Te Tiriti o Waitangi

 

Te Tiriti o te Waitangi 


This topic stirs fire in my belly... and stirs a lot of connections to what I have previously heard and read. 

It's one thing to be stirred by injustice, to have my mind opened to the facts - this is important and powerful. Brenda opened up this important conversation about the Treaty and injustice. 

For me a next step is to be inspired by those who have stood up to racism, who have taken on the system, who have made a difference. 

So... 

What schools are really succeeding in this - how can I learn from them? Brenda mentioned Rotorua Boys School. Invercargill Middle School is another one who I have been inspired by. 

What stories do I want to be sharing with my students? How can I change the script that they are hearing? 

Do they know about: 

-Willie Apiata

-Dame Whina Cooper

- Stan Walker 

- Sir Āpirana Ngata

- Billy T James

- Hinewehi Mohi

And the hundreds of other successful Māori. I love the book "Maori Heroes" By Alan Duff. How could I share more of these in an empowering way? 

I love that the School Journal now includes lots of empowering stories of Maori students. 

How do I empower students to be successful in the ways that are highly valued in their culture and also to be successful in the ways of the dominant system??

In her book, "Becoming a High Expectation Teacher," Christine Ruby-Davies starts by sharing her experience of starting a Maori Culture group at her school. She had the goal of taking this group to an international children's festival in Turkey. With the help of a Maori tutor, and the involvement of families, over 18 months they trained the group of kids to international standard. They let the kids know that it was not enough to be excellent at kapa haka. They also had to be maintaining their effort and achievement across the curriculum. After a lot of fundraising and practise, they went to the festival. Significantly, at the end of their time at this school, the students from that cultural group took out many of the school awards for top academic achievement and sports achievements. The standard had been set and the kids rose to the occasion. 

This story reminds me of how empowering it is to be good at something. How empowering it is to be part of a group who are successful. How good it feels when you know other people are proud of you. And I wonder how I can create an environment where that happens? 

Comments

  1. Michelle19 November 2020 at 08:13

    Becoming a high expectation teacher sounds like an interesting read, Simon. It's challenging with our limited time and teacher ratios to create an environment where everyones' strengths are able to shine but meetings like this remind us of the importance.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Alida22 November 2020 at 19:15

    I got all excited when I read your blog post. I feel really passionate about creating opportunities outside school hours. I think those experiences are often the ones that has the biggest impact as they also include a lot of life skill. And I think PES grabs on each opportunity that they get. Imagine we could take some kids overseas to show off their Kapa Haka. Not impossible...perhaps somewhere in the future this could happen...

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