2016 A New Adventure Begins

...And so another year is about to begin with inquiry, investigation and reflection on how I can improve my practice to best support my Learners, Colleagues and our wonderful Whanau.

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Pennies for Hitler

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“Please keep reading!”  When you hear that you know it’s a goodie!   An afternoon shared book becomes a high stakes piece of classroom literacy and motivation.   Another example of integrating Mitey into the curriculum. Pennies for Hitler, by Jackie French...A story steeped in history just begging to be ripped apart through process drama baring the concepts of war, loss, grief, new beginnings, kindness, compassion and courage. The story explores the ideas of discrimination, hatred and fear of being different. There is the ongoing idea that while hatred is contagious so is love. Discussion was in-depth while writing became purposeful with highly descriptive language articulating the pain and suffering of those caught up in the era. Non-writers became silently obsessed patiently waiting to share their work. Critical moments, in a section of the story, were examined, rationalised for significance, re-created through process drama and expressed in clay. Through hot seating s...
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Arlo and the Orca

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  Saint Patrick's has had the pleasure of having Monique Walker share her beautiful taonga with us! Supported by the John Walker Foundation and Healing through Arts we have been able to experience Arlo and the Orca through dance and process drama. Jesse and Catherine brought the emotions of the an orca and the ocean to life for us through dance. Monique and Stacey delivered a powerful session where we heard the story and explored the highs and lows of life through the lens of waves and sunny versus moody skies. We all leant that it's ok to talk about how we feel, to seek help and also, importantly, to cry. Thank you for this wonderful opportunity Monique and we look forward to your next story! An example of an 'Insta-card' where we had to portray people in the lives of Arlo who could support him when he needed help. In these examples we had family members, police, friends, therapists, priests, nuns and even God!!
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Monitoring, Recording and Tweaking

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  Monitoring: Following our work on Ahi Ka, Bastion Point and the recording of interrogational events throughout the process it became apparent my audio recordings were not showing the improvement I had anticipated.  The historical study began at Michael Joseph Savage's legacy, his burial at Bastian Point and finished at the conclusion of the land occupation. I broke the study into two distinct areas:    The non fiction and the fiction.  The non fiction  included reading and researching this historical time frame looking through old newspaper clippings, movie reels and journals. During this time we hot seated the Crown to find out why they actioned the burning of the homes on Bastion Point. The Crowns response left the students angry and frustrated. Now that the students knew the history of the area we could move into the fictional side. The fictional aspect focussed on the emotions and feelings running through the characters involved. It required the stu...
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