Monday, June 30, 2014

Te Reo Māori Course - Term 2 Reflection

Since 12th May, I have been involved in the weekly Te Reo Māori Course organised by Literacy Taupō. What an incredibly journey this has been!  Experiencing the customs of another culture, is a wonderful opportunity.

I've learned to write my Pepehā and Kupu Mihimihi and am just beginning to memorize my Pepehā for future use.

I have practiced saying some sentences using rākau, nga tatai (numbers) and nga tae (colours).  This was quite challenging at times, but the support from the tutor and others were amazing.  Never have I felt that I could not do it and best of all, we had fun while learning.

Beginning to learn some whakatauki (proverbs) was an eye-opener.  I could find so much wisdom in each and every one of them.  My favourite so far is, He harore rangi tahi, which can be interpreted as: a mushroom lives for one day, so don't waste time...

Having some knowledge of Te Reo Māori, enables me to build relationships with ākonga and whānau and [in my opinion] shows that I respect their language, culture and heritage.

I am definitely looking forward to continue my learning next term.


~ Embracing diversity is one adventure after another, opening new paths of discovery that connect an understanding to caring, listening, and sharing with others who are different than ourselves. - April Holland ~


Sunday, June 22, 2014

Teacher Agency & my Quest for Further Learning

This week's #edchatNZ topic was Teacher agency - What is it? Why do we need it? And how do we build it?
My Storify shows the great discussions happening around these questions and the wonderful ideas shared by all the awesome educators taking part.



However, as always in my quest for further learning, I was lead to this captivating post by Jackie Gerstein, Ed.D: Teacher Agency: Educators moving from a Fixed to a Growth Mindset.


~ "Your life as a teacher begins the day you realize that you are always a learner." - Robert Johan Meehan ~


Friday, June 20, 2014

It's all about contribution

It was another successful Friday afternoon for our Connected Rotorua Teachers, when we came together for our twice a term PL&D meeting.
Having teachers attending such an opportunity on a Friday afternoon, just shows the dedication we have towards our profession and the desire to learn more on how to make learning meaningful for our learners and for ourselves in the process.

We had wonderful discussions around using iPads in education and the administrative 'challenges' around them.  We also shared our ideas around the usefulness of some apps.  However, I want to emphasis again, that it is not about the app or the use of technology, but about how it can enhance learning and the learning outcomes around this.



I came away enriched from meaningful conversations and it was heart-warming to receive this acknowledgement from the Excel Rotorua e-Learning Community.  



Thank you to all the attendees for a productive evening! 


~ "Don't cheat the world of your contribution. Give it what you've got. - Steven Pressfield ~

Saturday, June 7, 2014

MLE - Why, How, What?

As part of my eFellow14 Inquiry, I am constantly on the look out for more information around Modern Learning Pedagogy & Technologies in the junior school.


Therefore, I find it encouraging to have support for this on the Virtual Learning Network and also feel privileged to be mentioned by Tessa in her post "MLEs: That's just a classroom with a beanbag isn't it?"

This video from CORE education gives some insight into how modern learning environments work and why they are so important for improving our students' learning.


~ Education is not the learning of facts, but the training of the mind to think - Albert Einstein ~