>Looking Back At 2021

Image from Minds Of The Lab - Malcolm - https://youtu.be/mSprv8AR_BA 

In the 2021 Academic Year, I was given the go ahead to change how I deliver my DigiTech programme at school. As a school, we are in the process of changing our teaching model to fit within a Flexible Learning Environment. This is in preparation for a new building which will have space for purpose built classrooms and a dedicated STEAM space.

As part of the change to the way we will be teaching lessons at school, I will get to work with all the classroom teachers to provide opportunities for learning Digital Tech within an 'authentic context' in class. This will mean my lessons are co-constructed so as the class teacher provides the curriculum context and I provide the Digital Technologies content where it appropriately fits. In turn, this will provide all teachers with ongoing DTHM professional development opportunities throughout the year.

To illustrate this change, the teacher may be doing Geometry as part of the Maths lesson in a particular week. I might provide the authentic context for the lesson by using Scratch coding to reinforce some concepts with the students. With this, I hope to also look at developing some Local Curriculum opportunities within the lesson.

It was an exciting and sizeable change for me personally as I navigated my way through incorporating ideas from other curriculum areas. It was also a year which evolved as much as it could, considering we were disrupted for nearly four months.

You can read what I achieved in 2021 below:

>Term 1: Year 7

>Term 2: Years 7&8

>Terms 3 & 4: Dealing With Restrictions

It’s times like this that I love my job...

To conclude, 2021 has been a tough one for us all, especially in Auckland as we had nearly four months of disruptions due to lockdown restrictions. Learning the coding and other ‘device-based’ elements was at times great fun over Zoom lessons. The physical ‘hands-on’ elements of the DigiTech such as Makey Makey and micro:bits became impossible. Having said that, just when you assume the kids are over online learning and all things 'Tech oriented', you are surprised by their resilience.

I thought I would share this with you all as this email put a big smile on my face, especially the use of binary code.

The email from this particular student has reassured me that I have made an impact on the rangatahi at our school. Of course, I had to reply in the only way I knew...

(If you’re not sure what is written above, you can convert it for yourself here!)

I really look forward to reconnecting with the students in 2022. #teacherlife #ilovemyjob #binary #digitech