Week 27 - Examine Your Cultural Context

Step 1 (What): What is your understanding of indigenous knowledge and cultural responsiveness and what area mentioned above do you want to focus on for discussion?

My understanding of cultutral responsiveness has largely come from Macfarlane as this is whose work I read a lot of and learnt about in my teacher training. For this reason when I think about being culturally responsive I think about Whanaungatanga (building relationships), Manaakitanga (ethic of caring), Rangatiratanga (teacher effectiveness), Kotahitanga (ethic of bonding), and Pumanawatanga (school morale, tone, pulse) as does Asil whose work is informed by Macfarlane's.  

For this discussion I will be focusing on how I have considered cultural responsiveness and indigenous knowledge in regards to my planning in the 'taking action' phase of the inquiry.

Step 2 (So what):Examine how indigenous knowledge and cultural responsiveness are informing the way you are taking action

As I have taken action for this inquiry I have been very aware of how I can be culturally responsive as I do have maori learners in my class whose needs must be met, where as in the past I have had little to no maori students in my class, I am now teaching in a different context/school where my class is more diverse. I have always tried to build my te reo knowledge but now it is even more important to me.

In this reflection I am going to focus on kotahitanga (ethic of bonding), although my actions do relate closely to all four areas of the educultural wheel. To start the year we read the book 'The Tree House Treaty' and completed a class treaty together which we refer to every day. We start each morning with a whakatauki and say a karakia before we eat brainfood together. To welcome new people to the school we also have a powhiri. This year as I was new to the school I was one of the manuhiri (guests) being welcomed to the school and I volunteered to speak on behalf of the manuhiri in the powhiri. With help from our head of Maori I learnt my speech in both Te Reo and English. I wanted to show the school community that I value the Maori culture, I wanted to develop my te reo skills and I wanted to model to my learners taking risks and the value of new learning. It has been important for me to develop these new habits and skills in my practise in order to create a bond and relationship with my Maori students that will help them to engage in learning and the school context and therefore my inquiry.

Step 3 (What next) What might you need to consider or take action on to move up to the next level of cultural responsiveness? What are the next steps?

My next step is to develop my Te Reo skills so that they are more natural and I can use them in the class with ease. To do this I have enrolled on the wait list for a 1 year Maori language for beginners Course through Te Wananga o Aotearoa that should start sometime after this course is finished so that I can focus solely on it. My next step is also to develop stronger relationships with my students and their families(whanaungatanga). While I have met at least one parent from each family either before or after school or at meet the teacher, I have yet to have the opportunity to engage in conversation with them where I can find out more about them, who they are and where they are from. In class we are starting to work on our pepeha in order to develop more whanaungatanga in the classroom and learn more about who the children are and where the children are from.