As a team, Manaiakalani have advocated for the use of Blogger in the classroom. It's not the sexiest platform and it certainly has room for growth. It's often frustrating to see the enhancements made to a number of other incredible Google Suite tools, with Blogger just getting left behind.
Here in NZ, we have more than 22,000 learners involved in programmes where blogging is an integral part of the share component of what we do. As an avid blogger myself, I understand the potential benefits even beyond our classrooms and am passionate about helping teachers to see the power in it. But I am also a realist. I have been a classroom teacher, inundated and overwhelmed by the complexities of the needs of busy classes of 30 children, wifi that won't cooperate, devices that are not charged, assessments that require completion and the competing demands of other curriculum areas that appear to not 'fit' within the scope of blogging. So this series will attempt to explore not just the why and the how of blogging, but also to answer some of the challenging questions we must explore in order to help blogging gain the kind of traction it requires to be able to take on a life of its own.
In this first post, I will explore why we blog, what the power of it is and showcase some of the many blogs I'm enjoying around our country at the moment, both educators and students. I am conscious that 'done' is better than perfect and absent, which is often what my blog posts are when I strive for perfection. Please know that this is an inquiry - a place to explore the many facets of my topic, before endeavouring to get my research to the point that it is actually of use in its implementation in our classrooms.
If you'd told me a few years ago that in 2020 I'd be working from home due to a global pandemic, supporting teachers in becoming proficient in designing engaging, visible, empowering, ubiquitous, connected learning for their kids... I would have laughed you off the face of this earth! Yet here we are.
In my work as a Manaiakalani outreach facilitator and education programme leader, we usually spend most of our time supporting teachers in learning about learning that is visible and rewindable in the context of their classroom, amplifying their great practice and implementation of their wonderful, creative local curriculums and designing Cybersmart lessons to teach in the classes we support in.
But not right now!
We are in a privileged position, being able to witness the development of some exponential learning all and I find myself feeling very grateful, very often. We received some wonderful feedback on the Top Tips site - I'm pleased it was helpful. We were certainly grateful to be able to support so many people at such a challenging and uncertain time. I definitely think that clear and concise is the way to go. I love that the tools we chose were also the very same tools that allowed teachers to do what they do best: teach! Not load learners and whānau up with apps and passwords that 'teach them'. Our teachers have wonderful knowledge of their tamariki and rich local curriculums to engage their kids through; it would have been such a shame for that to be abdicated to a platform.
Today, having been part of a Tairāwhiti Slam session where some teachers shared with us what has been working well for them, I was rewarded again, watching many of our teachers share and show leadership by amplifying their practice, sharing with others. What a great waka we're on when we all paddle together.
I just know that together next week, heading into level 2, that our nation will continue to do great things by our tamariki, and now that we have begun to address some of the inequities that occur in our communities, we will be better able to be of benefit to more learners, heading forward.
