My Educational Journey

Using my experience during the planning and delivery of micro lessons over a three week period with Melville Primary School the areas I have identified that require further development relate to planning and activities.  We were well prepared for our first session but realised the tasks we had created were not pushing the boundaries for the tamariki who were a lot more advanced than we had anticipated. The second week we had more challenging questions however we under-estimated the time frames and as a result missed a rotation.  The third week although fully prepared the problem I experienced was lack of reviewing our group combined assessment. It is always important to ensure that you understand what you are administering before you administer it and in this case, as I was rushed for time and too reliant on my colleagues I did not bother to read through the entire assessment booklet.  This posed to be a problem when my group came up to the Maori component of the assessment and I

My thinking didn’t take into account my emotive feelings.  Sometimes I build unrealistic expectations and overestimate my abilities and confidence so prior to commencing the micro lessons I felt quite confident.  Upon commencement of the lesson I had a moment of fear, anxiety and panic mixed into one and felt quite overwhelmed. This experience was further enhanced due to having strong confident peers who picked up the deficit and helped set the platform. With regards to the actual delivery and planning of lessons I believe that it is really important for me to consider creating activities that are more challenging and can push a student to explore their potential.  While considering the development and creation of more complex and difficult activities and resources I also need to keep in mind how I can nurture students at the other end of the spectrum to build their confidence and desire to learn.

Ka mate kainga tahi, ka ora kainga rua I have chosen this particular Whakatauki as I have always believed that when one door closes another will open.  With every death there is a rebirth, a new beginning. Every failure is an opportunity in disguise. While we sometimes associate death with grief and loss, death is also a reminder that it is an end of a particular moment or period in time but with every sunset there’s a sunrise, new horizons.  No matter what stage you are in life there are always opportunities for fresh starts and new beginnings. Opportunities to put an end to things that don’t work. We may stray off our life paths but there are always opportunities to reset and start again.  And that’s what this means to me. OPPORTUNITIES “when one door closes another opens”.

Ethics in education to me pertains to the morals, values, philosophies and conduct in an educational environment.  Our personal character, attributes and integrity that is required when you are in entrusted with caring for and nurturing young humans with inquisitive minds. These little humans are the future of our society, the warriors we need to help sustain  our environment, to spread humanity and kindness so I find clear and tangible links between what I believe is my perception of ethics and the principles of the takepu: Ahurutanga - creating quality spaces, Kaitiakitanga - strengthening relationships, Koha - it is a gift for us to be entrusted with the education of our future generation and we have a lot to offer as teachers to assist with their growth, Mauriora - the constant acknowledgement and pursuit of wellbeing Reference: Te Wananga o Aotearoa Student Handbook file:///home/chronos/u-26f9b14e66c01d91ea6bd962f98362d3b0fae386/MyFiles/Downloads/TeManu-Studen

My personal element is Air and upon reflection this appears to definitely suit my mannerisms and personality.  In order to ensure that I can accommodate for various learning styles I believe I would have to implement and embed a variety of aspects of all elements. I really enjoyed the tetra mapping elements and the meanings behind the connections to individual traits and preferred learning styles.  I would definitely use this model however I do not believe that I have to limit myself to just one set of frameworks. The Natural Ako Styles - Activist, Reflector, Theorist and Pragmatist have quite similar traits when compared to the interpretations of the tetra mapping elements Fire, Water, Earth and Air.  My particular result was Reflector and when you look at the general descriptions and compare this to the traits of the Air elements there are clear and direct correlations.

During my time with Te Wananga o Aotearoa work conducted has been guided by the principles of the four Pou and takepu of ako Wananga frameworks.  These are the values that I intend to carry on throughout my educational career and personal life. https://issuu.com/tewanangaoaotearoa/docs/te-manu-tauira-handbook-2019 In addition to general values such as respect, kindness, courtesy, compassion etc I feel values can manifest through actions such as taking the time to listen to children and allowing them to express their feelings or viewpoints; Treating children in a kind and courteous manner as opposed to the traditional authoritarian approach.  Involving students in appropriate decision making processes is important to me because they have the right to be included in decisions that involve them such as input into class conduct - how they want to be treated. So values to me in this particular context are based around mutual respect. Encouraging kids to dream big and reach for thei

What makes me special is that I have a desire to want to be an effective, awesome and amazing teacher.  I have been fortunate enough to work with a diverse range of students from private schools to decile one schools and students with varying capacities and disability including cognitive, physical, intellectual, neurological and sensory. I believe I am special due to my proactive approach and genuine desire for all children to have the same opportunity as every other child.  I have a son who was diagnosed on the autistic spectrum and after fighting hard for his rights and advocating on behalf of him my baby has had an amazing mainstream education thanks to the wonderful teachers who were part of his life.  It is a community service and privilege to be able to work with the future members of our community and help shape and mould these individuals through providing them with a wonderful educational experience.

I was fortunate enough to acquire a two year Government Cadetship through Iwi Transition with the Ministry of Education’s Career Development and Transition Education Service.  Over the last 20 years I have worked in a variety of roles predominantly in the Social Services and Training, Education & Employment sectors with my most recent role held being the Community Development Facilitator with Centacare’s My Future: My Life Initiative.  This involved working with educators throughout Queensland supporting senior students in secondary schools with disability to plan and prepare for their transition towards a meaningful life post school. My interest in teaching came about from obtaining my adult teaching certificate level 5 through Te Wananga O Aotearoa in 2008 and working with young adults in private training establishments.  While living in Australia, I had an opportunity of working in a Community College for students who had experienced social isolation due to significant so