Reflection Week 4- Enabling Access

The day began with a google hangout with Dorothy about the definition of authentic audiences and why Manaiakalani chose to use blogger.

Dorothy discussed that sharing is all part of the human experience and we always want to share. By making sharing an explicit part of our teaching we are giving our students an authentic audience.

Definition of Authentic Audience: People who choose to listen to you.

This was quite interesting for me as I think about developing an authentic audience for my class. I find by being a part of Tuhi Mai, Tuhi Atu my students have more of an authentic audience but now I need to consider how to engage parents to also leave comments on the students blogs.

Danni then talked to us about why Manaiakalani picked Google Sites. Danni teaches at Point England school and is down for the day to show us how to make our sites more meaningful for our learners.  Danni talked about how helpful she has found using her site for children that have had to go away for tangi or if they're sick for an extended period of time. Danni also talked about using different teachers planning to help support your own planning especially when she is planning something she hasn't taught before. This is definitely something I would be interested in as I love seeing the creative ways someone may teach something that is different to what I do.

We then rediscussed the SAMR model and how all parts of the SAMR model has a place in the classroom and how redefinition isn't always going to work for every piece of learning.

Google Sites
We explored each others google sites and then gave each other feedback. It was great to see what other people do and I have definitely got some ideas to make my own teaching and assessment easier. The next hour was spent tweaking and changing things on my class site. I focused on adding extra links for my children to use around different websites and games they use on a regular basis. This means that if they want to find the game/activity and it isn't on their maths/literacy grid for the week they're still able to easily access it rather than having to click through the terms work.