Whats happening?

Ok so just an update on how this masters journey is going. Let's just say that it's pretty energy draining, especially the literature you have to immerse yourself in. I sent through my first Milestone write up to the Great Herbert Thomas, lol (Our facilitator). He is such a critical thinker he keeps you aligned and focused on the goal. Well I sent it through to get some feedback just to see whether my initial thinking is on the right path. Feedback confirmed all the literature I mention is relevant however there were a few things I needed to take into consideration. The three points noted was, 

- "I think the areas you cover in the lit review are all relevant but there are some key aspects that still need to be included: 

- a short overview of key approaches in the literature to second language acquisition; 

a short discussion of literature-informed views regarding the value of UDL and flipped learning for second language acquisitions 

- importantly, what does the literature say in terms of how one measures second language acquisition. 

This journey I am embarking on is not an easy one. I have pretty much put myself in the middle and made it all about my own teaching practice. Why? When I really reflect on myself as a professional in a Bilingual space I constantly ask myself, do I really know and understand how Second Language Acquisition works?  In what areas of my practice have I confidently and consistently produced positive outcomes in Second Language Acquisition? Do I have the skills needed to ensure Second Language Acquisition is happening in my class? Well the next couple of weeks will test my skills and knowledge about how students engage in the use of Gagana Samoa and English. Now I don't have the answers yet but I am hoping this data I pull together gives me more insight on how I encourage, foster and implement Language learning in my programme. 

I know UDL and Flipped learning approaches are positive and produce better outcomes for engagement and programme design but the question is how does it look and work in a bilingual setting. I have to keep in mind that my classroom is also 50% Gagana Samoa and 50% English. Now I am trying to set myself up for success here in terms of being back in the classroom next year. I want to enter my classroom next year confidently equipped enough to support my second language learners. 

How do you measure Second Language Acquisition? I would think you use assessments, formative assessments, classroom observations, listening, reading, writing and speaking opportunities or tasks in class, Lets see what the literature says. 

ok so at this point in time of my Masters journey I can definitely confirm that this opportunity is not for the faint hearted. I am currently a bit behind schedule and I am worried that I won't have enough data to analyze and evaluate for my final report. At the moment it is just a worry, because I was supposed to start my iteration cycles this week but I haven't even finished my project plan for the first 4 weeks. Also consent forms are not all back yet. Did I leave it too late? Should I have started in term 2? Well what I can confirm is that starting in term 3 is enough time to gather the data I need. Also study leave was a means to have a break from teaching where I focused on myself and cared for the first and second term. So no! I believe that term 3 is enough time to gather the data I need for my Masters. I am so over the literature at the moment I have read so much that most times I forgot what I actually read. Does anyone out there have those moments where you write down your critical thinking about the literature and read back and say to yourself wow did I actually write this? lol for some strange reason it flows well and it makes sense to me lol well that's me at the moment. 

The advice we received from our facilitators was to find the literature that has been viewed the most because chances are these are the most recommended readers which will be good for my report. Once I got stuck in the literature I actually had a surprise moment. No, not those surprises where everyone is on your side and celebrating you but the surprise in terms of saying to myself "do I actually know how bilingual education works"? If someone were to ask me how do you know your teaching practice is working for your second language learners? Well I could say well look at their books, modelling books, their reading and writing? but do I really sit down and make sense of what each child is presenting to me? You know I had this epiphany when I was reading the literature because everything we do is pretty much based on research, our actions, our beliefs about education, our drive for success. I can guarantee you that what we do in class is supported by research but do I know the research? I know, I know I am just blabbing out what's coming to me at the moment. 

All I know is that there needs to be meaningful learning for me to ensure that I am an effective professional in the Bilingual space. It's just not enough just to pass by and pass with the bare minimum I need to exceed all expectations of me as a teacher. I plan to do this! 

Milestone schedule for Project Change.

 

ok so at this point in time of my Masters journey I can definitely confirm that this opportunity is not for the faint hearted. I am currently a bit behind schedule and I am worried that I won't have enough data to analyze and evaluate for my final report. At the moment it is just a worry, because I was supposed to start my iteration cycles this week but I haven't even finished my project plan for the first 4 weeks. Also consent forms are not all back yet. Did I leave it too late? Should I have started in term 2? Well what I can confirm is that starting in term 3 is enough time to gather the data I need. Also study leave was a means to have a break from teaching where I focused on myself and cared for the first and second term. So no! I believe that term 3 is enough time to gather the data I need for my Masters. I am so over the literature at the moment I have read so much that most times I forgot what I actually read. Does anyone out there have those moments where you write down your critical thinking about the literature and read back and say to yourself wow did I actually write this? lol for some strange reason it flows well and it makes sense to me lol well that's me at the moment. 
The advice we received from our facilitators was to find the literature that has been viewed the most because chances are these are the most recommended readers which will be good for my report. Once I got stuck in the literature I actually had a surprise moment. No, not those surprises where everyone is on your side and celebrating you but the surprise in terms of saying to myself "do I actually know how bilingual education works"? If someone were to ask me how do you know your teaching practice is working for your second language learners? Well I could say well look at their books, modelling books, their reading and writing? but do I really sit down and make sense of what each child is presenting to me? You know I had this epiphany when I was reading the literature because everything we do is pretty much based on research, our actions, our beliefs about education, our drive for success. I can guarantee you that what we do in class is supported by research but do I know the research? I know, I know I am just blabbing out what's coming to me at the moment. 
All I know is that there needs to be meaningful learning for me to ensure that I am an effective professional in the Bilingual space. It's just not enough just to pass by and pass with the bare minimum I need to exceed all expectations of me as a teacher. I plan to do this! 

Reviewing Literature

At the library today thought I will change the environment so my mind is free to engage in the literature I have to read in order to prepare myself for my encounter with the students. Based on the sprint on LMS I really need to take in to consideration the group of participants I intend to work with because the mythology approach needs to align with the world views of these students. Why though? thats a good question I think it is because the quality of the learning design is based on how well the world views of these students are represented in this project. Todays education view on society is that we are a multicultural country where we are accompanied by so may cultures therefore I need to ask myself is my design for learning able to cater for many cultural world views or could what I am doing be appropriate for all cultures around me? 

The sprint also mentioned thinking back on whether my project is culturally responsive to my context and is it culturally sustaining my practice for my learning environment which is in a Samoan Bilingual Unit. I definitely would like to think that my teaching practice is culturally responsive and sustaining because I am trying to prove to myself that Bilingual education is in fact the most effective way to support out first language native speakers in becoming speakers of heritage and english language. 

Now because my project is closely aligned with the world views of my participants it is suggested that this process should be a process in which the project is co-constructed by the students. The Mythology approach I am choosing is the Talanoa research approach and supposedly what I read on LMS is suggests that these pasifika approaches are closely relatable to critical theory in other words critical pedagogy. This could be a sign that I need to read this to support my implementation of my project. 

Academy Ex presentation Day

So Today AcademyEx Masters students dud their final presentations for their change projects. I can definitely say that it was worth going. This meant that I got to see others present their project and get an idea on what my presentation could look like or could turn out to be like. It just put into perspective that what my project needs to cover and be about when completing my iterations. 

I noticed that the questions the panel were asking really leaned towards how the data you collected has informed your iterations with your participants or stakeholders. Another questions was what have you learnt and what do you intend to do further in order to engage with your community? 

The Data part of my project is or could be the most important part of this project. Thinking back to my project there are many things that are going through my mind right now in terms of bilingual education. Like I mentioned in the beginning of my project that most of the students that are coming through to our bilingual unit are New Zealand born where their parents were born here which therefore meant that the only language they indulge in is English. 

This is a constant battle my teachers are facing in todays bilingual units. I spoke to one of my colleagues today and they confirmed that they feel really sorry for the students are better in English than Gagana Samoa. At this point in time the junior classes are following our new policy of 80% Samoan and 20% English are to be allocated to lessons in class. Which means that everything they read, write and speak about is in Samoan. 

When they say they feel sorry for the students who are stronger in English this means that they dont understand the lessons in Samoa rather they understand content better in English. This colleague feels that this is unfair for these children who are stronger in English. 

These students are reading higher levels in English than Samoan. Other students are reading higher in Gagana Samoa than English. What does this tell us? Researchers state that we need to use the language that the student is most stronger in to support the language that is lagging behind. So then what needs to be done here? 

Should students who are stronger in English be taught in 80% English and 20% Samoan and Those students who are stronger in Gagana Samoa be taught 80% Gagana Samoa and 20% English? 

What would this programme look like? and how would this classroom programme be managed to inform students progress and raise achievement? When I think about more we actually need to identify the language the students is more confident in and then meet the needs of the students this way in the other language? This has really stirred the pot for me because I am about to embark on my change project in term 3 and just a lot more ideas and thinking is coming to my brain all at once. 

This is my research objective: I will implement Universal design for learning  together with flipped learning approaches in order to develop an online tool that provides more engaging ways in improving the understanding of Gagana Samoa in  our senior year levels in our Samoan Bilingual Unit. 

From this research object stems 3 main questions that will help me with the planning and delivery of my change project. There are 5 main elements that will guide my literature research and inform my iterations in term 3. 

Universal Design for Learning:

Flipped Learning Approaches:

Student Engagement with the Gagana Samoa Content

Rotational model of Learning Gagana Samoa and English

Assessment for Learning In Gagana Samoa:

I said to that colleague that you need to go back to our Vision for our Bilingual unit what is it about and what are we aiming to accomplish with the students that come through our unit? is it as easy as this? or is there more thinking required for this situation? 

I mentioned in my research objective a online tool but this is probably something for further down the track but in the mean time what I am more interested in is my own classroom practice when it comes to bilingualism and finding out what works for my English Language Learners and what works for my Gagana Samoa Language Learners. I thought about what we constantly say about billingual education and all I hear is the same things, like if we teach using L1 then L2 will develop more and more and I thought to myself how do we know this? is there evidence we can source that supports this way of learning where use the stronger language to improve English? could we collate a series of evidence from students who started the Bilingual Pathway in year 1 to year 8 vs students who started mid way? I dont know but this is my thinking at the moment. Definitely worth digging more into this. I hope I am not wasting my time because you know how sometimes we take things at face value but its us that are in the classroom research says this but how do I know it works? frick there better not be a one answer to this lol all this thinking and then the answer is basic as lol 

- Universal Design for learning and Flipped learning will support the development of the programme I am going to take my students through. 

- The content will be in Gagana Samoa. 

- Data might be a survey to start off with about how these students see themselves as Gagana Samoa

- Learners, also could see if students could share their experiences with learning Gagana Samoa. 

- Assessment could be another way of Gathering Data, Maybe Assessment in where they need to show their understand of formal language in Gagana Samoa? May a story and speech could be used to support the teaching and learning and then tested again at the end?  

Pasifika Manaiakalani Workshop.

 

I was actually contemplating not going to this workshop because I have been so relaxed lately it has rubbed off on my participation levels lol. I attended with the mentality that i am sure I will learn something relevant to my Masters programme. Out of all 3 workshops that I attended I think that the most valuable information that pulled on the heart strings was the korero from the Va'atele Team. Sharing the importance of billingual education in the classroom where we support out tamariki with the navigation of their world through the strengths and prior knowledge they bring in the classroom. 

- They touched based on how culturally responsive practice is stated in our NZ Curriculum 

- Mentioned the idea that represents stigmatisation that English only submersion approaches presume that other langauges will interfere with the learning of English and result in "cognitive overload" for students. 

- As mentioned by Stephen May (2020)  a more effective approach of language learning is underpinned by the principle of linguistic interdependence. Linguistic Interdependence highlights the interconnectedness of language learning specifically, how knowledge of one's first language supports the development of a second language or target language. 

Throughout my time as a bilingual teacher I have always been driven by teaching through English submersion approaches because of the fact that I was brought up in New Zealand and really had no connection to my heritage language. I came connected to my language though my participation in church where reciting the language was the way to learn. I know know that this way is not enough to fully be immersed in a language. Listening and observing a language is not enough to attain the full understanding of the context. Although there was a place for reciting but this was not the solution to fully understand my heritage language. 

Throughout my teaching career I have always put English first because this was my comfortable. Stepping out into really learning the why's and the how's of my heritage language was just too much for me at the time and I opted out to just stick to english and only us my heritage language for code switching. When I think about it this was a disservice to my students. I've let a lot of students down because of this fear of making mistakes and just being scared to get out of my comfort.  I shed tears yesterday after singing Toku Reo Toku Ohooho because while I sang it I straight away look at the english translation and it said "My Language my awakening". For most of the students it is a awakening for them, that feeling when you awaken their missing connections to their language and experiences. Did I see it as an interference with learning the english language? teachers do seem to use this as a way to justify teaching only english but is it right? or is it good for the child? well can there be ways that are good but no right? and right but not good? I think this is one of those situations when it comes to teaching heritage language. What I can say is that teacher beliefs do have a impact of what type of classroom environment I am fostering. Did my classroom relfect that of a cultural responsive classroom? or was it predominantly english disguised to be Gagana Samoa? 

I need to reflect on my practice and my past classrooms, and really get a sense of what sort of classroom environment do I want in a Bilingual unit. There is definitely changed needed in my classroom practice and how I am going to pin point what exactly is going to be through this change project I am participating in this year. I know there needs to be change in the way I deliver my lessons and how it is recieved by the students. Well will soon find out how effective my practice is or how effective my approach is or how effective am I in supporting my Samoan children. 

So'otaga with O Le TA'IALA (Finlayson Primary School Samoan Billingual).

 I had the privilege of attending the So'otaga (connection programme) with Finlayson Primary School. It was a joy to be apart of because I got the opportunity to witness first hand the formal language of the Ava Ceremony performed by our very own year 7&8 Students. The programme was amazing everything ran smoothly, and like all Samoan Language Weeks its a epic opportunity to be apart of. 

What was my take away or thinking process at the time? 

- I was trying my best to think about my change project for my masters and really connect what was going on with what my research objective is. Everything was in the Samoan Language which is what our parents, teachers and community expects from a Samoan Billingual Unit. 

- did the ceremony sound rehearsed?

- Did the students that took part in the Ava Ceremony understand what they were saying?

- is their understanding of the Gagana Samoa surface level? 

- could the students conversate back confidently what they learnt about the ava ceremony? 

-How much of my classroom practice reflect that of a bilingual unit programme? 

- Does my classroom programme reflect effective billingual practices which therefore supports students with understanding Gagana Samoa in a deep meaningful way? these are many questions that go through my mind during the time of the So'otaga. Do I have the right this of these questions? am I thinking too much in to this situation? What I do know is that we need to set up our studens for success. The best way to do this is to change or improve classroom practice so that billingualism is being improved for our students.