May Edblog Challenge

Tuakana–teina
The concept of a tuakana–teina relationship

The tuakana–teina relationship, an integral part of traditional Māori society, provides a model for buddy systems. An older or more expert tuakana (brother, sister or cousin) helps and guides a younger or less expert teina (originally a younger sibling or cousin of the same gender). In a learning environment that recognises the value of ako, the tuakana–teina roles may be reversed at any time. (NZC - http://tereomaori.tki.org.nz/Curriculum-guidelines/Teaching-and-learning-te-reo-Maori/Aspects-of-planning/The-concept-of-a-tuakana-teina-relationship)

This year my Y10 class has taken hold of this concept and we have become this for the Room 8 (y1/2) class.  For the first two terms, twice a week, my students go in and read aloud to the students.  They have free range from the library to choose a text they are comfortable with.  More often than not they come back really excited as they have found a text that they loved as a child.  They then read the text themselves before they go in, and after interval, they then read aloud to a group of these students.  This term the roster is somewhat more determined rather than volunteered, as it is my hunch that reading aloud to these students is going to support and improve the literacy of the Y10 students struggling with reading.  

Feedback from the Y1/2 teacher is that she is seeing a growing confidence in the students asking questions of the younger ones.  They are inviting them to be critical listeners, often without even realising it.  She is seeing a growing strength in their speaking and reading.  I am seeing students come back with a more positive mindset about reading.  "They loved it Miss."  "They didn't care that I made a mistake." "They asked ME questions."  "They wanted us to read another story to them."  For my readers who struggle to engage in a text or level of the text that school tells them 'should' be reading, this readaloud opportunity gives them a positive reading experience.  Now to do the teacher thing and figure out how to record some DATA about it.  

Connections

I am in the process of writing up an application for an overseas cultural connections experience.  It has gotten me thinking about how much becoming connected has bettered the way I teach the, the way I reflect and the way I want to move forward.

One of the first (NZ wide) connections that I joined when first teaching was (as it was called then) the English List Serve via TKI .  Soon after this followed the Literacy and Social Studies List Servc.  These groups provided (and still provides) an email based system where you can 'post' to the group and other teachers nationally (and several international) in your teaching area and respond, support and challenge your thoughts.    A HUGE thank you to the moderators of these lists!!  It is amazing to see teachers supporting teachers and sharing resources as and where able.

Both further national and international connections have been made by becoming more confident and engaging with educators over Twitter (follow me @askawenga if you are keen!).  I take part (as and where able given the tamariki in the morning) in #BFC30NZ as much as I can - to me this is such an inspirational fifteen minutes.  It gives us wee thoughtful challenges along with the opportunity to afi one another in an environment that is willing to challenge each other but always remains positive!

Source

Another key connection are the #EDBlogNZ bloggers (some linked in side bar).  These educators take the time to write about their practice, their purpose, their highs and lows, their pedagogy and their passion.  It is these experiences that can inspire you on a blue day, reignite the fire on a low day and remind you that we are all in this for the love the students and their learning.


This year I am taking part in #NZreadaloud4 - a chance to focus in my inquiry about whether increased reading aloud (even at Y10) is going to improve my students reading and writing.  This is something that I am thinking might be a possibility to connect even further if I had a chance to go on this overseas experience.


A personal international connection is my sister-in-law in Holland.  She is taking an Bachelor of Arts in Literacy and Social Sciences, so I am privileged to be able to read her university work, and this year she has been studying some NZ authors as part of her Masters thesis studies.  Skype plays a big part in this connection.  The Skype programme will also play a part in connecting my students - I am hoping to skype with speakers this year to help students learning become more meaningful and personal.  If we can't all travel three hours (cost and time factors) and speakers cannot come to small area schools easily - perhaps we can overcome that by organising Skype sessions with speakers and particular authors (hopng we can connect with Karen Healey @kehealey author of our novel study this year).   This connecting will again make the learning more personal and purposeful.

So ... leave me a note here or on Twitter ... lets see how many more connections we can make!

The Blog-o-sphere

I have always loved reading - almost as much as I love writing I think.  I have always love reading others people's thoughts and feelings and getting a glimpse of how they see the world.  I frequented the biography and auto-biography part of the library as a teen, and still prefer these to fiction at times. It has been interesting to note now that with the advent of "The Blog" it has become much more common for the average John Doe to write and share about both their personal and career life experiences.

 As I came back into teaching last year after a good gap (having five kids does that) I made it a priority to seek out some great NZ teaching blogs - finding several who now, when the notification of a new post goes DING in the inbox, it's the first thing to be read.  It was the ding tonight, and thinking about the post from Claire Amos about feeling the fear and doing it anyway, that I was lead to reflect on how much I am thankful for what I'm terming "The Blog-o-sphere" and how its positives have impacted on my own teaching and learning journey.

So ... a few key positives of "The Blog-o-sphere" for me:

• You get to have a peek into the thoughts of other educators.  
• You get to see into their heads and classrooms.  
• You realise it is a journey not a destination
• You are consistently challenged to think about not just the HOW I am doing things, but the WHY
• You get introduced to cool things like Twitter as a PD tool #engchatNZ 
• You get to learn and see in action things like SOLO and MLE
• The knowledge that there are so many amazing committed teachers who LOVE their jobs is so empowering! 

We do this job because we are passionate about helping our students to embrace the love of learning.  Reading about how teachers are trying new things, not being afraid of stepping outside the box and  being willing to try new things for themselves is refreshing.  It is encouraging!  It is life-changing!

Yes, there can be some negatives - and the key for me is remembering that every teacher is in a different space, with different family circumstances and commitments. I am me, and don't need to be a copy of anyone else.   I have my wee tribe at home, and I am committed to them and my amazing husband as well - and by the way my tribe refers to "mummies big kids" so I'm pretty sure they know how much my students become my 'kids' as well and the passion I have for all their learning.

So, today I am thankful for "The Blog-o-sphere".  To all the bloggers and readers out there, thanks for your inspiration and encouragement .... have a great teaching week!