"It is a good divine that follows his own instructions; I can easier teach twenty what were good to be done than to be one of the twenty to follow mine own teaching."
Portia, The Merchant of Venice, Act I, Scene II.



Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Workshop 1: Tanya Phillips - Handing over the control: Maori Student Voice in the English Classroom

Tanya pointed out that Maori students are a diverse group and we need to be conscious of the needs of our own learners.

She started what she was doing because she thought they were doing okay at her school but then was dismayed when she surveyed other schools. She repeated the survey at her own school and was really depressed by the results.

How are we measuring success? We are measuring it by achievement in a Pakeha education system.

The Ka Hikitia model is the way to go: Maori achieving success as Maori.

Recognising effort put in is a huge thing. Students tend to like their teachers as people but dislike English as a subject. They know they have to put in more work to get the same number of credits they could get more easily in another subject. They like having choice.

"Most of the stuff is being done to us."

They like having both their efforts and their work praised.

Some students mentioned studying black civil rights in America and wondered why, obviously the links to NZ were not being made.

Schools need change at every level to encourage Te Ao Maori. We need to more beyond tokenism. McFarlane: "When schools fail to promote Maori identity, there is a corresponding decline in Maori achievement." 

We need to teach behaviour the same way we teach the curriculum.

How do we fix the bad feedback:

1. Relationships. Positive relationships that are learning focussed. Humour, trust, fairness, honesty, compassion, high expectations. (Read Culture Counts). Whanau, kanohi ki te kanohi.

2. Curriculum. Teaches through rather than about culture, looking at the whole child. Focussing on the front end of the curriculum, not just the learning objectives in the back.

Ako: The collaborative and reciprocal nature of the learning process.
Tuakana/teina relationship: reciprocal teaching and learning.

Positive Maori roll models. Check out maorifuturemakers.com

How would I know this is a NZ classroom?

3. Pedagogy: mana motuhake, mana tu, mana Ōkaipo (sense of place) and mana Tangatarua.

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