Ngā Matapakinga | Discussion

Kia ora kotou, I thought I'd give Google Earth a go and see if I could make a local cultural trail of my own. I’ve created Te haerenga mariko o Tauranga Moana a virtual journey of my local rohe (area) using Google Earth. So far the text has been sourced from websites and images from Creative Commons, but I've also been able to add my own content, personalising this trail as my own. Note: This is an on-going work in progress

Finding out more about my local rohe (area) and the people who travelled to it, settled and gave it place names; has been really fascinating. There is a lot about the cultural heritage of Tauranga Moana I didn't know before and by travelling (virtually) to the special places of interest (often those I've driven past), visually demonstrates the stories of the past and present.

What I also discovered along the way was: 

• how closely the stories link tangata (people) to the whenua (land),
• how many place names in websites refer to adopted names given by Pakeha, rather than original names given by Māori,
• how many place names have spelling errors or missing macrons,
• whose perspective is dominantly portrayed in some promotional media.

What I'd like to add to Te haerenga mariko o Tauranga Moana, is more stories about tangata whenua (the people). Talking with mana whenua, local rangatira, kaumātua, artists, scientists and community representatives with strong affiliations to the local iwi would enrich these narratives (social mapping). The possibility for students to create/capture and retell their own place-based stories through images, sound recordings and videos of their whānau, hapū and iwi is endless. 

Find out more about Google Earth and LEARNZ field trips in Fionna Wright's CORE blog post @ Powerful storytelling using Google Earth for Web.

I love this resource from Celia and her team. It provides some really great activities for people of all ages to engage in and learn about the world around them.  

Maria's encouragement to us all to be 'hūmārie' is a welcome and timely reminder too. It is easy to get wrapped up in ourselves and forget to listen, see, know those with whom we work, learn and play. Important too that we know and are proud of where we come from, who we are, from whom we come and be proud of it because as Maria says; "If my culture counts to me, then my act of hūmārie (humility) will show that theirs counts, too."

I have been humbled by the learning I have done over the last few weeks as I have researched the history of Hamilton. Wally Penetito says that it is important that people have the opportunity to tell their own stories and we have a responsibility to listen to them and acknowledge them. Often there is a separation from our locality because most of us don’t know about where we are from. That may be because we have been ambivalent or not interested or it may be that we haven't had the privilege of hearing the stories from our elders or at school. We also may think we know about our place but we may only have heard one side of a story, one perspective. So as Maria says we need to be open to hearing all the stories. I have gone down numerous rabbit holes, found stories about places that contradict or overlap each other. It is fascinating unpicking the whenu and a good reminder that there is always more than one perspective and we should hold our ideas and thoughts lightly.

So, in answer to your question - I am trying to put together a map that will show historic sites of Hamilton with some information to support them in building awareness about the place in which they live.  I have hesitated when using the name Hamilton - I usually use Kirikiriroa but I was challenged on that this morning and it has made me think. My kaiako suggested that there is a school of thought that says we should use Hamutanga for the time being until the debate about the name of this city has been resolved. Kirikiriroa is the name of one (very important) Pā which was in the heart of what is now Hamilton. To use Kirikiriroa for the whole city as it is now, risks ignoring or belittling all the other papakainga that existed along the banks of the Waikato. Interesting kōrero. I will need some time to process that and reflect on my use of the names.

Ngā mihi

Anne

This thread has offered some great ideas for schools to dive into the Changing role of teachers Ten Trend and examine this concept more deeply, against their own pedagogical practices across the school.

St Mary’s Catholic School Rotorua has done just that. Staff have been undertaking professional learning and development to brainstorm and plan how their learners might graduate and progress their learning through play-based learning to more problem-based/project-based learning opportunities.

Staff in leadership roles have supported other teachers in their teams to understand theory (largely shared by Buck Institute for Education), effective pedagogies as well as design elements that underpin ‘gold star’ practice for project-based learning. Teams were able to read discuss, debate and disseminate supporting readings as well as view examples of authentic learning in action.

Circumnavigating these learning conversations is a school-wide focus on a graduate profile - key skills, competencies and capabilities students need today. There have also been discussions on how St Mary’s Catholic School might deliberately create conditions for students to learn and practise these skills. Enter Ten Trends: Changing role of the teacher.

Through facilitated support (Anne Robertson, Tessa Gray) teachers were invited to engage with the guiding questions from the Ten Trends cards to help bring everyone on the same page and clarify common understandings going forward; when collaboratively planning for more authentic, project-based learning opportunities that prioritise different cultural perspectives, personalise learning and make integrate digital technologies.

Next up: St Mary’s is about to implement a strategic plan 2021 (Te Hāngaitanga, one of the guiding principles of Te Hurihanganui) to ensure Mātauranga Māori and bi-cultural connections with local mana whenua (through a number of initiatives, business and trusts) are visibly part of authentic, integrated and localised curriculum design (place-based learning) with a goal to strengthen science capabilities.

Follow-up on this story in the coming months and see how these developments have influenced teacher planning, design and delivery of authentic learning opportunities for all students. 

Pātai/wero: How might this Ten Trend help guide/address engagement, diversity and self-management needs of your learners? We'd love to hear more. Simply join the CORE Ten Trends group to contribute below.

Kia ora @shiralee thank you for sharing your research and practice journey so far. It sounds like you have a hybrid model of 6 monthly reporting as well as giving parents and whānau access to progress information about their children. This is invaluable. Personally (due to some circumstance this year), I still don't know how my son is tracking this year (no mid year report), fingers crossed he's tracking ok by the end of Year 8.

I see you've created a structure for how Seesaw will be used, there are some helpful tips to make learning visible to encourage parents/whānau to comment and respond, including:

• Making learning intentions clear (and in plain language)
• Sharing processes and progress made towards learning goals
• Inviting reflections and critical feedback about learning in an iterative cycle
• Having shared ownership
• Making it manageable

I've always drawn inspiration from Nick Rate's early work on e-Portfolios and his ten step guide (CORE Blog post). 

1. Research to understand the pedagogy behind the approach
2. Define your purpose for using e-portfolios
3. Consult and seek input from all stakeholders
4. Develop a framework
5. Define the criteria
6. Choose the tool
7. Educate all those involved in the process
8. Implement
9. Update
10. Review

There are also a list of links and resources complied in the Ten Trends 2019 PDF (p10) including Curriculum, Progress and Achievement Ministerial Advisory Group Conversation Document, but like yourself, I'd love to hear more school stories. Is anyone brave enough to axe the six-monthly reports to parents?

Hit the ground running

Welcoming space, but can't touch

How to slow down time

What we are looking at is what we should keep, leave and improve on after this shift in learning. How can we support each other not to fall straight back into the manic rush that is teacher life?

Over in another land of online conversation and contemplation, there's a growing pool of reflection and whakaaro around what we can takeaway from COVID-19 and keep, tweak, lose or improve going forward @ Covid-19 Lessons learned going forward. A big huge thank you to @markmaddren for sharing your blog connections as well.

Image source:  Covid Image by FrankundFrei from Pixabay

Very helpful things to remember/consider. Thanks :-)

@Tessagray. Talking to yourself in a compassionate way is actually really good for you.