Indian Community

The highest education is that which does not merely give us information but makes our life in harmony with all existence. Rabindranath Tagore

Right education should help the student, not only to develop his capacities, but to understand his own highest interest. J. Krishnamurti

Educationists should build the capacities of the spirit of inquiry, creativity, entrepreneurial and moral leadership among students and become their role model. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad

You have to dream before your dreams can come true. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad

Education imparted by heart can bring revolution in the society. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad

Be the change that you wish to see in the world. Mahatma Gandhi

Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes. Mahatma Gandhi

Asian People in NZ

With a long history of population growth, Auckland is home to 1.42 million people or 33 percent of New Zealand’s total population. Around one in 10 Auckland residents identify as Maori, 15 percent identify as Pasifika and 23 percent as Asian. The Asian population is the second largest ethnic group in Auckland, after New Zealand European.

By 2026, it is projected that about 16% of all New Zealanders will be of Asian descent, which will be about the same as the percentage of New Zealanders of Maori descent.

Thirty-nine percent of Auckland’s population was born overseas, which is significantly higher than the rest of New Zealand (18 percent). Two-thirds of New Zealand’s Asian and Pasifika populations reside in the Auckland region.

At the time of the 2013 Census, a third (33.4%) of all children and young people in New Zealand lived in Auckland. In turn, children and young people made up over a third (35.9%) of the Auckland population.

Research conducted by Asia New Zealand Foundation, in association with Colmar Brunton, published in 2013 found that three-quarters of Year 12 & 13 students see the Asia region as important to New Zealand’s future. However almost three-quarters of these students also felt they were not prepared for engaging with Asian peoples and cultures in Asia and over half felt they were not prepared for engaging with Asian peoples and cultures here in New Zealand.

New Zealand’s future is increasingly connected to Asia. Our current students in our schools will work, live and play in that future. If we want them to thrive and contribute towards a prosperous and harmonious New Zealand then we believe it is the obligation of all educators to adequately equip students for their future with Asia.

29 Languages are spoken by more than one million people in India. 2001 India Census

Achievement Data 2016:

Initial Big Picture Points to Note:

We are a top performing/achieving school in our Community of Learning Cluster.

Compared with the rest of Auckland and New Zealand as a whole - Well Below and Below:

• in Reading, Writing and Maths, we have a lower than usual percentage of children at Well Below - less than half the average for Auckland and for New Zealand.
• in Reading we have 3% more children in the Below column - that is the 3% that are not in the Well Below column
• in Writing as well as having 4% less in Well Below, we have 6.5% less in Below
• in Mathematics as well as having 4% less in Well Below, we have 12% less in Below

Compared with the rest of Auckland and New Zealand as a whole - At and Above:

• in Reading we have 12% less at At, but that 12% is sitting in Above - where we are 12% above the Above
• in Writing we have 4% more in the At column, and 12% more in Above
• in Maths we have 4% less in At, but 20% more in Above

Compared with the rest of Auckland and New Zealand as a whole - Collectively Reading:

• we have the same total percentage of children Well Below or Below
• we therefore have the same total percentage At and Above standard - but with more weighting at Above (12%)

Compared with the rest of Auckland and New Zealand as a whole - Collectively Writing:

• we have 11% less children at Well Below or Below
• we have 12% more children at At and Above

Compared with the rest of Auckland and New Zealand as a whole - Collectively Maths:

• we have 16% less children at Well Below or Below
• we have 17% more children at At and Above

Year One Data Analysis - after 40 Weeks At School:

This is the area of greatest concern, and has the greatest impact on our school-wide data.

This is negative data is most notable in Reading in particular, where we have 47% of our children at Well Below or Below.

If we removed Year One data -

• One year out of six years should generate 17% of the data
• Year One Reading generates 42% of the Well Below data
• Year One Reading generates 43% of the Below data
• Year One Writing generates 30% of the Well Below data
• Year One Writing generates 24% of the Well Below data
• Year One Maths has a positive impact on Well Below data
• Year One Maths has a neutral impact on Below data

Year One Data Analysis - after 40 Weeks At School:

This is the area of greatest concern, and has the greatest impact on our school-wide data.

This negative data is most notable in Reading in particular, where we have 47% of our year one children at Well Below or Below.

If we removed Year One data -

• One year out of six years should generate 16.5% of the data
• Year One Reading generates 42% of the Well Below data
• Year One Reading generates 43% of the Below data
• Year One Writing generates 30% of the Well Below data
• Year One Writing generates 24% of the Below data
• Year One Maths has a positive impact on Well Below data
• Year One Maths has a neutral impact on Below data

Asian Student Achievement Summary

1. Year One Impact - 12 levels in their first 12 months is unrealistic in Reading
2. Language Readiness for 5 year olds an issue - cf Scandinavia
3. Reduction in Well Below and Below over time is most noticeable

Building Teacher-Learner Relationships - from each child's perspective

1. Greet me personally each day

Wish me good morning, and send me off with a “see you tomorrow.”

2. Smile

When you look at me, let me see happiness in your eyes.

3. Give me your attention

Sit and talk with me privately; even if only for a little while.

4. Imagine with me

Help me dream of things I might be able to do; not just the things I need to do now.

5. Give me challenging content and assignments

Show me how to handle it. Teach me what to do.

6. Ask about me

Inquire about my weekend, the game I played, the places I go. It shows you care about my life.

7. Let me have time

Time to let things sink in. Time to think. Time to reflect, process, and play.

8. Expect a lot of of me

Hold me accountable to high standards. Don’t let me get away with less if you know I am capable of doing better.

9. Notice Me

A comment to me, on my work or on my Seesaw post. Just a quick note that says you notice something special about me or my efforts.

10. Let me ask the questions

Even if my questions are off topic, let me ask them. It will show that I am thinking about new perspectives, curious, and willing to learn more. Let me have the chance to show what I am wondering about, not just what I know.

11. Engage me

I came to you in love with learning. Keep me excited, keep me wanting more.

12. Trust me

Believe that I can do it. Allow me the chance. I promise to show you I can.

What Works For Indian Students -

Strategies that are effective for Indian students will be likely be effective for all students. They are in essence effective teaching strategies - if we want to move our Indian students forward with their learning they are essential. For our Indian students to experience success, we need to ensure that we have a quality, culturally responsive environment including:

• Highly effective consistent teaching across the school, with strong teacher as inquiry systems that enable teachers to reflect on student achievement, their own teaching and strategies that will improve achievement.
• Teachers use strong formative assessment strategies and give specific effective feedback.
• Teachers use strong classroom management techniques.
• Teachers get to know their their Indian students as people and learners and that they gain a greater understanding of the distinct Indian identities, values, culture and language.
• Teachers take the time to find out about the families of their Indian students.
• Create a positive and supportive school wide environment that has strong consistent behavioural expectations that are non-confrontational and use restorative practices.
• Teacher student relationships are positive and that there is a culture of care.
• Teachers are happy and friendly in interactions with all students.
• Use differentiated learning within classes and across the school.
• Make connections for our Indian students across the curriculum.
• Utilise Indian language and ensure correct pronunciation of Indian names.
• Actively encourage Hindi language within classrooms across the school and promote the use of first language by parents when helping children.
• Forge positive and effective relationships with our Indian parents
• Make use of the distinct Indian culture, language and dance wherever possible within formal and informal school wide settings.
• Actively up-skill through professional development Boards of Trustees and school staff about Indian culture so that they get a greater and more in-depth understanding of their Indian students.
• Ensure that Indian student achievement targets are a priority and that progress is reviewed and monitored regularly over time.
• Engage with our Indian students and parents to ensure that their voice is heard at all levels of school organisation.
• Teachers and leaders within school need to gain an understanding of, and demonstrate a commitment to Indian values including the importance of
  • Respect for elders
  • Good manners
  • Optimal academic outcomes
  • Self-discipline .
• Our Indian students need to see that their teacher cares for them, understands them, their identity, language and culture.

Indian Family Values - Simplified and Generalised - Research Indicates:

Cooperation

Cooperation is highly valued. The value placed on cooperation is strongly rooted in the past, when cooperation was necessary for the survival of family and group. Because of strong feelings of group solidarity, competition within the group is often rare. There is security in being a member of the group and in not being singled out and placed in a position above or below others. Approved behaviour includes improving on and competing with one’s own past performance. The sense of cooperation is so strong in many tribal communities that democracy means consent by consensus, not by majority rule.

Group Harmony

Emphasis is placed on the group and the importance of maintaining harmony within the group. Many Indians stress the importance of personal orientation (social harmony) rather than task orientation. The needs of the group are considered over those of the individual.

Modesty

The value of modesty is emphasised. Even when one does well and achieves something, one must remain modest. Modesty regarding one’s physical body is also common among many Indians.

Dignity

Value is placed on respect for an individual’s dignity and personal autonomy. One is taught not to interfere in the affairs of another. Children are afforded the same respect as adults. Indian parents generally practice noninterference regarding their child’s vocation. Indians support the rights of an individual.

Placidity

Placidity is valued, as is the ability to remain quiet and still. Silence is comfortable.

Patience

To have the patience and ability to wait quietly is considered a good quality among many Indians. Evidence of this value is apparent in delicate, time-consuming works of art, such as beadwork, quillwork, or sand-painting.

Generosity

Generosity and sharing are greatly valued. Many Indians freely exchange property and food. The respected person is not one with large savings, but rather one who gives generously. Avarice is strongly discouraged.

Status Not Determined By Ownership

Acquiring material goods merely for the sake of ownership of status is not as important as being a good person. This value can be seen among Indians today who will often share what little they have, at times to their own detriment.

Moderation in Speech

Talking for the sake of talking is discouraged. Indians may speak slowly, quietly, and deliberately. The power of words in understood: therefore, one speaks carefully, choosing words judiciously.

Careful Listening

Being a good listener is highly valued. Listening skills are emphasised, since Indian culture was traditionally passed on orally. Storytelling and oral recitation were important means of recounting tribal history and teaching lessons.

Careful Observation

Many Indians have sharp observational skills and note fine details. Likewise, nonverbal messages and signals, such as facial expressions, gestures, or different tones of voice, are important.

Child-Centred Child Rearing

Indian child rearing is often self-exploratory rather than restrictive. Indian children are generally raised in an atmosphere of love. A great deal of attention is lavished on them by a large array of relatives.

Other Values that can be part of India's cultural heritage are:

• Living peacefully and respecting each other's rights.
• Never ever compromising on integrity for the purpose of prosperity.
• Maintain strong bonds with family members as well as relatives.
• Being hospitable to everyone who comes to your home, irrespective of his caste, creed, financial position or status.
• Treating guest as God i.e. 'Atithi Devo Bhava'.
• Remembering and bowing to God first thing in the morning.
• Engaging in yoga and meditation.
• Taking the advice of elders in the case of any important decision.

An HSBC study on the hopes and expectation of parents on their children’s education covering more than a dozen countries, including India, shows that though parent’s aspirations differ not only across both developing and developed counties and also within them there are some still areas where their preference overlap substantially.

According to the study the most important goal that Indian parents have for their children is that they build successful careers in their adult life. This is the ultimate goal for 51% of the Indian parents surveyed. Only Mexican parents are ahead of India in rating a successful career of the children as the ultimate goal with 52% vouching for it.

Asked to ranked three most important goals that they wanted their child to achieve as an adult

• 51% of the Indian parents choose successful careers
• 49% choose happiness in life
• 33% identified a healthy life style
• 22% wanted them to earn enough for a comfortable life
• 17% rated fulfilling their children’s potential as the ultimate goal.

Common to most of the Asian nations was a steady faith in additional tutoring. China has the largest share of parents paying for additional tutoring (74%), followed by Indonesia (71%), India (71%), Malaysia (63%), Singapore (59%) and Taiwan (59%). In contrast additional tutoring was very marginal in advanced countries like France (20%), Australia (21%), UK (23%) and the USA (26%).

Culturally Responsive Education:

Cultural Competence is the ability to understand, interact and communicate effectively and with sensitivity, with people from different cultural backgrounds. Cultural competence is a personal capability that is not necessarily innate but develops over time. A precondition is a deep awareness of one’s own identity since it involves examining one’s own biases and prejudices. A culturally competent person is able to empathise with how people from other cultures might perceive, think, interact, behave, and make judgements about their world. Consequently it has four elements: awareness, attitude, knowledge and skills. (Martin & Vaughn, 2007, Cross et al, 1989)

Weaver (1997) explains that the three components of cultural competence (knowledge, skills and values) are interactive and none is sufficient in and of itself to bring about appropriate practice. In addition, she unpacks these three components as follows:

Knowledge:

• Of diversity within a cultural group
• Of history of groups including laws, policies, loss experienced on all levels and pain resulting
• Cultural knowledge (communication patterns, world views, belief systems, values (e.g. importance of family, respect for elders)
• Contemporary realities

Skills:

• General skills (e.g. problem solving: defining the problem and arriving at a solution from an Indigenous²⁷ perspective)
• Containment skills (e.g. patience, ability to tolerate silence, listening skills, resisting the impulse to talk to keep the conversation going)

Values:

• Self-awareness
• Humility and willingness to learn
• Respect , non-judgmental attitude
• Social justice

Culturally responsive educators:

• Consistently communicate high expectations to students
• Understand the communicative function of the students’ behaviours (these may need to be ascertained through the students’ family or community)
• Demonstrate professionalism, civility and respect in interactions with students
• Communicate in non-judgmental ways to students
• Recognise that some students’ behaviour may be a result of inappropriate code-switching for different contexts (Gay, 2002; Richards et al, 2007)

Connection to Curriculum:

Teachers need to connect the intended curriculum to the cultures and backgrounds of students. This must be done by integrating it rather than ‘adding it on’. Teachers should be careful not to stereotype this as this strategy might serve to further alienate or marginalise students. We should also take care to embed/permeate cultural content across the year rather than for a particular week or month

A culturally-responsive curriculum:

• Reinforces the integrity of the cultural knowledge that students bring with them
• Recognises cultural knowledge as part of a living and constantly adapting system that is grounded in the past, but continues to grow through the present and into the future
• Uses the local language and cultural knowledge as a foundation for the rest of the curriculum (in particular, utilises the local language as a base from which to learn the deeper meanings of the local cultural knowledge, values, beliefs and practices)
• Fosters a complementary relationship across knowledge derived from diverse knowledge systems
• Situates local knowledge and actions in a global context.

Culturally Inclusive Pedagogies:

Trouw (1999) identified fourteen ‘culturally inclusive pedagogies’ as follows

• The environment of the school reflects the community and students - books, media and displays used for teaching, and cultural backgrounds of staff in proportion to students.
• Students’ previous experiences are incorporated into the classroom; (Ernst (1994) stated that teachers need to “create opportunities for students to perceive the significance of what they have and know with what the language and culture of school offers them.” (p. 321)
• Students need to be empowered by their education i.e. pedagogies themselves need to be empowering, not just the materials and resources used. Strategies need to be both respectful and challenging. [Bartolme (1994) maintains that teachers and students should interact and negotiate meaning as equals, since this will result in students empowering themselves to succeed rather than waiting for and expecting teachers to ‘drip-feed’ knowledge in an effort to maintain control and authority.] Such pedagogies include negotiating the curriculum and assessment mode, and those that promote communication and collaboration among students. Teachers should model behaviours and thinking processes out aloud, giving hints, providing feedback and redirecting when needed. Activities and reflection should enable students to set their own goals, self regulate, and self assess.
• Teaching must be explicit
• Teachers and students need to build up a pool of shared experiences; the process of schooling can be a mystery to many students because the goals and purpose are not revealed.
• Learning process should be responsive to a variety of learning styles; teachers should not rely on techniques that are supposed to be appropriate for a particular minority group due to the wide range of home experiences that often exist within the group. Personal and individual stories are needed. A wide variety of teaching styles is needed for a wide variety of students. This does not mean each child has a different approach – rather that by using a variety of styles continually will maximise the opportunity for each student’s preferred style to be used more often.
• Heterogeneous grouping; this will ensure that children learn from each other, broadening the base of shared knowledge and culture rather than grouping disadvantaged or advantaged children together, minimising their experiences and outreach.
• Students need to learn the culture of Western Schooling; Edwards & Mercer (1987) believe that ritual learning, where understanding is embedded in the learning activity without any knowledge of what is the intended learning of the activity, is a result of inadequate teaching. Fundamentally, inadequate teaching occurs when teachers do not draw out the learning through prompting self-reflection and higher-order thinking (such as inference and evaluation) about the activity.
• Students need to develop higher-order thinking skills; these include critical thinking, meta-cognition, and inquiry skills. Jackson (1993/4) claims that a cultural mismatch may occur which could disadvantage some children who are not taught meta-cognitive skills in the home, and that teachers need to explicitly teach these skills.
• Teacher/Pupil interaction; Edwards & Mercer (1987) point out the classroom interaction is determined by the significance of persons, place and time, and cultural knowledge. Teachers tend to dominate classroom talk, often by asking a question and then following up with another question when an answer is given (Cullican, n.d.). Teachers use this process to continually check whether there is shared understanding as the basis for continuing the discourse. This can render students as passive learners rather than active. Edwards and Mercer, cited above, recommend that students should interact before, during and after lessons through activities that enable them to personalise knowledge, for example by paraphrasing, explaining, and valuing through creative means.
• Quality feedback should also be given during these interactions and activities. The feedback must however, relate to quality of learning rather than physical attributes such as artefacts produced and neatness.
• Emotional needs of students must be addressed; Teachers need to build a sense of trust with their students since this builds confidence and hence self-efficacy, and a belief that what they are doing in class is worthwhile (Jackson, 1993/4). Tepper (1992) believes that teachers need to create what she calls a ‘classroom family’; a loving relationship based on respect, support and trust which students can count on to take risks. She also believes that teacher discipline should not violate this trust.
• High expectations; teachers need to believe that their students can achieve what is expected (i.e. for their same age cohort) and to show this by their behaviours, including the tasks they set students to achieve desired goals. Rutter, et al (1979) found that, “Schools that foster high self-esteem and that promote social and scholastic success reduce the likelihood of emotional and behavioural disturbance”. (p.83)
• Parents should be encouraged to participate in decision-making processes of education; (Jackson, 1993/4; Burke, 1993)

Learner-centred and ‘strengths-based’ pedagogies and teaching styles

The successful enactment of the curriculum – or the act of teaching – requires that teachers are learner-centred. This means that they

• understand the intended learning,
• can identify when a student has been successful in attaining those intentions
• understand what the student understands on coming to the task
• know enough about the content to provide meaningful and challenging experiences in some sort of sequential development (Hattie, 2009, p.23).
• Foundational to this enactment, is teacher understanding of what the student understands on coming to the task (or brings with them to the learning situation). For a culturally responsive teacher this means understanding
  • the skills and strengths of the student as they approach the task (some of these will be cultural and linguistic)
  • the values and perspectives of the intended learning that the student may have on the content presented, and the consequent impact on their understanding and desire to learn, and
  • a sense of where the content to be learned ‘sits’ on a continuum from the starting point of what the student knows to that of the new content, (this is so that the content can be broken down into ‘achievable chunks’ towards the desired learning goal).

Vygotsky (1978) argues that the most effective teaching is that which occurs within the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), that is, when the challenge presented by the task is just ahead of the learner’s actual or current development (Hammond & Gibbons, 2005).

• In order to determine what learning experience to offer students, a culturally responsive teacher would need to have not only knowledge of the students’ cultural and linguistic backgrounds, but also knowledge of the students’ interests and home life/environment. In addition to this, an authentic and trusting relationship with the student is necessary so that students will engage with the task.
• This Culturally Responsive Pedagogy (CRP) facilitates and supports the achievement of all students, not just those from culturally diverse backgrounds (Richards, Brown, & Forde, 2007).
• Proponents of CRP argue that recognition of cultural diversity, although necessary for all students, is imperative to meeting the educational needs of ethnically diverse students (Gay, 1995) and to situate the intended learning in meaningful and relevant tasks. This recognition includes understanding the cultural characteristics and contributions of different ethnic groups (Gay, 2002).

Perso (2008) suggests that teachers need to know as much about their students as possible;

• Who are they?
• What is in their ‘virtual school bag’?
• What do they already know?
• How do they learn?

She suggests that this information be gathered about every student in the class by

• talking with parents, families, community members, previous teachers of the students, current school staff, Indigenous Teacher Aides and Assistant Teachers
• talking to the students themselves
• analysing student acquisition of Standard English, and
• analysing individual student achievement data, especially regarding literacy and numeracy achievement.

Summaries offered regarding effective pedagogy and teacher strategies include those by Cleary & Peacock (1998), Swisher and Deyhle (1989), and Perso (2003), and include the following:

• making personal connections with students and building strong relationships, including with families and community
• establishing cultural relevance and meaning in the curriculum
• using highly engaging activity-based learning and cooperative learning some of the time
• being flexible, fair and consistent
• providing real audience and purpose for student work
• providing immediate feedback and give praise when it is due
• allowing for students to ‘save face’ so they are not shamed by having to perform or singling them out in front of their peers
• using humour and laughing at yourself when you make a mistake; showing students it’s OK to make a mistake or get it wrong

Other Key Understandings:

• The role of education is to provide experiences for children that are as close to their area of development as possible because if the experiences are too distant from the child’s cultural orientation then the child will fail to make the necessary connections and will not develop as fast as expected. Learning new tasks that are culturally related and recognisable will allow for controlled risk taking, experimentation and relaxed learning
• The role of the teacher should involve increased knowledge and understanding of the child and their family, the positions of the individuals in the family and the extended family network.
• Students develop the ability, confidence and motivation to succeed academically when they participate competently as a result of having developed a secure sense of identity and knowledge that their voice will be heard and respected within their learning environment. They must feel a sense of ownership for the learning that goes on in their learning community.
• Ensure that you are totally prepared before venturing on this journey but be aware that you will not be travelling alone. Preparation will involve seeking knowledge about the Chinese students in your classroom including their family, their place in the family, the roles of the family members, community elders or leaders and their expectations of you with this very elevated position as the teacher of their child.
• Leading change in schools requires resilience, perseverance and flexibility (Fullan, 2005a).
• Despite challenges and impediments to change, sustainable leadership requires that leaders always have the long–term goal in mind (Hargreaves, 2007). Fullan (2005a) argues that the main plan is sustainability, dependent upon a combination of a moral purpose and capacity building. Leaders should expect — and work with — periods of perceived activity and inactivity.
• A significant barrier to change is the ‘culture’ of the school and the approach taken to school improvement and student learning (Dinham, 2005). Professional learning communities in schools are a significant ‘driver’ of change. Established around principles of collective responsibility for change, collaboration, and shared values and vision, professional learning communities have been identified as key to sustaining successful education practice in schools (see Gilbert, 2011).
• Asia New Zealand Foundation’s Education Programme aims to enable educators to equip students to thrive in their future with Asia. We identify three key areas that educators can equip their students:

1. Learning an Asian language(s).

2. Developing competency in Asian cultures.

3. Making connections with Asian people both in New Zealand and in Asia itself.

What We Are Doing - Big Picture:

Language Readiness for 5 year olds an issue - cf Scandinavia - so we are employing the Walker Learning Approach to provide language rich experiences and material for imagination, inquiry and play. Walker Learning Approach is a mix and balance of explicit teaching of literacy and numeracy drawing upon children's own interests and lives to make literacy and numeracy meaningful and relevant to the child and their culture.

This approach provides authentic personalised learning that is effective across all cultural, economical, geographical, religious and social spectrums. It aims to bring deeper levels of engagement to children in meaningful and relevant strategies that enhance academic skills alongside the development of skills for life particularly in areas of social and emotional development, resilience, self esteem and independence.

The Walker Learning Approach specifically involves

Dramatic Play - Sensory Stimulation - Literacy - Numeracy - Science - Reading Corner - Construction - Tinkering - Developing Fine Motor Skills

Seesaw Electronic Learning Journals

• Sharing
• Celebrating
• Reflecting
• Extending
• Growth Mindset approach

Establishing our Cornerstones

Whanaungatanga -

• The culture of familiness - being a family.
• Caring, sharing, having empathy, contributing - these are shown in
• Being a Bucket-Filler
• Pay It Forward

Turangawaewae

• The place where we feel at home, where you feel you belong, where you feel special, loved, valued, respected.
• Our standing place or your stand-tall place.
• Our home number two.

Matauranga

• Learning is Life. Another word for it is Ako.
• We talk about the learning pit - where we are faced with a learning challenge and where we use our skills, tools, attitudes and dispositions to come out of the pit with new knowledge and new strengths.

Manaakitanga

• It’s the sharing part of Caring and Sharing.
• It is all those things we do to put our Love into action.
• It’s being a blessing to others - it’s Pay It Forward.
• And this will Lead into our Theme for this year - Being a ZeroHero and Paying It Forward for our Planet.

and Our Pou

• Aroha - Love
• Ako - Learn
• Arataki - Lead

What You Can Do

Attendance - Lateness and Regular Absence data correlates to Well Below and Below data - so making every effort to have children here and on time helps

Reading -

• encouraging
• modelling
• supporting (alternate pages etc), talking about their story
• Pause, Prompt, Praise model

Maths - Writing - Reading

National Standards Parent Guides have lots of suggestions

Preparing All Children for 21st Century Success:

• Our approach is to focus on some core values - Love to Learn to Lead; The Seven Cs - Caring, Curious, Creative, Critical, Confident, Connecting, Contributing; Pay It Forward.
• These core values help us achieve our broader New Zealand Curriculum goal of ..."young people who will be confident, connected, actively involved, and lifelong learners."
• We are progressing children from day one to become increasingly confident, competent and independent. We talk about "self managing, self motivating, self moderating, leaders of our own learning."
• Our learning environments move towards an increasing focus on SOLE - Self Organising Learning Environments. In these environments children work in flexible, fluid groups. They discuss, debate, research and reflect in order to solve increasingly complex problems via the Cycle of Inquiry. This happens with contexts that are relevant to our children's lives, prior learning, needs, interests. We endeavour to build opportunities for cultural connections within our inquiries.
• Knowledge is no longer the desired end product. It is a means to understanding, and as such, it must be verified, validated and referenced.
• The teaching of discernment via the skills and practices of questioning and Higher Order Thinking tools is a vital component of learning.
• Our research indicates that discreet knowledge is of increasingly limited value.
• Students' ability to think critically has always been a key concern of business organisations and the general public. When asked which skills new college graduates needed to improve most, more than half of the respondents to the question on The Wall Street Journal's survey of 479 college recruiters named some combination of
  • critical thinking
  • problem solving skills
  • the ability to think independently (WSJ Sept. 13, 2010).

Susan Traiman, the Roundtable's director of public policy, states that the skills companies felt were most lacking are

• work ethic
• communication skills
• analytic skills (Taylor, Marisa, Nov. 2, 2013).

A National Survey of Business and Nonprofit Leaders indicated that more than 75 percent of those surveyed say they want more emphasis on five key areas including:

• critical thinking
• complex problem solving
• written and oral communication
• applied knowledge in real-world settings.
• The survey further indicated that employers are more interested in critical thinking and problem solving than the college major (aacu.org, 2013, accessed on Nov.12, 2013).

Indian Community Goals and Aspirations:

Questions - Ideas - Suggestions: