Blog comment power

We are learning what makes a quality blog comment. I have made a comic strip showing how a comment can affect a person’s feelings when they read it.

Reflecting on the 'magic' of Covid-19

 My shared thoughts of how Hokitika Hub shared their magic during Covid-19 and my thoughts as to where we go to next ...

Lockdown Learning

Today will be another momentous day in history as we learn at 4pm whether we will move out of Stage 4. What will the next stage even look like? So many questions and way too many people's views and opinions.

I've found the 28 days have actually gone very quickly. I still haven't managed to get through all those wonderful housekeeping jobs I had planned to do, We have managed to celebrate 3 family birthdays via a Hangout and despite being squashed into our little house, it's been a lovely time of sharing, 80% of caring for each other, and enjoying those daily walks for exercise.

The 'two weeks of Clayton's' holidays were anything but a holiday. What an amazing time of learning I had. The teachers I hung out with had so many inspiring ideas to share and I was almost envious that I hadn't had this opportunity to learn online when I was at school.

As I said in a previous post, as a Manaiakalani Cluster, we were ready for this and the majority of teachers jumped at the opportunity and became so inventive. Fortunately Google Hangout Meet decided to come up with a grid extension and that just make leaning so much more enjoyable, being able to see the whole class looking like a scene from The Brady Bunch!

I've lost count of the number of Hangouts I've attended, but am pleased to say that by the time Friday comes round, they become a little more social with the microphones turned on.

So, what have I learned through this new way of teaching ... well when I trained in the 80's this would have been seen as a scene from The Jetsons! However, I am now drawing on the initial three P's from my reading recovery training; Pause, Prompt, Praise and I'm going to add Patience in there too. Kids are all too happy to click things and have a go, but as adults we are a bit more cautious. Screen sharing has become my new go-to. Those four P's then take over because we all know how important it is to learn by doing. However, I must say that by 3pm I start to get a little tongue tied with my instructions and on Friday at 5pm my family confiscate my laptop to ensure my square eyes go back to normal. I am however really enjoying this new way of teaching. I love being invited into the classes to work with the students and I really enjoy hearing all these new inventive ways of teaching. I'd be quite happy to keep teaching this way and when we are back to face-to-face learning I think this online way should be included in the daily program, because these students are so clever about using it now.

I keep wondering if this could be the new way of working in the future and how lucky our kids are that they got to learning like this. Until the PM's talk this afternoon, I believe we should be patting ourselves on the back for how smoothly this has all gone. 

Kia Kaha New Zealand

The new 'normal'

It seems that the offerings of Manaiakalani are very valuable and the realisation of their potential as we learn online are becoming very obvious. With a house full of internet users and people needing their own space, I have taken myself to our laundry/sleepout area. While not the prettiest room, it's certainly quiet and remarkably the cups of coffee and home baking still arrive!

What I have noticed however, is that we seem to be reverting to habits that were exciting in my childhood and I'm quite liking this trend. My 83 year old mother is missing us terribly and I can't say that the Facetime calls are totally successful. Once we realised that her comments of "you're not making eye contact with me" was due to us looking at her rather than up at the camera, hence the missing eye contact, we all had a bit of a laugh.

But when you have a  bit of spare time, what can you do with it?

Well, my three girls got out the arts and crafts (one of the benefits of having a mother for a teacher) and decided to write letters to their nearest and dearest. This was most exciting for the 11 year old, who had received birthday cards and gifts in the letter box, but the concept of writing a letter was something totally out of this world. Even the envelopes were handmade (something I could still remember the template for) and decorated to match the person who would be receiving it. They couldn't believe they had so many things to share even though they had been stuck at home and the letters were looking pretty awesome before being put in the envelopes.

Of course, you then have to go out for that exercise walk and buy some stamps ... who would have thought sticking on stamps could be so much fun - I'm sure the postie's had a laugh at the weird places they got put, after all who new they were supposed to be on the top right!

Then they go into this box, but Miss 11 couldn't for the life of her see that this box would get them to the people, when we're all on lock down. Well hats off to the posties, because just three days later she received a phone call from my mother to share her delight in receiving mail. In her words "It was just like the old days, and such a lovely surprise."

The conversation was so surreal, I almost wished I still had a video on to record the contents of the phone call about what would have happened to the letter, because Miss 11 had absolutely no idea of the places her letter had been.

Today was just as magical, when she went to grab in the paper and low and behold there was a letter for her in the mailbox. The excitement, of finding it, the rush to get it open and the sheer joy of reading the letter ... I think it's time we all spent some of that spare time we now have to write a letter to someone ... it could become the new (old) trend.