Poipoia te kakano kia puawai 

Nurture the seed and it will blossom 

A way into a culturally responsive inquiry

~ Alana Madgwick & Peter Boyle

Secondary Literacy Project hui February 2011

Today  ….

... intend to explore two resources that could support a school to start a culturally responsive inquiry into Māori learners.

Two ‘documents’ of qualities and characteristics

Students:‘Te Ahua o te Akonga ka Puta - Graduate Profile

Teachers:Registered Teacher Criteria

These can lead to ….These

‘Te Ahua o te Akonga ka Puta - Graduate Profile

Te Marautanga o Aotearoa

•High levels of socio-economic success

•Wide range of career choices

•Wide range of life skills

What is ONE criteria that your focus teachers could explore as part of their inquiry into a culturally responsive classroom?

Teacher positioning Ako

Know the Learner

Culturally Responsive Practice

Effective Pedagogy         &         sense of ‘agency’NZC  pp.34-35)       (Te Kotahitanga)

Create supportive learning environment.Encourage reflective thought & action.Enhance relevance of new learning.Facilitate shared learning.Making connections to prior knowledge.Provide sufficient learning opportunities.Explore teaching-learning Inquiry model.

Teacher response to build effective relationships. Teacher knows students.Teacher change (planning, resources to meet student needs).No deficit positioning (blame). Instead, explore ways to overcome ‘barriers’.

Teacher positioning

• ethnicity•  significance of name•  whanau / hapu / iwi / genealogy• Beliefs/spirituality•  male – female learning •  different approaches to learning•  literacy / numeracy / best subjects• Literacy in home language(s)•  strengths / ‘gifts’ •  interests, sports, music, etc•  Anything else that is necessary

Know the Learner

Teachers gather ‘data’ from above to inform and drive programme planning, choice of resources & strategies, etc.  ( The  Inquiry  model).  .

Ako“… knowing, respecting and valuing who students are, where they come from and building on what they bring with them.”

“… students, whanau, hapu, iwi and educators sharing knowledge and expertise with each other…”

“Culture and education are inextricably interwoven …  Māori children and students are more likely to achieve when they see themselves, their whanau … reflected in the teaching content and environment …”

‘Ako’ is based on a sense of reciprocity in the learning relationship.

There will be times when the teacher is the learner and the learner is teacher.

Teacher positioning is planning for/co-constructing ways where students can bring their expertise to the learning, as experts in:

Māori culture, Samoan culture, Sikh culture, their gender, their adolescent culture, etc.

That is – how students define themselves.  

So what’s effective culturallyresponsive practice?

CaringRespectEmpathyDesire to enthuse

Passion to motivateBelief in their abilityPatience & perseverance

Knowing studentsEvidence basedInquiry drivenHigh expectationsValue & use prior knowledgeUsing rich topicsSense of ‘agency’ for change

Students as experts of their culture.Students see themselves reflected in the learning.Students are valued as ‘cultural’ beings. Respecting what they bring and building from this.

Registered Teacher Criteria

‘Pipis in the pot’Decantation

Evaporation

Filtering / filtration

Displacement !!

Extraction

““Koro’s story”Koro’s story”

100% completion (in pairs)100% completion (in pairs) better results that 9TA class for this topicbetter results that 9TA class for this topic

Teacher positioning Ako

Know the Learner

Culturally Responsive Practice

Ka mutuKa mutu