Maui's Barb a blog by Sara Plunkett.

Ka maumahara au ki taku tau, 2016. My first year full time teaching, and also my first year as HOF Arts. It has been a steep learning curve both in terms of art teaching and leading a faculty. I am physically, mentally and emotionally drained in much need of some art or biblio - therapy. Week 6 and 7 we have been looking at Leadership. I never thought of myself as a leader but I guess I am one. What type of leader well from the leadership test in class I am: (University of Kent online quiz about your typical leadership styles ) Authoritarian 24 Procedural 27 Transformational 36 Participative 41 Laissez Faire 37 The positive I take from this is that I am mostly participative and transformational. I am concerned about the Laissez Faire score and might need to address this in the future. This week I have been involved in a discussion on visarts net about integrating the arts together into a year long project. There seems to be great resistance to this type of change with teachers needing...

Working on a Saturday. E mahi ana au ki taku kura. Yes it is a Saturday and I am attempting the first assignment for Digital 1. I have made a few short clips outlining a problem and relating it to a 21st Century Learning Skill and Key Competencies. I was just reading an article, something on Educational Research and was thinking about the importance of what we teach within our school curriculum. The whole idea of 'whose knowledge is it?' and 'Cultural Capital'. (Thinking about how I can tap into the cultural capital of my students to engage them in understanding the context behind artworks.) There was this quote 'By defining the forms of representation that matter within the curriculum, the school significantly influences the kinds of meanings that students can learn to secure and represent.' (Elliot W. Eisner (Oct., 1993))As I was thinking about this a year 9 student walked past my office window he was chanting our school haka under his breath and doing...

Aue! I mahi ana au ki taku ataata a tenei po. Kei te keke ahau! Reflection on 21C Knowledge Construction. An evaluation of a Year 9 Unit. Well from the last two sessions I have learnt that it is expected that we need to be 'present' in our videos for this course. For me this is a difficult thing being a naturally camera shy person and not wanting to put too much of myself out on the internet. I wonder how other people feel about this. I guess I shouldn't mind as I did sign up for Digital and Collaborative Learning. Tenei te wero ki a au. This is the challenge for me. I also have learnt that the old movie maker program o my school laptop is not going to cut the mustard and I'll have to find something else. Related Practising Teacher Criteria Week 2 - LEADERSHIP - Reflective Practice and Key Competencies 4. demonstrate commitment to ongoing professional learning and development of personal professional practice Week 2 - DIGITAL - 21st Century Skills 8...

Kia ora, This is my first post....... Taku tuhituhi kotahi....... (I will try to use as much Te Reo as I can in order to improve, my grammar will be a bit off at times as I am still a learner.) Not sure what the kupu for blog is in Te Reo Maori. I have named my Blog 'Te Naku o Maui' because I am currently reading a fantastic book 'Tohunga' by Samuel Timoti Robinson.  After watching the TED talk and reading the  1st Reading , I was reminded of this story about Maui's Barb. The Barb - Pg53 After watching many fish and birds slip of his brother's hooks and spears Maui decides he wants to redesign their tools for a better catch. He decides the hooks are too smooth and asks his brothers to consider a different type of hook. They won't listen to him and say that this is the way we have always done it, we won't change our traditional ways. Maui turns to his mother and describes his idea. His mother replies 'Oh Maui, I know that hunting is a tedio...