Week 10 Term 3 - Te wiki o Te Reo Maori Language Week 2023: Linking to my Teacher Inquiry + New Learning (September 18 - September 22)

Te Wiki o Te Reo Maori Language Week 2023

Teacher Inquiry 2023: Improving reading and writing engagement with my Year 9 students through creating mixed ability groups within my Year 9 class.

In Week 9 Term 3, we celebrate Te Wiki o Te Reo Maori Language Week. The theme for this year's language week is 'Kia Kaha Te Reo Maori' which translates to 'making the language stronger'. We all have the ability to strengthen the language - whether we are experts or not. What we do know and how we use it, can help to revitalize and keep the language alive and strong. For this year's Te Reo Maori Language Week celebration, I wanted to focus on the beautiful Maori item - korowai. I created this unit of work for my Year 9 class in 2022 and reflected on the learning my blog (see Alby's Blog Post Entry - 18/09/22) 

This year, I have taken the Korowai unit that I loosley put together in 2022 and I created something that was both culturally responsive and something that spoke to my akonga. Although I am Samoan, I appreciate the language and I wanted to explore an aspect of the culture that resonates with me - Korowai. The inspiration behind the Korowai unit is connected to the learning from Te Wiki o Te Reo Maori Language Week 2022 which I have referenced and reflected on in the blog entry that I have linked in above. I want to share the new unit and reflect on how it is going. 

KOROWAI: “The Korowai is a traditional woven Maori cloak. The Korowai is worn as mantle of prestige and honour. The name Korowai is symbolic of leadership, and includes the obligation to care for the people and environment.” (www.learningadventures.co.nz) 

Korowai: Who I Am

Click on the image to create your own pepeha

Understanding, reflecting and expressing your identity helps to strengthen your roots (what you are grounded in, rooted in). Before the students created their Korowai, we spent time exploring Pepeha, what it means for Maori, what it means for me and what it means for them in their journey. It is a traditional way of introducing yourself in Te Reo Maori. It is also a beautiful way to acknowledge and celebrate your whakapapa, your lineage, your history and your environment. All things that help to make you, you. I found this awesome and easy to use pepeha site and I used it to create my own - showing my class each step and how to complete it. 

Student exemplar: pepeha 

The students went away and created their own pepeha. I had to guide them through the appropriate maunga and awa that is linked to their area which required a little navigating through Google maps! This was an interesting and fun activity because the students were able to learn about their area. For the non-Maori students, they were able to learn about their mountain and river. I was particularly impressed with students who already knew their pepeha and they were excited to share this. 

Student exemplar: Who I am snapshot

Once the students completed their pepeha they worked on a section I created called 'Who I Am Snapshot' - this is where they reflect on and write about things that are important to them. This is a space for them to reflect and think about their family, values etc and ultimately they will use it to help them design their Korowai. 

Korowai: Making their Korowai

The Pepeha and Who I Am section of the unit is important because it helps to settle the students creatively. It helps to give them the space to reflect on what is important in their lives and what they 'carry' and who they 'carry' in their hearts. I encourage them to use their snapshot as a springboard to help them design and craft their Korowai. Most of the students have used the feathers to frame their korowai. Others are using photos of their families in their korowai. Here are some examples of the student's making their Korowai. 

Korowai: Writing + Sharing about their Korowai

The next part of the unit will call on the students to reflect on what they have created. They will write an explanation on their korowai (see the writing frame below) and they will include their pepeha into their written explanation. The final part requires the students to record themselves presenting their korowai and explaining what it represents and what it means to them (they can use their written explanation as part of their presentation). Some of my akonga have finished making their korowai and they are currently working on their written explanation. Please see the writing framework below. 

Writing about your Korowai (framework)

Matauranga: (noun) knowledge, wisdom, understanding, skill. New learning from Te Wiki o Te Reo Maori Language Week 2023. 

Hone-Haunui Rapana @ Tamaki College

Tamaki College @ Te Wiki o Te Reo Maori Language Week 2023

We had an awesome PLD session on Monday September 11 (led by Hone-Haunui Rapana). One of the beautiful parts of the session that I connected with was the Principles of Karakia. I loved how he broke down karakia, why it is important and how it should be a meaningful practice - something bigger than lip service. He explained that 'kara' translates to 'call' and 'karakia' translates to 'call to prayer or call to worship'. 

Here my takeaways from the principles of karakia: 

• Mauri - (essence). Karakia needs to be deep and meaningful. The mauri of karakia is meaningful and powerful when it can move and shift the room and the people in it. 
• Tapu - (sacredness). Karakia has to allow people to understand what they are doing, who they are doing it for and why. 
• Whainga - (intention). You do not want your space in karakia to be mixed because you will get mixed emotions and mixed reactions. You need the intent to be clear so that you can transition those listening and praying throughout the karakia. It has to have to intention and it needs to mean something. 

I also really enjoyed learning about the closing line of the karakia and what it means. 

• Haumi e - all the things in the middle. 
• Hui e - meeting in the middle. 
• Taiki e - pushing it forward together. 

This was a highlight for me because prayer (the language of prayer) is something that I practice and value both in my professional and personal life. I loved learning about the prinicples of karakia and I was inspired to implement this when I do karakia in class and in my whanau group. I appreciated learning about karakia and what it means in this context. This has giving me a different lens when I do karakia here at school and it has also affirmed how I use my own prayer time in my personal life.