Week 28:  Indigenous Knowledge and Cultural Responsiveness

Russell Bishop in his EDTalk about culturally responsive pedagogy talks not about child centred education, but relationship centred education, where the relationship is central to the educational performance of the student.  Truly and honestly caring for our children, and caring that they learn is the key.

The children at our school come from at least 21 different countries, different cultures, different languages, different lenses to the world.  Our melting pot is made up of children who  are European (45%), Maori (21%), Asian, mostly Filipino and Indian (22%), Pasifika (9%), and other ethnicities (3%).  Our school takes much pride in celebrating our cultural diversity, and in particular our Maori heritage, culture and language.

Ferguson (2010) explains how John Te Rangianiwaniwa Rangihau, a Maori scholar spoke of the importance of Te Reo as being the essence of the culture. ‘Ko te reo te poutāwha e iri ai ngā tāonga katoa ā kui mā ā koro mā’ or ‘The language is the storehouse that holds all the treasures of our ancestors’ (p. 67).

I have worked at my school for almost nine years ago, and I’m proud to say that during that time a lot of effort has gone into strengthening the focus on our Maori learners, ensuring that they have access to many opportunities to gain success.  

A quarter of our students, 110 in all, are members of the kapa haka group and practices are seen as of such importance that they occur during school time every Thursday afternoon.  The children perform at school masses, assemblies, citizenship ceremonies and at the annual Ahurei concert, and they are currently over the moon with pride about their beautiful new uniforms.

We have a very strong Whanau Roopu, who have been a tremendous support to our school leaders, staff, students and the whole community.  They have been instrumental in providing opportunities for Professional Development for staff and supporting our lead teacher in Maori, along with our kaumatua, Rangi, and Matua Koro. They have also assisted in the celebrations of Matariki and Maori Language Week.  Our Maori community have worked hard to strengthen the presence of Maori language and culture in the school, and we are blessed to have them.

We celebrate the achievement of our Maori learners, through various means such as the weekly Principal’s Award, culminating in awards for Maori Boy and Maori Girl of the Year.  Many aspire to this throughout the year.

Partnerships between whanau and school are made stronger through a variety of initiatives such as the Reading Together programme, the homework club, and of course, through school events, such as our annual cultural dinner.

All of these activities are wonderful and add to the richness of our school.  However, it is the genuine relationships that occur between students, teachers and whanau that make the most impact on our Maori learners.  It is the reciprocity of learning, where both students and teachers have something to offer each other, and feel valued by each other.  It is the chance to see through the lens of our Maori children that matters. I believe that our Special Character ensures that these things are possible.  Our school’s values and culture mean that there is a genuine caring for each other.  And our church allows us access to another part of these children’s lives, along with the opportunity to build relationships with their whanau.

As a librarian, I ensure that signage is in Te Reo, that there are Maori books galore, and that there are cultural references to ensure that the children feel ‘at home’. My student librarians are a treasure to me, my taonga, and my relationship with these children is one of respect, love, and enjoyment.  I love nothing more than to see them flourish in their roles, and most especially foster those Tuakana-teina relationships between themselves and the children they help in the library.

So, when you boil it all down, what is really important are these things:

• Knowing our kids
• Knowing their whanau
• Understanding and celebrating their culture
• Truly making an effort, and
• Caring, caring, caring.

References

Bishop. R., Berryman, M., Cavanagh, T. & Teddy, L. (2009).Te Kotahitanga: Addressing educational disparities facing Māori students in New Zealand. Teaching and Teacher Education, 25(5),734–742.

Edtalks.(2012, September 23). A culturally responsive pedagogy of relations. [video file].Retrieved from https://vimeo.com/49992994

ERO Report 2015 Retrieved from http://www.ero.govt.nz/review-reports/st-marys-catholic-school-rotorua-02-03-2015/

Ferguson, S. L. (2010). Mai i te Whenua ki te Rangi-Transferring Māori pedagogical practices into cyberspace. Sites: a journal of social anthropology and cultural studies, 7(1), 65-77.

Week 27 - The Broader Professional Context

Integrating Technology into Teacher Education

In order to prepare our children for the technology driven world, our teachers need to be tech savvy.  With the world at our fingertips, via the internet, teachers are no longer the keepers of all knowledge, dispensing information according to their course plan, with ultimate control over who learns what when.  

In this changing world, teachers need to be mentors to their students, guiding, facilitating, problem solving with the children, and giving them the freedom to learn in a student centred way.  With the increasing availability of digital tools, students are more able to learn about the things that interest and engage them, with the autonomy to choose when and where their learning happens, and the ability to collaborate with others and create their own knowledge.  This provides students with deeper learning opportunities.

So, how does this happen?  How do the teachers acquire the knowledge, skills and confidence to make this happen, to teach our children the skills necessary for the 21st Century?    Teachers need education in this area, just as students do.  The early adopters are keen to just get in there, try things out, and learn by doing it, but many do not have the confidence to do this, and therefore, effective professional development, both for pre-service and practicing teachers, is key.  

As outlined in the NMC Horizon Report (2015), the Norwegian SMILE project found that “the level of a teacher’s digital competence correlates directly with students’ learning outcomes when technology is used”.  We’ve got to get it right.

Blended learning, “the integration of technology into teaching and learning” (Parsons, 2011,  p.xiv) is now common practice within tertiary institutions and is the standard mode of delivery for teacher education in New Zealand.  Trainee teachers, therefore, gain an understanding of the value of technology in education through their own learning.  But how do they transfer this to their own classrooms, and how do they discover the best tools to use, amongst the overwhelmingly enormous selection available?  Part of the solution is through education along the lines of our Mind Lab learning.  Not only have we had the privilege of checking out the best digital tools, gaining an appreciation of how powerful they can be in giving our children a rich education, but we have also come to understand that these technology skills go hand in hand with the nurturing of 21st century skills and our own leadership and reflective practice, in preparing our students for the world ahead.

I am most interested in this issue, because next year I intend to embark on the journey to become a teacher myself.  As a librarian, I am an educator, but the time has come for me to take the leap into becoming a teacher. I know that because of my learning through the Mind Lab,  I will have something of a headstart in my teacher education. What I would truly like to see is the type of material that we have learnt this year being part of the education of all teachers, whether pre-service or practicing.  This can only be of benefit to our students.

References

Parsons, D. (2011). Foreword. In A. Kitchenham (Ed.) Models for Interdisciplinary Mobile Learning: Delivering Information to Students. Hershey, PA: IGI Global.

Johnson, L., Adams Becker, S., Estrada, V., & Freeman, A. (2015). The NMC Horizon Report: 2015 Museum Edition. New Media Consortium. 6101 West Courtyard Drive Building One Suite 100, Austin, TX 78730.  Retrieved from http://cdn.nmc.org/media/2015-nmc-horizon-report-k12-EN.pdf

Week 26 - Professional Context

Stoll (1998) identifies organisational culture as the invisible powerful force that influences the members’ behaviour.  A school’s culture is shaped by a number of factors such as the school history, the background of its students, national educational policies, and societal changes.  

Because we are a state-integrated Catholic school we draw from a wide geographical location.  This means that we don’t necessarily have data regarding the socioeconomic status of our families but we do know that they range from affluent families to those with very low incomes.  The school’s maximum roll is 450 students, we are rated Decile 6, and the climate of the school is welcoming and busy. Being a multicultural school means that we have a very clear idea of the ethnic backgrounds of our children, with 45% of our children being European, 21% Maori, 22% Asian (mostly Filipino and Indian), 9% Pasifika, and 3% other.  We celebrate our melting pot, and try very hard to ensure that each student feels valued, and ‘at home’. We fly the flags of their countries, and we have a number of school community groups - Whanau Ropu, Pasifika Fono, Filipino group and an Indian group - which allow us to build partnerships with these communities within our school, to understand what is important to them, and to ensure that we are meeting the needs of their children.  

It is our special character though, that permeates every aspect of our school.  Our vision is “with Christ at our centre, we are a community of learners who are striving to develop confident, connected, actively involved life-long learners”.  The special character is the very reason that many parents send their children to our school.  Not only is it integrated into all aspects of our school’s learning, the daily timetable and its physical environment, but it is simply a part of us all.  It is the lens through which we view the world, and it is “the way we do things around here” (Stoll, 1998).  We begin and end the day with prayer, we attend school masses and liturgies and we see  physical representations of special character everywhere - altars, crucifixes, holy pictures, and outside each classroom are inspirational words of our founder, Mary MacKillop, Saint Mary of the Cross.  All of this contributes to the fabric of our children’s values based education.

Our principal talks of striving for a culture of inclusiveness, where all children have the same opportunities as their peers, regardless of income, ethnicity and achievement levels.  If a child is unable to afford sports fees or equipment, or camp fees, ICT devices or books, we somehow make it happen.  The school owns a number of devices for use in classrooms, so that those children who do not own their own Chromebook are able to learn seamlessly with their peers.  We are blessed with a community that generously helps each other out.  If a family is in need, there is always an outpouring of food, funds or furniture to assist.  As the school librarian, I can always find books to give to those children with few books at home.

Ed Dunkelblau, Director of the Institute for Emotionally Intelligent Learning says that culture and climate are largely created by the people within the school.  Because the staff are a constant, relative to the students, they tend to have a far greater input into the culture and climate of a school, and as such greater responsibility for intentionally ensuring its positivity.

Within our school, the professional environment is one which values learning.  We are all learners, and the staff, lead by the principal, strive to keep up to date and continue to grow and improve professionally. At times, I have seen our teaching staff feeling somewhat overwhelmed with learning and PD, and would appreciate more time to further embed any new learnings.  But they are a dedicated group and usually rise to the occasion. Staff are very supportive of each other, and ‘rally round’ when the need arises. Our staff room is noisy and often full of laughter.  At present the middle school operates in innovative learning environments, and by the end of next year the junior school will too.  Added to this, with nine staff members studying through the Mind Lab, the culture of collaboration is growing strong with staff willingly sharing ideas, resources and successes.

I believe that the culture of our school plays an enormous role in its success - in its achievement rates, in its ability to attract students and in its capacity to create a very stable, productive and dedicated staff.

References

St Mary’s Catholic School Charter (2016).

Stoll, L. (1998). School Culture. School Improvement Network’s Bulletin 9. Institute of Education, University of London. Retrieved from http://www.educationalleaders.govt.nz/Culture/Understanding-school-cultures/School-Culture  

What is School Climate and Culture? Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-_NvhlcusQ

Week 25 - Communities of Practice

Wenger, McDermott and Snyder (2002) define communities of practice  as ‘groups of people who share a concern, a set of problems, or a passion about a topic, and who deepen their knowledge and expertise by interacting on an ongoing basis’ (p. 4)

With common goals and interests, these groups share practices, tools and technologies, beliefs, language and stories, and it is through the sharing of these things that they learn and build competencies, both individually and as a community.

I think, like most people, I am part of several communities of practice - both personal and professional.  

I have always felt that my personal communities of practice - particularly my quilting group - bring a deep richness to my life, and offer opportunities for learning, bringing in of experts, sharing of experiences, the bouncing of ideas, support when needed and celebrations galore, all amidst much laughter, passionate conversation and constant upskilling.

Through my reflections on this topic, I have come to realise that my professional communities of practice also offer a similar richness, but within a very different context.  

As an educator I am involved in a number of communities, such as my Mind Lab study group and various informal groups within my school.  As a librarian, my most rewarding community of practice is my local Rotorua Library Network which is organised through the National Library.  

Our community comprises librarians throughout the Rotorua area, and although we all work within different environments (e.g. primary, rural and secondary schools, the district library children’s area) we all share a common interest, a joint enterprise or as Wenger and Trayner term it, a common domain.  We are all librarians with a vision for engaging our children with excellent library services through our competence, knowledge and resources.

We meet every term and we share hosting duties, which enables us all to see other’s libraries, to see, touch and feel the vision that other librarians have within their own environments.  Each meeting focuses on a particular area of our practice, such as technology tools or the use of non-fiction resources, and the participants come armed with ideas, resources and questions surrounding the focus area.  We share stories and innovations, and problem solve together.  We build our competency through our interactions with each other.  This is what Wenger and Trayner call community, or mutual engagement.

Through our meetings, our community has created a shared practice, in which we have built and continue to build and share a repertoire of tools, resources, and ideas.  We invite experts in when we need them, to ensure continued learning, and when opportunities arise, such as an author visit to our school, it is the other members of the community that we invite to enjoy the experience.   It is this sustained sharing over time that ensures the effectiveness and longevity of our community of practice.

This community of practice has become so important to me and my practice.  Being a librarian within a school, although well supported, can at times be isolating.  I am not part of a team of teachers, or teacher aides, or administration staff.  There is no one to bounce library related issues and ideas off.  When I first joined the group almost eight years ago, I was something of a ‘lurker’ at the meetings, soaking it all up, but over time, with experience and confidence in my own abilities I am more willing and able to contribute. I have often taken back to my own practice, ideas that have arisen through this group.  For example, I have instituted a very successful holiday reading programme within our school, following a meeting during which experts were invited to speak about the summer reading slide, which can be very detrimental to a child’s reading achievement and progress.  This meeting sparked a passion in me, as many of the meetings do. After implementing our reading programme I then took it back to the group along with the resources I had created, and shared my experiences with my library colleagues. And that is what it is all about - the relationships and meetings with those who share competence and commitment feel good, they’re mentally stimulating, they light up my brain, and I come away feeling invigorated. And I take that all back to my own library.

Now that’s a great community of practice!

References:

Introduction to communities of practice. Retrieved September 3, 2016, from http://wenger-trayner.com/introduction-to-communities-of-practice/

Wenger, E. (2000). Communities of practice and social learning systems.Organization, 7(2), 225-246.

Wenger, E., McDermott, R. A., & Snyder, W. (2002). Cultivating communities of practice: A guide to managing knowledge. Harvard Business Press.