TIMATANGA
(noun) beginning, starting, introduction, start, commencement
Since 2021, the English Department have been working on understanding the new NCEA Level 1 curriculum refresh. We spent 2021 and 2022 getting familiar with the internal and external assessments. Our focus was to learn and get familiar with the assessments - to go backwards and understand what our finish line looks like. I have enjoyed the journey and wanted to document it, so I have included my blog reflections below.
HAERENGA
(noun) journey, trip, parting
This year we have come together as a department to organize our our year planner and sort out what each term looks like. We came up with the first draft of our year planner in May Term 2 2024. See the plan below.
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| 1st draft of NCEA Level 1 English Plan |
We built our first draft of our plan around the achievement standards. The learning and teaching filtered from the assessment. In line with our current NCEA Level 1 course outline, this plan basically mirrored the same structure - it is assessment driven with the learning and teaching supporting but ultimately the assessment is the heart of the course. Once the first draft of our NCEA Level 1 English Plan was complete, we left it for a bit. I came back to look at it and I felt that something was not right. It was from here that I looked at our current NCEA Level 1 Course Outline that we have been using since 2017.
The course description - the introduction and overview of the course - was the first indication that I knew that I had to change the entire mood, tone and heart of the course. Here is an excerpt from the current course description "Welcome to Senior English! This year is all about getting used to the NCEA system. Your ears will be ringing with words like deadlines, checkpoints, credits, literacy, numeracy, internals, externals and endorsement! Don't despair - there is enough time and support, both in and out of class. You just have to do the mahi and ask if you are seriously struggling. Just remember that in the end the consequences of not asking, or falling behind because of poor time-management, will be your own." The languaging in our current course is does not reflect the big ideas or values that underpin Te Mataiaho (The Refreshed New Zealand Curriculum). The languaging does not evoke any type of inspiration or engages with the learners. The languaging of the course description and the course itself, mirrors the current state of the English curriculum which is heavily influenced by assessment for learning. It was from this point that I decided to put our first draft of our plan aside and start building a new course that is anchored in Te Mataiaho and mirrors what I want for our Year 11 students to get from English and what I believe will inspire my colleagues and department as a collective.
TUPU
(verb) (-ngia,-ria) to grow, increase, spring, issue, begin, develop, prosper, sprout, originate
The two questions that I asked myself were - What do I want our Year 11 students to get out of English in 2024? What will inspire my colleauges? Immediately I reflected on how our students are really drawn to stories and histories about our people and community. I thought about the importance of local curriculum and building in the cultural narrative in our community into our school curriculum and life. I thought about how as teachers of English literature and language, we encourage our students to use their voice in their writing. A theme was a coming through in my reflection and I wanted to center the new course around a theme.
With this in mind, the theme for our NCEA Level 1 English course for 2024 is 'Our Voices, Our Stories and Our Histories'. I wrote the course description and aligned it with the big ideas and values from Te Mataiaho (The Refreshed New Zealand Curriculum). I wanted to make sure that the course description mirrored the heart of the refreshed curriculum even moreso I wanted to make sure that it was inspiring and motivating for our students and staff.
Course description for 'Our Voices, Our Stories and Our Histories' -
Your voice, your opinion, your experience and your story matters. Your voice and your story is a gift and one that you should treasure, take care of and nurture. This year we will journey together in learning about:
We will look at Our Voices, Our Stories and Our Histories - the stories and experiences of Aotearoa New Zealand.
We will focus on Our Voices, Our Stories and Our Histories - the stories and experiences of those outside of our community.
We will explore Our Own Voices - the stories and experiences of those in our community. The stories of our community in Glen Innes, Aotearoa New Zealand and in the world are unique taonga tuku iho. I want to ensure that it spoke to our students and empowered them to know that their voice, their story and their communitiy's history is important and valued.
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| Snapshot: Term 1 2024 (Our Voices, Our Stories + Our Histories - through Poetry) |
The significant learning, learning activies and assessment opportunities, and the big ideas (understand, know and do) are the main pillars that support the learning and assessment opportunities. Term 1, 2, 3 and 4 have been organized in this way. The learning and the big ideas are the reference points. The teaching, learning and assessment will always point back to the significant learning, learning activities, assessment opportunities and big ideas.
KORA
(location) over there, that place (at a distance), the place over there, there - a location word, or locative, which follows immediately after particles such as ki, i, hei and kei or is preceded by a when used as the subject of the sentence.
The next steps for the department is to continue to refine our course. We will be specifically looking at building our units for the internal assessments (1.1 and 1.2). I have started to plan for the assessments but I want to collaborate with the team to flesh it out. This has been a liberating journey because I am able to build a course, a curriculum from scratch. A curriculum that I hope speaks to our akonga and kaiako. I am excited and I am inspired. I look forward to documenting this journey.
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