DFI Last Day

Well I finished the exam and it wasn't the disaster I was expecting although my laptop did go flat and there ensued a panicked sprint around the house to find it. When I got back in again I was worried everything was lost  but luckily it was all there but it took me a while to realise I was no longer incognito so I may not pass on a technicality!

I have really enjoyed the Professional learning I have had within our Bubble group and working with people who have similar roles to mine made the discussions so much more relevant. I will miss this dedicated time to work on my own needs and I have thoroughly enjoyed EVERYTHING!
 With the COVID-19 impact on education I was extremely proud that our school was able to react quickly and collaboratively to create an authentic and purposeful learning space for students who were able to work online. Some students thrived under the regular online contact with their teachers and others were self determining about how they would schedule their time. I regret not having made more time to educate whanau to show them how this would work and how they could support their children because it would have been Greek to most of them. Even a tutorial about how Hapara Parent Portal could be set up for them to see what work their child was completing and when work was due. I do want to maintain the close communication we had with whanau during the Lockdown and will follow up their requests to have a more reasonable homework schedule available on our website and tutorials so they can be  an active participant in their child's learning.

I am going to miss working from home while everyone is at work! 

DFI Day#8

Every week I am amazed at how much I still have to learn about the digital platform and I am going to have to make time to do it as there is so much upskilling needed for me to do. I enjoy it but I find it very addictive eg. I did not solve a Minecraft coding problem from before lunch and it has consumed me for the rest of the afternoon. It is still an open tab on my page and I'm going to solve it if it's the last thing to do today. As a leader in our school I can see the importance of integrating coding into every subject but it also needs to be explicit. Almost all our staff have done the DFI course now so we can almost make it a compulsory subject in the Junior school which segues into the DTY and DVC senior classes. Sometimes I feel that we only really teach students what we know but we do not give students the opportunity to explore what we all don't know. I see this as an introduction to a future that we never considered as teenagers. I'm actually quite sad that our DFI has only one more session as I have enjoyed one day out a week for PLD and the bonus is that I get to learn from the comfort of my own home.  Anyway back to my Minecraft Challenge Level 0. Feel free to tell me the answer