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.