Bursts & Bubbles 2021

 Hi All,

Here's my Bursts & Bubbles presentation from this year. Enjoy my CoL inquiry summarised in 3minutes.

Malo

Blogpost #10 - Restate your inquiry question...

 Restate your inquiry question and your theory of action/chain of events

Inquiry Question: 

Can we make accelerated shifts in literacy through teaching Identity & Cultural Competencies?

Chain of events:

1. Planned our project (The PASHISKA WAY - A cultural experience to remember)
2. Unpack what learning will take place (Boys tasks: Write a proposal to Mr Herlihy explaining the project and asking for financial support, create invitations for whanau and Senior Syndicate teachers, create a menu featuring cultural dishes from each members ethnic background and write out the recipe/identify ingredients, create mash-up performance to perform on the day
3. Meet 3-4 times a week with the boys to follow-up on progress of the project
4. Launch/Host project in Week 9 of Term 3

Unfortunately, due to covid-19 and the nationwide lockdown, The PASHISHKA way project was put on hold.

Describe how you will collect information about the implementation of your changed practices/intervention

• When meeting with the boys, plan what the following week would look like. Often I would make reflections and anecdotal notes in my planning that specified what we worked on and what our next steps were
• Student Voice - a powerful tool that kept the 'fire' or 'mana' of this project going. The boys were so engaged, they would remind me of meeting times. There was one day the boys really wanted to go to the library to find a Pacific recipes book to help them with decide on which dish was the easiest to make. This came up during maths learning and I didn't want to 'downplay' or 'ruin the moment'. So I took the class to the library (luckily, it was free) and continued with our learning in there while the boys tracked down their recipe book.
• Blogging & Teacher reflections

Identify informal and formal ways you are monitoring the effects of your changed practices/intervention on learner outcomes. 

Explain the reflections and tweaks you are making along the way

The biggest struggle for me right now is lockdown and getting hold of my PASHISKA boys. For the last couple of weeks of online learning, none of my target students have attended the calls. I have sent parents text messages and composed emails to my students, but still no response.

I am trying to stay positive, in hopes that I will get hold of the boys soon so we can plan a google meet call to check in on everyone and talanoa about a plan B for our project. Everything was slowly falling into place pre-lockdown. 

I have been in talanoa with Poto Faalili and Dorothy Apelu about their inquiries and the progress of it all. It seems we are all in a similar waka with our intervention coming to a stand still. We have  discussing ways on how we could try keep the 'engagement' and 'momemtum' going from our students.

One things for sure, we are not giving up! We are trying to reach out to our tamariki!

Lockdown Learning and the difficulties that come with it...

After our CoL PLG meeting last week, I couldn't help but think about my next steps for my CoL inquiry.

We're back to online learning and we as teachers know the impacts of how this can be difficult for some of our learners.

My target group a.k.a THE PASHISKA BOYS were so amped, so passionate and enthusiastic about our PASHISKA WAY project. So, to break it down, my intervention design was project based. This idea was initiated by myself, due to it being effective last year. The only difference is, my boys were planning everything this year.

The intervention was to launch the project in Week 9 where the boys would host their whanau, our classroom and our principals to what they call "THE PASHISKA WAY". The boys planned to use the last block of a Thursday afternoon (23rd September) to prepare an island feast for the guests and perform for them as a form of entertaining the guests while they enjoy their food. The performance was going to be a mash-up of cultural dances from the Cook Islands, Tonga and Aotearoa - where the boys were from.

Planning the intervention involved:

-the boys writing a proposal of their project to Mr Herlihy

-a letter asking for funding to Mr Herlihy (again)

-brainstorming what the day would look like

-researching recipes of what food to make

-writing a letter to parents/caregivers

-dance practices during lunch break

-meeting with myself x3 a week to share what they had come up with and discuss our next-steps.

Come Week 4 of this term, NZ goes into a nation-wide lockdown. The intervention was put on hold.

To keep the energy and motivation - I endeavoured to meet with the 6 boys online, separate to our class sessions. First meeting was meant to be yesterday via google meets. Only one student responded. It's disheartening because I know it's out of our control.

My goal is to try and meet with the boys online. Talanoa about ideas and ways we could continue the project. Could it still work? Is there a next step?

This intervention is driven by the learners, it's authentic and it allows the teacher to step aside and let the learners show their full potential and what they're capable of. These boys are not at the curriculum level they should be working on, but this project provided opportunities for the students to WRITE, BRAINSTORM, TALANOA, RESEARCH & PLAN something that was meaningful and valued by them.

A couple of years ago, I had real success with my group of boys I worked with for my CoL inquiry. The first time I met with the Pashiska boys last term, it only felt right to share my 2018 success story with them. I shared my presentation with them, showed them pieces of writing produced by those boys in the beginning of 2018 and at the end of 2018. I wish I had a camera to snap the reaction from the PASHISKA boys. This was how I hooked my target group in to my 2021 CoL inquiry.

Lockdown Reading Reflection...

 Title of Book/Reading/Study Programme

Finding your voice in a digital world

Author/s or Lecturer/s or Speaker/s

Core Education Blog post - Kit Haines - Head of English at Kelston Boy's High School

Synopsis

The mana behind Talanoa. A powerful tool that ALL teachers could implement into their classroom/google meet sessions.

I am an avid advocate for Talanoa. I use this framework in my classroom on a daily basis because I know how significant it is. It provides an opportunity to share stories and personal experiences with each other (Teacher-student). Talanoa in Room 11 (in the classroom and on google meets) is a philosophy that my students and I live by.

The word 'talanoa' is a daily occurrence in my household. Growing up I was oblivious to why my grandparents house was always a 'meeting spot' for the extended family. There was a never a day my grandparents 4 bedroom statehouse in Massey was vacant. I would wake up to the sound of laughter and the polyphonic tone of voices coming from the living area. I remember the daily feeds, non-stop requests for a 'hot cup of tea' and the late night singing. 

Decades later, as a postgraduate tertiary student, I'd hear my lecturers talking about the notion of 'Talanoa'. It became a word I'd hear in most of my classes. We even role played what talanoa would look like and guess what? I used it as a methodology for my Masters paper. 

It finally dawned on me why my grandparents house was a place of gathering. Why I'm so close with my huge Tongan extended family. Why it's important to be hospitable and that it shouldn't be a burden to serve others. Because it's part of TALANOA. As Kit pointed out in his post "...talanoa is as much about journeying through conversation together as it is the destination".

Haines (2021) identified 4 attributes that make 'talanoa' meaningful and rich: 'Ofa, Mālie, Mafana & Faka'apa'apa. All 4 attributes indigenous to the Tongan way of living, written and researched by my aunty Dr.Linita Manu'atu in 2002. A respected academic who contributed to developing the Talanoa Model. The literal translations of these words are as follows: 'Ofa = Love, Mālie = Enjoyable/Humourous, Mafana = Warming & Faka'apa'apa = Respectful. Talanoa is not talanoa if one of these 4 traits are missing. 

I can relate to Haines findings because similar occurrences happen in my own classroom setting. 

OFA

When we talanoa, we talanoa about whatever comes to my learners minds. It's an opportunity for all to speak and listen to each other. They absolutely love this. The students are comfortable to open up and talk and it's an unexplainable atmosphere. It took some time to develop this vā and it made me realise the importance of teachers giving the learner space and time to find that 'moment' to share their stories. Yes, there were moments where I had the same students speak and some did not speak at all. But at this very moment, I can say that every learner of R11 has spoken in our talanoa sessions.

MĀLIE

I think I'm funny. My students are funny. We're like a happy family lol. I can guarantee you that every recording I have includes moments of laughter. It brings comfort and emphasises the realisation that we can be who we are without the 'cover-up'. The humour allows us to enjoy the talanoa and also each others' company. Humour breaks the awkward silent moments, whether instigated by myself or the students', it's good to know that we can take silly digs at each other and have a laugh about it. 

MAFANA

Talanoa has to 'hit the fatu'. Ofa and Mālie creates the warmth needed to bring mana to the talanoa. Mafana is unthreatening, it's an open forum where silence is ok and confrontational moments are not offensive. Mafana can either come from the deliverance of the speaker or felt through listening. It's about connection and familiarity with what's being said or heard. I believe Mafana comes to me when I share some of my personal stories with my students. They love hearing about High School because for most of them, they'll be in High School next year. I've shared some of my highs and lows of high school, the choices I made, the consequences I faced but most importantly, the lessons learnt and the accomplishments created. Being able to share things so dear to my heart was a mafana moment for me but also for my students, to hear that their teacher is 'human' after all.

FAKA'APA'APA

Respect is mutal in talanoa. Teachers give the same respect to the learners as they would expect from them. It involves listening, trust and open-ness. It's central to talanoa and is an expectation from the parties involved. Faka'apa'apa is given when I step back and share the stage with my learners and at the end of it, we can all stand together and take a bow because we did this, together!

However, I contradicted my own belief. Haines pointed out that teachers would usually begin their sessions by saying "Mute your mics" and I held my breath for a milli-second because I am guilty of this. I don't say it daily, but I have mentioned it to my kids a couple of times before. Where's the respect? Where's the trust that my learners can sit and listen and have their mics on? Haines reminded me that I should be providing opportunities for rich 'un-muted' conversations to take place.

So what next?

I could go on but, reflections become boring when they're too long to read. I enjoyed writing this reflection because the thought of my students and talanoa sessions in Room 11 would replay itself in my mind. What I need to do though, is continue to record our talanoa sessions. I use to stop recording, at my students request, I think they somehow had an understanding that recording our sessions meant we were being watched. Luckily Johanna came on, to remind them that the purpose of the recordings were for teachers to reflect on better their practice, not for management. I think the learners breathed a sigh of relief.

All in all, Let's continue to talanoa. It's a powerful tool, especially for our Maori/Pasifika and ethnic minority kids.

Blogpost #9 - My Journey so far...

My inquiry is FINALLY beginning to make sense. It's like someone trying to see their reflection in murky waters.

My inquiry this year focuses on something internal, raw, real, truthful. Yes, my focus is on Identity & Cultural competencies and my inquiry questions about "Accelerated Shift" in literacy through teaching in a more culturally responsive way...BUT, it still doesn't quite hit the nail on the head with what I really want to share.

I've been a CoL teacher for Glen Taylor since Term 3, 2018. Now, in 2021, the processes are beginning to make more sense to me. You create an inquiry question, plan and hypothesise how to achieve the question, begin your investigation/study, research it and present your findings at the end of the year. Then you repeat it the following year. But I think it's more than that. It takes more than testing and data collecting to change data results of students from Pacific backgrounds. I say this, because I was one.

If I think back to my primary years, testing was based on answering questions about something I was unfamiliar with. At times, I remember I had to write about 'skiing', and I had no idea what to write because I'd never touched snow before. 

But it was in Year 8, I remember when my South African teacher organised an 'international food day' and we all had to bring a cultural dish from home to share with our Syndicates. I remember standing at the front of the hall in my cultural attire, sharing, smiling and dancing away when the Tongan flag appeared on the screen and a Tongan song was playing in the background. The next day, we were told to write about the experience. I remember getting an 'excellent' for that piece of writing. I had a smile that painted my face that whole day.

That one experience had lived with me till now. This is what I do in my class with my kids. Restoring the faith in them that they are good 'writers' or 'readers'....but through a cultural approach.

I believe the teacher holds the key. If the teacher does not change their practice, then how can we expect a change/shift in student achievement? To teach our dominantly Pasifika & Maori students, you HAVE TO make a connection, and that comes from within.

Dr Rae Si'ilata stated at our Term 1 Teacher only Day, "English can never translate the depth of our Reo & Talanoa". 

We need to encourage our learners to come into the room with the voices that have raised and taught them. Privilege the native speaker, recognise the language and cultural resources. Teach through the medium of their languages.

This is why I decided my inquiry will focus on IDENTITY & CULTURAL COMPETENCIES. Rather than focusing on 1 particular learning area, I apply this practice in all learning areas in my class but because the criteria for CoL achievement challenges expects us to choose a learning area, I decided on literacy. Literacy provides the space for expression and story telling. It enables the learner to speak from the fatu or write to 'hit the fatu'. This is why I chose literacy as my subject of focus.

As teachers, it's important you understand your own distinctiveness, identity and culture in deep and meaningful ways in order to genuinely engage and respond to the distinctiveness, identity and culture of others. For young Maori and Pacific people in NZ, research shows that the stronger our cultural identity, the stronger our wellbeing is (Hawk et al, 2002). If we embrace and strengthen cultural identity, we strengthen our wellbeing. The more we teachers understand ourselves, the better we can understand our learners.

Documents being used & how: TAPASA & TATAIAKO 

• TURU 1: Identities, Languages and Culture - 
  
  • Use experts in the class all the time - use them as experts
  • Learn to pronounce my name correctly
  • Don’t be scared to ask the kids the questions.  
  • Learn greetings in our home language
  • Watch them before school or in the playground play and interact (especially Pasifika)- how to take it into learning programme.
  • Ask what they’d be doing at church time especially celebrations
  • Pg 7: number 2, not be frightened to get pronunciation wrong and show i’ve given it a go but follow up with the question of ‘have i pronounced that right’, can you help me.
  • Be out in the carpark and talking to families in the carpark, supermarkets.

• TURU 2: Collaborative and respectful relationships and professional behaviour

• Build relationships with Pasifika communities and cultural leaders.

• TURU 3:Effective Pacific pedagogies

• Observe, listen carefully and waited longer - don’t interrupt children’s thinking.

Blogpost #8 - June Blogging - Causal Chain

 What is a Causal Chain?

Any intervention you design will (consciously or not) be based on a causal chain you have in mind - this is your theory of action.

What is a “causal chain”?  67-69

A causal chain is when a cause leads to an effect and that effect becomes the cause of another effect

A leads to B. B leads to C. C leads to D.

Any intervention you design will (consciously or not) be based on a causal chain you have in mind - this is your theory of action.

After a good talanoa with a fellow CoL teacher at school, I created my causal chain. This process helped me validate my thinking behind my inquiry. It helped me because for a while now, I felt stuck and was clueless about what my next steps were. I admit, this is the first year I have identified a causal chain in reference to my inquiry. Once I had completed this step, I had more clarity and my inquiry began to make more sense. 

Blogpost #7 - Academic & Professional Readings...

Share three pieces of academic or professional reading and explain how they and other sources helped you form hypotheses about aspects of teaching that might contribute to current patterns of learning.

Inquiry Question: Can we make accelerated shifts in Literacy through teaching Identity and Cultural Competencies?

1. Difficulties relating to teaching and learning are derived largely from the kinds of conflicts that arise in the process of translating foreign ideas and the difficulty of conceptualising these ideas. Most of the content as well as the methods of our formal education systems have been and continue to be based on mainly western rather than indigenous systems.

As teachers we owe it to ourselves and our communities to look towards our cultures, (the contexts in which the task of educating future generations is carried out), for clues to some of the questions that vex us today. We need to share this cultural knowledge with those who come to us...so they too would better understand the context in which we work and which give us sustenance...

for we cannot let our silences

again keep us apart

mortgage our identity

or even sell our pride

we do not want to suffer pain

privately at the end

because we know deep inside

we've only ourselves to blame

A Consideration of (Cultural) Context in Teacher Education

Konai Helu-Thaman (1992)

2. Talanoa is a popular and preferred means of communication that captures the traditions and protocols of the Pacific Islands. It is a Pasifika research methodology used to capture people's stories, realities and aspirations (Vaioleti, 2003). Talanoa can be referred to as a conversation, a talk, an exchange of ideas or thinking between people. It can be formal or informal and almost always carried out face to-face. Tala means to inform, tell, relate and command, as well as to ask or apply. Noa means of any kind, ordinary, nothing in particular, purely imaginary or void (Vaioleti, 2006). Talanoa is common in many parts of the Pacific, such as Samoa, Fiji and Tonga. It enables social engagement and can lead from storytelling to critical discussions. It is an approach that most Pasifika people relate to as they practice it everyday in their homes, churches and schools.

Talanoa Research Methodology: A Developing Position on Pacific Research

Timote M. Vaioleti (2006)

3. Sourced from my Tongan culture, is the kakala framework. Kakala refers to fragrant flowers woven together to make a garland, and has many equivalent concepts in Oceania such as lei (Hawaii), hei (Cook Islands) or salusalu (Fiji). Kakala embodies physical, social and spiritual elements and reflects the integrated nature of indigenous epistemologies and knowledge systems. There are three major processes associated with Kakala; toli, tui and luva. Toli is the collection and selection of flowers and other plant material for making the kakala...tui is the making or weaving of the kakala. The time taken to do this depends on the complexity and intricacies of the flowers...Luva is the final process and is about giving the kakala away to someone else as a sign of peace, love and respect. Kakala requires me to utilise knowledge from global as well as Pacific (indigenous) cultures in order to weave something that is meaningful and culturally appropriate for my students.

This is important because, teaching in my view, is essentially autobiographic: as teachers, we give of ourselves when we share our knowledge, skills and values with our students. If this is motivated by compassion, a commitment to peaceful and harmonious relations, and respects for one another's cultures, then sharing will lead to wisdom and sustainable relationships in the classroom and other learning contexts.

Teacher capacities for working towards peace and sustainable development

Konai Helu-Thaman (2010)

Blogpost #6 - May Blogging - How will I use the data?

Explain how some of the data you have used to build a profile of the students' learning will be used as baseline data at the end of the year.

Data gathered through:

1. Learner Voice Questionnaire
2. Informal Teacher Observations (Incl Observation of Student engagement)
3. Formative & Summative Assessments (PAT, Probes, Padlet, Google Forms)
4. Teacher Observations
5. Learner Profiles (Filled in by students)
6. Visuals (Photos & Video Recordings)

This year I have collected some valuable data about each of my students'. I share this information with my learners too because I feel it's really important for the students' to know where they are and where they should be by the end of the year, with the guidance of this inquiry.

I am most excited to see the data from assessments but also through teacher observations because it's raw and it's not scripted. Student/Learner Voice will also allow me to see if there has been a shift in attitude towards the above learning areas. I look forward to hearing my 6 quiet, highly disengaged boys who initially disliked the words 'Reading & Writing", share their experiences of being part of the Pashiska Boys.

Blogpost #5 - May Blogging - Hypothesis and Research...

1) Share your findings about the nature and extent of the student challenge. Make sure it is clear what evidence from your inquiry supports each finding.

The challenge for my students this year is to make accelerated shift in Literacy by sharing knowledge about their identity and culture. To further elaborate, in the past, I have taken it upon myself to plan for my students. I planned a Kai Pola (Tongan Feast) and the causal chain that helped accomplish hosting this Kai Pola was identified by me. This time, I'm having my learners identify the steps we need to take to accomplish the same thing, for Tongan Language Week this year. In hopes, that this practice will be applied to their learning all year round and to other areas of their learning.

In discussion with my team and fellow CoL teachers at school, data continues to identify VOCABULARY & MAKING INFERENCES as a need. With my inquiry focus on IDENTITY & CULTURAL COMPETENCIES this year, I'm taking a culturally responsive approach on the matter. It will be practical, it will involve the arts, cooking, community engagement and more. Through this experience, the students will learn new vocabulary and use it to build and strengthen their current bank of words.

In previous years, I tried changing my reading programme and I believe it helped in making some shift, but it wasn't accelerate progress. Over the years, I've implemented content, based on students ethnic and cultural backgrounds together with their passions and interests, this hooked in their engagement. My goal now is to take it a step further by having my learners actively involved in the planning stages of the learning before actioning it, through a more practical approach.

Accessing content or topic specific vocabulary continues to be an obstacle for our learners and this often limits student achievement. Our students are not confident in using new vocabulary in their daily conversations or talanoa. Through this inquiry, I want my learners to stand confidently talk about their learning experience of making the Kai Pola. Low self-efficacy and limited knowledge of vocabulary means 'speaking in front of an audience will be delivered through a fast rap, a quiet whisper or an inarticulate flow. 

I know from experience and in my inquiries over the years, if the learner is unfamiliar with the setting, or lacks engagement and content knowledge on the task, their connection to the learning will absent. I want my learners this year to make accelerate progress, to make a connection to their learning and be passionate about it. To speak confidently and use content specific vocabulary when sharing their learning with others. 

Inquiry Question: Can we make accelerated shifts in Literacy through teaching Identity and Cultural Competencies?

Blogpost #4 - Critical Reflection on my Journey so far...

TERM TWO 2021 - My Journey so far...

Inquiry Question: Can we make accelerated shifts in Literacy through teaching Identity and Cultural Competencies?

Have I used a range of sources to understand my students learning in a detailed way?

For my inquiry so far, I have used a range of sources to help me analyse and validate the students learning achievements to date. I have drawn upon summative assessments, a piece of formative assessments and learner voice. I have also had the opportunity to sit down and talanoa with the learners and their families in Term 1 for talanoa evening and more recently during our Tamariki Korero evening in Week 9. I know that a strong and positive relationship between the school and whanau plays a critical role in the learners' learning journey. 

Do I understand their strengths as much as I understand their areas for development?

I believe I have a sound understanding of my learners strengths and interests. Some students I know more of than others but that's due to lack of attendance. Something I did after my learner voice session with my learners was sit down with each student individually and talk to them more about what I could do more of as their teacher and also asked them questions such as: What would you like to learn more of? What sort of books do you enjoy reading, what writing genre should R11 focus on? What can we learn about next term that relates to the key concept of CONNECTIONS (in identity)?

I am also aware of most of my learners cultural backgrounds and encourage them to speak their languages in class. I need to get my hands on more dual language books to have them read it aloud in class and to each other.

Through my inquiry I have come to realise just how important learner voice is and how crucial it is to have a positive relationship with my learners. I believe that gaining my students' trust enables them to open up more and feel relaxed and comfortable to share, Korero, Talanoa and express EVERYTHING they feel about themselves, their interests and anything that helps with their journey of learning.

Have I developed a strong profile of their achievement?

I have considered using both formative and summative pieces of assessments, have drawn upon both qualitative and quantitative data to 'paint a reliable picture' of my student profiles. Am I comfortable with the tools/measures I've chosen to develop my student profiles? I'd say probably not. But I believe it's providing me with a solid foundation of something I can continue to build on.

A next step would be - referring to a more culturally responsive measure other than Talanoa. Something of relevance and familiar to the student that allows them to connect with and express their cultural identity.

Measures that I am using pre/ post intervention?

- Talanoa Methodology - Daily conversations and story telling with my learners - providing an insight into their engagement and well-being.

- PAT Assessments

- Probe Assessment

- Arbs Assessment Tasks in Literacy

Reading: The importance of Teacher Student relationships for Maori and Pasifika students 

Blogpost #3 - Describe the tools/measures/approaches you plan to use...

Describe the tools/measures/approaches you plan to use to to get a more detailed and accurate profile of students learning in relation to that challenge. Justify why you chose these approaches and tools.

Tools:

• Google Form on Identity & Cultural Competencies shared to my class
• Inter-lead Self-Assessment and Student Voice tool. 
• All about the Learner Profile created by ME. 

Measures:

• Teacher Only Day Workshop Presentation - had students open up the workshop by sharing about themselves, their cultural background, their name and the story behind it. Attendees were highly engaged and provided feedback reinforcing the importance of IDENTITY.
• Student Attendance & Engagement
• Student Confidence
• Oral Language 

Approaches:

• Bus-stop activity using post-it notes by students and teachers.
• Target group - whole class
• Teaching through a Pasifika Lens

I chose these approaches and tools because student voice is what drives the learning at Glen Taylor School. This proves to be a good tool because learners love being involved with planning what they're learning. The best way to understand a student's preferred way of learning is to ask them (Causton - Theoharis, 2009) and to have them involved in the planning and assessment process of it all. 

"Often the student has the best ideas of how we might work with them, if we take time to reflect on what they might be trying to communicate."

Outreach teacher, project interview TKI, 2013 

Self-assessment is also important as it provides insight to teacher practice. It allows us to reflect and evaluate what is working, what can we do better, what can I change in my practice, to ensure we are catering to every learners' need. 

For the past 3 years, I have focused on Reading and Writing. It's helped me unpack my thinking and identify my what it really is I wanted to inquire about this year. I spoke briefly about implementing Talanoa and using Cultural competencies in past years, but I sit and ask myself now "Did I do it justice? Did I incorporate these Pasifika learning tools effectively? How can I measure it's effectiveness differently this year?

As a Y7&8 teacher, I want to ensure that my students leave GTS at the end of the year, confident in themselves, proud of who they are and embrace the richness in cultural knowledge they carry. I still find it difficult to match my Inquiry to a particular achievement challenge because my Inquiry is more than a curriculum focus. My Inquiry is to do with the knowledge captivated in each learners' story, held deep within that you need to be a 'special teacher' to unlock that taonga. 

Dr Rae Si'ilata stated at our Teacher Only Day at the end of Term 1 that "English can never translate the depth of our reo & talanoa" (2021). My inquiry encourages learners express themselves in their language, through their cultural lens and identity. If my learners Maths/Reading & Writing learning needs to be taught in a bi-lingual way for their understanding to enhance, I will endeavour to do so. It's important for the learners to make a connection before they can actually engage in the learning.

Blogpost #2 - Possible Inquiry Focus for 2021

When I completed my Masters in 2016 on Tongan concepts of Wisdom and Knowledge, I developed a passion and desire for Accelerating Pasifika Education. I carried this passion with me into the classroom and it became the drive of why I enjoy teaching in a community that is dominantly Pasifika and Maori. 

This year,

MY INQUIRY QUESTION IS: Can we make accelerated shifts in Literacy through teaching Identity and Cultural Competencies?

I have always believed that the importance of culture and language plays a vital role in a Pasifika and Maori students' learning journey and achievement. It is their identity being recognised and acknowledged. Being Pasifika, making an emotional connection with the child/learner is a complex situation, but a very rewarding step. Our stories, morals & values are kept within, they remain secure and protected until someone is able to unlock it. If/When a teacher is able to unlock that secured taonga, you have managed to engage that learner in a relationship built on trust.

Similar to the work of Amituanai-Toloa's (2010) coconut model, she explains the process of getting to the core of the coconut. As told by many, the coconut is a very useful organic resource in the Pacific. It is a source of life. The core of the coconut or the inner layer, is where the knowledge and wisdom of a Pasifika learner is kept and protected. Using the talanoa approach enables the teacher to break through and reach that knowledge in the core, the 'loto' (centre) of the learner.

In previous years, I have focused on Writing (2018), continued with this focus into 2019, changed to a Reading focus for 2020 and I have decided to merge the two areas for this year. Literacy will be my focus but I aim to apply my approach to ALL learning areas.

A problem that our cluster has encountered is the rate of achievement progress decelerating over time, particularly in years 7-10. Being a Y7-8 teacher, I often see a cohort of students stall at certain reading ages, usually between 8-9.5 and sometimes between 9-10 years. Same goes for Maths, I see many students stagnate in Level 3 (Stage 6) over the years, with a few making break through to Level 4.

As such, this year I aspire to inquire into this, TEACHING THROUGH IDENTITY & CULTURAL COMPETENCIES. The goal is to implement strategies that accelerate the students' learning so they can achieve closely to their expected levels or surpass them. I have been able to accelerate students in the past, through my CoL inquiry + ALL intervention programme, now I want to measure what the difference will be when I change my pedagogical approaches to focus on culturally responsive competencies that are more effective for Maori and Pasifika learners. I want the learners to be able to talanoa confidently, share their stories and see learning through their lens and own it.

Research & Pasifika methodologies I endeavour to incorporate into my CoL Inquiry this year:

1. TALANOA - Timote Vaioleti
2. KAKALA METHODOLOGY - Konai Helu-Thaman

Blogpost #1 - Brainstorming Student Inquiry Focus

Our Manaiakalani Cluster Data for 2020 painted a clear picture of where the need lies and what my focus needs to be for 2021. In the week of lockdown, Glen Taylor CoL teachers + Management met via google meets to discuss our possible Inquiry focus for 2021. This Talanoa was refreshing as well as eye-opening. We received validation from our principal for our intended inquiry focus and discussed what support we might need throughout the year and what support we could offer our school, in return.

My 2020 Inquiry looked at Reading and helped me identify a few reasons why reading progress was stalling. Unfortunately, due to covid, I felt like my inquiry was not as successful as I had hoped it to be. The connection was merely present due to limited face to face time and the unprecedented times the world was exposed to last year.

At Glen Taylor School, we believe that if we really want to influence the Students' learning, then we need to change our teacher practice, to ensure the results differ. To inquire effectively...

..."teachers need to make sense of their experiences in the classroom, LEARN from those experiences, and CHANGE it. (Teaching as Inquiry, Harvard Education, 2004)."

In addition to this, according to John Hattie, 50% of what a child achieves is from home, the next 30% is based on the choices the teacher makes.

Evaluation for 2020 (Bursts & Bubbles Presentation)

 The catalytic aspect of student learning my inquiry focused on this year was 

How will I change my teaching practice to ensure my learners are developing a deeper understanding of vocabulary (in Literacy)?

I identified this as my focus when I noticed

The discrepancy between reading and writing was evident in school wide data but also my class assessment data, leading me to choose reading as my focus area for my coL within school inquiry & focusing on vocabulary as it was the highlighted area of weakness in my class.

To build a rich picture of my students’ learning I used ……. (sources of evidence and data e.g. PAT reading, my own vocabulary test, student voice)

Student Voice - through google forms, padlet, interlead, literacy learner profiles from ALL intervention to collect information about students cultural backgrounds, things that were important to them, their reading interests, attitudes towards reading, what they’d like to read more of, types of texts etc

PAT Vocab results - I’d use these results to help me identify the level of understanding my students have with words.

Samples of Writing - I’d use samples of their writing throughout the year and from summative assessments to assess their standard of vocabulary used. From this, i’d know if they’ve used words correctly and words we’ve learnt and discussed during our reading sessions.

Talanoa with students’ previous teachers, themselves and their whanau - for more insight on students, id approach previous teachers

Blog posts

The main patterns of student learning I identified in the profiling phase were (their strengths and needs)

Strengths - They enjoyed reading through song lyrics, reading myths & legends from their cultural backgrounds, reading about cultural superstitions, visual prompts helped them understand the text more, texts on things they liked/enjoyed & familiarised with

Needs - 3 main areas were: Vocabulary Knowledge, Decoding, Comprehension

My profiling of my own teaching showed that I had strengths in …. 

• Whole Class teaching

• Engaging students 

• Teaching my way! in a way it made sense to me

But my students would likely make more progress if 

• I provided students with explicit instructions to build vocabulary

• Creating more Cultural experiences for students to be more hands-on and actively involved in.

• Constant exposure to new key words and topic-specific vocabulary

The changes I made in my teaching were ….

• Changing my Reading programme, Implemented of Daily 5 programme and using a balanced reading structure inspired by Sheena Cameron

• Creating Authentic Learning Experiences relating to my students cultural background and using these experiences as points of Talanoa in class, enabling students to be exposed to thematic key understandings relating to our school LCS focus for 2020 which was IDENTITY

• Taught through cultural competencies framework - being aware of what was important to my students identity and using that as the hook in my practice this year

• Links to the LPF documents

• Front-loading students with keywords from the text prior to the delivered lesson

• Implemented the Sheena Cameron Vocabulary programme through my guided sessions 

• Continued to implement ALL strategies

The literature/expertise that helped me decide what changes to make was…

• The Reading Book by Sheena Cameron & Louise Dempsey

• Effective Literacy Practice in Y5-8

• Tapasa cultural competencies framework

• What every primary school teacher should know about vocabulary by Jannie Van Hees

• Boys in Literacy PD by Marshall Diggs

• Talanoa Framework

The easiest and hardest things for me to change were…..  

• My teacher ownership - giving more authority to the students

• Stepping out of my comfort zone and implementing a reading programme that was initially foreign to me

• Changing my practice by trying new things that I believed would help my inquiry but also be successful for my students achievement

Overall I would rate the changes in student learning as….  

“Work in progress”. 

Out of my 6 target students, (L, B, C, T, G, N), 4 made accelerated progress and the other 2 made steady progress. 5 of my students are Y8’s and I can confidently say that most of them are mentally & emotionally ready for high school learning.

5 of the boys are Y8 and they are leaving school with a passion for education and have the drive to persevere with their High School learning next year.

The most important learning I made about …. (my focus of student learning) was that 

• Talanoa/Story-telling and Oral language provides opportunities for students to dialogue more, enhancing their knowledge of vocabulary in English as well as their first language.

• Authentic cultural learning experiences provides opportunities for students to read/write/problem solve - it also encourages teachers to learn more about their students identity

• If you want to hit the nail with teaching Pasifika/Maori students you need to invest time into learning about the culture they identify with and what this means to them is key.