DFI#8 Empowerment and Computational Thinking

Heading into this 8th DFI session I have to admit that my mind was pre-occupied with next week's exam rather than on the days agenda. That changed as Dorothy started unpacking the Empowered kaupapa. 

 Dorothy explained that initially the word 'agency' was used and then outlined the reasons for the change to the use of 'empowerment'. Apart from a 6-year stint as principal of a Decile 10 rural school on the outskirts of Christchurch, I have always worked in the 'low numbers' - both here and also in the equivalent in inner-London in the 1980s. I totally understand what the word agency means to many people in these communities. I remember a parent sharing with me that she was having to work with 15 external agencies in her efforts to keep her family afloat and that at times there were 2 or 3 cars from different agencies in her driveway at the same time. She said it was like having a full - time job keeping up with all of her agency appointments. I am not sure that colleagues who work in more privileged communities understand what it can be like for our people. 

When we opened the new school we started talking with parents about recording information in children's 'learner profiles'. After a whanau hui one night a parent took me to one side and asked me if I could please not create a profile for her child. All her older children had profiles of a different nature - police profiles, court profiles, youth offender profiles, and the like. For us at school, it was just a word, and one commonly used in schools at that. For her - it meant something completely different. It was a good thing for me to understand.

I hadn't ever thought about the cost of disposing of rubbish - but it totally makes sense, when you drive around our school neighbourhood and see the broken furniture and electronic equipment piled up on the grass verge with a 'free' sign alongside. Sometimes our children pick these things up and bring them to school. I know I feel incensed when I see the shop trucks in the street - encouraging people to take home now and pay later. And don't get me started on the pay-day loan companies that have started lending to beneficiaries post-lockdown.

My school is the only low-decile school in our cluster. I know that what Dorothy described in regards to children starting school in South Auckland is equally as true in regards to children starting school in the east Christchurch.  I regularly get to compare our data to that of the other schools in our cluster via the Woolf Fisher reports. I also get to see the progress made over the past 3 years. We have been so advantaged by our involvement in the Manaiakalani Outreach Programme. 

New Learning

This week's new learning was around computational thinking. We had time to explore different programmes that offer learning in basic coding. I was quite surprised to find that I really enjoyed this explore time. I have little experience in anything to do with coding but am lucky enough to be surrounded at school by talented teachers who do, and who provide the Rāwhiti children with highly engaging opportunities to experiment with the likes of Bee-Bots and  Spheros. 

If you have a moment, take time to watch this movie made by some little learners at my school and see if you can determine which elements of the Digital Technologies Curriculum are in play. Trust me - it's worth watching.

What a hard act to follow! Nowhere near the same standard, here is my own first attempt at coding.