Sally Avern's Professional Journey

Rumaki = Immersion The plan for Park Estate School: TEACHERS Beginning in a week, have rumaki for the fist 5 mins of morning tea everyday.  (starting with baby steps).  For those 5 mins we will have to try and ONLY use te reo. That means if we can't say it- we need to try and work out how. GOAL: To have everyone using some te reo in conversation during kai te wa at P.E.S.  Giving it a go being the focus. Not fluent or perfect, but to remove the fear of trying. REWARDS: There will be biscuits available during rumaki time in the staffroom. Once rumaki is over, the biscuits disappear- hopefully this will entice some attendance- f we need to extend it to 10 mins, great. RESOURCES :  I have already made some labels/ sentences I know we will be needing to start with, then soon we can add/change them as we get better.  I will also bring in the phrase book. BUY IN: Hopefully the staff at P.E.S value the identity and language of our Maori tamariki enoug...

It takes 1 generation to lose a language and 3 to get it back. The secret to revitalisation is intergenerational language use.  (As a school teacher, what is my role in this step?- to assist the students to be more comfortable to use and learn it- they might be generation number 1?) MY JOURNEY- Focus on yourself and build from there. Support system: teachers and students at school. 25 year goal: have my students confidently speaking bilingually. TE REO MEANS TO ME- future of the students identity marker toanga identity revival UNESCO standards for judging a languages level of use: all of them come out as close to extinction. The language will never be 'lost' because it is written down- but it will be extinct soon if we can't get more than 2% of Nz using it. Just Korero More, just use what we have: DO NOT WORRY ABOUT PARTICLES OR SCREWING UP- Just give it a go. 5 Key elements of Language Planning: 1:Value --> give it Mana, what is your group in to? How...

referred to your writing from previously- would have been better if I had of focused on a particular piece of writing so that I could have used that to mention the types of information. The model used was from this week, I thought that they would have read it by then already but they hadn't, needed to use something they were familiar with.  I made the contextual load high because they didn't know the paper. If I used the model that we used for their writing previously and planned information to add, it would have been easier to discuss the way of the revising and then could have used the model/ more effectively.  Showing them the types of information to add. I wish I had of made/ used an incomplete chart of conjunctions for this group and then added the last column later. This is where the differentiation would have really helped. This kids got the how, which was great. But they didn't understand the why or when. I am not going to be able to say later- go and add more...

Week 25 During Week 1, I shared the action plan with leaders at my school and my students. Week 2 I collected baseline data from my class in terms of giving and receiving feedback, as well as qualitative information on their writing skills. Since Week 1 the classroom culture has been built around supporting learning, as well as the vocab that is necessary for feedback facilitation (what is SC etc).  Week 3 saw the collaborative teacher construction of the format for feedback and the introduction of this format to two groups of students separately. I have not shared my intentions yet with whanau as planned, it is within my job description already that I track data and record lessons for my practice. The only reason I saw to share with these people to have more critical eyes on my teaching and learning.  I do believe in building a supportive learning environment and including parents. Consequently, as Ann Milne suggests, to gain the trust and respect of my...

What is happening? I am trying very hard to make kaupapa and Māori knowledge important in my classroom. I incorporate a whakatauki in our learning to integrate into our reading program and to underpin our class culture. We use kupu, nga tau, and the students and I try hard to weave both reo and kaupapa into our teaching and learning. Part of this though is thinking about whose knowledge is important, and thinking of my students as cultural beings. Not just as Māori, but as members of our community. Dr Anne Milne, asks, is their cultural identity embedded into every aspect of the school day, no matter the subject, etc? It needs to be "modelled by those in leadership roles". In my class I am in a leadership role, and I am trying to embed cultural identity into everything.  But I am on the outside. I want to use more opportunities to find out and learn. There is one incredibly obvious step I can take, although it could be perhaps seen as a 'token' effort. I need to...

Start with the topic- then add Te Reo, Work out what you are doing, work out the words and then move on from there. You just need the topic and then the level, how do you intergrate into the topics you are doing. topic brainstorm- translate level 3- incorporate the holistic view of everything.  and continue to tranlsate... where is the stroy told by, Maori perspective is important so that the kids know why some scientific ideas match and don't match up. Make it Multi modal for them, just now if Te Reo. Do it with Te Reo. Do a form and quiz them, form it, add a gif. :) We have a pepeha that is gifted from Ta Mahao ho Where is our Haka? Can we keep learning it. We are allowed to add to our Haka and to keep learning it.  They can own it. Know the structure of the whaikorero so that they know where you are from not just by the words, but also by the idiosyncracies. ko Pukeokiwiriki o te awa te manukanuka.

What exactly is it I want to celebrate? This term we have been focusing on Kia Kaha as a way to create a more positive school culture and to extinguish any power imbalances that exist between the students.  Prior to the programme we had a discussion about the importance of community in the Maori culture and how whakapapa is at the forefront of Maori life, as well as hauora as a model of well being. This was just done as a surface idea and quite briefly. But I am trying to be more culturally responsive and use the little I do know to peak interest in the students.    As part of this program we have been looking into the outcomes of bullying and the emotions/ harm that can come to those being victimised.  In doing so I have become more aware of their emotions and their ability to articulate their feelings. Because of this when dealing with a fight I have begun using restorative justice properly.   What specifically about this achievement is it th...