Applied Practice - Week 29 - Legal and ethical contexts in my digital practice - (Activity 5)

For this post I am identifying a particular ethical dilemma in my own practice that is linked to digital or online access and activity. 

There are a few dilemmas that I'm currently facing:

1. BYOD Policy (or lack thereof)
2. Agreement (or lack of consenting agreement) by students and whanau about photography being used of students in social media accounts, in the foyer of our school office, in the newspaper or school yearbook
3. Equity of access to devices 
4. Professionalism on social media

1. BYOD Policy or lack thereof

At present we don't have a solid BYOD policy. We have one that has been used by another school and we have changed it to suit our purposes as a school. At the moment there is a blurring of the lines between the two extremes - NO DEVICES AT SCHOOL to BYOD. For me this causes a lot of issues around acceptable use and lack of digital citizenship. Students and staff are breaking rules while we sort this policy out and ensure that it not only safeguards the students and the school, but the community too. 

We have had trial BYOD sessions throughout the school and these trial students have signed a trial BYOD policy agreement. This is good. But it lasts only for the duration of the trial. What we need to do next is a schoolwide signing - by each student and their whanau. We also need to be actively teaching digital citizenship. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. THE. DEVICES. ARE. USED. 

I've spoken a lot before about the work that Creative Commons NZ, Common Sense Media and Netsafe NZ have done in ensuring a safe and ethical environment for students, staff and schools in using BYOD. There are MULTIPLE tools available for schools to use on the Netsafe website and some really cool digital citizenship tools on the Common Sense Media site too. What needs to happen now - is a space where staff and students can go to to learn more about these skills. A portal. Something I've been working on for a while now - to ensure a quick and easy way to access information relative to digital citizenship and use of technology. 

2. Agreement (or lack of consenting agreement) by students and whanau about photography being used of students in social media accounts, in the foyer of our school office, in the newspaper or school yearbook

My issue with this is relatively obvious. At present we do not have anything in any of our school documentation around use of photography. I have looked many many times over the last few years to see if it is in there. Apparently it was a few years ago. It should not ever be an assumption that as a school we will take photos and share them. It is only with informed consent that this is able to occur. 

 A few weeks ago I was watching two young gentlemen create what would have been a beautiful timelapse of students walking to and from their classes. I purposefully walked into the shot and talked with them about the appropriateness of what they were doing. I felt incredibly awful about screwing up their work - however, I feel even more passionate about ensuring that students have their say about where their photos and faces or bodies are put in our world. Students - kaore - everyone has the right to know WHERE the photos are being stored, sent or uploaded to where. We should be teaching this just as we should be teaching the importance of a strong handshake. Because without clear guidelines around what is acceptable - the lines are too blurred and it becomes unsafe territory. 

I have suggested time and time again about the need to add in a photography clause in our enrolment form. I'm often listened to - but it still hasn't happened which is sad. It is for this one reason why I don't share any of the photos I take. I always ask students whether I can take a photo of them or their work. Often I get them to hold their work up in front of their face. It usually goes nowhere other than my Dropbox account, excepting when I purposefully ask a student or group of students if it can go on Twitter based on their interest in the topic we are doing and to gain more impact from the world around us. I give photos to the school yearbook, grudgingly, but always with the students in mind. But more importantly - I think this discussion is one that needs to happen more often within our role as teachers of teenagers who feel they can take photos or videos of anyone without their consent. 

3. Equity of access to devices 

Lastly, and this is a big deal - equity of access. In our community, once we have BYOD and the photography clause amended in our enrolment forms, we will need to address the elephant in the room. Something I've been thinking about A LOT. Something that plagues me and my practice as a teacher because I really want to be an inspirational, innovative, interesting and fabulously techy teacher - but at the end of the day I can only work with what I have. I blend my lessons again and again to have a mixture of both 21st century learning and 'traditional' styles of learning with 21st century skills embedded throughout. 

The problem that I keep coming back to though is the simple fact that 1) we are still getting our infrastructure sorted throughout the school (nearly finished!!!!) and within Rotorua and 2) a vast majority of students either don't know how to learn with digital technologies as they are learning from scratch as they've never had devices at home or access to them at school OR if they do have devices they still don't know how to use them effectively to improve their learning. 

One of the ideas that is floating around in my head at the moment is creating an equity fund - produced by those old boys and old girls from Heights - who have finished school, have careers and are now in a position to give back. Someone once said to me that Heights doesn't have the same ability as RBHS to create a fund like that. Every school has success. Every school has a beautiful and sometimes awful history. Every school has people that think back to their days of glory at school and want to give back in some way. Why not create a funding network where current students and their whanau can apply for scholarships or grants? It seems the most obvious thing in the world to me. 

As well as this issue, is the need to have sets of SOMETHING in each class. Not per department. It needs to be across the school, ready when needed. Ubiquitous at all times. For all students, no matter their background. 

4. Professionalism on social media

I just finished watching this:

It is beyond awkward. Obviously created to make the discussion happen like any good piece of media, however it got me thinking about the kinds of reasons why I choose to use Twitter professionally. I don't talk about anything other than Twitter. One of my good friends and colleagues (not a teacher) uses Twitter as her space away from Facebook where her friends and family are. We talk on Twitter often - not in detail but sometimes referencing what's happened during the day. I'm nervous about those tweets - because while they're professional in a way - they're still not focussed on the kaupapa. 

Alternatively, my use of Facebook is for my friends and whanau. I don't accept students as 'friends' until they're finished high school - because by that time they're not interested in keeping in touch on social media anymore and almost certainly don't want their favourite teacher being disappointed in them when they post inappropriate stuff online. 

On Facebook I'm relatively political, I discuss big issues happening in the world today - my issues as a teacher in terms of having to deal with these things that come up - everyday poverty, learned helplessness, homelessness, racism, loss and grief. I hardly ever mention stuff that happens at school - preferring to keep that offloading korero to phone calls to whanau and friends who don't live in Rotorua. 

The issue I have is again related to use of students and their photos - I have long time friends and colleagues who share photos of their students online or tag them in pictures. I'm just way too scared to do that. Issues around child kidnapping, CYFs children, custody battles, etc etc etc all spring to mind. It worries me when I see my friends posting this kind of stuff. It's just not on. For me the difficult thing is always finding the right words to say something in a confrontation or disagreement because I revert to that little nervous, scared girl and I so strongly want to stand up in defence of those who have not chosen to put their pictures up in a shared space. 

Heoi ano - it also comes back to digital citizenship and knowing where the line is. For some teachers it's easy to see that line, for others it becomes blurred beyond belief. For some teachers who are a lot older than me, they seem to add students as friends, I tell my students that they'd hate being my friend on Facebook because I post too much. I try to make it into a joke. Likewise with my Twitter account. They ask if they can follow me - I say sure, but I can't follow you back. And anyway, I say, you will not want to follow me too long on Twitter, particularly when there's a conference on!

Finding the ethics and legality in everyday life is an interesting one. Even more so when it comes to being a teacher, a role model, a person that looks after and cares for young people. 

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Class Notes

Further Reading:

Education Council. (nd). Code of Ethics for Certificated Teachers. Retrieved from https://educationcouncil.org.nz/content/code-of-ethics-certificated-teachers-0

Hall, A. (2001). What ought I to do, all things considered? An approach to the exploration of ethical problems by teachers. Paper presented at the IIPE Conference, Brisbane. Retrieved from http://www.educationalleaders.govt.nz/Culture/Developing-leaders/What-Ought-I-to-Do-All-Things-Considered-An-Approach-to-the-Exploration-of-Ethical-Problems-by-Teachers

Evolution and Imagination: New Inspiration

Sometime last year when one of my past students (who is INCREDIBLY talented in all things arty) was feeling a bit down, I asked her whether she'd be able to design me something from a couple of ideas and sketches that I'd come up with. My muse was a DNA strand and a tree I'd seen somewhere last year and I told her a few of my ideas around growth mindset, 21st century learning, aroha and ako and the rest she made up from what she knew of me. She asked a few questions along the way.

Yesterday she sent me a photo of the finished product. She apologised for it having taken so long. Am so incredibly stoked and proud of her. This is absolutely incredibly beautiful. Let her know what you think in the comments. *Beaming Smile* #HeightsProud

Created and designed by Kristen Smith (2016)

Reflecting on the Process of Reflection

Before I can think about how MindLab went... which was pretty well actually... I need to share a few things about how I reflect - mainly because it's on my mind and I can't quite focus til I've gotten it out of my system. Quite a few things I actually need to focus on at the moment too... like report writing, finishing marking and uploading credits to KAMAR, helping students, marking junior assessments and creating resources for them before exams next week.

Right now though, I've been prompted to think about how I reflect and how I engage with my own learning.

Even when I was younger I've always written for a purpose. When I was five it was to simply write down how I was feeling and get issues off of my chest... seemingly like what I'm doing now... When I was 11 - 15 I started thinking about the people who might actually read these diaries I was writing - my children, grandchildren, family etc - and I wrote as if I was writing to them, even talking to them by names I'd made up. When I was 16 I fully embraced the fanfiction world and became so involved with it because of my escapism so as not to think about the reality that I was living without my Grandad. I didn't really write much for a while about myself in journals as I was expressing myself through badly worded lyrics, poetry and continuing to make my way as a creative writer in the fanfic world. From 18-20 I was so immersed in the beautiful philosophical reality of being at university and learning so much about myself and sharing my ideas through essay after essay. I was also struggling with being in the parallel and very unsure world of meeting my Dad, brothers and sisters and distant members on my dad's side of the family tree. When I was 20... something incredibly terrible happened at the time that prompted me to begin writing again. I'm glad I did because I haven't stopped since.

Whether it's been in little kid diaries, silly LiveJournal posts, KiwiBlog, Blogger or private writing in unpublished blogs - I've been aware of who my audience was.

At present, I write for myself here. I know that there is a bigger audience that reads this - and I'd just like to make a shoutout to the MindLab 2015 Nov intake crew who commented a few posts ago and reminded me that people do read my stuff!! :)

Regardless though, this is always and has always been a reflection of my own teaching journey within this blog. I'm a curator of knowledge. I gather what I need, search for what I want and develop my own theories and hold onto information that happens to help me live the life I'd like to and that helps me with succeeding in my aspirational life goals.

As a curator, I like to share. As evidenced here and on Twitter too....and Facebook... where I post a lot...and share cool things I see. I didn't connect with the word curator until last year when a new colleague from Australia mentioned during a conference that I was prolific with how I share. I'm sure that there is another word he used but right now it's not falling into thoughts from the words hanging in my head...

As a curator, like good museum curators (which I'd love to be one day too..), I think about the story I need to share, the perspectives I'd like people to think about and more importantly, the understandings that develop and are created over time.

As a curator I think about what to post, what to share and obviously what not to share. People have different ideas on this of course.

On Twitter, I'm very sure of the how, what and why when using it and more importantly with who I'm discussing things with. The tikanga of Twitter helps when deciding what to share and when and with what audiences and this could be as simple as which hashtag to use. I think though that the fact that it's so public is what keeps me being true to myself and I say what I believe, constantly professional (with the odd tweet to my mate...) and overwhelmingly OWN everything I say and post. If there is some issue, I'm totally okay with taking things down if they've offended someone or have perhaps been taken the wrong way and I try to deal with the situation as fast as possible and with as much care as I can. Sometimes it can be easy to be a different person behind the screen than it is to show your true self. Portraying yourself and being transparent is key.

At the end of the day - I'm me and I'm constantly learning. I hope I never give up and become cynical and believe that change is hard. Because it's not. It's uncomfortable. And regardless of how carefully worded I pitch things as new ideas, there will nearly always be someone who doesn't agree or want to give it a go.

At the end of the day - I know who I'm writing for. Who I am and who I want to be. I need reminders like this that maybe if there are disgruntled people that perhaps I'm doing my job of being a change agent and disrupting with humility. I just need to be careful not to get in a rut, stuck, trapped into thinking that what I'm doing doesn't have a purpose or that what I'm doing is unworthy. Because I'm proud of where I've come - particularly since I was 20. Seven beautiful years... well maybe lets say six - but regardless... still proud of myself. Making movements towards the person I want to be one day and every new step, every new challenge, is at least hopefully moving me in the right direction.

Quick Update: Term 3 Holiday Break

So we're now halfway through Term break and I still haven't been able to completely rid myself of the bags under my eyes - but I've had a pretty good break so far.

Term three is always full on. Stressful and draining. Partly because of the pressure to get as many students passing their internals as possible - which have now all been marked! Yay! And also because to get them to that point there is a bit of a second wind of motivation needed after readying them for prelim exams. There was the quick turnaround of senior reports where I had to ask to see certain parents - and the disappointing outcome on parent teacher interview night where only four of my student's parents were able to make it.

Now that we're heading into Term four I keep thinking about all the things that need to be done. I've got most of the revision stuff sorted, I'd like to make my juniors courses more interesting but for the next three weeks I have to focus on my seniors and their revision and carry on with the programme I set up for my juniors last term. Am just glad that it's the Tiriti o Waitangi and creative writing for their booklets.

Surely though - I should be all rested and off on a holiday right? Perhaps. I write this as I'm still tired so there isn't much pep in my step haha.

I had an awesome time at PPTA conference last week. I need to do the Storify for it. Am a bit nervous to do so though due to a few member's inappropriate use of Twitter. I ranted quite a bit at our NETs caucus meeting, took screenshots and will do what I need to do to ensure that something so disgustingly inappropriate doesn't happen again. It frustrates me that grown men can be so immature and disrespectful to our other members and keynote speakers. It comes back to digital citizenship and how we conduct ourselves online - especially as professionals.

Anyway - despite that raru - it was an awesome time. I'm glad I was able to take two of my colleagues from school with me and they've both been bitten by the PPTA bug too. Stoked. :) They'll be coming back.

Had a moderation meeting yesterday for the level 2 writing portfolio - which was really cool. Wish we could do that more often. I learnt that I can stand my ground when I believe my assessment is correct and it was cool to see that 9 times out of 10 I was right because my assessment was endorsed by another.

Still need to finish the slides for our workshop tomorrow. Am nervous. But excited all the same.

Still many things that need doing - like packing again before I drive to Auckland before ULearn begins. Finish doing my washing while it stays sunny here in Rotorua. Play with Mia so that I can get a few more minutes sleep later on before I drive up. Hang out with Dad for a bit before he goes back to Opo. Clean the house before my mate comes over tomorrow to look after Mia for me while I'm gone.

Will write a better post later about PPTA and ULearn. Still need to update the PLD post too...So many things to do and it's already Tuesday!

Blog Lurkers...

Hello! Yes you there!

Welcome to my blog. I hope you find it interesting :) I love that you have found it here nice and safely.

Would you like a cup of tea or a cold drink while you read? Refreshments are in the kitchen.

I really do love your company. It makes me happy that people are reading it.. and I hope it's engaging, useful or perhaps fodder but maybe interesting in some way? Just recently 114 of you from New Zealand read my blog or at the very least came to the site itself. Even more than that came from America in the past two days!

I would love to connect with all of you. If you have read a post or been watching the madness and reflections as they come - it'd be awesome to see how many of you have enjoyed my posts.. or not - that's okay too :) I'd love to read your comments! What would you guys like to see more of?

If you are happy being a lurker - lurk away. If you might try to come out of the shadows... please comment or even follow me on Twitter and connect that way!

Statistics don't tell me who I'm affecting. Are you teachers or students or are you robots from the future sent back to find out what it's like to be a teacher in this frustrating age between traditional teaching and the digital divide to digitally being citizens and using technology as effectively as breathing. Can you even breathe robot?

Forgive the crazy and the robot talk. It could very well have been Vampire talk... particularly after 'What We Do In The Shadows' ... which I watched with TC tonight and her husband. Absolutely amazing and fangtastic mockumentary!

Its 12am I must be lonely... or is the line .. 2am? Anyway. It's late. There are two days left of school for term 2. Had a brilliant day today and even better one yesterday :) Things are getting underway. Though think a trip to the bank is in order so I can go to ULearn14!! And.. yep.

So excited for next week ... three conferences! NZATE presentation is nearly finished just need to do the CLESOL one!

So to the blog lurkers:
What's your name?
What country do you live in?
What is one interesting thing about you?
What have you enjoyed/not enjoyed so far in my blog?
What is your occupation?
Hobbies, passions, where you see yourself in five years time.
What you think about the impending Zombie apocalypse and the robot invasion...
And lastly why you keep coming back to this blog?! :)

Thanks guys and gals :)

-A

Implementing Google Drive with Y12 Class

Wow. It worked.

There was a moment halfway through the lesson where I just had a WOW moment. That it was working. That 98% of the kids were engaged and that the other 2% were still engaged in the actual work but for some reason or another - have a problem with engaging online collaboratively. One had a hotmail account and didn't want to create a Gmail account. That's fine I suppose except she will have issues accessing the info on Google Drive. While the other is still resisting - but have yet to have a discussion with him about why. And that's okay too. Three of the students who initially either didn't have an email or didn't want to do what we were doing via Drive... quickly set up an account and gave me their addresses so I could add them to the group.

The majority of the class left having not only learnt how to use Google Drive - but felt like it was "the new Facebook" and that it was fun. Why? Because it's a new way of learning, collaborating and developing their ideas.

Am currently in the process of creating a Google Form for this class to assess their first time using it.

Background:

We're currently doing the note-taking and analysis for the Close Viewing assessment at the moment (AS...) and they're watching their individual driving ads. Most students are working in pairs looking at a single video. Most students are working collaboratively already, discussing their shared video, collecting information together. I've taken this approach because it's working well with my Y13's at the moment - the collaboration and information gathering. Perhaps I'll also have these students do their presentation on the driving ad in pairs as well - seems like a simple collaboration and segway into the next assessment - as most are already working in this way.

The Lesson

Collected laptops (COW's) from the trolley and distributed to students. 

Discussed with them about the lesson observation yesterday and thanked them for their awesomeness as always - and how they and I work together - just that synergy and the collaboration is absolutely awesome and somehow works despite the often crazy aspect of class... 

More on that observation later from BOS. Can't discuss feedback properly until next term. Hopefully I get my observation info back as well. :) 

Students got back into their docs and videos via Youtube or NZTA and re-analysed. 

They were all quietly working for ages when I thought it was probably about time that I introduced them to Google Drive and Google Docs - mainly because two students sitting at the table I was at were discussing the fact that one was going to log in to the others' email account so that another could write the notes and that they could watch the video on the other and then swap again to work on the same document. 

Simplify the situation: girls agreed - as I was showing them - I had the rest of the class get into their gmail accounts so that I could email them the link for the Y12 folder I've created for them to access at home and at school. 

Once I'd sent out the email to those who had originally given me their addresses - they had to click the link and then add the folder to their Drive. Then they needed to open their Drive and then they could see the same screen as I had displayed on the projector. 

At this point I showed them how to create their own folders within the Y12 folder on Drive. Some needed help at this stage so quickly went to each to help and get them started. 

I then got an influx of a few more students who told me they now had an address too.. and so had to send these new students the same email as before and continued that process... perhaps now not wanting to miss out on this sharing of resources. Of course I'll be allowing students to email and bring in their usb's to get resources if that's easier - or even by paper if necessary... because the one/two students who are having issues at the moment need to be included in this collaborative process too.

Once everyone had created their folders they created their Google Docs in that folder for their notes on the ad - shared them with me if they wanted to - and shared them with their mate who was doing the same ad as them so that the could collaborate and develop their notes on the same document. 

While this is still fresh in my memory  - with using Google apps collaboratively myself - I too had to remember each step while telling them. Eventually I'll create a quick instruction sheet so that this process can be slightly simplified. Perhaps emailing them a link to an instruction Document and then getting them to go through the process.

By this stage the class were all back onto their ad watching and creating notes - one of my more precocious students chose to share his notes with me - all finished apparently - so I copied the first sentence at the bottom of his so-called report - and put it into Google to search. It came up with the NZTA link and the words I'd copied were bolded from the document he'd plagiarised. A teachable moment about plagiarising information and making sure to reference information to use for notes RATHER than outright pretending it's yours.... I should also note that this student did it as a joke and so in essence - yet again provided the source for learning for the rest of the class. 

By this stage of the lesson I was checking over people's folders that had been created. I absolutely love that now that I've shared the doc there is a side stream of activity that is being had on the side of the drive page. Awesome. Easy to check on issues and that students are doing their work at home. 

Also began the form - which I'd planned on having ready for them to do before the bell rang... but took too long - need to find a quicker way to do it. Though while we packed up the laptops - I asked students to check their emails to survey the lesson for me. Quite a few students remarked on how good the lesson was and how much they learnt - gaining comments that it was awesome, fun and useful and how much it was like Facebook... still trying to figure out what they meant by that... perhaps they've found Google+ already - which would be the next step for me too except that at the moment our school can't access Google+ - I think it has something to do with admin settings. Have asked but haven't got a reply yet - we're all busy!  :)

And that was the lesson! :)

END

Sent an email to our DP in charge of IT about Google Classroom launching in September. And sent through the links - Might send this post link as well.

Have taken a bit of a precocious approach myself - partly because I'm seeing different things - getting emails and if I can help - I will :) Don't know whether my emails are useful and hope they're not seen as anything other than trying to assist. 

Reflections on lesson:

WOW. It worked. Still stoked. :)

Issues arising:

Equity. At home. At school. 

Computer skills. Encountered this today. Need to take things a bit slower for some - and faster for others... differentiate the lesson for students - and use that tuakana/teina approach with my students and allow them to take over the lesson to go for it and get started and help each other. 

Willingness to use Drive. Still need to figure that out and why...

Being proactive about the networking and using google docs myself to role model (like how I've used Slides for the first time with my Twitter workshop presentation)  - making sure that any docs I create are on Docs or can be found in the folder for that class - for work at home/school...

 Making sure docs are ready and available - and keeping in mind that if we aren't a GAFE school (though I'm pretty sure we are... because teachers use gmail for their email - and the little school logo is at the top - and as teachers we can use google drive...) we might not be able to download Drive onto the COW's and thereby couldn't access their work if the network was down. Plus - we don't have multiple LAN cords for use or plugs in class if the wireless goes down... contingency plans needed...

Communication with Home - despite the form I sent home - I still haven't had time to contact all families about how students are going. Email is WAY easier for me. I should be doing that right now - but this is kind of more pressing and needed to reflect while it was still fresh... 

That's all I can think of for now. Stoked. 

Attempted a similar thing with my Y9's the period after but they take a lot more time to get ready because it's setting them up with Gmail accounts etc and the verification and the not listening and the playing games despite how much we've discussed becoming digital citizens... when they're meant to be on task. I had two students successfully share their Docs with me... At least 8 students email me and so now I can set up their folder and add the others later when they've verified their info. Majority of students completed their work - either on paper or on Docs or Word. 

When one of the two gave me his report card at the end of the lesson - there wasn't enough space to write how impressed I was with him. Part of this is because he was in the digital class last year and is like a duck on water with this stuff. So have asked if he can be a tuakana in the class to help the others. He's got leadership potential fit to bursting - and perhaps this is one way he can show this. 

Yay. Happy :)

Student Blogging: te timatanga 2

I wanted to create a blog post that had a list of all of the posts I've written and those that others have written as well - about student blogging. The risks, gains and possible safety issues and concerns. Thought it would be a good idea to start collecting a list of all of the research I've done - just for me - in the hopes that I can start to help implement digital citizenship at our school.

So here they are - most recent blog posts first:
Student Blogging: Te Timatanga - my thoughts on safety issues and gains :)
Student Blogging - Resources
Kidblog Journey: The Beginning - The use of kidblogs.org as a starter - bulk user creation = easy!
Policy for Student Photography Usage - cybersafety and digital citizenship awareness
Digital Literacy: Digital Citizenship - Where my thinking began truly...Read this one first!!
First Lesson Doing PBL - Hopes to use blogging to allow my Y9's deeper level thinking and a way to portray their investigations to their peers, whanau and outside world possibly - Currently just using Word - will be transferring to Google Docs soon though!

Here is an extra list for some of the research I have done in the process towards this:
Digital Citizenship in NZ Schools - PDF Overview - Great Resource!
Netsafe Kit for Schools - Transitioning to Cyber Safety and then to Digital Citizenship
How to Use the Netsafe Kit - Must Read!
How do we teach Digital Literacy to Digital Natives - Thanks to Edudemic and Tom Whitby
Help Kids Start a Blog: Get them reading, writing, thinking, creating - From +amy mascott
Staff Discussion Points: Learn Guide Protect - From Netsafe
Combating Cyber Bullying: LGP - From Netsafe
Citizenship in Blogging - Using Paper: LGP  - From Netsafe
Playing and Staying Safe Online: LGP - From Netsafe
Exploring 21C Literacy - Thanks to Michelle Budge
Global Digital Citizen 
Cartoon Videos Describing Internet Safety - Thanks to GDC
12 Timeless PBL Resources - Great links for Project Based Learning
Do's of Student Blogging - Thanks to Doug Peterson
Using Photos in your blog under the Creative Commons Licencing
Blogbooker - How to create your own book from your blog posts!
Peer Editing - Some resources for students editing their own and others' work

Digi Natives and DigiCit - Teaching Respect and Responsibility

http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2013/05/teaching-respect-and-responsibility-even-to-digital-natives/

I have collated all of this for future reference - and also so that I can share my ideas with colleagues, BOT, my own whanau, students and their families as well.

Proposal for ULearn 14, Conferences and Presenting

The proposal for ULearn14... 

I've said everything I needed to say. I need to add a bit of bolding on the fees section perhaps, but I've added info on current research and policies - including the Min of Ed's recent Future Focussed policy/report from Friday just gone.

Regardless of whether I will be able to have the registration fee partially funded or not - I'll still go. I'll just have to be really onto it with saving money - rather than putting it all onto bills straight away.

Finished writing my proposal last night... not sure what else I need to put into it. Have attached the SPANZ report and the basic 10 Ministry of Education guidelines for future-focussed learning.

At the moment I'm thinking about trying to sort out both ideas for presentations next month.

CLESOL Conference - 10-13th July (I'm presenting via webcam with Sonya Van Schijiks on the 12th)
- My experiences teaching bi-lingual students

NZATE Conference - 9-11th  July
- Workshop on Twitter and use as a teacher/educator

Both presentations can only come from my own experiences, and from what I've learnt from others in the process.

I'm worried that my experiences, brief and therefore in my opinion, inconsistent as a strong proof for evidence and clarity, will not be valued. Worried too that there will be possible backlash. This worry is what has since prevented me from making any surefire ideas about what exactly I'll say at the CLESOL presentation.

I feel like the Twitter one will be an easier - though in a lot of ways also more difficult mainly because I see the reactions and can gauge how my workshop attendees are feeling and how it's all going.

A difficult part for both is that I don't even know how long I need to talk for.

I suppose another difficult part is this is the first time I've been given the chance to show what I know in the world of teaching.

Up until being given the opportunity, I've been 'gun-ho' in sharing my thoughts. I'm quite a shy person when I'm put in the spotlight.. until I get to know people then it's hard for me to stop talking.

I'm also a competitive person, and with these opportunities, I'm really only competing against myself.

Queen's Bday Weekend - Monday

Had a great talk with a colleague today at school while meant to be marking.. at least I managed to get my planbook sussed and thought through the next few stages of a few assessments and differing classes. The stage challenge crew are looking fantastic! Can't wait til the actual competition!!



Despite being encouraged by lots of people (twitter and school colleagues, mentors and whanau) -  there is still that self-doubt niggling at the back of my mind.. but to be honest... I can do this. I can. I just need to get organised... and possibly get another sleep under my belt.

Positivity is key.

Digital Literacy - Digital Citizenship

Thanks to Mrs Orman there was a link to Tom Whitby's blog post on Endemic. 

Have recently been working on creating a student photo use agreement form so that I'm able to send photos to the Daily Post as a follow up from the Pasifika Competition.

We went through our enrolment forms yesterday to check that there wasn't that type of clause in there so will definitely have to get some signatures in order to release the photos.

Earlier yesterday on Twitter I asked whether others had used a similar form and found these links from Netsafe and their kit for schools:

Netsafe Kit for Schools

How to Use the Netsafe Kit - Including the Required Steps

Digital Citizenship in New Zealand Schools - A quick overview

Just got an email back from Netsafe with the form for using photography of students in schools - which I've saved into this Google Drive folder - Digital Citizenship. Will be updating it to work within our own school setting and think that it would be better having both parent and student signatures for permission rather than just the parents permission. 

Back to Tom's blog post though- really like the thinking around whether students being digital natives meant that they would instantly be seen as digitally aware or whether perhaps as a result were in essence unaware of the dangers and risks. 

Which is why teaching and becoming a digital citizenship is important.  

Found this blog on C21 Reading as well... Hoping to jump onto this bandwagon to help my students learn how to use formal language in a more 21st Century setting/focal point rather than the traditional way of teaching letters etc. Plus it will improve my students' reading if they are given deadlines for posting reviews on a chapter/book/author etc. Love that there are awesome initiatives already going that I can just get involved with :)

We talked last night on #edchatnz about teaching students how to problem-solve and also how to question our students. Was a great topic!! Check the hashtag out to see this conversation - unfortunately I had to leave the discussion by question six because my phone battery was dying out from taking too many pictures of the Rotaract Membership Drive at the same time. Knew I should have brought my charger!

Am hooking into the SOLO docs at the moment - they're awesome. 

Just trying to do everything at once but need a full week to get on top of everything or maybe longer. Would love to be all PLD'd up on how to use SOLO and PBL and how to incorporate digital citizenry into my classes but need to focus on one thing at a time. At the end of the day I need to remember my mantra - think smarter, not harder.

And... then of course I forgot I'd decided on heading with Rotorua teachers to go to Educamp in the Hawkes Bay back when I went to EduIgnite Rotovegas! So am now looking very much forward to the Educamp at Richmond School tomorrow :) Thanks to Annemarie Hyde for reminding me last night!

Love my #PLN. Love my school. Love that I'm starting to get my head around the increase to five classes I'm teaching and also that I'm starting to make way into making policies - or at the very beginning making a solid piece of agreement between the school and whanau in regards to using students photos in school and in media such as our local paper... and perhaps the Google Site I still need to find time to finish!

ALSO:

When I eventually get the courage to discuss the thoughts that have been circulating my head for a while about the need for a BYOD policy at our school with the board and,

When I finally make a policy in collaboration with the Board and Staff and SMT etc and,

When I finally get up the courage to speak in front of the staff with our team of highly effective and focussed members of staff who have been educated in digital citizenship with me

We will use this to help discuss with staff how we will teach digital citizenship:

Learn Guide Protect: Netsafe
Professional and Private Lives
Combat Cyberbullying
Playing and Staying Safe Online
Citizenship in Blogging

Who I am and What I do...

Who I am and what I Do…

This question is a difficult one to answer merely for the fact that it encapsulates who I am absolutely.

While sitting in my grandfather’s chair from his and Nana’s lounge suite it’s hard to not think about him. My post I was attempting to write just before was erased as if by magic. A blinking green light on my phone was all I had staring me in the face while I tried to make my phone respond. For that reason alone… I will write this post a bit differently to how I began the last one.

PLN: Twitter

I am particularly blessed with the people I've networked with on Twitter. They continue to uplift me and support my thinking towards the importance of 'blended learning' and the need for more relevant Professional Learning in our lives as teachers. My colleagues at school are amazing. They too inspire me and give me ways to think about things in which I hadn't been able to do so before. They provide me with strategies to console my thoughts and feelings towards solving problems in class and in life. I thank each and every one of you... whether you read my blog or not! :)

It doesn't matter whether your Professional Learning Network begins with someone across the hallway or whether it begins with meeting a fellow educator at a conference. What matters is the learning involved. If you're not learning... what's the point? Find better people to surround yourself with!

In fact - as I'm learning - I'm seeing the different ways other people learn and respond to each other. There are the people who are resistant - but are still hesitantly willing to have a go. Then there are the ones who are so full on and involved (or not as the case may be) that you feel your head may spin. I've been both of these people at certain times of my (very short) teaching career.

PBL: Idea Development and Evolution

I always believe that a fully immersed beginning is the best way to get anything done. In other words I've come to enjoy - no longer loathe - the 'pushed in deep water and expected to learn how to swim' type learning. Mainly because I feel like I work well under pressure - even though I take a while to find my fins.

After #teachmeetnz this afternoon, I was back on Twitter... yes again.

And was discussing Project Based Learning after a colleague's talk about Future Built Classrooms and if it's not built for the future - how to make your classroom an environment where future learning could take place.

So here I am again - though with a bit more confidence - though still not sure how it will work. The confidence merely comes from others who know what they're doing!

Importance of PLNs, PLCs and a VLN - Working Title for the Longest Post ever on this Blog...

Where would I be today without technology? Most likely reading a book to get out of the world I was in. Now that's not to say I don't read any more.. because I do. I just don't seem to have as much time as I used to for reading. Perhaps this is because I'm constantly reading my phone or laptop... whichever is in front of me.

To me this isn't a problem... except that I'm not actually reading fantasy novels or historical fiction as much as I used to. Some of you may think this is an added bonus because I should just be reading scifi instead.... But when it comes down to it... I think I've grown up a bit. I still love reading. I still love writing. If I didn't, I wouldn't put so much effort into cultivating my online presence and the multiple sites and journals and blogs I read on a daily basis.

With this thought in mind and the multiple others I seem to be having late at night lately... I wonder where we will be in five years, ten. Twenty even. Because at the end of the day, this is where our students will be and where they're headed in such a short amount of time.

Four things to discuss:
1) Cultivating an Online Presence
2) Staying True to Yourself
3) Digital Citizenship
4) Seek Relevant PD

Vlogging.... A Whole New World

Wow. How come it's taken me THIS long to do a real Vlog? I've been blogging since... jeez since I was 13? On livejournal. I shared... I overshared and now at 25 I'm beginning to understand my Dad's comment last year about my FB posts and how one comment -  "Jeez Alex, you're 25" changed my entire mindset about how I share stuff.

Despite it not looking like I've stepped back from my online presence... I know I have. The stuff I post now are meant to be interesting, funny, entertaining and also help keep my friends and whanau updated. This online presence of mine is well old. I've been using the internet/computers since I was eight. I began using Encarta and played that Encarta game endlessly. Then came Hotmail and Neopets and online chatting.  I was hooked.

Soon came Youtube with those terrible old videos and the Harry Potter Fanfiction on YahooGroups obsession where I fell madly in love with ALTU stories.

And then Myspace where I could listen to amazing music and like my favourite bands and singers and show off my singing skills. And then came Bebo once I'd grown out of dodgy Myspace. I used Bebo during high school and the first year of uni. And then I left Bebo behind when I realised that Facebook was for cool kids who were all at Uni/College and felt a strong sense of community. Until the rest of the world joined FB and I was angry for a while until I realised how even more amazing this was. I could talk to my Dad and siblings who'd just come back into my life and 'friend' them too.

And then Youtube grew steadily bigger as did Trademe. And Facebook took up sooo much of my time because... not only is it a great study tool (procrastination tool?) it's also the best way to keep in touch with people....or be annoyed and severely affected by people :s

So... after many years and one failed attempt at filming my friends' cat that we hid in our halls of residence rooms at uni.... I have finally started uploading real videos. I don't know how long it will last and whether I'll be bothered to carry on with it when school starts back. After all it is only the second day of Term One holidays... so we all know how much I love starting stuff and then realising I don't have as much energy to keep up with stuff during the term!

If you want to be updated with silly things... sometimes intellectual... check out www.youtube.com/user/ariaporo