KĀHUI AKO, MARCH 20, 2O23: FIRST CLASS- BRAINSTORM

  KĀHUI AKO,  MARCH 20, 2O23: FIRST CLASS- BRAINSTORM

Pink: Students' prior knowledge and first ideas for the class. My personal priorities circled.

Green: Behaviour conventions, expectations and support- I asked students to choose five values from the school's 'Pt England Way' or strategies in their classroom: 

• 'Focus
•  Care/Awhi 
• Respect/ Mana
• Learning/Ako
• Fun'

'Asking for help' : Quoted straight from Mitey Learning Outcomes that we opened class with.

Orange: Te Reo Māori. As we work together I will use Te Reo relevant to the lesson. 

KĀHUI AKO, MARCH 16, 2O23: COUNTDOWN TO CLASS & MITEY

 KĀHUI AKO,  MARCH 16, 2O23: COUNTDOWN TO CLASS & MITEY

I have my group finalised. The number is larger (ten) than I had originally thought of, however I am keen to work with all of these tamariki. 

I have talked with facilitators at Mitey regarding Learning Outcomes and warm up games for mental health within this group and will use this framework with the students. These Learning Outcomes are being used throughout the school so hopefully will be transferable within their home classrooms.

I will talk to our SENCO Teacher about how best to construct a rubric of measurable outcomes to plot the progress of students throughout the year.  

KĀHUI AKO , MARCH 9, 2O23: STUDENT INITIATIVE & ONE-TO-ONE TEACHING

 KĀHUI AKO ,  MARCH 9, 2O23: STUDENT INITIATIVE & ONE-TO-ONE TEACHING

As the group formation proceeds, and I wait for feedbacks from colleagues, some students who know about the proposal are respectfully  asking whether they are still in and, "When do we start?"

One student has ben particularly persistent and polite. He has also figured out a way to start the learning by presenting a personal project proposal before I have even given this option to the group. His scooter is worn but reliable and he wants to give it a new coat of paint to prevent rust. He knows I have spraypaint and knows the Makerspace is the safe place to paint it.

I was very impressed with his negotiation of a reasonable time to paint. We established the hours I was free and the hours he needed to be in class. He was accepting of time limitations and obligations. In the past this has not been the case and I was struck by how accepting he was of these boundaries.

He turned up when he said he would, explained what needed to be done, learned how to use two allen keys at the same time, learned a little about oxidation, learned about spray painting (its benefits, risks and process) in a very attentive and observational manner.

Again I was somewhat surprised as I have observed many children get very  impulsive as soon as they see a spray can and often do not listen to important safety and instruction practices.

I am interested how this very positive, productive and respectful behaviour will change once the group is going and the teaching is not one-to-one.

KĀHUI AKO , MARCH 3, 2O23: SELECTION

  KĀHUI AKO ,  MARCH 3, 2O23: SELECTION

The first weeks of this term have been interesting in regards to the two major weather events (‘The Auckland Floods’ and Cyclone Gabrielle) affecting attendance of all students and triggering some deja vu of how teaching during Covid impacted on students’ relation to school and teachers needing to be nimble and supportive of our community.

As our students trickled back in I used my Kāhui Ako release to talk with our onsite SENCO, Social Worker and Deputy Principal in further depth about the aims and processes of my inquiry.

There was unanimous opinion that the make-up of the group was crucial and that if not done carefully this project could have converse outcomes.  There was also string advice  to not to fill this group with disruptive children, but also to add  those ‘quieter’ students who may be flying under the radar socially and academically and may benefit from working hands-on  in the Makerspace.

 An important takeaway from these discussions was the importance of friendship to many of our emotionally self- dysregulated students who are feeling lonely in class. This initiative could be a great  opportunity to help kids who are struggling making friends engage positively with their peers, and for their peers to see them in a more positive light.

These conversations helped me rethink and adjust my  longlist for candidates. It also gave me the above criteria to send to classroom teachers to ask for further suggestions for candidates.