Week 31 – Indigenous Knowledge & Cultural Responsiveness

Week 31 – Indigenous Knowledge & Cultural Responsiveness

(What): What is your understanding of indigenous knowledge and cultural responsiveness and what are the two of the areas mentioned above that you want to focus on for discussion?

When I see or hear the two words Cultural Responsiveness, what comes to mind is my identity who I am, where I come from and where I am situated now. I am a proud pacific Islander from the beautiful Island of Samoa but I am also a proud kiwi (New Zealand) who honours and acknowledges the Maori Tikanga and culture where we put into practise the Treaty of Waitangi. Gay (2001), defines cultural responsiveness as using the cultural characteristics, experiences, and perspectives of ethnically diverse students as conduits for teaching them more effectively. This notion of ideas really underpins how important it is for teachers to think about the cultural characteristics each students brings to education, their personal experiences they bring with them to the classroom and appreciating how each student sees the world through their own personal culture and identity. Our School considered personalised learning really important because according to Gay (2001) “We can’t teach what we don’t know.” So the way I see it is that this confirms  that if you don't know the “WHOLE CHILD” and understand the experiences they bring to education you won't know what and how teach them. There is no learner that can tell you they know everything learning continues throughout life. But before we can make an impact on our students learning we first must consider the fact that every child comes with their families and their backgrounds. Taking the time to understand the child’s background and their families and whanau will help us teachers become more culturally responsive to HOW they learn which will then create a positive impact on what they will learn in class. The two areas I have decided to focus on are “vision, mission, and core values” as I know our school has are really clear vision and mission state supported by very strong values. I will also be elaborating on learning activities as I think this is something I can relate to because of the teacher task design I prepare for my students to improve engagement and interaction in learning.

(So what): Evaluate your practice or your school practice in light of one of the frameworks or use another one that you are familiar with.

To discuss these areas, i have chosen to use the Milne's (2017) Core Education framework "Action Continuum- eliminating White Spaces". This framework has really made me think about my practice and has got me questioning how culturally responsive am I in my class and towards my students. Being a teacher that works in a Samoan Bilingual Unit, am I culturally sustaining my teaching practise where every students needs are being meet culturally. This framework has really encouraged me in terms of improving my teaching practise so that I am sustaining this type of practise in my teaching. Our School has a really strong MOTTO “Whakapono Kia Koe”. Which mean “ believe in yourself”. Not only does this mean to believe in yourself but also to believe in you peers as well. This is strongly backed up with 9 special values that make up the acronym WHAKAPONO (Whakawhanaungatanga, Hiranga, Aroha, Kaitiakitanga, Ako, Puawaitanga, Oranga, Ngakau Tapatahi and Oho Ake). The core values and vision statement is the foundation of what we want our students to be like as they spend their years with us at Roscommon School. These School values are treated as values that students learn and understand, also live throughout their school life with us. We also encourage that these values are imbedded in their everyday live outside of school as well because we believe in transforming students learning and behaviours. Milne's (2017) Core Education framework considers the importance of language and cultural content but as well as community involvement from parents or whanau. Being culturally responsive in teacher and learning is not an easy task to comprehend at once it is an aspect of teaching and learning that needs support in mastering and I believe I myself need more time to improve how I lead my students learning. I still feel like I'm not being culturally responsive enough towards the way my students think where there cognitive demand is at a higher level.

(Now what?) What might you or your school need to consider to take action on to move up to the next level of cultural responsiveness? What are the next steps?

I really feel that the next step for me as a teacher Is knowing how to use cultural scaffolding in teaching my students—that is, using their own cultures and experiences to expand their intellectual horizons and academic achievement (Cowie et al, 2011). I understand what this involves but am I doing it enough in my class and is it done effectively. Working in a Samoan bilingual unit is such a challenge for me intellectually but it helps when I am of Samoan descent and can speak the language fluently. It's more about understanding the cultural scaffolds needed to help raising achievement for my native speaking students. Its is not enough just to use the my expertise in my own language but purposefully creating learning activities that link and relate to our students cultures, values, identity and language. Mindlab has really been beneficial in terms of “task design” where teachers are creating tasks that deliver the content in way students can understand and revisit in their own time. This sets up students to focus on deeper learning when working together with teacher. I understand now that pedagogy needs to be improved if cultural responsiveness is to work. According to (Cowie et al, 2011) Culturally responsive pedagogy thrives when teachers ensure that students have multiple and diverse opportunities to develop, express, and receive feedback on their understanding in all curriculum areas.

Reference List

CORE Education. (2017, 17 October). Dr Ann Milne. Colouring in the white spaces: Reclaiming cultural identity in whitestream schools.[video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=5cTvi5qxqp4&feature=em-subs_digest

Gay, G. (2002). Preparing for culturally responsive teaching. Journal of Teacher Education, 53(2), 106-116.

Cowie, B., Otrel-Cass, K., Glynn, T., & Kara, H., et al.(2011). Culturally responsive pedagogy and assessment in primary science classrooms: Whakamana Tamariki. Wellington: Teaching Learning Research Initiative. Retrieved from http://www.tlri.org.nz/sites/default/files/projects/9268_cowie-summaryreport.pdf