Story, check! Storyteller, check! Feeling pumped!

Following a great chat with Lis Swanson (Story Telling Schools) last term and meeting with Di Robinson (Mātauraka Mahaanui Facilitator) yesterday, I am feeling like this is going to come together nicely. I have a few stories that I believe can be used to enhance boys writing through the mode of Storytelling. The first story I am going to do is 'The Story of the Pouākai.' This story is rich in language, facts and has lots of gore (which the boys will love)!
I have adapted some parts of the story to add detail and richness to it. 

The richness of the story too, can most certainly be enhanced through the storyteller, and I believe I may just have one! A David Attenborough in the making.....(watch this space).

I have mapped out my ideas using some of the important resources/ activities in my classroom and found further afield. I have also begun jotting down some of the essentials that will hold this project true in relation to Manaiakalani and also 'Storytelling.'

I am looking forward to having this take shape and trialing with my class this term.

Ed-Tech Summit Day 2

Today we were greeted again by the wonderful Rooty Hill School Choir. This time you could hear the confidence in their voices as they sang a song from Moana.
Highlights for me today were the workshops that I attended and seeing my fellow MIT Sandra presenting hers. (I even got to use my behaviour management strategies on an attendee, by using my zone of proximity to keep him a little quieter- hehe)

Sandra Chow presented a wonderful session on Shifting Maths Teaching and Learning for Modern Learners. Maths would definitely be an area that I would like to do more with digitally. I now have a host of wonderful resources that I can't wait to try out with my class, syndicate and school.

For me, the discussions that I have had over the last couple of days have really shown that we are on the right path in NZ and in particular, with Manaiakalani. It highlighted the differences within countries, but even within schools. It was great to re-confirm the importance of the Key Competencies for our learners and that we are preparing our students for the future. So when doing this we need to not teach 'the normal', but teach 'the new.'

Another thing that sparked in my mind was the Power of Vulnerability. Brene Brown came to mind when thinking of our own personal journey, and finding the joy in taking risks. But the same can be said when thinking about learning. It is so important that we model risk taking with our kids and that they see us failing sometimes. This then makes it OK for them to do the same.

We need to find the value in the struggle. For nothing good or innovative comes easy. I also need to not put a lid on possibilities. Quite often we can think that something can't be done, when in fact we should be thinking......but what if we can!

Another fantastic day of learning that will encourage further learning in the upcoming days and months!

Ed-Tech Summit, Day One

Arriving for day one, it was hard to know exactly what to expect. A lovely greeting from the Rooty Hill School Choir was a reminder of what we are doing and why we are doing what we do.
The playgrounds were a great way to dive a little into what interested us, grabbing a snapshot of things we might like to explore further.
I came across the Merge Cube which was my first real experience with virtual reality. At a reasonable price, it was great to have a hands on play and is something I will look into heading back to Christchurch.

The first couple of workshops were fantastic and full of ideas. It was nice to attend Santi's workshop as I had not had much experience with Sheets and is an area I wanted to work on. I learnt how to make a pivot table and to do some formatting. This will be very useful when working with data.

My workshop was on Digital Creativity Tools. I was very nervous and once up there it was clear that it was really hard to know exactly what experiences all of the attendees had come from and what they did and did not know.
A quick padlet in and we got to know a little bit about who was in the room. Instead of speaking too much, I decided to very quickly touch on the tools and then allow them all to play. In hindsight, I should have gone through the tools a bit more and then allowed them to have a play. I roamed and supported throughout the session, doing a quick mini session as it became clear that a lot of the attendees had not used Google Drawing to create their own images.

Presenting was definitely an experience which took me out of my comfort zone and which I have learnt from in regards to the amount of time spent on teaching and then creating. It is definitely best not to assume!

The end of the day and it was a time for networking. I met a lovely teacher, who like me had been teaching for 15 years. It was nice to make connections with other teachers from Australia. 

What a fantastic day! Bring on Day 2!