Dame Cindy Kiro

 This week I chose our reading text from the NZ Herald. We were reading about Dame Cindy Kiro, the next governor-general of NZ.  

I thought it would be great to do a story about an important woman of colour. I remember as a child never having dolls that looked like me, never seeing people that looked like me on television (except on the Police Wanted program) and never seeing people that looked like me in positions of authority. 

This text generated heaps of conversation. Students had no knowledge of what a governor-general was or the amount of authority they actually have. We discussed stereotypes in society and the expectations of our whanau.

In this lesson, I found it was important to get students to justify/ explain their answers and this led to a higher quality  of discussion. Students were encouraged to use respectful language and tone even when they disagreed with others. The engagement and banter contributed to a successful lesson. 

DFI - Week 3: Media

Another Friday, another day of amazing learning with the DFI facilitators! Today we learned how to set up a Youtube channel and add playlists- remember students are not to set up Youtube channels. it's just for educators! We also had a korero about media and ways we could implement it in our classrooms or in the Manaiakalani Film Festival. Movie submissions for the Film Festival are normally due at the end of term 3, so get your students thinking of some fabulous ideas! We also went over Google slides, drawings and my favourite for today - animations!Animations are created using a series of slides, just like an old-fashioned flip-book!

Cultural Capital and Vocabulary

 Term 2 is off to a great start! This term I made a conscious effort to choose text that will allow students to share their expertise and prior knowledge. The text we started this term with was Rongoā for the Land. This was a good choice because it tied in with our topic of plants and it allowed students to showcase their cultural capital.

Before reading we completed a pre and post vocabulary grid to deal with unfamiliar vocabulary. The benefit of using a pre and post vocabulary guide is that it causes students to look for and notice unfamiliar vocabulary.

We know that students are reluctant to use words that they cannot pronounce so whether a student is six or 16, they must be given the opportunity to repeat the word after the teacher has said it. This can be done as simply as saying, ‘I say the word … now you (the student) say the word’. If the word is difficult to pronounce then do this a couple of times.

Some incorrect word pronunciation has crept into our language. For example, many people pronounce ‘pronunciation’ as ‘pronounciation’ and ‘advertisement’ not as ‘advertisment’ but as it is spelt ‘advertisement’. Another common mispronunciation I hear is ‘liberry’ for ‘library’. Correct pronunciation makes a speaker more confident and assists with spelling. Other commonly mispronounced words are 'somefink' instead of something, 'aks' instead of ask and generally pronouncing the 'th' sound as an 'f'. 

DFI - Week 2: Workflow

 I was unable to attend today's DFI as I was celebrating Eid-ul-Fitr ( a religious holiday celebrated by Muslims worldwide that marks the end of the month-long dawn-to-sunset fasting of Ramadan). 

Thank goodness for rewindable learning! I was able to access the slides and work through the items that were covered today. 

I learned that I could 'pin' tabs. This allows me to keep frequently used docs and sites open. I also tidied up my bookmarks by placing them in folders. 

     

DFI- Week 1: Core Business

This is my second time attending the DFI, I attended in 2017 and opted to do the course again as so much has changed in Google and my certification had lapsed as it is only valid for three years. I was really happy to learn how to remove the white frame and background from images using remove.bg. We also learned how to create posters using Google docs. This was really cool because creating a poster in docs gives you the freedom to choose the paper size. The only drawback was that you cannot upload a doc to you blog as it doesn't show poroperlyy, but that is easily overcome by using screen shot or snipping tool if you wish to upload it to your blog.

The Changing Face of the NZ Classroom

 

"Pasifika learners, along with Maori, continue to experience high disparities in New Zealand’s education system. Furthermore, it is predicted that over the next few decades, the majority of students in New Zealand primary schools will be Maori and Pasifika. The implications for classroom teachers are enormous." - Tute Porter-Samuels

There has been much research published about the benefits of using the students' cultural capital in the classroom, yet many teachers are reluctant to try/ implement it in their classrooms. 

Here were some of the reasons teachers gave (from the 16 April Manaiakalani TOD) for not using culturally inclusive pedagogy:

• It takes time to be inclusive. Easier to teach the way we know and were taught.
• It's scary - We feel embarrassed and inadequate, bad experience with our own schooling. Being English - it's engrained that other people speak English.
• It's not important to achievement. 
• Do not have the knowledge. 
• Uncomfortable 
• Confrontational 
• Do not want to be disrespectful - want to be culturally respectful (lots of information available but we want to ensure that we have all the right information e.g. centre pepeha which area do we serve do we have the right maunga, awa)
• Persistent ideologies, thoughts, ideas and opinions 
• Fear of getting something wrong.

These are just a few of the responses. The complete list can be viewed here.

It's probably time that we take a long, hard look at the most direct and significant influence on student achievement – the classroom teacher, us. 

We need to be honest with ourselves, encourage ourselves, challenge ourselves; do all the things we encourage our students to do in order to achieve a better educational outcome for our students. 

References:

•  Alton-Lee, A. (2003). Quality teaching for diverse students in schooling: Best evidence synthesis. Wellington: Ministry of Education.
•  Tute Porter-Samuels. Raising Pasifika Achievement: Teacher Cultural Responsiveness. retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1025674.pdf

Welcome to Term 2!

Term 2 is going to be a really busy term! I have been released from my class for two days a week to do the SENCO role and I'm really excited to be starting my DFI this Friday. I completed the DFI in 2017 but when attending toolkits I realised how much had changed. My principal has agreed to me attending the course, provided I feedback to staff during our weekly staff meetings. In this way all staff can be kept abreast of the latest Google updates.