Flipgrid: The Tool For Student Voice You Didn't Know You Need, presenter - Nick Brierley

Nick is a teacher in Sydney. Having only used Flipgrid once before it was great to have time to explore and have a go with this tool.
Nick's resources are here.

How to get the most from your Chromebook, presenter - Suan Yeo

Suan describes himself as an Education Evangelist. He works at Google in the Asia-Pacific region heading the Education business unit. So what he knows about Google is huge!
He spent quite a bit of time going through Chrome extensions which was really beneficial. My takeaway from this session was the Toby Chrome extension.

Details about Toby...

"Bookmarks are for books, not browsers. Organize your browser tabs into Toby so you can access key resources in one-click instead of seven. Toby is better than bookmarks, it levels up your Chrome browser. Toby is a visual workspace that lives on every new tab. Add new tabs by dragging and dropping your browser tabs into collections or save a whole session in just one-click. Access all of your collections on any desktop with automatic sync. Use tags to organize your collections or create notes for your to-dos."

Reflection: after having made 380-odd blogs and using OneTab to collect student blogs together in their classes, I realised the power of Toby in that it is web-based and collections can be accessed in all my profiles. A life-saver! 

Design Thinking and iExplore at Ormiston School, presenter - Michael Davidson

If anyone is really into design thinking then maybe go and visit Ormiston School and see it in action. Michael's resource page is here and his blog is here.



Check out his page on making a Digital Breakout. We had a go at his Anzac Escape one. Tricky!

Michael is very active on the www with "The Monthly Maker".  He has a You Tube channel MakerEd NZ. A must see with the new Technology Curriculum now being implemented.

Keynote #1 - Let's Make Some Magic, presenter - Emily Fitzpatrick

Emily was a really engaging presenter. She was full of vim and vitality and really got us thinking. Link to Emily's resources is here.

Emily's point was that there are ways to make magic happen in the class...

1st magic: Questions inspire. What questions inspire your classroom? Do your students ask the un-Googleable questions?

2nd magic: Go beyond expectations. High expectations student rise to the challenge. Expect success rather than accept failure

3rd magic. Find a new normal

Closing remarks: The right person finds the right question. the importance of being problem solvers

Magic makes the impossible happen...

How will you make magic happen in your classroom?

Tools help to create magic in the classroom

What tools are in your toolbox now?

Reflection: this session really feeds nicely into our Manaiakalani term 2 focus on "Learning empowers creativity". And the big question of how do digital technologies turbo-charge creativity?

Ed Tech Summit - Wellington

During the term break, I attended the Ed Tech Summit in Wellington. This summit was 2 days jam-packed full of Google Goodness. It was held at Amesbury School which is pretty new and that was a delight to be in modern learning spaces.

In true digital immersion fashion, an App was used to communicate and organise schedules. The neat thing about using an app like this at these summits is that you can change your schedule whenever you like. This is particularly handy if you miss a great session and can pick up on it at another time.

The sessions I attended were...
Keynote #1: Let's Make Some Magic, presenter - Emily Fitzpatrick
Design Thinking and iExplore at Ormiston School, presenter - Michael Davidson
How to get the most from your Chromebook, presenter - Suan Yeo
Flipgrid: The Tool For Student Voice You Didn't Know You Need, presenter - Nick Brierley
Google and the 4 C's, presenter - Kim Sutton
Demo Slam

Keynote #2: A Māori Perspective on developing Resources to Support Te Reo Māori, presenter - Te Taka Keegan
Automate the Mundane, presenter - Emily Fitzpatrick
Keep it Together!. presenter - Rachel Duckworth
Creating Portfolios with Google Sites, presenter - Emily Fitzpatrick

I got so much from each session that I think I need to reflect on each session in a separate blog post with links to resources.

Feedback - or lack of it.

We all know the score on feedback and how important it is and why we should do it and how we can do it. So when I was sitting the Google Certified Educator Level 1 test I was struck by how the lack of feedback set me on edge. As you work through the test there is no indication of whether your response was correct or not. This is quite different to the Fundamental training modules on the certification site where the unit reviews give you that instant feedback.
It set me to thinking how often do we do this to our learners?

Google Certification

One thing about this role is that it makes you do stuff - like Google Certification. This was on my "to do" list but it kept getting pushed down the list by other things.
I got stuck in over the holidays and worked through the fundamental training for Level 1with the intention of sitting the 3 hour exam while hubby was on a fishing charter trip. But as with all good plans they quickly change. The fishing charter was cancelled and the 7 day deadline for sitting the exam was quickly disappearing. Grabbed the bull by the horns last Thursday after work and beavered away at it. And passed! Phew! Now for Level 2.