What place does indigenous education have in your school?

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Indigenous children of Peru with indigenous educators from Canada
Indigenous children of Peru with indigenous educators from Canada

Tamara Bell continues her review of the World Indigenous Peoples' Conference 2011 (WIPCE). See Tamara's first post: Thank you WIPCE Peru!.

In this post, she reflects on the five key areas she took from the conference, and poses some challenging questions.

What value do you place on indigenous education?

I want you to ask yourself as an educator, what value or place does indigenous education have in your school or workplace?

WIPCE 2011 (World Indigenous Peoples’ Conference on Education) had me asking myself this very question.

I know CORE Education understands the importance of indigenous education in the New Zealand education system. Their commitment and passion is obvious through their involvement in the PLD area of te reo Māori in English medium and Māori medium. Further proof of this is that they saw the value of supporting me to attend WIPCE this year.

Looking to our past to learn how to move forward: key learnings from WIPCE

What makes WIPCE so special is that it not only makes you look at your own context and beliefs, but it also presents you with new insights into indigenous education, with a stance of looking to our past to learn how to move into a brighter future.

The top five key learnings I have taken away from WIPCE are (and it was hard to limit it to 5):

  • The impact of colonisation is something tangible and real and must be identified and discussed openly before moving forward.
  • Until the New Zealand education system better addresses the misconceptions around the Treaty of Waitangi, and explicitly teaches our tamariki about its importance and relevance to our nation’s history, we will continue to have conflict and prejudice about its worth and value.
  • The struggles in equality for indigenous education are the same the world around.
  • Ko te reo te mauri o te mana tangata whenua – the language is the life-force of indigenous people. Indigenous education must be steeped in the language of the indigenous people.
  • We must work to revitalise the language if we are to revitalise the culture. Learning and speaking it only in the classroom is not enough, the language needs to be in the home. The answer to language revitalisation is intergeneration transmission.

The presentations I attended were inspiring, informative, and provocative. They forced me to ask myself those hard questions. I learned so much about what is happening in the area of indigenous education in places like Australia, Hawaii, Canada, Sweden and Peru, but, more specifically, what is happening in New Zealand. And like Pandora’s box, once it is opened, there is no going back.

Some important questions…

I had the chance to reflect on my experiences, knowledge and practice—have you?

I would like to know what is happening throughout our classrooms, with those of you at the chalkface, working with our tamariki everyday. What are you doing to meet the needs of your indigenous students?

 

Interview with Rawiri Waratini-Karena

In her review of WIPCE 2011, Tamara told the story of Rawiri Waratini-Karena. Two of Tamara's five takeaways from WIPCE were the result of a session that Rawiri conducted at the conference:

  • The place of the Treaty of Waitangi: its meaning and purpose in New Zealand
  • The impact of colonisation here in New Zealand and across the world.

In this interview, Tamara asks Rawiri to express his views on these two issues.

 

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Ahoy me hearties! It’s a good day for findin’ treasure.

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Whangarei Primary treasure hunt team

The Story of ‘QR Codes Treasure Hunt’ at Whangarei Primary
by Tara and Tania

Planning: setting up the QR code treasure hunt with the senior students

There was great level of excitement at Whangarei Primary School at the end of Term 3, 2011 as the students shared their learning about QR Codes with the junior class. Lots of planning and initial work had gone in to this event which focused around the school inquiry on Pirates. You can read more about the planning in our earlier blogpost.

Preparation involved five groups of Room 23 students collaborating and designing a treasure hunt that would lead from clue-to-clue around the whole school. The end result, in true treasure hunt style, was to find some treasure, in this case chocolate money! The students planned their treasure hunt, wrote their clues, created their QR codes, walked around the school to ensure it all worked smoothly, and finally printed out their codes and laminated them ready for the big day.

The application: senior students run the event for the juniors

After morning tea, the junior class were led into Room 23 and greeted by Pirate Lass, Mrs Moore. Poppy, one of Room 23’s students, gave a brief introduction to QR codes and how to read them. Students were then supported in using iPod touches to scan the already prepared codes that revealed their names. As this was happening, another group of senior students were busy setting up the clues. Finally, the time arrived to used the skills we had gained and ‘go forth’ for the authentic experience of a true treasure hunt with a 21st century twist!

pirates seeking treasure modern-day style

Students were divided into small groups and led by senior students on their discovery. The treasure hunt began!

As groups arrived at the first clue, there was an alarming look from the senior students. What had gone wrong? The students suddenly realised that the sequencing of the clues wasn’t right. They had put the clues one step ahead. For example, the clue ‘Your ship just sank, swim to Monkey Island but watch out for sharks’ was at the monkey bars rather than at the clue before, which would have then led the group to the monkey bars.

When disaster strikes…

Problem solving in action and on the run! Students had different ways of overcoming this challenge, and were quick to solve their problems. One group sent a ‘runner’ off to move the clues as the students were moving from clue to clue. Others sat the students down, and took time to “get to know them better” as someone started the clue placement again! Great fitness as well as mathematical sequencing. As teachers, we noted the positive learning from this challenge, and while we hadn’t anticipated this particular aspect being a learning moment, it turned out to be highly beneficial for the senior students.

A successful treasure hunt ended with the students discovering a bounty of chocolate with lots of laughter and learning along the way.

All good learning requires reflection—juniors and seniors gathered around to discuss the highlights and challenges of the day. We were amazed at the feedback from the students—check out the short video below.

Reflections:

Highlights

  1. The excitement of the students as they found the clues
  2. The opportunity for junior and senior students to build relationships
  3. Senior students taking on a leadership role—overhead one senior student saying to junior, “Walk beside me, I’m supervising you!”
  4. Senior students acknowledge that they felt proud supporting the junior students and sharing their skills
  5. The respect the students showed for the equipment. One junior student, while running, fell and grazed both of his knees, HOWEVER, the teacher’s iPhone was held in the air and no damage sustained :-)
  6. Junior teacher reflected that it encouraged reluctant “reading out loud” readers to do so in a safe and different environment.
  7. The weaving of the key competencies throughout the treasure hunt—preparation and on the day.

Students' ideas for next time

  1. Individual clues were not ‘tagged as such’ so, if more than one clue was in same place, it was hard to know which group it belonged to. Students’ ideas included having colour-coded clues or stickers that corresponded to each group.
  2. Ensure ‘the treasure’ for each group isn’t buried in different places, as there was confusion when groups chose the same ending spot. Whose treasure was whose?

Students tell the story

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samsung tablet

A teacher’s tablet review: the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1

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Samsung tablet

At our ULearn conference in October, we had some of the latest mobile devices on display for teachers to try, along with a survey on teachers’ views on the increased use of mobile devices in schools. All those that completed the survey went into a draw to win a Samsung Galaxy Tablet. The lucky winner was Paul Elkerton, and we caught up with him a month later to find out how he was using his new device, both as a personal and a professional tool.

– Glen Davies, CORE Education’s IT Manager

In the weeks leading up to ULearn I had been considering finally purchasing an iPad or a tablet running the Android OS. I’ve had an iTouch for two years now, and have enjoyed using it for everything from personal note taking, diary, games, music, email and cooking (recommend Nigella Lawson’s app), to using it in the classroom with educational apps. However, I could see the benefit of a tablet with its bigger screen size, quick web surfing, book reading, and for sharing my photography.

I was pleased to see a number of trade stands at ULearn11 with iPads or tablets up for grabs in exchange for completing simple surveys. So, between browsing what innovations were on offer and enjoying the food, I completed surveys. Thanks to CORE Education, I won a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 at the end of the conference.

Here’s how I’ve found it…

Set up

The first thing I did when I finally got home was to start charging it and setting it up. It was a simple process requiring me to download Samsung’s Kies software to my laptop so I could sync my files and calendar. The tablet also connected to my wireless quickly and through the built-in browser I was soon able to access all my accounts such as Flickr, Facebook, Trade Me, YouTube, and even manage my photography webpage.

Personal use of the tablet

In terms of personal use, the Tablet has taken precedence over my iTouch.

Personal management

The Memo app is a great way to keep organised, and the calendar allows me to keep track of all important events, especially meetings at work.

Surfing the web and communication

Instant and easy web surfing without waiting for my laptop to boot has been enjoyable. Skype is great with the front facing webcam.

I have transferred my portfolio of photography to the tablet which has been a great tool for sharing with potential clients.

App shopping

The Android app market is easy to use, and those used to the iTunes store will quickly become familiar with it, although, I found it takes longer to find the appropriate app.

Reading

Recently, I downloaded the Amazon Kindle app, and was surprised by how easy and cheap it is to purchase books. And the reading experience is just as enjoyable as an actual book. —likewise, reading the paper through the NZ Herald app.

Games

In terms of games, I have become addicted to Angry Birds. And recently, my cat even started using my tablet to play CrazyCat, a simple app for cats. A mouse wanders around on the screen, and he gets points every time he swats at it.

Using the tablet and apps in the classroom

Around the classroom and at school the tablet is rarely sitting idle. I have it with me to quickly type notes and to add events and meetings to the calendar.

It is most popular during maths time, when children use it to play a range of Maths apps (Math Genius, Math Training, Math Magic, Math Ninja, Math Workout, Math Maniac) during their game rotation. During reading we have used the camera to record our plays so we could critique the expression in our voices and actions upon playback. The quality of the videos is impressive.

As the Android OS supports Flash Player, educational websites that don’t work on Apple devices work on the Samsung Tablet. Thanks to this we have been able to access our usual educational sites (BBC Bitesize and Snappy Words are great). We have used the StopWatch & Timer app for athletics, and recording the time of our model land yachts for maths so we can then work out their speed on the Calculator app.

Conclusions

Overall the tablet is an engaging educational tool.

I see potential in the Tablet for bringing devices into the classroom 1:1. However, I feel that a lack of a publishing programme such as Word, which our current Microsoft-based schools run, will for now hold the tablet back from widespread adoption. Our school will be looking for replacements of our net book pods next year, and the lack of this publishing option would see us steer away from tablets (unless we adopt Google Docs). Likewise, I can’t see the tablet replacing my teacher laptop yet, not until it can connect to and run our interactive whiteboards, or allow us to plan through a publishing programme.

Paul ElkermanPaul Elkerton is a Year 5/6 teacher, syndicate leader, and Director of Technology (ICT) at Stratford Primary. He is also an amateur photographer (www.pjelkerton.com).

 

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Personal professional learning – don’t leave it too late

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As we wind up the education year it is time to think about what is important to teachers in our schools. At this time of year with school reviews, reports and exams, it is difficult for teachers to lift their heads long enough to look beyond tomorrow and their well-deserved break.

time for professional learning

Change is happening so fast—but children adapt

Noted futurist and technical historian Dr Jack Bacon, who recently keynoted at the ULearn11 conference, spoke in his recent EDtalk about how, in the past, we could have expected two major shifts in our lifetimes, with plenty of time to adjust. Now, change is happening so quickly that we struggle to keep up. With the advent of the Web and mobile technologies, students are connected

24/7, and part of global communities at a very young age. He says in this time of constant change, teachers, schools and businesses are being forced into "broken-field running" scenarios, reacting moment-by-moment, constantly re-thinking and adjusting.

 

This has huge implications for the teachers in our schools and centres. How can they keep in touch with the changes happening around them when four year olds are more “expert “ in using the technology for learning and connecting, than teachers?

Personal professional learning vital—teachers must become self-motivated, life-long learners to keep up

Teachers will need to become self-motivated life-long learners in order to keep up with the students they are teaching.

Many teachers have already started this journey, undertaking their own study and developing their own online professional learning networks. Some schools are also running school-based professional learning sessions, or participating in staff retreats such as the Learning@School conference in January next year.

One thing is certain, there is no time to lose. Teachers have to start their personal professional learning journey soon, to ensure they continue to be effective learning facilitators, not only for our students' sake, but also for their own sanity.

 
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