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I'm not an Expert
Whakaaro/thoughts
How??
Wero/challenge
Literacy Starter Questions
What is Literacy?
> Competence or knowledge in a specified area.
> The ability to read and write.
> The ability to read, write, speak and listen in a way that lets us communicate effectively and make sense of the world.
Is it the same thing in all learning areas?
> Although Literacy shares many common features across all learning areas, each subject uses literacy slightly differently.
> Literacy in science focuses on the literacy skills needed for science communication and to access science understandings.
A starting place for Litearacy in any learning area
The 3 E's
This is a simple strategy that I regularly try and use with students in Pūtaiao - it doesn't take loads of prep, it's about keeping it in mind and checking in with yourself regularly if you followed through with all 3 E's.
Explicit, Be explicit and obvious about new kupu/words.
Science texts often use unfamiliar words. Some of the words are specific to particular scientific fields. Key steps are identifying the bits of a word students are already familiar with (prior knowledge), and identifying common prefixes(start of word) or suffixes(end of word) also helps. You figure this stuff out by questioning them about where they have seen that bit of a word before, or which bit they know.
Eg. Working through an example (Kaiako and students).. 'Plants use photosynthesis to make glucose'.
The new kupu is - photosynthesis
What bit of the word do you know? Photo. What does that mean? a picture. What do you need to take a picture? camera/phone. Yes, but does it work when it is dark? If you have a flash. So what does the flash give that lets you take a photo? Light So photo means..... Light,
and so on....... then checking understanding or consolidating, So what does it mean if someone is photosensitive?
Note well: Sometimes it is painful... but when they have worked through it in this way once they generally won't forget the meaning of it.
Other examples - Herbivore and Herbicide, Exoskeleton and Exothermic
Exposure,
Use of regular kupu lists every lesson helps familiarise and remind students of the kupu, don't shy away from using the difficult vocabulary in your texts either, just support them with alternative(other) meanings in brackets.
Today's Kupu: reactions acid alkali pH neutralisation
Exercise,
Use exercises that allow students to strengthen their understanding of the new or complicated kupu.
> Ideally more than one exercise,
> They don't all need to be in-depth writing, they can be word games, puzzles, etc start of lesson intro activities, main learning tasks or plenary (end of lesson) tasks.
> AI tools can help you out and save you time with this if needed. Eg. Custom connections (see example below), Magicschool, Twee, Questionwell, etc
> To aid the students who are more visual learners using a range of imagery to annotate (adding labels & descriptions) using the new kupu to build and consolidate understanding. See Examples below about digestive system.
Annotate the images below with the following;
> Mouth, Small Intestine, Stomach, Oesophagus, Teeth, Pancreas, Liver, Large intestine, Anus, Gall Bladder, Rectum
> Processes - Digestion, Ingestion, Egestion, Absorption
> Chemicals - Stomach Acid, Bile, Saliva, Enzymes,
Whakaaro/Thoughts
"Mātauranga Māori is a dynamic system of knowledge that draws upon many concepts and is expressed and applied in many ways. It is aspirational, inspirational and continuously evolving, encompassing the past, the present and the future."
This quote helped reinforce for me the importance of teaching Mātauranga Māori within my subject area.
My main goal when teaching Mātauranga Māori within Science is to change the whakaaro (thoughts) for our students that Science is only based on westernised concepts and ideas, it is to show value and importance to our students whakapapa as mātanga pūtaiao (scientists).
How??
>Every new topic/theme - Job is to rise to the challenge to seek out and identify relevant mātauranga māori knowledge
>Learn what you can, from who you can and apply it where you can
>Small steps
>Connect relevant Kupu (words), whakatauki(proverbs), tikanga(customs,traditions, way of doing), pūrākau(legends), etc
Wero/Challenge
Overcome the fears of;
>not knowing,
>not being the expert,
>having to ask others for help
>admitting your failings to students,
Classroom challenge - for those of us not so confident in Te Reo or Mātauranga Māori, a small step to start - give this classroom challenge a go,
> Each week introduce a new classroom kupu that you can use, the more you use it, the more confident you become and the more it becomes embedded, make it a department challenge.
>Identify relevant whakataukī that can be incorporated into your learning area.
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