Once again my learning is moving on. This time I am on a learning journey with my students. While I have some knowledge of the waters into which my class and I are about to sail, I will be as much an adventurer as they are.
As a new teacher into the class I currently learn alongside at the beginning of last term it was important to build relationships and establish where their learning journey's were at. Now it is time to get into the nitty gritty of my Teaching as Inquiry. With the assistance of the Grassroots Initiative, established by the Ministry of Education, we have been and will be able to purchase the tools we need to make this journey.
Ulearn16 has also provided plenty of material to reflect on, implement and consider what learning we need as we make our journey. There will be separate posts as I reflect on the Ulearn16 breakouts and keynotes over the next few days.
Currently, I have three different robots to begin to learn how to program - the students and I will learn together once I have taught myself and them the basics. The future purchase of a couple of Makey Makey kits, a couple of conducting-dough electronics kit, and eventually a Raspberry Pi will begin our journey. Using online coding tools such as Scratch, the new Apple app Swift Playgrounds and those available through the Hour of Code the intention is to introduce the students to tools they have not used before.
Minecraft is also on our radar, particularly with the imminent arrival of the EDU version, but to be used in ways different to what the students are used to. This is definitely one tool where I will be the tuakana and they the teina. An old favourite, Kodu, will be placed on the existing Windows desktops. The use of my old Samsung S4 will assist in the introduction of Virtual Reality alongside Google Cardboard.
I am getting quite excited about the coming journey as we sail off into the somewhat unknown to make new discoveries and explore the possibilities that come with the acquisition of these skills.
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