Digital Fluency Guru.......I think not!

Digital Fluency Intensive- Day One

In the beginning of our School Manaiakalani Journey, teachers would look to me for support and help to do things smarter, faster and more effectively (as I was one of the first teachers to have an in class Manaiakalani Facilitator working with me at my Kura). 

Everything prior to that point was learnt by 'Googling' what to do, or self taught. I was very blessed to work with Mark Maddren who taught me so much, however I definitely had the glaze over look (often) when I wasn't sure how to do something. Time was limited and the focus was mainly at the children's level. I was often going home to search 'the net' so that I could find out more.

Today's DFI session has confirmed to me the journey that we are on with Manaiakalani. How very lucky we are to be a part of Manaiakalani, especially with the support we receive as teaching professionals and also for our students, whanau and communities. 

The Manaiakalani kaupapa is successful because of the vision, the people, networking, research and resourcing. But not only this, it's effective classroom practice.

So what did I learn today that will support my confidence, capability and workflow as a professional?

Today I learnt many things that will help me in my work:

* I learnt how to make separate profiles rather than adding in many different Google accounts. I made the massive mistake of having a number of different personal and professional accounts open and then created blogs! Let's just say that it was a nightmare to sort it all out and I had to keep signing in and out of Google accounts trying to sort it out!

* I learnt about the benefits of having Google Groups and the differences between 'Groups' and 'Contacts'.

* I had time to organise my Google Drive and learnt tips on how to do this more effectively (changing folder colours, giving the folders numbers so they pop up to the top)

* Things that I need to teach the kids- folder permissions, naming your docs- initials and then the document name, no underlining in titles (ooops), making headings and table of contents, hyperlinking, using the explore tool, etc

* Using a Google Doc to create an info graphic (I didn't even think this was possible!)

Speaking of info graphics.....check out my creation here:

It's funny because we only know what we know, until our eyes are opened and until we are challenged and taught other ways of doing things. 

Thank you Manaiakalani for supporting me in my Professional Learning Journey and I'm sorry, for being one of those teachers who have been teaching things the wrong (least effective ways)!

I am feeling confident that I have learnt lots of new things and now is my job to retrain and rethink the ways that I do things and do things smarter!

Personally, I am just looking forward to being able to move between profiles and not having to log in and out again! 

I am very much looking forward to the DFI Day 2.