Final day of DFI

 DFI - An overview of my professional learning. 

Taking one day a week out of class is not an easy ask. With a lack of relievers, pressure on your daily programm, or coming back to chaotic students and a messy classroom all impact on learning and teaching. While these things are minior, they all seem to collect and add in top of each other like pieces of lego. At first, I was skeptical to really see if DFI was really worth the time out of class, and if I was going to take anything back to my young learners. (Year 3's and a few yr 4's). But, I was thankfully wrong. Everyday I left with something that I could take back to my learners, or that I could add to my own kiti of knowledge. Weather it be tips on how to manage my tabs, or accessing students work via Hapara, every day I learnt something new. 

Like we do with our learners, we build on their prior knowledge in order to make learning relevant, retrievable, and meaningful. I believe that this DFI course has really given me the foundational tools of digital fluency. It has laid the groundwork for more learning to be built upon. Its like a carpet layer laying the carpet. Now all that needs to be done is the interior decorating. 

Moving forward, my goal is to build no on what I already know for my classroom. I have had glimpses into the practical logistics of learn create share pedagogy through colleagues at my school, and by seeing my classroom data I am more motivated to really push myself, my learning, and my own pedagogy to include more of this into my programme. One big stand out for me was the kids engagement. Every child does their mahi quietly and contently when on their chromebooks. I want to tap into this drive to really turbocharge my kids learning. My first goal being T shaped literacy for my top readers (reading at gold +). I know that they have the potential to really succeed and improve in their comprehension skills. It will take some time for me to learn and get my head around the workload but like many things we do for your students, this is a big and important. I'm going to try embrace the learning attitude I once had as a BT and try to do what best for my students. 

The Exam...

I was one of those students that seemed to do really well in class, I could articulate my thinking, share my ideas and generally really enjoyed the learning process. I was also the learner that when it came to testing I would seriously flop. I would let the nervousness of the mark cloud my instincts and my scores and marks often left my teachers confused and puzzled wondering if I had just 'faked it to make it'. The idea of completing an exam brought back a lot of these feelings for me. During the exam I had serious doubts about myself even though I feel confident with my digital learning and practical skills in the classroom, I could still feel the pressure of the clock ticking away, and the shadow of doubt creeping in...I definitely was questioning weather or not I had passed. But long behold... I passed! That relief of knowing I got 80% correct was such a good feeling. Knowing I don't have to have the awkward conversation with my principal or colleagues saying that I failed is now only a scary thought! 

Big thanks to the DFI & Manaiakalani team! Couldn't have done it without your help!