Day 8 - Computational Thinking

I've really enjoyed today despite the frustration of Tinkercad.  I have been empowered by the opportunity to be part of the DFI - with over 750 teachers in 44 different schools. Being empowered was the key message for the Manaiakalani pedagogy. Being empowered - not just learners but teachers, principals and whānau. Empowerment often equals choice, choice is not present in many of our students in our schools. Manaiakalani is absolutely committed to empowering the lives of many. Do we want to give our students agency or empowerment?  For some whānau agency needs explaining because of experiences they have with state agencies, which were negative. Manaiakalani dropped the jargon 'agency' and moved to empowered. Our current health issues New Zealander’s are experiencing links back to empowerment - an indicator you can’t ignore when you talking about education. Some interesting quotes shared by Dorothy

• For some schools the mean academic performance for new entrants are at the age of 3; 

• Five year olds with 32 million words much more empowered than the child who has not - thy require meaninful conversation. Decile 1 schools 1/3 of children move from school to school more; this includes staff

We need to encourage our communities to embrace Rangatiritanga -  to take control of their own lives. We need to ensure as teachers we have 5+day meaningful conversations with our students. The quote shared by Marie Mitchell is powerful and I believe many teachers in Aotearoa are experiencing this often -  "The greatest joy comes from empowering students to discover the treasure that lies within them."  

On both a personal and professional level the Deep Dive presented by Vicki about what will our future jobs, communities and societies look like, was very thought provoking. Where is it going to go to next? The key questions for educators - What we are developing in our students to enable them to cope with in the future? I thought of my own children and grandchildren. The statement  that a digitally fluent person can decide when and why to use specific digital technologies to achieve a specific task or solve problems is something that I would like to strive for in my learners. For some learners being a digitally capable person would mean can create their own digital technologies solution.

As teachers we need to be confident we can impart that knowledge to our students. I like what Kerry said about that we need to develop in our students characteristics that they can change and adapt. In our professional space ideally student and teachers should be side by side.

I really enjoyed the time spent on investigating the Technology currciulum and the various tools available, including Trinket, Toxicode, Replit and Scratch. The resources provided by Raranga Matihiko look very useful and I can see me using these with my students. I chanced upon a slide with 10 Useful Digital Tools which I hope to explore later. I also like the way they break down the progress outcomes into clear, straight forward statements. 

Our create session using Tinkercad could be used with our classes - but today I found it frustrating, even though I can see its potential.  Overall another stimulating session, thanks to Manaiakalani and our facilitators.