button on LEFT side of screen
Screen share > select green button on Left of screen

We were introduced to Google Keep. This is an amazing app that allows you to transcribe text from images, scan or convert handwritten text to digital text.

Learning how to use Google Keep.Link here

Manaiakalani Digital Immersion Intensive - Day 2

Manaiakalani Digital Immersion Intensive - Day 2

Today's new learning included:

• Using and creating Google Forms.
• Creating quizzes (similar to Kahoot, but you can assign points and remove time limits).
• Using Google Sheets (this is particularly useful when dealing with asTTle data as you are able to hide columns, find averages and use this information to create graphs and put data onto maps).

Although much of today's learning would be incredibly useful in the classroom, for both teachers and students, it is not limited to use in the classroom. This learning has the potential to make life outside of the classroom easier too e.g. forms could be used for birthday invitations and spreadsheets could be used for budgeting. 

Manaiakalani Digital Immersion Intensive - Day 1

Friday 5th May 2017 marked the first of nine digital immersion professional development (PD) days. 

These PD days will take place every Friday for the rest of Term 2.

The day's learning included

Using Hapara/ Teacher dashboard

Google Draw

Checking revision history of documents.

Using charts to graph and analyse data (student achievement data).

Voice Typing (My favourite new learning of the day!).

Sharing and assigning permissions. 

Can't wait to implement my new learning in the classroom!