Week 8 Term 2: Teacher Practice: NCEA Level 1 English Term 2 Unit: Reading 2/3 + Post Reading Update (June 17 - June 21)

101ENG E reading logs for Term 2 Unit 'Our Stories + Our Histories (through poetry)'

In my previous post, I documented and reflected on the progress that we have made with the Term 2 unit  for our new NCEA Level 1 English program 'Our story and Our histories (through poetry)'. In the unit we are covering three poem's from Tusiata Avia's 'The Savage Colonizer Book' and the first poem that we covered and that I reflected on in my last post was 'Jacinda goes to the Pacific Forum in Tuvalu and my family colonises her home' - you can see my reflection here - see Alby's Blog Post Entry (09/06/24) In this post I am going to document and reflect on the two poems that we covered in Week 6 and Week 7 which are BLM and Covid in the time of Priminiscinda. 

BLM

READING

After the reading of the first poem, the teaching of the context and the reading log - I asked the students to read BLM on their own. I thought that they were ready to venture out onto their own as we had an intensive course around the first reading and reading log. I found out quickly that the student's still needed guidance with independent reading, so I asked them to read it on their own and then write down their initial thoughts and first impression into their workbook. I then read through the poem a second time and asked the students to find the following language features imagery, pronoun and repetition. 

From here a few video clips from youtube that looked at the BLM movement in New Zealand, the controversy around NFL play Colin Kapernick and the North American far-right, neo-facisit militant organization Proud Boys of America. 

Click on the link to access the link to the BLM Protest in NZ video

Click on the image to access the link to the video 'Who are the Proud Boys?'

Click on the image to access the link to the video of Kapernick

I selected these three clips as I believed it gives great context into some of the points and references that Avia has made in the poem. It helps the students to understand the context around the repeption of 'I'm holding my knee to his neck' (Kapernick) and 'My ancestors standing behind me' (Proud Boys of America). Context is key and the videos (linked below) are helpful resources to give context to the students when they have read through BLM. 

READING LOGS

The students worked through the reading logs and I was really impressed with what they recorded as it it showing me that they are starting to understand how 'context' helps to develop language use in any space but especially in the context of 'The Savage Colonizer Book'. Please some of the great takeaways from my student's reading log for BLM. 

Understanding the Context - In Aotearoa the BLM movement was embraced by many. There were peaceful protests as response to the killing of George Floyd by a police officer in America. New Zealand were very supportive because of the similar treatment and discrimination that the indigenous, Pasefika and other communities in Aotearoa have experienced. Specifically the Dawnraids and land dispute wars. 

Language Features - The language features that the students identified and that they thought were effective in the poem are: 

• Repetition - 'I’m holding my knee on his neck'

• Imagery - 'White knights in a long line behind me', 'Kneel like a prayer full of lynching' and 'Crushing the head of the black man'

• Pronoun - 'My ancestors standing behind me White knights in a long line behind me I’m holding my knee on his neck This is the way that we do it'

Getting Critical - For this part in Getting Critical, the students believed that the system (justice system) and the discrimination within the organization and especially towards minority communities were now being exposed. Communities are now in a place where they have had enough of the injustices and they want justice for the innocent lives. 

Covid in the time of Priminiscinda 

READING

We read the poem three times. The student's read through the poem twice (independently). I read the last reading with them as a class. It took a while for the students to get their head around the text. They knew all about COVID and the Alert Level system but in terms of Avia's writing point of view - they were unsure if she was writing from her perspective as a poet or the perspective as a mother. It was a long read and quite complex but the student's enjoyed it. 

READING LOGS

Understanding the Context - We watched a news clip from 2020 (TVNZ) of the Alert Level System change. The clip was helpful in that it reminded the student's of the Alert Level System to which Avia references throughout the poem.

Click on the image to access the link to the video of COVID in NZ

Language Features - In our third reading, we went discussed the language features that we think were used effectively. 

• Anecdote - The references that Avia used in the text of stories that happened during COVID, we thought were effective as it helped to bring a strong sense of reality to the reader. It is a reminder to the reader that COVID was real and that it impacted many people - "remember those who have fallen: the Anzacs and the Covid cluster down the road at the Rosewood Rest Home." This is a common language feature that Avia has used throughout her poetry in the collection. 

• Imagery - The imagery of Jacinda being seen as a strong powerful presence, a pastor like image is seen through the use of imagery that Avia has used when she says "I’m waking up at five in the morning and I’m thinking maybe Jacinda has become my Krishna Hare Jacinda" referring her to the Hare Krishna.
• Hyperbole - Everything was heightened during COVID, the over exaggeration of how everyone was responding to the alert levels and the restrictions that it put in place is reflected in the poem when Avia says "Pak’nSave with six zillion other people."

• Repetition - The use of repetition in the poem is used effectively as it helps to reflect how people felt during the Alert Level Lockdown in 2020. Everything was quite mundane and repetitive. This is reflected when Avia writes "I’m telling myself: Shop normally shop normally shop normally."

• First Person Narration - We are able to get a sense of how Avia, as a mother, poet and Pasefika woman looking after two generations (daughter and elderly mother) during COVID. We see this when Avia writes "I am Jacinda I’m plugging myself in to the TV and turning the volume up" and "I’m asking my eighty-six-year-old mother to ring me half an hour before she comes into the same room as me and my daughter, so I can disinfect: the light switches and the door knobs and the cupboard handles." 

Getting Critical - For this part in Getting Critical, the students were confident in expressing the distress both in the social and political landscape in Aotearoa during COVID 19. In particular the divide in Aotearoa - with people who were against the Alert Level System and just wanted their freedom. With others who were for it and supported the government's decision. 

GOING FORWARD

• Recap on the texts and revisit 'getting critical' for each poem. 
• Go through the Post Reading Document - each student to complete by the end of Week 7
• Start looking for a fourth text from the collection. The student's are to read it, complete the reading log independently - this text will be the primary text for their assessment.