Today is the first day I have started using a different teaching approach (task-based teaching and learning) using a different resource. I used a resource pack that I had purchased from Jannie van Hees who is our English language specialist here at my school. Before using the pack, I sat in one of her ELL…
Author: Ruiha Epiha
He Puna Rautaki e Kore e Mimiti
Ako Panuku Workshop | Friday 20 May 2022 Click here for a more detailed description of the workshop. I went to a one-day workshop in Hamilton, which was run by Rauhina Cooper at the University of Waikato. There was a lot to take in today. Rauhina covered an array of second language teaching strategies for teaching grammar…
Triadic Wānanga
Today I engaged in a triadic kōrerorero and wānanga with my Tāmaki College and Ako Mātātupu (Teach First NZ) kaihāpai. Brenton Moyes, Nyra Marshall, and Dr. Jannie van Hees make up the three strong pillars of my whare ako. These three people are the pillars that have kept me from toppling over these past two…
How much scaffolding is too much?
Scaffolding plays such an important part in creating independent (mana motuhake) ākonga, which is something I am constantly striving for. Last year, I heavily scaffolded my senior students to be able to complete their internal assessments using workbooks. Although my ākonga did well using these workbooks, I discovered that most of them found it difficult…
Te Reo Matatini
Accord Teacher Only Day | Monday 16 May 2022 As a Co-joined Department (Māori and English) we discussed the following…. Upcoming Changes to NCEA and Literacy Questions explored: What are the changes to NCEA? What are the changes to literacy? What are the big ideas in the literacy learning matrix? What do they entail? What are…
A Lesson from the Stars
Click here for the Matariki celebrations at Tāmaki College. The stars have enabled our ancestors to traverse the largest expanse of ocean on the planet to arrive here in Aotearoa, New Zealand. Before the Gregorian calendar, the stars were our time-keeping system that guided our ancestors’ day-to-day, month-to-month, season-to-season, and year-to-year activities. When to plant,…
Te Manu Kai i te Miro
Ko te manu ka kai i te miro nōna te ngahereKo te manu ka kai i te mātauranga nōna te aoThe bird that eats from the miro tree owns the forestThe bird that eats from the tree of knowledge owns the world This whakataukī instructs us to not only eat the berries of the forest,…
He Moumou Kai, He Moumou Tāima ki te Pō
It is almost the end of Term 3 and it has been 5 weeks of Level 4 lockdown for us in Auckland and 1 week of Level 3 lockdown. My inquiry was going to be about increasing engagement for my Year 10 students in my physical classroom. I have changed it to an online classroom…
Engaging in Lockdown
In his opening quote for his article entitled Literacy and Intrinsic Motivation, Csikszentmihalyi promulgates: “It seems increasingly clear that the chief impediment to learning are not cognitive in nature. It is not that students cannot learn; it is that they do not wish to learn” Csikszentmihalyi, 1990, p.115 What is the significant moment of learning?…
Mana Motuhake
What is the significant moment of learning? Up until now, my senior students are fully reliant on me to help them through everything. I feel more like I am dictating their learning rather than facilitating it. I haven’t created an environment that encourages student autonomy and learning independence. How did I come to this moment…
Te Kōpaki a Ruiha Epiha 