Valuing Cultures

I had the privilege of attending the recent Piako Cultural Festival where students from local schools celebrate the/their Maori culture through kapahaka. It was a great reminder of how powerful it is for Maori students to celebrate their culture and feel pride for who they are.

As a part of the build up, I was asked to join the boys for their practices for behavioral reasons. What hit home very quickly for me at these practices was the importance to these boys to have me (a male and their teacher) there to support them and most of all value their culture and what they were learning and sharing. To see the boys who are disengaged and feel out of place at times in class, instead thriving, motivated and striving to give it their all was just amazing.

It's not always easy to get outside of your comfort zone and place yourself in someone else's culture as you feel like you will make a mistake, or you don't belong, but this is far from the truth. So, I am reminded of the importance I must place on valuing my Maori students by attending these practices and events and making the effort to really show them that I care and am interested in who they are and their culture by participating as well.

My goal for next year is to learn the haka with the boys.

Student Feedback on Literacy and Learning

It was very interesting to get some feedback from the students about writing, reading i-Time projects and my teaching. Every student surveyed enjoys writing and reading which is great, although they all had feedback for how it could be better.

• Being able to write about what they want all of the time
• No reflections
• Less time talking about writing on the mat
• Help with getting started
• Longer deadlines and less interruptions by teachers 

These are a range of responses for how to make writing better and how can I be better at teaching writing. When I see these responses they make me think about adapting my practice to help improve their experience and learning.

• Being able to write about what the want all of the time.

The students have a lot of independent choice in their writing which is great. It makes me realise though that when the context and purpose is relevant and real that they don't see transactional writing as a chore. When the context or purpose is forced this is when enjoyment is removed.

• No reflections

A number of students said they don't like reflecting on their learning and success criteria. They felt it is hard enough to write, let alone think about making their writing better while writing. For me this comes back to accountability. Most kids just want to do what they want and don't like being made to be accountable for improving. We have relied on reflection movies to help with this accountability as peer reviews are what make the students want to be at their best. Regular reflection through teacher conversations works for those that are motivated learners but not those that are not.

• Less time talking on the mat and less interruptions

This comes back to me. I need to action this as I often get wound up in the task and behaviour and loose focus or emphasis on the success criteria. Knowing the kids who made this comment, did make me chuckle, because they are the ones who are distracted and go away not knowing what we are doing. Something for me to work on though thats for sure.

•  Help getting started

I feel like this has improved immensely and it was only one student who mentioned this. I have been using far more models lately so this is why only one student mentioned it. The student is extremely dependent in all learning area's as well. But, this shows me that I need to cater to their needs and provide some support and encouragement without telling.

• Longer deadlines

This made me laugh. Boys! Maybe some learning around priortising time better. Saving the socialising for after instead of before. I do think we rush through learning at times though and don't allow for sustained silent writing time.

So in general, so work ons for me. I am pleased that they all enjoy writing and that they all felt that the rubrics we are using are worth while as they like knowing where they are. For the most part they like the writing workshops as well, so the change of teaching approach has worked there.

Link to feedback