Penrose - Te Kete Ipurangi



Using the Exemplars: A Pasifika Context

Pacific Paradise

Article from The Education Gazette

Background

To demonstrate how a social studies exemplar might work in a secondary school with a large Pasifika roll, TEAM Solutions facilitator, John Pipe and Penrose High School teacher Reid Archer planned a series of four lessons for a Year 9 class using a context drawn from a unit ‘Pacific Paradise.’

Reid wanted the students to identify comparative aspects of culture. The importance of the students’ cultural identity was also important to the learning because it was significant for them and would aid their understanding of the reasons for and consequences of the movement of people in later studies within the unit.

The exemplar was constructed with six common features (the learning context, curriculum links, what the students did to learn, teacher-student conversation, what the work shows and where to next? , but with the addition of two more components: setting up the inquiry and facilitator-teacher conversation.

John comments that in many secondary schools, students complete an ‘inquiry’ by asking students to do a research assignment once or twice a year at most. The rest of the times the students are kept busy drawing diagrams and answering teacher or text-set questions from a page of their textbook or completing close exercises from the OHP.

“This project was an attempt to demonstrate that we could hook Pasifika students into an inquiry sequence by using the six common features and adding our own components to the whole process,” he says.

“This would then demonstrate learning that was owned by the students and therefore far more authentic.”

Inquiry was added because John and Reid both felt that it was the key to establishing a learning sequence and inquiry exemplified the process that students went through to learn.

A series of 36 slides of Pasifika “slices of life” were used to help generate questions and ideas and get students thinking about the learning context.

“We worked really hard on the initiating activity to get the kids asking questions themselves so they had a sense of ownership with the questions that established their own learning path.”

Once the groups had created their own questions over a period and a half, they could then use them to make a comparison between two different cultural groups in the Pacific Islands. They then processed material Reid obtained from the National Library with the idea of using it to create and complete a presentation by the end of the fourth lesson.

For Reid, the pivotal point of the exercise came in the very first lesson.

“John introducing me to the idea of using visuals as a bridge to learning or as a mechanism to access prior knowledge that will help students into the learning sequence. It has been a real bonus for me,” he says.

“In that first class using the slides, I could see that the students were hooked immediately. The literacy ability of our students – many of whom are Pasifika - isn’t high, so a piece of text to create some background knowledge isn’t necessarily going to be very effective. But with the visuals, immediately there were 36 images they could understand and it put everyone on a level playing field. If you can tailor your images like a bridge into the next bit of learning, it will hook them like I have never seen them.”

A true convert, Reid has now earned a reputation as “the photo guy” because he uses visuals so regularly now.

“It’s so easy. I just go into the internet and download half a dozen photos and you can easily use a projector or PowerPoint so that everyone can look at them and discuss them – it’s a great way to introduce a new topic.”

Reid says he also found the Aspects of Learning attached to the achievement objectives to be very useful.

“It focuses what you need to know. It is written as a learning outcome, “The students will know…….’ ‘The students will understand’…..which means you have got something clear to articulate what you need them to know.”

Using the exemplars: Pacific Paradise – one school’s experience

|THE LEARNING CONTEXT |

| |

|The teacher wanted students to identify comparative aspects of culture. The importance of the students’ cultural identity was |

|also important to the learning because it is significant for them and would aid their understanding of the reasons for and |

|consequences of the movement of people in later studies within the unit. |

| |

|Already within the context of the unit – called ‘Pacific Paradise’ there was a strong sense of ownership and knowledge by the |

|students about this learning context. |

| |

|CURRICULUM LINKS |

| |

|Level 5: Culture and Heritage |

|Students will understand ways that in which cultural and national identity develop and are maintained. |

|IDEAS ABOUT SOCIETY |

|The student understands that cultural and national identities evolve over time. |

|PARTICIPATION IN SOCIETY |

|The student knows how people (students themselves and/or others) contribute to the development and maintenance of cultural and |

|national identity |

|PERSONAL AND SOCIAL SIGNIFICANCE |

|The student explains the significance of cultural and national identity for themselves and/or others in society |

|PROCESS: Inquiry |

|SETTINGS: New Zealand, Pacific |

|PERSPECTIVES: Multi-cultural |

|ELANZS: Contributes to the settlement, life, and interaction of other cultural groups in various areas of New Zealand over time. |

|CONCEPTS: CULTURE, IDENTITY, |

| |

|SETTING UP THE INQUIRY |

| |

|The teacher felt that there should be an initiating activity before the students were given the opportunity to develop |

|questions. It was decided to use visuals that encapsulated key aspects of culture both within Tonga, Fiji, Cook Islands, |

|Samoa and New Zealand Pacifica communities. |

| |

|He created a Powerpoint presentation of 36 images drawn from a range of sources, showed it to the students and printed the |

|same set of 36 images in colour on A4 paper - 6 slides per page - but cut up so that the students, in groups, were able to |

|unpack the images by sorting and organizing them following broad guidelines created by the teacher or those that were |

|suggested by the class. |

| |

|The idea was that they would be interacting with the images by sorting and organizing them, drawing a mind-map and finally |

|creating questions to enable a comparison to be made between TWO Pacifica cultures both at home and within New Zealand. The |

|A4 sheet of ideas was cut up into individual prompt cards for this part of the learning process. |

| |

|Activities with the images were as follows: |

|What images give the key aspects of culture? |

|What are the key ways that we describe a culture? A4 prompt cards. |

|Lifestyles |

|Icons |

|Celebrations |

|Food |

|Leisure activities |

|Religion |

|Dress |

|Earning a living |

|Create a mind-map using as many ideas as possible from the IMAGES and the prompt cards. |

|Re-create the mind-map for homework and make up 4 questions that you want to know more about using the stems What?, Where? |

|How? Why? |

| |

|DEVELOPING QUESTIONS/CATEGORIES |

| |

|In their groups, the students shared their questions and their mind-maps. From last night’s homework. |

|The group was then asked which questions they could use or which categories they could use from the visuals and the questions|

|that the group has discussed so far in the lesson to help them understand the key cultural aspects or parts of the culture of|

|an island group. |

|The group were also asked to choose which TWO Pacific islands they would like to study and allocated two people in each group|

|for each. |

|They were asked to think about how they might compare TWO Pacific island cultures. |

| |

|GATHERING INFORMATION |

| |

| |

|Students were asked to use the resources provided (textbooks and a selection of 30 texts from the National Library provided by the|

|teacher) to answer their questions making sure that they used a system to write down where each answer came from. |

|They also used the travel brochures to cut up relevant images and write on the back of each source. |

|Students were encouraged to ask family members for information that would answer their questions. |

|Students asked to think about how they might process and present their results so that both Pacific islands could be included in |

|the final presentation |

| |

|PROCESSING INFORMATION |

| |

|The students were asked to write their answers in draft form in their books (with references -even acknowledging parents and |

|family that they had spoken to). |

| |

|As the students gathered their information and answered their questions, there was the natural tendency to think about ways |

|that they could present their answers as a comparison |

|Eg Two Charts side by side |

|Venn Diagram |

|Three Bullet lists |

| |

|Once the students’ answers were completed and correct, the students showed their design plan to the teacher and then went and|

|created the final presentation. |

|The teacher was trying to demonstrate to the students that while they are processing (writing up the answers to their |

|questions) they are at the same time thinking about how they might like to present the results that they write down. The |

|parts of the process overlap. |

| |

|COMMUNICATING FINDINGS |

| |

|Students chose a number of different ways to present their work. Some used four key questions in the middle of the page with |

|answers for each culture on either side. Others created two separate but similar wall displays. A third group used a wide |

|range of annotated visuals as their presentation mode. See examples. |

| |

|[pic] |

[pic]

[pic]

[pic]

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|WHERE TO NEXT? |

|There are other activities and learning that come directly out of the knowledge that the students now have: |

|Using the electronic images to find more images of their own (digitally from home, scanned from texts and from the internet) |

|to create a PPT that can be presented back to the class. |

|The three ‘Aspects of Learning’ can now be used to develop further the idea that cultures develop over time. We felt that |

|using the notion of defining and maintaining culture we could study how cultures developed over time. We also felt that |

|bringing in the Place and Environment Strand would help focus this part of the study. (see below) |

|Live oral presentations to the class so that all groups have a range of Pacific Island cultures rather than just two. |

|Values exploration where students unpack the values behind those items that are precious to the two cultures that have been |

|studied. |

|Social decision making exercise that asks students to place themselves in the situation of a potential migrant from the |

|standpoint of a particular Pacific Island Culture |

| |

|A further aspect of Pacific Paradise could include reasons for migration and how that migration affects the island groups |

|that they have left behind and the place that they move to (which is the Penrose community), is one of the logical next |

|learning steps. This would be an opportunity to bring in AOs and Aspects of Learning from another strand (Place and |

|Environment). |

|R |

|TEACHER-STUDENT CONVERSATIONS |

|[Note: Student names have been changed] |

| |

|Teacher: What is culture? |

|Sally: Culture is your race, traditions, beliefs and stuff, religion, dance, food |

| |

|Teacher: How did you decide which two cultures to study? |

|Kylie: We couldn’t choose Maori because it wasn’t a choice. We chose Tongan |

|because there were two Tongans in our group and we chose Cook Island |

|because there was only one Cook islander – that’s me! |

| |

|What did you find helpful as far as creating questions was concerned? |

|Sally: Well we didn’t know much about our culture so we used that as our questions |

| |

|Which questions were the most helpful? |

|Kylie: The ones about traditional foods |

| |

|Why was that? |

|Sally: Because you knew all about them |

| |

|Anything similar? |

|Saskia, Kylie: Corn beef, taro, chop suey |

| |

|What about differences then? Was there anything in your culture that was different? |

|Sally: Corn beef and coconut cream wrapped up together. |

|Kylie: Palisami! |

| |

|So you eat that as well? |

|Kylie: Yes |

| |

|But it is just a different name? |

|Kylie: Yes |

| |

|How did your group decide who was going to gather information for which island? |

|Kylie: We all wrote four questions down and then chose the best four questions. |

|Sally’s were the best questions |

| |

|How did you divide the research tasks up within your group? |

|Sally: One question each but for each culture. So one did two and the other did two. |

| |

|Where did you get the most valuable and or useful information from? |

|Kylie: Our parents and family. Some from the book as well. Mostly from us. |

| |

|How did you present your findings? |

|Kylie: We just decided to do it as it turned out. |

| |

|What seems to be common between the two cultures? Or the same? |

|Sally: They both practice for at least four weeks when learning their dances. |

|What are some differences between the two cultures? |

|Sally: In Tonga they go to the market and sell stuff |

| |

|Can you think of anything different in New Zealand compared to in Tonga? |

|Saskia: Here they are not so much into going to church but in Tonga it’s the law sort of. |

|You have to go every Sunday. Some Tongans in New Zealand don’t keep up |

|their culture. They know more about other cultures than their own. And they |

|speak English at home. |

| |

|Is that the same for Cook Islanders? At home do you speak a mixture of English and Cook Island Maori? |

|Kylie: Only Cook Island |

| |

|That’s interesting. So when you go home it’s almost as if you go into a different world isn’t it? |

|Kylie: Yes |

| |

|Do you speak Tongan at home? (To Sally) |

|Sally: We speak a mixture of Tongan and English. They speak to me in Tongan and I |

|reply in English. |

| |

|How do Tongans/Cook Islanders keep their culture alive in New Zealand? |

|Sally: They care. They don’t let people mock their culture. You represent your culture |

|Be proud of who you are. Don’t lie about your culture. Don’t be shamed about |

|your culture. Like Sally looks Pakeha but she said straight up that she was |

|Tongan. |

| |

|Is there anything else that you might do in the school here maybe? |

|Sally: Our cultural festival plays a big part – like Tongan group, Cook Island Group. |

| |

|What did some of the people that you studied do for a living? |

| |

|What did some of the people that you studied do for entertainment? |

| |

|How important are these things for maintaining their identity? In what ways? |

| |

|Why is it important that people keep their cultural identity alive? |

| |

|What does this study tell you about other people’ cultures? |

| |

|What did you enjoy about this sequence of learning? |

| |

|What did you not enjoy about this sequence of learning? |

| |

|What do you think we should study next within the topic Pacific Paradise? |

| |

|FACILITATOR-TEACHER CONVERSATION |

| |

|When you were trained to be a teacher last year, you have already said that you were not taught about ‘Aspects of Learning’.|

|Had these been attached to each of the Achievement Objectives, what advantages would they have provided as a beginning |

|teacher? |

|Teacher: It focuses what you need to know. It is written as a learning outcome. ‘The |

|students will know …….’. ‘The students will understand’ …….. That means that |

|you have got something clear to articulate what you need them to know. |

|What have you been doing up until now to help you to focus on the Achievement Objectives? |

|Teacher: We have a fairly clear unit plan and it is tailored so that it will say ‘’By the end |

|of this lesson certain learning outcomes will be achieved’ In relation to the AOs |

|it is done for us and I have been able to check that I have met them. Of course using Aspects of Learning draws that process|

|out more clearly about what you need them to know. |

|If we turn away from the Aspects of learning and to the processes, again thinking about what you learnt at college last year|

|and during this, your first year teaching, what did you understand by the processes as far as it applies to Social Studies? |

|What did that mean to you before you came into this project? Inquiry for example? |

|Teacher Well it didn’t really mean too much to me. I knew what they (the processes) |

|were but I was guided by my units. Do you know what I mean? |

|Yes, indeed. Did you do a research assignment? |

|Teacher: Yes, exactly and that’s how we dealt with inquiry. A stand alone that we did at |

|the end of Term 1 which covered those processes. So, boom you are doing a |

|Biography assignment and you have a week in the library. There was no |

|setting up of the inquiry. |

|That happens in lots and lots of schools. So would what you have learnt here in this project be that the process of inquiry |

|becomes embedded within the process of learning? (leading question) |

|Teacher: That’s the problem. The one chance that we have is in that Biography |

|Assignment |

|So the rest of the time you go back to a different style of teaching don’t you? (leading again) |

|Teacher: Exactly |

|The thing is though that you have been very successful because clearly you have a good rapport with the kids. But by the |

|same token you seem to have realized that you can be so much more successful. What do you think was the pivotal thing in |

|this exercise with your social studies students – as far as this little sequence of 4 or 5 lessons is concerned? |

|Teacher: The first class using the visuals. It hooked them immediately. Unfortunately, Literacy is a big problem in our |

|class. Yet, with the visuals They could all experience them – there’s such and such a market, they would say! It was crazy. |

|Immediately there were 36 images that they could all understand and relate too. It just brought everyone to a level playing |

|field because they all had some prior knowledge or experience. And then into that first group discussion where they were |

|creating aspects of culture so clearly using the image cards, for example, dance, tradition, food, beliefs. And from there |

|we had a building block to create some good solid questions to investigate with. |

|Do you think that a similar sort of sequence could work with a context that is not so familiar to them? |

|Teacher: Yes, I do but I think that you have got to tailor the learning so that there is a ‘bridge’ in to learning and |

|visuals do that brilliantly. You can tailor your images into the next chunk of learning, it will hook them. Certainly I |

|have never seen the class so engaged – it was magic! |

|CULTURAL FEATURES PROMPT CARD |

|LANGUAGE |RELIGION |CHURCH |

|SPORT |KILIKITI |DRUMMIMG |

|MUSIC |DANCE |BANANAS |

|FOOD |TARO |YAM |

|LAVALAVA |CLOTHING |FISH |

|TAPA |FAMILY |ICONS |

|COOKING |EXTENDED |NUCLEAR |

| |FAMILY |FAMILY |

|DEATH |GRIEVING |MAT CEREMONY |

|MAKING A LIVING |WEDDINGS |GIFTS |

|CANOES |OCCASIONS |RELATIONS |

|SHARKS |RELATIONSHIPS |PEERS |

|REMITTANCES |MONEY |MATERIAL |

|EXCHANGE |TURTLES |PORK |

|HOME SLAUGHTER |MARKET |BARTER |

Note; This activity was not used, however it is part of the next learning steps

| |

|MIGRATION CARD |

|NO JOBS |PLANES |WAGES IN NEW ZEALAND HIGHER |

|STRICT RULES AND CONTROLS |BOATS |GREATER EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES |

|LOW WAGES |FREE ENTRY |FAMILY MEMBERS IN NEW ZEALAND |

|LACK OF MODERN FACILITIES |QUOTA ENTRY |HOUSING BETTER IN NEW ZEALAND |

|LESS CHANCE FOR HIGHER EDUCTAION |COLD WEATHER |NEW ZEALAND HAS MORE SPORT AND |

| | |ENTERTAINMENT |

|CYCLONE DAMAGE |LOSS OF CULTURAL IDENTITY |RELATIVES IN NEW ZEALAND OFFER TO PAY YOUR |

| | |FARE |

|OVERSTAYER RISK |REMITTANCES |ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION |

| |

|ACTIVITY |

|These cards are jumbled. |

| |

|Your group’s job is to sort these cards into THREE lists that will help you to understand the process of MIGRATION |

| |

|You should decide on the heading for your three lists |

| |

|What questions can you add to your comparison questions to help you understand differences in the migration story of different |

|Pacific Islands? |

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