Sophia

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...