Week 9 Term 1 - Totara House: Refining + Defining our House Values for 2023 (March 27 - March 31)

Since 2021, Totara House have always been driven by their own set of values. The reason for this is to give the student's agency, a sense of purpose and identity in being a part of Totara House. I wanted the students to feel like they are part of something and it is something that they can see themselves in. In 2021 our House values were Teamwork, Confidence + Unity. 2022 our values were Family, Respect and Resilience. I believe that student voice, buy in and agency helps to create a culture that is positive, empowering and mana enhancing. In the context of the House system, I believe that this approach helps to build this very culture and it helps to give the students a sense of identity and vision. 

Totara House @ COS 2023 (Term 1)

As stated in a blog from 'A Principal's Reflection' "Student agency is about empowering kids to own their learning (and school) through greater autonomy. It is driven by choice, voice, and advocacy." The whole idea around the House values and how we (as Totara House) define what our values are is centered in student agency. I understand the power that student voice has in shaping culture in the classroom and I know this has a positive impact in how I want to shape the House I look after. 

Totara House Assembly Term 1

Student feedback (face to face) has been the approach that we have taken in Totara House. The same approach that the student leadership team took in 2021 is the same approach that the student leadership team has taken in 2023. During Term 1, the House leadership team (Anika, Christian, Mario, Alo, Kosini and Danny) visited the 6 classes in our House (9TKl, 10TGu, 10TNi, 11TPt, 12TKh + 12TTt) during Week 4 and Week 5. The leadership spent time in each house during the morning mentoring session and asked them "What do you want Totara House to represent?" This is the same question that we have used in 2021 and 2022.  

Totara House Student Feedback 2023

The leadership used the time during the mentoring session to talk to the students about what they want Totara House to represent and this was also an opportunity for the leadership team to introduce themselves and get familiar with their House. This time is important for the leadership team and the students as it is a chance for them talk about what their vision, hope and goals are for the House. It gives them a sense of responsibility, accountability and belonging to the House. 

Some of the Totara House Leadership Team leading chant practice

From here the leadership team and I met and spoke about the feedback. We went through the feedback and looked for the common values across each House. Across our Year 9 to Year 12 classes, the values that were a common thread across the classes were gratitude, integrity and leadership. The leadership decided to create a quote that encompassed the meaning of all three values. The team decided to share the three values and the quote at our most recent House Assembly - to show the students what they did with their feedback and to bless their new goal and values for 2023. 

Totara House Values 2023

Our goal from here is to focus on the values through our House Assemblies, mentoring sessions and house activities. I look forward to reflecting and documenting how this goes our Totara House whanau. For the end of Term 1, we will be focusing on the value of Gratitude and hopefully we will use the rest of the year to explore our other values. As we have done over the last two years, our house values become our reference point and pillar that we lean into. It helps to give all involved - our mentors, students, leaders - a focal point to work towards. I am excited to see how we use and express our House values for 2023. 

Week 8 Term 1 - Teacher Practice: Tātaiako: Cultural Competencies - Understanding what it is (March 20 - March 24)

Staff PLD Monday March 20

We had the pleasure and privilege of having Dr Rae Si'ilata present at our Monday morning Staff PLD (Week 8 Term 1 Monday March 20). The focus of the PLD was an introduction to the Tātaiako: Cultural Competencies for Teachers of Māori Learners document. 

Tātaiako - Click on the image to access the document

Tātaiako: Cultural Competencies for Teachers of Māori Learners is about teachers’ relationships and engagement with Māori learners and with their whānau and iwi. Designed for teachers in early childhood education (ECE) services and in primary and secondary schools, it will support your work to personalise learning for, and with, Māori learners, to ensure they enjoy educational success as Māori. Dr Rae Si'ilata along with her colleagues from her Va'atele Education Consulting team spent the morning with us (Tamaki College Kaiako) introducing us to the document and the key cultural competencies that make up the framework. I left this PLD feeling inspired and motivated to LEARN more about my Maori akonga - really get to know them and understand their whakapapa, their story, their history - in a way that will be meaningful and beneficial to their achievement. In this post I am going to reflect on my key take away and gems from the PLD. 

Maori akonga vision for Tātaiako

Knowing our learner is not just about knowing their story but it also about knowing their hopes and dreams. Dr Rae shared the vision - a vision that is direct from Maori akonga - on how they see Tātaiako for them in their learning and in school. Here is some of the highlights from a section that Dr Rae started with (that encapsulates akonga voice in relation to Tātaiako) entitled 'Mataitipu - Vision for Young People'

"Our well being is connected"

"We have a shared responsibility to each other"

"We engage in learning that is meaningful to us"

"We know our world is connected"

"Language, culture and identity is at the center of everything that we are doing"

Their vision and what they want from this approach, this kaupapa - resonated with me. Most of the time we as teachers drive our learning intention, objective and vision with our akonga- which is good, we are in a position where our leadership and direction is needed. In this space, in this context - with Tātaiako at the center - especially as non Maori - it is imperative that I keep this at the forefront when it comes to my Maori learners. This can be achieved through talking to them - seeing what they want, understand who they are and design my learning program around their strengths and what they need. 

Reflecting on our own journey

Venturing into the world of Tātaiako and Tāpasa as kaiako can be daunting. Sometimes you feel that what you know is not enough and that there are so many gaps that you need to fill. Dr Rae posed some quick fire questions that she wanted us to discuss and reflect on. I enjoyed this as it highlighted what I know but also, areas of opportunity where I can learn, grow and share when it comes to Tātaiako. Below are the questions Dr Rae shared and my answers. 

1) Who are manawhenua in your rohe? What words come to mind when you think of their stories and history? 

The manawhenua in Glen Innes is Ngati Paoa. I learnt through this our local curriculum PLD sessions that we had in 2022 and specifically through the hikoi we took in Term 4 2022 (see Alby's Blog Entry - 13/11/22) 

2) Of the Maori whanau is in your class and in your school, what hapu/iwi do they whakapapa to?

I honestly do not know. I am going to assume that it is Ngapuhi but I want and need to find out. I will talk to my Maori learners and see what they know (even if it is the name of their Marae) and we can find their iwi from there online. 

3) What ethnicities are other akonga/tamariki in your class?

Cook Island, Tongan, Samoan, Niuean, Malaysian and many are mixed raced too. 

4) Can you name any culturally located relational practices that you utilize in your teaching and learning provisions?

In my classroom, the style and approach I have is very much traditional in the typical teacher sense. In a different setting, such as Samoan group - I use this space to explore and exercise culturally located practices that are appropriate in this context. 

What I learnt from this discussion for our Maori and Pasefika akonga and kaiako - we are a proud of colonization. Colonization has brought good things to our culture but at the same time it has had a huge impact on both Maori and Pasefika culture, identity and language. 

Exploring the Tātaiako Cultural Competencies

I enjoyed this part of the PLD. Dr Rae and her team took us through the key cultural competencies and introduced us to the idea behind each one. There are five key cultural competencies. 

• Wanaga - Participates with the learners, whanau and community in dialogue to benefit Maori learner's achievement. 
• Whanaungatanga - Engage in respectful working relationships with Maori akonga, whanau, parents and community. 
• Manaakitanga - Respect towards Maori belief, language and culture.
• Tangata Whenuatanga - Affirms Maori learners as MAORI.
• Ako - Take responsibility of learning

Dr Rae enforced that these cultural competencies value and meaning is something that is beyond Tātaiako. Tātaiako have taken these competencies and have customized it to fit the ideology and spirit of Tātaiako. We spent time going through each competencies and then we did a group exercise where we had to match the competency with the akonga and kaiako profile. 

PLD PLuG group activity for Tātaiako

I thoroughly enjoyed this PLD. Tātaiako is an encouragement for kaiako to see our Maori learners/akonga for the people that they are. To see them, understand them and value the people, whanau, awa and iwi that they carry with them. Tātaiako is also about opening up the lingustic space in the classroom and allow akonga to use all the cultural and language expertise that they bring to the classroom as a resource. 

Dr Rae left us with a beautiful whakatauki - "Mā te ngākau aroha koe e ārahi" which translates into "Let a loving heart guide your decisions". May everything that we do as kaiako be driven by love. 

Action steps going forward for Tātaiako: 

• I intend on using my Year 9 class - 9TKl - as my focus point for Tātaiako.
• I want to focus on the cultural competency of 'Tangata Whenuatanga'. I would like to engage with them to see what they know about their iwi
• Then use this as a springboard to create their own autobiography/written assessment where they talk about themselves. This could be used as both a written and oral text. 
• Hopefully I can use this model with my Pasefika/other learners 
• Start Week 10 T1 + carry into Wk1 T2

Week 7 Term 1 - Tapasa: Polyfest 2023 (March 13 - March 17)

Every Polyfest season comes with it's own rewards, trials and challenges. This year's ASB Polyfest was brought forward in early March (typically scheduled around the end of March). Which mean that the time to prepare and complete a performance set for the competition was reduced to 3 weeks. It was an extremely tight time frame to organize items, music, musicians, material and uniforms on top of managing the students. As with every year, there is an entire community who comes in to help make everything happen. 

Tamaki College Tongan, Samoan + Cook Island Group preparing for Polyfest 23

This year I had the privilege of coordinating all the cultural groups for Tamaki College in preparation for the ASB Polyfest 2023. I saw first hand the time, heart, commitment and love that not only the students and their parents put into the experience, but the tutors and teachers who put in so much love to ensure that the experience is successful. As a tutor (Tamaki College Samoan Group) I understand the commitment and the pressure that is placed on everyone involved, so I appreciate everyone who was involved in this year's campaign. Being involved in Polyfest requires a lot of time, patience and love. I would like to acknowledge our awesome Tamaki College SLT as well as the Polyfest TICs - Mr Moyes, Mr Tuaru Temu, Ms Latu, Mrs Suipi Latu, Mrs Telefoni, Mr Hingano, Ms Apelu, Mrs Lote-Fepuleai and Mr Niko for their tautua and alofa during this year's Polyfest season. I am going to reflect on the journey for the Samoan Group and how this year's campaign went for them. 

SAMOAN GROUP 2023

Tamaki College's Samoan Group 2023 is made up of 43 students (our smallest group to date), supported by our tutors Millie Mara Oti (former student + performer in the Samoan Group), Roni Kamu Wright (former student + performer in the Samoan Group), Pene Ueta (long time tutor + composer for Tamaki College Samoan Group), Kevin Savili (former student + performer in the Samoan Group), Simon Savili (former student + performer in the Samoan Group), Norman Fogavai (former student + performer in the Samoan Group) and Malulu Faaui (former student + performer in the Samoan Group). Lead by the teacher's in charge - Ms Dorothy Apelu and myself - with the support of our colleagues Mr Niko and Mrs Lote-Fepuleai. 

Tamaki College Samoan Group 2023 with the tutorship team

Our performers were from across all year levels - with one Year 9, nine Year 10s, eight Year 11s, twelve Year 12s and thirteen Year 13s. Our performers were largely new to the competition and to performing in general. So we had our work cut out for us. In three weeks we taught 6 items to the students: 

• Ulufale (Entrance)
• Mauluulu (Group dance) 
• Pese o le aso (Song of the day)
• Sasa (Group dance)
• Taualuga (Solo performer)
• Ulufafo (Exit)

Samoan Group 2023 rehearsals

Rehearsals were everyday after school from 3:00pm - 5:30pm (finishing at 6:30pm the week of). We also practiced on Saturdays starting from 9:30am - 2:00pm. We were able to complete the set the weekend before Polyfest week - which was good as it gave us time to polish and edit the set where we saw fit. I felt the time pressure this year and I was not able to edit as much I wanted to as we needed to get through the set and tighten up what we had already taught the students. I am grateful for this experience though as it has taught me that if you really put your mind to something and you have the right people in your circle, you can make anything happen. I am extremely proud of the student's effort, commitment and service this year. They really dug deep especially the week of Polyfest. I am really happy with the final performance as it was clean, tidy and kept to our Tamaki College Samoan Group style. 

Tamaki College tutorship team 2023 (former students/performers in the Samoan Group)

Consistency, maintaining our performance standard, striving for excellence on stage and ensuring that the students enjoy the experience is something that we have have always kept at the forefront of our kaupapa and heart. This starts with the teachers and tutorship team - making sure that we work well together (we have been working together since 2010) and this filters down to our students. I believe the success and integrity of this group is grounded in the ALOFA (which is the springboard for FAA'ALO'ALO + TAUTUA) that our team bring every year. We always say that every year is different - different students, different set, different energy - but the spirit and heart is the same. 

Tamaki College Samoan Group @ ASB Polyfest 2023

The competition of the festival is something that we enjoy - it keeps us on our toes and enables us to push the students to work and put their best forward. Even more so, it pushes us to bring our best creatively. The competition is something that we use a vehicle to push our students to do their best, in terms of winning - we drive the message that they have won already. They have won in terms of learning and growing in their culture, won in terms of stepping out of their comfort zone and doing something new, won in terms of doing something beautiful and meaningful as a team. We are grateful that every year since 2010, we have been acknowledged at the prizegiving. This year, we were placed 3rd for our togiga - aoga tuufaatasi tama ma teine - togiga - tulaga tolu. This was an awesome achievement for us and something that we are grateful for as we know how hard our competition is. This is something that we will add to our resume.

• 2010 - 1st Place Ulufale (Entrance)
• 2011 - 2nd Place Fuataimi (Conductor - Falaniko Liava'a)
• 2013 - 2nd Place Overall (Co-Ed Section) 1st Place Taupou (Solo performance - Nive Isaako), 1st Place Equal Sasa (Group Dance), 2nd Place Fuataimi (Conductor - John Tuilata Lemalie), 3rd Place Ulufale (Entrance), 3rd Place Ulufafo (Exit), 3rd Place Mauluulu (Group Dance), 3rd Place Togiga (Uniform), 3rd Place Taualuga (Group song)
• 2014 - 2nd Place Togiga (Uniform), 3rd Place Taupou (Solo performance - Laura I'u), 3rd Place Sasa (Group Dance), 3rd Place Maluulu (Group Dance)
• 2015 - 3rd Place Pese o le Aso (Songs), 3rd Place Fuataimi (Conductor - Norman Fogavai)
• 2016 - 3rd Place Pese o le Aso (Songs), 2nd Place Fuataimi (Conductor - Roni Kamu Wright), 2nd Place Taupou (Solo performance - Mui Niue)
• 2017 - 3rd Place Pese o le Aso (Songs), 2nd Place Fuataimi (Conductor - Tim Fatialofa)
• 2018 - 2nd Place Equal Pese o le Aso (Songs), 2nd Place Fuataimi (Conductor - Tim Fatialofa)
• 2021 - 3rd Place Taupou (Solo performance - May Sinfea), 2nd Place Equal Taualuga (Group song), 3rd Place Equal Togiga (Uniform)
• 2022 - 1st Place Year 13 Speech Competition - Samoan Stage (Maletina Niko)
• 2023 - 3rd Place Togiga (Uniform)

Aoga Tuufaatasi Tama ma Teine - Togiga - Tulaga Tolu: Tamaki College

Finally I would like to acknowledge all of our akonga, their parents, our leaders (Aumau, Malae, Danny, Leilani + Adrienne) our Futaimi 2023 (Mathew) and our Taupou 2023 (Heather) for their hearts + commitment to what has been a busy season. We look forward to coming back next year to do this again - different year, different group of students, different material - same spirit. 

Week 6 Term 1 - Teacher Practice: Year 9 EasTTle Writing Reflection (March 6 - March 10)

What is EasTTle Writing? The e-asTTle writing is an online assessment tool designed to assess students' progress in writing from Years 1–10. It assesses students' ability to independently write continuous text across a variety of purposes (describe, explain, recount, narrate, persuade). In Week 5, our Year 9 and Year 10 students completed the first round of testing for both EasTTle Writing and PAT Reading Test. I have spent sometime sifting through my Year 9 EasTTle Writing and I wanted to write a reflection on the strengths and areas of opportunity that I have identified. I wanted to highlight the strengths in their writing to affirm and validate the writing abilities that my akonga have. I also want to highlight the areas of opportunity - to highlight the areas where there is an opportunity for me as their kaiako to provide better support in their writing journey. 

Whaikaha (strengths): (verb) to have strength, be strong enough.

Celebrating, acknowledging and validating akonga strengths helps to build a positive sense of self in their learning journey. Your Therapy Source Blog states "We all know every student has strengths. It is our job as teachers, therapists and parents, to help students utilize their strengths and talents to the best of their abilities. Temple Grandin says it best – “There needs to be a lot more emphasis on what a child CAN do, instead of what he cannot do.” The strengths I have identified are measured against the EasTTle Writing marking rubric which focuses on Ideas, Structure, Organization, Vocabulary, Sentence, Punctuation and Spelling. Without the marking rubric, I measured the strength based on their ability to respond to the writing prompt and how their ideas and opinions is expressed in a confident and sophisticated manner. 

Year 9 EasTTle Writing Exemplar (Wk5 T1) - Student A

This student has a strong voice and has shown an ability to express this is in sophisticated and meaningful way in their writing. They have shown a strong reference to the writing prompt 'write to explain to your reader what being a good friend means' and have given their opinion on WHY they value friendship. There is some great vocabulary that they have crafted into their writing such as 'personally' (which allows the reader to see how the writer connects to their topic - they are opening up themselves to the topic). 'I am new to this college so I don't really know that many people but in the upcoming year I'll be able to know everyone' - there is a strong personal voice coming through this expert. This I believe is a strength in their writing. This is something that I hope to explore more with this writer and I hope that the CATs (creative writing and speech particular) and the unit that I have organized for both tasks will help provide a platform for this writer to express their voice in writing. 

Year 9 EasTTle Writing Exemplar (Wk5 T1) - Student B

This exemplar highlights Student B's strength which is organization. I love the way that they have managed their ideas and structured it in a way that flows for both the writer and reader. This is something that many akonga struggle with - structure and organization. It is important that I build on this strength through exploring different texts and unpacking how the texts are structured, to give the writer an idea on how complex structure is in all texts (extended, short, visual and oral texts). I believe that CATs such as creative writing and formal writing will help the writer build on their strength as they will have an opportunity to structure and craft their own text. 

Whakapai (improvement): (noun) preparation, improvement, reform.

As Kaiako, it is important that the approach student's weakness in their learning journey is something that we do with love and respect. We want our akonga to LEARN from their 'weaknesses' and to see it as an area of opportunity - opportunity to grow and learn. 

Year 9 EasTTle Writing Exemplar (Wk5 T1) - Student C

Punctuation and sentence structure (short, medium and long sentences) are integral basic elements for crafting a text. Student C's written work shows a great connection, understanding and interpretation of the writing prompt. An area for improvement is help Student C focus on HOW to craft a text specifically looking at punctuation and sentence structure. The Crafted Writing Program and the Let's Get it Write program that we have used as part of our literacy strategies is something that I am going focus on. I wrote a reflection on the Let's Get it Write program (see Alby's Blog Entry - 11/06/20) and I would like to revisit the basic and fundamental elements of punctuation and sentence structure with all of my year 9 students. This is important content to cover and one that will help build their confidence in their writing and literacy overall. 

Year 9 EasTTle Writing Exemplar (Wk5 T1) - Student D

Crafting text is a process and a big part of the process is figuring WHAT do you want to write about and sticking to it. The writing prompts for the EasTTle Writing test are specific and the instructions given allow the writer to work within a certain parameter. For Student D and for many of my akonga - they tend to veer off the topic and venture off into a bit of a 'ramble'. I hope to explore the Crafted Writing literacy program that Dr Jannie introduced and use it as a vehicle to help my akonga focus on what they want to write about and then plan how they will address their topic or focus. 

Each area of opportunity is something that I hope to plan for in the next coming weeks. I want to spend a good amount of time working with my akonga on these opportunities to help them improve and build their confidence in their writing. 

Next Steps: Provide feedback for each student, review + integrate specific areas from the literacy strategies and customize it for my Year 9 class.