Tasks

Next Steps – feedback from 1a

• Tightening up your whole class management skills i.e. hands up to speak etc,
• Check up on school policies/curriculum delivery plans
• More direct/specific feedback to children – handwriting
• Engage with more groups/larger groups when teaching maths, reading
• Planning full class lessons in other subject areas

Teaching Standard: Design for Learning

Design learning based on curriculum and pedagogical knowledge, assessment information and an understanding of each learner’s strengths, interests, needs, identities, languages and cultures.

• Select teaching approaches, resources, and learning and assessment activities based on a thorough knowledge of curriculum content, pedagogy, progressions in learning and the learners.
• Gather, analyse and use appropriate assessment information, identifying progress and needs of learners to design clear next steps in learning and to identify additional supports or adaptations that may be required.
• Design and plan culturally responsive, evidence-based approaches which reflect the local community and Te Tiriti o Waitangi partnership in New Zealand.
• Harness the rich capital that learners bring by providing culturally responsive and engaging contexts for learners.
• Design learning informed by national policies and priorities.

Enable ākonga to realise that they hold the power for their learning by scaffolding lessons and discussions that emphasise the “why” behind the learning and help them to see the progress they are making.

Goal: Design for Learning

Action Steps

Design for Learning Reflection and Evidence

Week One Design for Learning Action Steps (5 – 9 September):

• Use the book “Mice can’t write” by Maria Gordon & Mike Gordon as a “read and feed” book to launch conversations around how exciting learning can be and the things you can discover.
• Establish how I can create responsive lesson plans that fit in with term plan.
• Develop series of te reo Māori lessons suitable for year 1-2.

Week One Design for Learning Evidence:

• Interestingly, on reading “Mice can’t write” many tamariki thought the mice would magically learn to read and write at the end of the book. While I was anticipating this would lead to a conversation about discovery, instead it lead to conversations about mice going to school, vocabulary they would want to learn, the need to actually study and learn because knowledge isn’t magically bestowed.
• Next week I start teaching te reo Māori sessions through 10 whole school lessons (rather than just my year 1-2 class), so planning for this has started this week, including developing “fortune tellers” that use Whakataukī as well as lesson plans.
• Whipped up some “pairs to ten” fortune tellers which were highly engaging during free time.

Week One Design for Learning Reflection:

As Mercer (2003) in Eke & Lee (2009) suggests “for children to become more able in using language as a tool for both solitary and collective thinking, they need involvement in thoughtful and reasoned dialogue”, so I had wanted to launch conversations around learning and education from a shared understanding of “Mice Can’t Write”. However, while this didn’t happen as anticipated, reading this story did help to re-establish myself as an adult in the classroom to support learning.

I intended to enthusiastically develop culturally responsive lessons that incorporate te Ao Māori. However, on reflection, to actually do this effectively I first need to embrace the Ako competency (Tataiako) and improve my own understanding. My knowledge is not extensive enough yet, and limited to a simple understanding of tikanga (such as Stop sitting on tables!!), and how tikanga is reflected in a multicultural Aotearoa.

An attempt to combine a story telling adventure with the topic of space (a whole school topic currently) as a fun “free time” activity was a fail, ending in ended with us heading back into the classroom where my AT and I delivered a discussion on being disappointed and re-establishing expectations. There were multiple reasons for this, including tired children at the end of the day (and week), something out of their normal routine (without appropriate social norms strongly established), and an activity that stretched beyond the Zone of Proximal Development for the majority. However, there are all things that I should have been able to anticipate.

Although I do usually have an excellent ability to pivot, “next steps” certainly include having more explicit instruction on my expectations, as Thompkin et al. suggest behaviour can be learned or unlearned. Currently this applies more to myself than my students.

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Week Two Design for Learning Action Steps (12 – 16 September):

• Re-establish action steps
• Reflect on goal “Enable ākonga to realise that they hold the power for their learning by scaffolding lessons and discussions that emphasis the “why” behind the learning and help them to see the progress they are making”
• Deliver and evaluate te reo Māori lessons
• Deliver first series of Maths – Fraction lessons, do my ākonga understand how this can be applied to daily life?

Week Two Design for Learning Evidence:

• Made salt dough to help with fraction teaching – this proved to be an exciting “bribe” to keep attention as well as an excellent learning method.
• Created a Whakatauki fortune teller, then decided this pronunciation might be too difficult to also made a more simple “I like…” te reo Māori fortune teller. This lesson plan needed to be adapted to a lower floor exercise, so I created “kei te ____ ahau” bookmarks that could be coloured in and used as a reminder of the language.

Week Two Design for Learning Reflection:

Creating a lesson plan for four groups of mixed age/mixed ability ākonga over three sessions each has required a bit of rethinking. Originally planning to create “Genuine social interaction in target language and/or culture” I realised ākonga didn’t have the knowledge I anticipated, even though they use many te reo Māori words or phrases they don’t know what they’re saying. So, I needed to step back and ensure they understood their foundational knowledge and instead worked on “develop formulaic expressions and rule-based competence” (Ministry of Education, 2021).

In the reading groups I have started encouraging re-reading passages with voices and asking ākonga to work out who is speaking – here the learning about using speech marks is just an added benefit, as my primary purpose was is to engage my dramatic extraverts who are bored waiting their turn. However, I’ve also found that doing this reinforces word knowledge, and is allowing everyone to get extra enjoyment from the book as they are reading passages for fun rather than just decoding. This wasn’t an explicit part of my original lesson plan, but will be something I include as “Higher Ability” in future plans  as Van der Walle (p62) says “powerful features of a worthwhile task is that the problem that begins the lesson can get students excited”.

In my higher reading groups we’ve started writing down words that they don’t know the meaning of (most words can be decoded now) and helping them use dictionaries. I was genuinely surprised at how excited all ākonga have been at being able to look up words and increase their own knowledge independently of adults.

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Week Three Design for Learning Action Steps (19 – 23 September):

• When working with reading groups – do ākonga have the base knowledge they need to understand my directions (e.g. sentences, page numbers, paragraphs)
• Check in and make sure all maths groups understand what we’re learning – many don’t have strong basic facts, but are catching on to fractions with lightening speed.

Week Three Design for Learning Evidence:

• Turning a behaviour problem into a whole class maths lesson (poking out tongues into fractions)
• Finding opportunities to reinforce subject learning through cross-curricular teaching (although this is currently more spontaneous that actively planned)

Week Three Design for Learning Reflection:

Asking one of my reading groups to turn to page [___] was met with a chorus of complaints – because one didn’t know what a page number was, another couldn’t find the page number because it wasn’t written anywhere, and one just went to a random page. Teaching across the curriculum is a definite advantage to taking more subject areas, and in this instance we reinforced maths learning while learning about our story.

Embracing Van de Walle’s suggestion that picture books can increase learning opportunities and encourage thinking, using picture books related to Te Ao Māori, Space (our current theme), or Fractions (the lessons I will be presenting) has created a strong starting reference point. I have been able to refer back to stories we have read, or referenced learning while reading.

I am able to use te reo Māori songs to settle ākonga on the mat, am trying cross patterning activities as we walk in a line to create a less raucous time, and was able to use fractions while trying to deal with a behaviour management issue (*C was constantly poking their tongue out, amongst other behaviour, and asked how many other people could poke their tongue out in a roll… 10 out of 20 can, which we could write as a fraction… and could work out that this was also 1/2).

My goal still suits my teaching style of creating independent learners – but my methods of creating ākonga who are knowledge seekers needs reflection and new direction.

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Week Four Design for Learning Action Steps (27 – 30 September):

• Across all subjects, check in as we work to ensure ākonga have the base knowledge they need to understand my directions.
• Work on creating calm in the classroom in order to allow akonga to be safe and eager to learn
  • (this will require a lot of trial and error to find methods that fit my natural personality and the different akonga I encounter – one call that another teacher uses that appeals is “tutira mai” and ākonga respond “nga iwi” – but I worry this will set my class off in song).
• Check in specifically with maths groups to confirm which fractions they can demonstrate with dough, beans, or drawing either images or numerical representations.
• Use more explicit teaching with writing to help ākonga understand they are answering questions rather than writing thoughts that stream into their head.

Week Four Evidence:

• Developed a writers circle to help build up my writers who struggle with ideas and an authors group to help my authors who are great with ideas but need help proofreading and editing.
• Reading lessons focusing on summarising and identifying emotional journeys – also highlighting aspects of their reading books that are good examples for the writing.
• Writing “Intro, How, What, Why” in margins helped many students build a stronger understanding of what they were writing. Talking about what “questions” they were answering helped those who were struggling with the ideas. This also took away some of the heavy lifting for those that find writing easier, and they could focus on becoming more descriptive with their explainations.

Week Four Reflection:

Using “Tutira mai” as a call and response was absolutely a bad idea, but they did settle after they finished singing the whole song.

However what IS working is writers circle/editing group. It is a new concept to all tamariki in the classroom, so has a lot of teething issues, but ākonga are stepping up to help each other reach for better writing. Horseshoe circle were young writers share their work for 1 piece of “thing I like” and “thing that could make it even better” needs to be limited to a few people, as they got restless, and the same few ākonga were responding primarily, but more were engaged.

As Massey C&Pa as well as my assessors have strongly and repeatedly suggested, I need to clearly establish and state my learning intent at the start of each lesson – this was particularly apparently with fractions. “A child should know exactly what the focus for their learning is from the LI.” 278412 Massey (2022). Lessons where I have been able to establish what we were going to be learning, and what the expectation of understanding would be at the end of the lesson has gone better, at least with ākonga more confident in their abilities. With those that are working to achieve I need to lower the floor for my lessons as they were continually surprised when they understood, but getting there was harder than it needed to be.

It has been an amazing practicum, with some challenges to build stronger teaching foundations from, and some positive moments that solidify my teaching dream. Next steps are develop more explicit teaching techniques, to continue to tighten up my classroom management, and to work on my own personal growth – my enthusiasm can be distracting, endlessly discussing things (anything, everything) with ākonga decreases time spent on task and increases behaviour issues (e.g. calling out). Perhaps I could set a time of day specifically for discussions? PLD refresher on non-conflict resolution would be good.

An additional next step is to ensure that I have a clear understanding of assessment, both formative and summative. While I have seen excellent progress with my ākonga, I would like to be able to better measure and assess some of the progress to ensure that I am teaching in a way that is building strong foundational knowledge, not simply giving tamariki the skills to answer my questions.

Have I achieved my goals? What steps should I take? Do I need to adjust my goals to suit my emerging teaching style and philosophy?

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Teaching Standard: Te Tiriti o Waitangi partnership

Demonstrate commitment to tangata whenuatanga and Te Tiriti o Waitangi partnership in Aotearoa New
Zealand.

• Understand and recognise of the unique status of tangata whenua in Aotearoa New Zealand.
• Understand and acknowledge the histories, heritages, languages and cultures of partners to Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
• Practise and develop the use of te reo and tikanga Māori.

Reduce barriers to accessing Māori language and culture by normalising the language in the classroom, and discovering the links te reo and tikanga have globally.

Goal: Te Tiriti o Waitangi partnership

Te Tiriti o Waitangi partnership Reflection and Evidence

Week One Action Steps (5 – 9 September):

• Encourage ākonga to develop their confidence in using te reo Māori by simply using the language.
• Develop and/or find opportunities to encourage tikanga.
• Use picture books during “read & feed” to share stories that build Māori cultural knowledge.

Week One Evidence (Te Tiriti o Waitangi partnership):

• Took class to play “Whakarongo Mai Tamariki Mā” as a fun Friday afternoon activity. This didn’t go to plan. Friday afternoon, outside, windy, and discovering that the little understanding of Māori kupu my class has, doesn’t yet translate out of the context they learnt them. If I ask them what “e noho” means, they know. If I sing “Oma Rapeti” they know that oma means runs. But when playing the game most struggled. This has encouraged me to use te reo more consistently (although I seem to forever mix up “e tu” and “e noho”… which the kids love correcting me).
• Trying to find suitable picture books sent me down a glorious rabbit hole which I can continue to fall down
  • Books: Te Reo Māori Themes
  • Books: Matariki Themed
  • Books: Te Ao Māori Themes

Week One Reflection (Te Tiriti o Waitangi partnership):

How wonderful to be back in the classroom! Unfortunately my original action steps proved to be too large and lofty, so have also been adapted to be more explicit and realistic. Coinciding with upcoming te wiki o te reo Māori has helped bring the language into everyday use. Māori language usage is less common in Te Waipounamu than in Te Ika-a-Māui, so although my school does try to introduce tamariki to our language and culture, there is less experience in the wider school community. I need to completely re-evaluate my action steps to meet my goal, working towards a more “exploratory and reflective approach” to language and culture (278412, Massey: 2022)

Of course I am developing my own te reo knowledge, so I am able to share with ākonga that I too am on a learning journey and making a conscious effort to use more kupu casually.

Language is not, and should not be, the centre of all things Māori, or the measure of how we embrace the culture. However, as E-Tangata and others say each year as te wiki o te reo Māori comes around, the lack can cause those who whakapapa Māori to feel less connected if they cannot korero. Being aware of my privilege in having access to learn te reo Māori is something that needs to be treated with sensitivity.

In an environment where the language is limited, normalising its use is a step towards building stronger connection to the culture. Ensuring that all tamariki can enjoy te reo Māori helps enhance the mana of all tamariki in Aotearoa, particularly those who whakapapa Māori but have been disconnected. In this way we are able to bring the partnership into daily practice. As Pere is quoted as saying in Rameka (A Māori perspective of being and belonging, 2018) ‘language is the life line and sustenance of a culture’.

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Week Two Action Steps (12 – 16 September):

• Highlight the te reo Māori students already know
• Continue to use my limited reo in the playground and classroom
• Try to connect to siblings within school to build relationships
• Develop and/or find opportunities to encourage tikanga
• Use picture books during “read & feed” to share stories that build Māori cultural knowledge

Week Two Evidence (Te Tiriti o Waitangi partnership):

• Working in whole school activities such as my te reo sessions or CARE time provides opportunities to recognise whanau, siblings and build connections.
• During duty and with whole school activities I have been able to encourage tuakana–teina relationships, although this is already part of the school culture so easy to support and encourage
• Singing Tēnā Koutou almost daily after introducing the class to this song in 1a – it’s a beautiful calming song that I have started using on the mat

Week Two Reflection (Te Tiriti o Waitangi partnership):

In my te reo Māori sessions I’ve been talking about other languages, asking ākonga how many languages they know at least one word in, in order to “Develop an exploratory and reflective approach to culture and culture in language in your classroom.” (Massey University. 2022). In one group I welcomed them, Haere mai, e noho! Then said “Kia ora… who knows a little Māori”, and was shocked when 1/4 of the class didn’t put their hand up. There seems to be a huge disconnect between knowing Māori kupu and realising they are Māori words. While I had expected that ākonga would know more reo than they realised, I have been thrown by how little they really do know – and this has meant changing lesson plans on the fly.

My own background knowledge comes from schooling where it was acknowledged that Māori children were beaten for being Māori (Healing Our History, 2012), and there was active attempts to bring reconnection.

I am at a loss around how to counter the students that are staunchly opposed to learning the language (although they are my best/most engaged students), while building an enthusiasm for the language and ensuring that other students don’t feel invalidated by comments.

However, working in mixed class “whanau” groups has been wonderful to really bring the tuakana–teina relationships into the classroom.

Have I achieved my goals? What steps should I take? Do I need to adjust my goals to suit my emerging teaching style and philosophy?

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Week Three Action Steps (19 – 23 September):

• Keep reminding ākonga they are unique learners with a knowledge of te reo Māori and tikanga Māori
• Keep singing Tena Koutou and Tutira Mai Nga Iwi
• Reduce barriers to accessing Māori language and culture by normalising the language in the classroom, and discovering the links te reo and tikanga have globally.

Week Three Evidence (Te Tiriti o Waitangi partnership):

• Ngā Mahi Pārekareka kei te Marae | Fun at the Marae Story providing the right low-floor entry point for learners to connect to their understanding of Māoridom.
• Ākonga excited to learn wehi/string games, and could discuss how Māori and Pacific Islanders might have made them, and what use they might be.
• Ākonga thrilled to show new patterns they had learnt at home from elders (bringing whanau interaction into schooling)
• When I start softly singing Tutira Mai Nga Iwi while we’re settling on the mat, all ākonga rush to settle and join in the singing.
• Reading te ao Māori books:
  • How my Koro Became a Star
  • Ngā Mahi Pārekareka kei te Marae | Fun at the Marae by Alice Patrick

Week Three Reflection (Te Tiriti o Waitangi partnership):

Final te reo sessions were a great success. I have been surprised at how little reo my ākongo had, but I am happy to have been able to encourage their desire to learn, and finally found the right level to teach at in order to start building that critical base. This has been a learning experience that saw a lot of trial and error to find the right method of teaching and the right area of teaching. Working with unfamiliar ākonga in whanau units has been wonderful to develop relationships with the wider school community, but was a very step learning curve as a teacher.

While I adjusted my original lesson plan before delivering to create what I thought was an easy entry point for all learners, it took three sessions to actually find the right entry level. The reflection on this particular lesson plan has gone from lofty ideas that were effectively me bringing out the reo knowledge students already had and bestowing them with my permission to use it, to finding a genuine connection of shared knowledge and building a solid foundation of appreciation of Māori culture, language and tikanga.

Using wool loops and showing two of my four whanau groups how to play whai/string games/cats cradle was not just an enjoyable exercise, but brought so many experiences. Building the tuakana–teina relationship in class was not unexpected, but the most delightful occurrence was the day after when so many raced up “Ms Macdonald, Ms Macdonald, look what my nana/mum/auntie showed me!”. It was wonderful to see the new things they’ve learnt, and that it was something that they could create a connection between school and home with. They were then thrilled to share this new knowledge with other tamariki (my sympathies to my colleagues who spent a day requested all pink wool be put away now). To me THIS is how we embrace Whanaungatanga and Tangata Whenuatanga (Tātaiako. Ministry of Education. 2011)

Have I achieved my goals? What steps should I take? Do I need to adjust my goals to suit my emerging teaching style and philosophy?

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Week Four Action Steps (27 – 30 September):

• Keep reminding ākonga they are unique learners with a knowledge of te reo Māori and tikanga Māori, seek out opportunities to show this
• Keep singing Tena Koutou and Tutira Mai Nga Iwi
• Keep reading books that build understanding of te ao Māori

Week Four Evidence (Te Tiriti o Waitangi partnership):

• Building tuakana–teina relationships inside the classroom by encouraging those that finish early to help others rather than moving on to free time or other activities
• “Killing time” by singing songs while waiting to be able to enter the classroom: tena koutou, tutira mai nga iwi, Tirama tirama etc – some ākonga are excited to have the background knowledge of te reo Māori songs from ECE activated
• Reading te ao Māori books:
  • How my Koro Became a Star
  • Taniwha by Robyn Kahukiwa
  • Ngā Mahi Pārekareka kei te Marae | Fun at the Marae – by Alice Patrick
• Able to participate in Bob Bickerton “performance” demonstrating Māori instrumentation and traditional stories.

Week Four Reflection (Te Tiriti o Waitangi partnership):

As I continue thinking about the ways in which I can promote te ao Māori I have started noticing how many reo resources are available and being used in the school and the classroom. The ability to bolster Māori ākonga is there, but I need to work on doing this consciously and with explicitness to ensure that what I am trying to express is not being misunderstood. One thing teaching te reo Māori taught me was that much of the language is ingrained into the “English” vocabulary to the point where many don’t necessarily associate it as being different – in much the same way that croissant is probably not thought of as a french word until much later.

One pākeha student thought playing whai would help make them Māori, highlighting a need to try to start establishing an understanding of self, even at this young age, and to build an awareness of others. My next steps are to understand pedagogical approaches that can help build this foundational knowledge. As Eke & Lee (Using talk effectively in the primary classroom, 2009) suggest “consistency in pedagogical approach that was the best indicator of good pupil progress”, as yet my pedagogical approach varies a lot depending on the lesson, and who I am teaching. While I am confident I have worked through many potential unconscious bias, developing a more solid understanding of pedagogy may help ensure that the practices I use are effective for all learners.

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PMI Chart

Positives	Challenges	Interesting
Knowing ākonga are engaging whanau with school activities	Resistance to learning te reo & tikanga Māori	Discovering how motivating being able to use playdough is
Building relationships with ākonga outside of my classroom	Managing defiance	Discussing upcoming curriculum changes in staff room
Finding connections to help individual learners “get” an area they were struggling with	Learning school procedures for injury and misbehaviour	Continuing to discover resources that excite me (and will hopefully excite learners)
Laughing with students and teachers, the pure joy of being in this school	Creating lessons plans that meet the needs of each student	Learning how to adjust a days schedule and change plans to suit weather, learners, and timeframes
Achieving an “ah-ha” moment in developing my lesson plans	Teaching whole class/group simultaneously as helping individual	The joy (and worthy bribe) a simple piece of string will bring an entire school

Record of Teaching

References:

A Māori perspective of being and belonging. (2018, October 24). Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 19(4), 367–378. https://doi.org/10.1177/1463949118808099

Burne-Field, S. (2021, May 1). This doesn’t make us less. E-Tangata. Retrieved September 24, 2022, from https://e-tangata.co.nz/reo/this-doesnt-make-us-less/

Consedine, J., & Consedine, R. (2012, March 28). Healing Our History: The Challenge of the Treaty of Waitangi. Penguin NZ.

Education Council. (2011). Tataiako: cultural competencies for teachers of Maori learners. https://teachingcouncil.nz/assets/Files/Code-and-Standards/Tataiako-cultural-competencies-for-teachers-of-Maori-learners.pdf

Eke, R. and Lee, J., 2009. Using talk effectively in the primary classroom. London: Routledge

Massey University. (2022). Sound second language teaching principles. Curriculum and Pedagogy A. https://stream.massey.ac.nz/mod/book/view.php?id=3838234&chapterid=1045610\

Massey University. (2022) Learning Intentions & Success Criteria. Curriculum and Pedagogy A. https://stream.massey.ac.nz/mod/book/view.php?id=3989259&chapterid=981481

Ministry of Education. (2021, April). Principles and actions that underpin effective teaching in languages. Senior Secondary TKI. https://seniorsecondary.tki.org.nz/Learning-languages/Pedagogy/Principles-and-actions

Stuff.co.nz. (2020, September 19). There is no shame in not being able to speak te reo Māori. Stuff. Retrieved September 24, 2022, from https://www.stuff.co.nz/pou-tiaki/te-reo-maori/300109589/there-is-no-shame-in-not-being-able-to-speak-te-reo-mori

Tompkins, G., Campbell, R., & Green, D. (2019). Literacy for the 21st century: A balanced approach (3rd  edition). Melbourne, Australia: Pearson Australia.

Van de Walle, J. A., Brown, E. T., Karp, K., Wray, J. A., & Bay-Williams, J. M. (2019). Elementary and middle school mathematics : teaching developmentally (Tenth edition). Pearson.