Te Tiriti O Waitangi

This year I really wanted to focus on the Treaty of Waitangi and really push my students to a greater understanding of it. This is due to the fact I have become frustrated with how many Kiwis don't fully understand the implications of the Treaty and what it actually means. I felt that as a teacher I would be able to help my students fully understand the history of it, because we can learn a lot about ourselves through history.

We started with a KLW chart on the Treaty. I was surprised at how little the students knew.

I then split the students into small groups and they then worked together to complete a venn digram comparing the Treaty of Waitangi with other treaties around the world. I felt this was a great introduction for the students to the treaty as they were researching and discovering different things about it.

After having a taste of the treaty, students have then come up with their own inquiry question to look further into. I only used one question this time as I wanted to students to be able to answer it in the time we had (Approx two weeks) Their questions are displayed on our inquiry wall bricks in our class.

We have also been researching Hone Heke, James Busby and William Hobson. Students are gaining a better understanding of not only why the treaty was set up, but also why there are so many issues now.

After spending some time learning and researching about the founders involved with the Treaty, I thought it was time to challenge them around the timeline of the Treaty. To do this I split the class into small groups of 3 and 4. I gave them each a copy of the dates and the significant events that happened then. Students were then given 20 minutes to try and put the significant event to the date. It was really interesting how many students wanted to use the chrome books to check their answers, rather that just going with their gut. The groups did fairly well getting over half of the questions correct.

Over all I feel my class has gained a better understanding of Te Tiriti O Waitangi. Whilst I could have spent longer exploring it, I feel my students are ready to move onto something new. We will move into learning where we are from in the form of our Pepeha's, then onto ANZAC. We are also going to explore the New Zealand Land wars this year, which my boys seem very interested in.

What worked well: Group work, Resources for students,
What didn't work so well: Inquiry of students.Their questions were very brief and not conducive to a deep inquiry. Some of their questions were too simple. Next time I would need to ensure that all my students understand the inquiry process before they select their question.

New Year, New Class

I am really excited about this new year continuing to work at Longford Intermediate

This year I am continuing to teach year 8's. I have 26 students in my class. Made up of 14 boys and 12 girls. The class has a range of abilities ranging from a student with ORS support, to students that are very capable.  I also have a range of health and behaviour issues from one student with ADHD (Medicated), another with ASD and mental health issues, to a few that have behavioural issues which they currently meet with a councillor for.

Due to the range of needs I have spent the first two weeks getting them to understand that we are all in a learning journey together, but some are at different stages of our journey. I have been trying to create an environment of trust and support, where my students feel valued and not afraid to give things a go. I have been working on several class projects around art, which I will share once finished.

The classroom space I have is currently set up into two main working areas. The first involves the actual classroom. Students have individual desks. I had set the room up for the first week, and have now let the students reset to the room to how they feel it should be set up. Some students have chosen to sit by their friends in small groups, some have chosen to sit by themselves, four students have chosen to sit in pairs. Students are welcome to move around the class during working time, to find a space that suits them. I also have a kidney table for meeting groups with, which students work at during working time. The second space is a "breakout room" which is attached to the class with a glass door. This was used last year for my ORS students. This year it has become the "study Lounge" where students can chose to work quietly in. Students have been given the freedom, but have all been told that first choice is theirs, however, if they are off task, second choice is mine. So far it seems to be working.