The day kicked off with some background of the Manaiakalani (NOT MK!) programme. One thing I found interesting was the origin and meaning behind the name. Manaiakalani being the name of the line of stars used to navigate to New Zealand from Hawaiki. The English teacher in me loves a good metaphor and this one makes me think about the way our learners are navigating through their learning and how digital technology can help guide them on this journey. A quick google image search to add a picture to this blog also reveals that Manaiakalani is the name of Maui's fishhook-extending the metaphor to include the discovery of new knowledge.
Diving Deep into google groups.
Christine made the comment that google groups are sort of like using messenger on facebook, a good comparison, I thought. I can see how this would be useful and seems fairly easy to set up.
Cleaning up your google account.
Here's where it got real for me. My google account is the digital equivalent of the place the junk lady from the film Labyrinth lives. It would make a great episode of the show Hoarders. It felt good to create a 2020 folder (it's purple!) and start my new life as a tidy and organised teacher. You guys weren’t joking when you said this was an 'intensive'. Luckily I was taking notes because we learned so many things in this session that will help me clean up my drive, for example creating docs in folders, moving and adding docs, shortcuts. I might just sweep everything pre-2020 under the carpet and all into one folder so I can start afresh.
Creating Posters in Docs.
This is an exciting possibility for me, I can see how this could be a great replacement for the old 'static image' posters we make our juniors create based on the texts we read in class. They always groan when presented with a bucket of dried up old felts and a piece of A3 paper. The tips we learned today (making it A5 so you can see it all, using a table to lay it out, background removal) are awesome. My effort was a little disappointing and there are few extra tools I want to learn to help improve these even more.
I was feeling pretty smug about all the stuff I had learned today, then Maria mentioned 'code'......
I am so with you Hayley about sweeping all the prior years under the carpet. If only I could do that with my email started in the last millenium :( Glad you got a few tips to boost your productivity and even felt the 'intense' kick in #success
ReplyDeleteBest wishes for Day 2
Dorothy
Kia ora Haley,
ReplyDeleteGreat reflections on day 1. I love that it got real for you. That's what we want.
I do kinda regret the 'code' as everyone glazed at that point. Cheryl has an easier way to attack this issue. Check the Workflow agenda doc.
Ngā mihi,
Maria
'Code' was where my ears pricked up. Great to read your reflections of the day. It sure is intensive PL
ReplyDeleteTell me about it Haley. It is exhausting, but definitely worthwhile learning. I liked reading your reflections and can see how many of the learning you are taking in (static images). My 'whakatauaki' for this year is... 'You don't know what you don't know'. P.s: We are all experts.
ReplyDelete