Mauri ora Manaiakalani (wiki 8)

 On Connection

It's been a fabulous and intense journey. I've just watched Russel Burt on 'the principles of equity and access' Thank you for aligning this whole kaupapa with the principles upon which the Te Tiriti o Waitangi is founded on. Equality/equity... it all falls under the right for 'all' learners to being able to access quality content, information and learning - without prejudices, disadvantages and other burdensome barriers. Ngā mihi nui e te rangatira, nā tō whakaaro rangatira ka tūwhera whānui ake te tatau o te ao hangarau matihiko mō ā tātou tamariki. Tēna koe.

One slide that resonates with me is slide 6. I too, and I'm sure thousands of other teachers have the problem of competing against fortnite and instagram for the attention of our students. But I'm sure I have a better chance winning them over and keeping them engaged, with a chromebook and sites than I would with pen and pad. 

... post to be continued...

... Wow, today my ākonga followed one of the cybersmart activities under Tū Atamira in our Sites. I've never heard such wonderful silence. The whole room completely still and all eyes fixated. If I can get this intensity of engagement for every topic across the curriculum, I'll have a class of digital māori speaking Einsteins. 

Each time we look at other class blogs across the Manaiakalani cluster, my ākonga are inspired to comment, inspired to learn, inspired to create and 'somewhat' inspired to share... yes to the power of connectedness. 

Mauri Ora Manaiakalani (wiki 7)

On Ubiquitous:

I must admit, I've never even heard of this term, but what I understand now is that it is about making learning available "24/7." I've always envisioned my learners continuing their learning outside of 9 and 3. When you attend university, learning doesn't stop after the day's tutorial. When completing my creative writing degree, our lectures provided a constant stream of hard text and online resources, as well as touch-base and group chat opportunities. The power of connecting with my writing colleagues and sharing our creations beyond our homes and the lecture room was just incredible. Why can't we enable ubiquitous realm for our students? It just makes sense if we want to catapult empowerment. 

On Blogging:

Although they're still flying off the shelves at the beginning of each year, the good ole 1B5 will be a thing of the past. I gave my students the option to choose to write their pieces in a 7mm ruled book or on a wifi-disconnected chromebook. Penmanship was once regarded as artistic and masterful skill. I have colleagues and family members who believe there is a place for handwriting (as preschoolers and juniors) but for how long I wonder. Are we wasting time on teaching handwriting lessons to get the motorskills and carpals flexing and consolidating alphabetical letters? How soon should they learn type so they can just get onto the writing content? My 7&8's handwriting is atrocious. I've interviewed friends and family who work in places like Griffins Foods, Frucor, Tiptop and Cerebos. When asked if they used to pen or a touchpad/keyboard to record and collect data - all of them responded with something along the lines of "most of the time we use the computer."   Anyway I've just realised I've gone on a tangent (oh dear, off task)...

... blogs are generally interesting, can be cosmetically cool and interface friendly. Blogs allow the writer to share layers of information through linking and embedding. I love that themes can be changed, widgets can be add and EVERYTHING is editable, rearrangeable, and shareable - these are all attributes or functions that does not exist with the once favourite 7mm ruled 1B5.  

I'm positive reading and writing shifts will increase and I can't wait for my students to enter the blogging world. One question: Where is writing edited before it is published?

He mihi tēnei ki taku mirumiru (bubble) me aku hoa kei rō. Ko Amy Tofu he manu kōtuku. Tēnā rawa atu e te māreikura.