Te Reo in the classroom

This year I have been working collaboratively with Shellee in Room 15 to run a Te Reo program that fits our needs and timetables without being too forced or false.  Three terms in, there is clear evidence that our model works for our learners (this year anyway).

In term 1 we met together to go through the Toku Reo online program - this runs on Māori TV and there are episodes available on the website. With 5 seasons available online and around 100 episodes per season there more episodes than we could possibly watch in a year. 

In term 2 we worked on cultural narratives - first we watched several sand art videos showing the creation story through Māori perspective.

Then in mixed groups of 3-4 students they planned their representation of the story of Papatūānuku and Ranginui. This was done in two ways - visual and narrative. The result was a series of triptychs and stories.

In Term 3 so far we have worked on our mihi - a number of students have been able to share their mihi on the school radio station over this last week - and clear evidence that regular contact with Te Reo Māori has been the speed and enthusiasm at learning their mihi. 

Over the latter part of this term we are going to be learning some new songs - we already have a number that we sing on a regular basis: NZ National Anthem; Poi-e; He Honore; and more recently Stan Walker's new release - Aotearoa. We are learning Raumati-e, Rona, Utaina, Ka Mate, and have requests to do Toia Mai and several others. 

We haven't planned term 4 yet - we'll see what the students want to learn.

What we'd change - not sure really - except that Toku Reo being so huge I think we'd plan specifics - phrases etc - so that we could use target episodes instead of just trying to work our way through the episodes. I'm also going to try and use the videos from Te Kupu o te wiki more in my classroom.

Extrinsic vs Intrinsic motivation

In my head I have a debate raging over extrinsic vs intrinsic motivation ... one part of me says that kids should be motivated for themselves - for the pride they get at completing tasks or for doing an assigned job well - but this doesn't work much (except for the occasional kid) - the other part of me says that I should use some kind of system to reward kids for doing what they should be doing!

I currently have a 3 strikes policy in my class - 1-verbal warning; 2-name on board; 3-time out to think and 'find manners' - this works quite well but I really can only monitor this properly when kids are on the mat with me. I have noticed that when kids get to #3 and are asked to leave the room to think about their behaviour and find their manners that they're very good at monitoring themselves with this - some kids walk out the door, pause, and them come back in - that's all they need; others sit down for 2-3 minutes and then come back in; and sometimes it takes 10-15 minutes for them - but they all (even J) come back in and sit quietly down and go back to doing what they should be doing.

We are also working on managing ourselves in different situations - on the mat, during our Wednesday wonderings (group work), during break times, during rotation times. I've been using Plickers (https://www.plickers.com/classes/22558) to have the kids self reflect on their behaviour - because the graphs are anonymous they are quite honest with themselves.

I'm also aware that I don't acknowledge good behaviour enough or consistently.  Some people reward with points for various activities but these are often seating group based which wouldn't work for my classroom. I also don't want to be awarding points for completing homework or doing pretty things - I want to be able to change my 'rewards' so that they meet the needs of my class.

I've noticed that my kids also respond better to online activities that give them rewards - Sumdog gives them points to dress out their character; IXL gives them rewards on a board as well as ribbons as they answer their maths questions; Khan does give rewards but it's not so obvious or immediate - there's nothing real about them but they kids love rewards. 

So ... this week I'm going to introduce Class Dojo - I'm not sure that I really want to be monitoring in a pedantic way but there are several things I like.

I can choose what I'm monitoring - our school values and key competencies for instance - and I can click a randomiser button and check up on that person to see what they're doing. I can also reward the whole class or individuals or several students. It also helps that there's an app for it!

It will be interesting to see whether this helps their motivation this week.

Kids can also log in (with a code) and change their avatars and monitor their own progress.