What did I learn that increased my understanding of Manaiakalani kaupapa and pedagogy?
I appreciate the importance of LCS, I really do, but I am having some issues and barriers with my students which are difficult to overcome. I'll make a separate blogpost about this under the 'reflections' label. This session was hugely focused on create - which I love, because I am creative, and I want my students to be creative too ... but the barrier we are having is at the 'share' stage. I don't know ... it's hard to get excited about things when I know that this fear factor is going to rear its head. I don't mean that it's hard to find the excitement ... that bit's easy ... it's more that the comedown is rough when it doesn't work out.
This is the thing that I don't yet have the tools to deal with. Perhaps part of the fear factor is in MY head having had these experiences with students who demonstrate a negative mindset, and I need to keep trying and insisting in order to break through, but that sort of thing is hard, and it takes a toll on you personally and professionally. How do you keep putting 100% creativity into something and then watching the result fall flat and be treated with disrespect? I find that hard to deal with, let alone my students.
What did I learn that could improve my confidence, capability or workflow as a professional?
I really wanted to learn more about Google Drawing - I used the template, but I wouldn't know how to put my own google drawings together, and I need that 'from scratch' tuition aspect to be able to be truly creative and flexible with the tool. What would I do when faced with a blank screen in Google Drawing? That bit still feels intimidating. Like ... putting the photo into the circle. That was great and easy to do as a 'replace image'. But how would I set that up on my own from scratch? How would I teach my learners to do that from scratch? That's the bit I need.
What did I learn that could improve my confidence, capability or workflow as a professional?
I really wanted to learn more about Google Drawing - I used the template, but I wouldn't know how to put my own google drawings together, and I need that 'from scratch' tuition aspect to be able to be truly creative and flexible with the tool. What would I do when faced with a blank screen in Google Drawing? That bit still feels intimidating. Like ... putting the photo into the circle. That was great and easy to do as a 'replace image'. But how would I set that up on my own from scratch? How would I teach my learners to do that from scratch? That's the bit I need.
I LOVED making the animations on google slides. I made a really simple one of Iron Man flying by pulling a banner saying 'Welcome to Maths'. I am starting to see how some of the tools can be used together - like the remove background website and google slides, which work really well together. I am going to try and embed Iron Man on my blog. All being well, you will see that on the post just here:
Is there something we could do about that? How sad that google blogs allows for the animation to play properly, but it doesn't allow for us to do it via sites.
This was awesome to do, I loved it. I made another with a little spinning Mjolnir and Thor waiting to catch it to one side of the screen (have a look at the bottom to see him in action).
I had a go at embedding it in google sites, which was simple to do, but the animation will only play quite slowly. It doesn't give you the option to make it play and faster than 1 frame per 2 seconds.
Is there something we could do about that? How sad that google blogs allows for the animation to play properly, but it doesn't allow for us to do it via sites.
What did I learn that could be used with my learners?
I loved learning how to use GIFs more effectively in Google Slides. That was a good thing to know about. I use gifs in blogs, on social media, and I recently learned how to put them on Hapara, but this will improve my flexible use of google slides.
I really liked touching in the idea of making videos with greenscreen and making pod casts, but I still feel a bit overwhelmed when faced with the idea of actually trying to do it. I like the idea, I want to use it, but I'm standing on the edge of it going 'where the hell do I start' and that is the sort of feeling that makes busy teachers think 'You know what, I'll come back to that,' and we never do...
I wonder if I could get the kids to make a simple maths animation? We're doing geometry in year 9, I have a feeling they would enjoy that!
What did I learn that could improve my confidence, capability or workflow in my personal life?
Anything that allows me to be creative is a win for my personal life too. And it does mean that I can put together some more interesting rewindable learning experiences for my students, which can be reused in later years - and that will cut down my workload in future years. I feel like the things I made even 3 years ago have 'gone out of date' compared to what I can do now. That is both disappointing, because I put so much effort into them when I first got to NZ, and also a sign of personal growth that my skills have improved since getting here. I am not standing still, there is so much more to learn.
I loved learning how to use GIFs more effectively in Google Slides. That was a good thing to know about. I use gifs in blogs, on social media, and I recently learned how to put them on Hapara, but this will improve my flexible use of google slides.
I really liked touching in the idea of making videos with greenscreen and making pod casts, but I still feel a bit overwhelmed when faced with the idea of actually trying to do it. I like the idea, I want to use it, but I'm standing on the edge of it going 'where the hell do I start' and that is the sort of feeling that makes busy teachers think 'You know what, I'll come back to that,' and we never do...
I wonder if I could get the kids to make a simple maths animation? We're doing geometry in year 9, I have a feeling they would enjoy that!
What did I learn that could improve my confidence, capability or workflow in my personal life?
Anything that allows me to be creative is a win for my personal life too. And it does mean that I can put together some more interesting rewindable learning experiences for my students, which can be reused in later years - and that will cut down my workload in future years. I feel like the things I made even 3 years ago have 'gone out of date' compared to what I can do now. That is both disappointing, because I put so much effort into them when I first got to NZ, and also a sign of personal growth that my skills have improved since getting here. I am not standing still, there is so much more to learn.
Kia ora Kate,
ReplyDeleteGreat to see so much creativity in this post. The hammer is classic.
Here is how to add slides and change the timing in a site.
Maria