Connect Four - STOP.... sharing time!

Kia Orana. I am currently sitting amongst an amazing group of educators here at Waikowhai Primary School for our Ako Hiko Cluster meeting. Our task today is to connect four... yes, as in the game connect four but better!

Below you will see my 'Connect Four' game board. It's a simple, straightforward and easy way to collect evidence and build your presence online as a connected learning educator.

How to play
After participating in one of the tasks, you add a link to evidence of the task then shade in the box. Once you have 'connected four' you win, start your winning streak. By winning streak I mean that you 'connect four' and win. Then the OCD teacher in you makes you want to connect five, six... nine until you just want to complete the board.. or is that just me?

The world of 'sharing' 
Sharing online is like going for a swim at the beach. It's a place where you can easily sit back and admire the ocean of knowledge. Sometimes we get really comfortable and just sit there without getting in. Yet we are more than happy to help ourselves to the abundance of resources.

Personally, I walk into the ocean and go through stages of breathlessness and fear as the water rises. Prior to completely submerging I usually go through a split second of anger when people think splashing me will help me get in faster. In all honesty, the splashing works. Whether you're just the 'dip your toes in' kind of person or the 'fast walk and plunge' type, this game board is the splash you need to get yourself out there sharing your work.

It is a fantastic way share your learning online without that daunting feeling. Before you know it, sharing becomes second nature.

Thank you to Gerhard for sharing this with us today and thank you to Mark and the team for creating this board and giving me the splash I needed to get back into it.

Ako Hiko PLD/G

Today was great!  Juanita (Pt England School) opened my eyes to simplifying my class site and making it 'user-friendly'.  I found this very helpful as it tied in with our schools aim to build on community engagement.

When thinkng about our audience, it is our parents.  I asked myself questions such as

1. Can my parent community access this site?
2. Do they understand how to navigate through it (with or withut their child)?
3. Have I displayed what is important in our day of learning?

To this I realised that my site was aesthetically pleasing but hard to navigate.  So I have since given my class site an complete overhaul.  It is now simple and user friendly (tested on my family members).  I feel that the home page displays what is important in O'Neill Class.  That is , Writing, Reading, Maths, Cyber safety and our class blog etc.

It was also great to think about the importance of our pedagogy around digital learning.  You can hand a tool over but without first knowing how to use it, it cannot be used.  I think this is something that needs to be stressed to teachers who are new to 1:1 classrooms.