Maui & The Sun

Collaboration, participation and equity.

Is the playing field level?

Activity 2: Critically analyse issues of socio-economic factors, school culture and professional environments in relation to practice. The Tasman region at the top of the South Island of New Zealand stretches from Murchison to Golden Bay and includes Richmond where our school is located. The main occupations that make up the Tasman workforce come from the areas...

Have you lost your buzzy feeling?

(Activity 4) Critique and evaluate how indigenous knowledge and cultural responsiveness inform practice. We all want to create that buzzy feeling for each kid in the class but sometimes we settle for a group buzz. How can we spread the buzz around? In a culturally relevant pedagogy you would find that world views, values, beliefs...

Cultural Responsiveness in my practice

The process by which change occurs in a classroom is first by being aware then changing the classroom behavior to promote new outcomes. This is the model of  research informed teaching. In order to be culturally responsive  a teacher needs to be aware of indigenous knowledge.  This view is also proposed by Bucher (2008) who listed...

‘Indigenous knowledge and culturally responsive pedagogy’

Culture pertains to your wold views, beliefs, values and language. An individual’s cultural background influences the way they think, their behaviour and their assumptions, (Irvine et al, 2010) and cultural well-being has an impact on society (Ministry for Culture & Heritage): The impact we have on the cultural well-being of our students extends beyond school...

Indigenous Knowledge and Cultural Responsiveness in my Practice

What does a culturally responsive pedagogy looks like in a Modern 21st Classroom? A culturally responsive teacher will use their students’ cultures as a building block for learning and teaching both in and outside the classroom.  They will understand the importance of culture and how it relates to their student’s sense of connection and well-being...

Current issues in my professional context

  Waimea College is a decile 8 secondary school in Richmond.  The school has 1,600 students and about 150 staff.  The majority of students are Pakeha.  A small number of students identify as either Maori or Pasifika.  We have welcomed many students from Asia and Europe to our school in recent years. I teach in...

What is our school culture?

On first visiting Waimea Collage, I was impressed by the leafy grounds and natural ambience. Students were playing happily in the yard, the sun was shining… you get the picture. Others have shared my experience, but this is just atmosphere and what created it is our school culture. Stoll defines a school culture as being,...

‘Community of Practice’

Context In 2015, the school community: students, teachers and parents were asked for their thoughts on the following questions: What is working well at Waimea College? What are the areas for improvement? What else would they like me to know as the new Principal? From this grew a whole school review on the curriculum and...