As a person with life long chronic mental illness I know that it can be hard to find light sometimes.
My husband who is a counselling student reminded me of Te whare tapa whā and I thought it would be a great time to look at practical ways we can use it.
This model by Mason Durie looks at balancing multiple dimensions so we can have wellbeing.
In our house we are big fans of looking after ourselves first so we can look after our child. Another phrase is "you can't pour from an empty cup."
To look after the children in our care we need to look after ourselves. Children copy what they see and in times of stress are learning about ways to react, healthy or unhealthy. You could brainstorm with the children in your care ways that they can find meaning and bring energy to their life.
In this post I look at some practical ways you can look after yourself as an educator so that the children in your care will also have their needs met.
Practical Ideas for self care for teachers, educators and adult caregivers of children:
Whenua: Your connection to the land and life that the land gives; the place where you stand.
Taha hinengaro: Mental and emotional wellbeing
Taha tinana: Physical well being
Taha whanau: Family
Taha wairua: Spiritual
This bundle of resources would retail at over $35 and includes something for all NZ teachers
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]]>1) Ask questions
If you aren't sure, ask! You know who is great at answering questions? Support Staff! Support Staff know so much about happens behind the scenes and can be a great help when wanting to find out stuff.
2) Observe
While questions are needed sometimes observing people and situations will give you a good idea of the school culture. For example at staff meetings does a certain person always hijack conversations? Do certain people always sit together in the staff room? Is school assembly set up in a certain way?
3) Learn where stuff is and any idiosyncrasies
For example one of the toilets at a school I taught at was directly off the Reading Recovery room and couldn't really be used at certain hours of the day!
You will also want to know about:
-Where spare furniture is kept and any rules for getting it (at one school the caretaker had to accompany the teacher to the basement to get the furniture)
-Emergency supplies, e.g. emergency water, first aid kits, emergency evacuation areas.
-Keys for certain areas, some schools have a separate key for the pool or a certain room.
4) Find out about the school culture
School culture is a funny thing to put your finger on, however it gives you a great insight into how senior management run the school. Here are just a few things you may or may notice.
-Senior management. Approachable? What do they see their role as? Do they prefer email or face to face? Are they up for discussion about things or do they want you to follow? How do they communicate?
-What is the staff room for? Chatting? Meetings? Both?
-Staff Meetings? How many? When? Where?
-How is staff morale? Are there shared morning teas? Random gifts of chocolate in people's pigeon holes? Is there laughter in the school admin areas?
-How is information shared? Email, eTap, whiteboard, daily staff notices?
-What are the school's expectations about communication with parents? Open door policy? Appointments only? Meetings only on certain days?
5) Look after yourself
New schools can be hard. I think we need to be gentle with ourselves not only are we getting used to a new school we are getting used to a new group of people including staff, students and families. Look after yourself, remember to do things that bring you life and leave and arrive at school at a time that works for you wherever possible
]]>Last year I went for PD at another school. The class was very well cared for and the teacher had obviously spent hours curating writing samples, artwork and centre signs.
However, I had a hard time concentrating on the speaker as I was looking around at the wall displays that went all the way to the top of the wall and were on the three walls I could see around me, not to mention the whiteboard which was full with labels and magnets.
If I was having a hard time concentrating, what about the children?
So where is the line between decorated and bare?
Where is the line between student voice through displays and visual pollution?
Where is the just right, Goldilocks zone?
Maybe my philosophy was wrong. I decided to dig a bit deeper.
Philosophy
Some of this comes down to your personal philosophy or the philosophy of the school you are at. Some people like colour and noise, some people like things muted. Some schools let teachers do whatever they want, some insist on having certain things in every class for the sake of shared values or unity.
Montessori philosophy believes the materials or equipment are the things that should "speak" to the child so the walls shouldn't crowd out the equipment that are laid out beautifully on the shelves. They prioritise a homelike atmosphere with natural light, artwork and plants. In my recent Montessori classroom I have encouraged students to put things up on the wall that are important to them, when they want.
Steiner classrooms also prioritise a natural enviornment, while Reggio Emillia classrooms think displays should trace the progression of a child's work.
I have been in mainstream classrooms where all classrooms are expected to have a certain thing on display for example a spelling poster linked to the school's spelling programme or a wall display about the Inquiry topic as the school believes these are important to student learning. In one school I relieved in each of the five year one classes had a four wall, near identical freize of the history of the city they lived in around them - well above head height of the children.
Student Outcomes
in NZ we have been encouraged to prioritise making our classrooms welcoming to all learners and having plentiful displays of student work so students feel encouraged and at home in the classroom. I have even experienced ERO reviews where ERO correlates examples of student work on the wall as evidence of student outcomes.
Do decorated rooms or bare rooms affect student outcomes.
Yes.
Both overly decorated rooms and rooms that are bare and boring both negatively impact student learning.
There are definitely other ways of making our classrooms welcoming and also improving student outcomes.
So what does help kids?
As educators, of whatever philosophy, we all aspire to help students have the best learning outcome they can, many of us use wall displays to help with this and spend our own hours and money creating displays and making the classroom "just right."
Research shows, like lots of things, the truth is somewhere in the middle. Neither classrooms that are bare and boring or overly cluttered with displays of work, art and anchor charts are great for learners.
These things definitely help student learning:
These things have been shown to not help student learning:
Some of these things we can have very little control over e.g. lighting, classroom shape or the temperature of the classroom. We can though control the presentation of our classrooms and make sure they are in the "Goldilocks Zone" with displays that are relevant, uncluttered, and co-constructed. Our walls also need to allow places for the eye to rest, our displays also need to be in places that will not distract students especially when they are meant to be listening to the teacher.
]]>Te Tiriti is one of the eight principles of the NZC "The curriculum acknowledges the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi and the bicultural foundations of Aotearoa New Zealand. All students have the opportunity to acquire knowledge of te reo Maori mē ōna tikanga. "
But does that mean we don't have to explicitly teach the treaty? Being a guiding principle and actually teaching about the document are two different things.By principles the MOE is refering to how our schools reflect the ideas of protection, partnership and participation that came from the 1988 Royal Commission on Social Policy.
It seems schools have been traditionally confused about what this means too, with ERO reporting in 2011 that schools were finding it hard to implement this principle.
Maybe though the reason it is hard to implement is because we have a hard time understanding the Treaty ourselves and therefore implementing its principles!
If we look at the Social Studies area of NZC we don't see any references in the primary school curriculum to understanding the Treaty of Waitangi. In fact it could be said that understanding our bicultural heritage is glossed over in the NZC.
In 2022 it will become compulsory for all schools to talk about Aotearoa's history. The press release from the Beehive, from September 2019, states
“The curriculum changes we are making will reset a national framework so all learners and ākonga are aware of key aspects of New Zealand history and how they have influenced and shaped the nation.”
They will span the full range of New Zealanders’ experiences and are expected to include:
Waiting until 2022 to start teaching about the Treaty of Waitangi isn't an option for our children. Parents of children in our care do expect us to be teaching about it.
Of the small number of 8 parents/whānau I interviewed 6 said that their child/ren were not getting enough teaching about the Treaty.
I asked whānau:
"If you could say one thing to your child's teacher/s or kaiako about what you want their child to know what would it be?"
That's a pretty big ask! I know that lots of us are doing our very best with limited resources. I've compiled a list of great Treaty of Waitangi Resources here.
Get a free copy of the Treaty of Waitangi Principles Posters for your class or centre here
Also check out:
Hands up if you have ever done one of those 'All About Me' activities or back to School activities with your class. You know the ones I mean,
"What did you do in your holiday?"
"What is your favourite colour?"
"How many brothers and sisters do you have?" (Personally not a fan of this one, see why here)
"What do you like to eat?"
I have, I even made some resources like that, but I have changed them to be more trauma informed.
Recently though I've been learning lots about trauma informed teaching and classrooms. Trauma Informed Teaching has as its focus a classroom where the hauora of the child is at the centre and allows children a sense of control and empowerment.
Some of those questions like the ones above are fine but some need to be removed to make our classes trauma informed.
A 2011 US study showed that children from foster and adopted backgrounds experienced a huge increase in adrenaline and a decrease in the calming neurochemical GABA during back to school time. Back to School season can be stressful, especially if you have experienced a lot of change in your life!
It isn't only children from foster and adopted backgrounds who find back to school time difficult, children who have experienced divorce, have a family member in prison, have experienced family violence, death, neglect or poverty may also find reacclimatising to school challenging.
I spoke to Colleen from Trauma Informed Montessori about those first few weeks of school and how we can make our classrooms a safe place for everyone.
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Waitangi Day is such an important day for New Zealand. It is also a hard subject to teach about and a big one to approach at the start of the school year!
What way do you go with it - there are so many angles!
A purely historic look at it - this can be a bit dry - how does it relate to the children in our class?
A look at the effects of the treaty - A Pandora's box!
A discussion about how awesome NZ is to live in, ignoring any actual discussion about the historic-ness!
ARGH! So much to think about! Great teaching opportunities BUT so few resources especially for primary school level!
In 2016 I went back to Teacher training to train in a different age range. One thing that I learnt more about were the three Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi. I have been thinking about how this could be a different way to approach the Treaty in our classrooms. The principles are different to the 3 articles of the Treaty although some people like to assign each principle to a part of the Treaty. These principles were not articulated until the late 1980s. Here is my simplified version of the principles:
PARTNERSHIP: Māori and Pakeha work together. We value the taonga (treasures) each other bring to our country.
PROTECTION: The Treaty says it is very important to look after Māori knowledge, language and values.
PARTICIPATION: We need to ensure both Māori and Pakeha have equal opportunities in NZ.
These principles encompass a lot of things however I think we can help tamariki articulate them through different activities and in particular story. The following books have aspects of the principles in them however they may not directly address the Treaty - there is an overwhelming lack of books on the Treaty for children. Instead I suggest that these books be used as a starting point for discussion and for you to connect the Treaty to the theme e.g. in Elwyn's Dream, Elwyn protects the Takahe. The Takahe is a Taonga. What else is a Taonga?
OTHER GREAT TREATY OF WAITANGI RESOURCES
ALSO CHECK OUT THESE
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I have included a quick run down of the highlights of Matariki plus some links to free and paid resources that may be of use for your class or community group such as Scouts or Guides.
KEY MATARIKI POINTS
Matariki is celebrated by different iwi at different times.
Matariki signifies the beginning of the new year. This may be a good discussion point with children about the concept of a year and calendars. Children may also be interested in the Chinese year or the Islamic year.
Matariki is a constellation. One of its other names is Pleiades. While many people say Matariki is a constellation of 7 stars others say it is a constellation of 9 or more stars.
Matariki happened just after the harvest.
One proverb said If the stars shone brightly it would be a good year would be warm and good for growing crops.
Matariki was a time to remember people who had died in the previous year. Other ways of celebrating Matariki included feasting, flying kites (kites reached to the heavens and so honoured and remembered people who had died) and singing.
IDEAS FOR TEACHING OR INQUIRY
Constellations and their use throughout time. This could be linked to Pasifika culture too!
Calendars of different cultures and how they came to be.
Celebrations and their similarities and differences. Children could compare Matariki to another celebration inside or outside of NZ
Matariki could be a good time to learn more about your local Iwi and its history. As part of that study you could find out about Matariki celebrations.
Change over time, for example how Matariki celebrations have changed since colonialisation.
Feasting or Kai. At my last school we had a school wide shared lunch each Matariki. You could do something similar or may like to look at the importance of feasting across cultures. In 2017 Matariki is near the end of Ramadan, the Islamic Holy Month, this could be an interesting comparison.
FREE RESOURCES
Sign up for my free Matariki Collaborative poster
Stars are a key feature of Matariki. You may find activities related to the stars a good starting point.
Check out this site for generic star activities for juniors
There are a few Matariki books in the Ready to Read series and in the School Journals. Use Journal Surf to have a look for articles. 'Connected' also has ideas too.
Te Papa has a good resource which is linked to the NZC. There are some print and go activities however most of the activities require some teacher preparation.
Green Grubs has a great Matariki book blog post with free printables linked to Matariki books here
Top Teaching Tasks has a quick Matariki reading work stuff here.
Pinterest has a great selection of ideas. I have a collection of easy to integrate ideas on Pinterest here.
PAID RESOURCES
Green Grubs has an awesome set of Matariki clip art which you can adapt and use for displays or art work.
If you are looking for Print and Go downloadable activities that can be adapted for any age level check out
my matariki resources here - you can pay in NZD
or you can pay from Teachers Pay Teachers here
Including:
Reading and comprehension activities
Information about constellations and constellation activities
Art activities
Activities for children to reflect on looking after the earth and their own goals
Comparing Matariki to another holiday
Making a Matariki celebration and planning a special meal
Vocab activities
Here are some of my Matariki resources, click for a closer look!