Kate Topia PGC 2024

Where do I start? I have 24 kids, ipads ready now what?!! As most of us do when we don't know something I turned to google. I spent evenings looking for examples, stalking teachers websites and making notes of things I liked and what I thought would work well in my classroom and for my tamariki. Ideas went round and round in my head for weeks unsure of where to start. But I had to start, just create something then at least I will have a starting point.  I made a list of all the things I wanted to maintain: Reading mileage - browsing boxes, poems, big books. High frequency word work Listening to stories- PM online, Epic, QR code scanning Literacy games, word finds, bingo, hfw games Self managing learners How can I maintain these in my reading program in a digital space? Are there apps programs available to support this? I decided to start with a must do/can do approach. I like that there is an element of choice to this where children have a sense of ownership over their learning but...

  Where do I begin as a 1:1 ipad class and running a guided reading program? During the past 6 years I have taken time out of the classroom to raise my children and prioritise them and settle back into living in NZ. Being there for them in their preschool years was really important to me and I am grateful that I had that opportunity to do that.  In saying that, I have been fortunate to have the opportunity to train as a Reading Recovery teacher and work with tamariki in that capacity for 3 years. Thus offering the flexibility and also keeping my head in the educational space. During this time I was also fortunate to do DFI through Maniakalani, which helped me to see how valuable digital technology can be in a classroom setting. Then, in 2023 I began to take on more days reliving, which sparked my passion to return to the classroom.  This year I am back full time in a classroom and have been given an opportunity to teach an amazing group of year 2 and 3 children.  Dig...