Sophia

  This would be my dream term break for this time of the year- a quiet, tropical, white sand beach, warm ocean waters lapping at the shore, the scent of frangipani wafting through the air, a great book, chilled wine, and all movement at slower than a snail's pace - bliss.  Closed border policies and the prevalence of Covid the world over have burst this bubble, and the closest I managed to get was a 3 minute walk that took me down to my local beach at Point Chevalier. The winds were  blowing up from Scott Base, and the dark green water was colder than melting ice, and there was a conspicuous absence of palm trees. Definitely not a tropical paradise. However, I did get to turn my senses off, shut down and attempt to recharge after what was an unprecedentedly busy term. I could not believe how exhaustipated I felt at the end of the ten weeks, more so than ever before in my teaching career. I'm not sure if it's because life is just getting more demanding than usual, or I'm...

  Have you ever spent time chasing your tail (figuratively, of course!) and then discovered that your torso is getting shorter and shorter and there's no hope of even catching your tail let alone having it in your sights? That has been my last fortnight, and particularly this past week. Two twelve hour plus days with parent conferences and all the preparation that comes with that, in the middle of Matariki Week, and a school wide Matariki Friday full of events that you have to prepare your class for, only you're not going to be there and you have to double prep everything for your reliever... Add to that a PUMs half day, the first half of which you have your own class plus your buddy class while the Junior Teachers are at the morning session. I have discovered that a traditional prefab classroom can fit 40 student bodies in at a stretch.  I'm exhausted already and it's only just past hump day. I think I have perfected the art of cat napping with my eyes open. But, and m...

This week it was all about looking at things from a learners perspective and entering the learning world they occupy via their chrome book and i-pad devices. The key word driving this session was ubiquity, or ubiquitous. It's a very alluring word, and when it rolls off your tongue it feels exotic, romantically foreign and almost musical. Meaning: being everywhere, constantly encountered, widespread. The connotation behind ubiquity in education is that barriers to accessing learning are removed, and in the digital world, all learning is visible to all learners at all times.  Learning is no longer bordered by the 6 hours spent at school, but continues beyond into the 24 hour day. In a world that has been heavily impacted by COVID-19 and regular lockdowns, the idea of learning being ubiquitous is gaining momentum in a way that it never has before.  All over the world educators had to rethink the delivery of learning as schools were forced to close and students had to stay at home...

The hamster wheel has been working overtime in the last fortnight, and I am thinking how blissfully wonderful life would be if I had 10 clones and could be everywhere I needed to be, doing exactly what I was needed to be doing, in each space. Maybe 11 clones, and one would just be permanently hibernating under the duvet covers, resting, breathing, relaxing and escaping from the busy world. I have just completed proof reading and editing a class set of reports, and it is now DFI reflection time. (Yes, I know that Sunday was created as a day of rest, but I've already covered myself with a few Hail Mary's and forfeited chocolate today, so entry through those Pearly Gates is still within my reach!)  How comforting and reassuring it was to be back in the face to face cohort, after completing DFI Session 5 online last week. Coming through the door and back into a room of the DFI cohorts and educational rockstars that have become my Friday village felt so good. (FYI, "educational...

This weeks session was a combined session and in a new venue, so once again it was the use of Google Map GPS technology to get me there. It was about 15-20 minutes longer than getting out to Panmure, mainly due to the cuss inducing (and you know how difficult it is for Catholic educated girls to cuss without fearing a lightning bolt appearing from somewhere) stop-crawl traffic flow around Mangere Bridge. The bonus was being in a new environment and Papakura Central School was certainly a very pleasant place to be in. Wide open spaces, colour pops everywhere and some hilarious wee characters, whom I bumped into going on my bathroom pit stops. It was also really wonderful to meet and greet our Hamilton cohort who drove and trained up for the day.  For me the biggest thought provoker of the day was by far the power of digital technology when it comes to sharing what we create from our learning, the potential reach it has for our Pasifika students to do this in todays global world, and...

What a joy it was to not have to be out there battling it on our roads in peak hour traffic this morning for our third DFI session.  Normally I go against the flow of traffic to and from work, and often glance at the opposite lane and pause to feel a moments pity for the poor souls that are crawling along at something less than a snail's pace. Since I've started this DFI course, I have become one of those poor souls...battling my way out to Panmure from Point Chevalier, fighting to get into lanes, out of lanes and across lanes before the necessary exit. So imagine my delight that this past Friday, our session was online and from the comfort of our homes. Dressed down in sweatpants and my warmest but lecture inducing jumper (my mother thinks it needs to go as it is old, threadbare and holey - not in the way that all good Catholics should be either - she hates seeing it on me, even in the private confines of home!) with freshly percolated coffee in hand, fully appreciative of the...

  Housekeeping with Google is definitely so much more fun than being armed with a feather duster. The tips and tricks for clever use of Google Mail, Google Calendar, Google Meet, Keep and managing your tabs was done at breakneck speed today, and I could barely keep up. We all asked millions of questions, so the facilitators were kept very busy and definitely earned their keep today! We practiced video conferencing using Google Meet today, with the added challenge of recording the session and then uploading it onto our blog. I partnered with Lisa from New Windsor Primary, and we had a fair bit of noisy fun. The actual task was to view a child's learning from their student blog, share it with our partner in present mode, and do a running commentary while doing so. I always find it super interesting that although I like to talk a lot face to face, I suddenly become a person of far fewer words when I'm being recorded 😛 I really enjoyed learning about some of the extra features att...

The world of blogging has long been inviting me in, and for just as long, I have been resisting the invitation. I certainly didn't want my first blog to be all about my professional journey on a digital fluency course. I rather imagined that it would be a travel blog or a food blog, or even better, a travel and food blog, filled with food dishes from countries and places near and far, ordinary and exotic, with majestic panoramic vistas and dishes you could almost lick the screen to taste. And here I find myself, creating and owning a blog as one of the requirements of the Manaiakalani professional development course I'm currently on. No food, except what I had for morning tea and lunch, and although the vista from the balcony is one to be appreciated, it isn't quite the same as a vista from distant nor foreign shores. I almost feel like I imagine students in classes all over New Zealand, if not the world, returning after a holiday break every single time, to write about wha...