Week 31:INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE AND CULTURAL RESPONSIVENESS IN MY PRACTICE

I have used Rolfe model of reflection.

What does it mean to have a culturally responsive pedagogy?

As stated by (Gay 2001) cultural pedagogy is defined by our response to life. In society, we interpret our world by our interaction with others and we use our own cultural lens (Milne 2013) to make sense of it. First, though we need to know our own cultural identity and intelligence. I am a Maori, every paper I have ever checked for ethnicity has and will always be Maori. I am proud of who I am, where I come from and the fact that I am Maori. Everything that has happened in my life, both good and bad, has shaped who I am as a person and teacher. Unfortunately in my childhood I lost part of my connection my culture and language when I moved to Rotorua from Feilding at the age of 10. At the time I had been a part of the school bi-lingual class and loved the Maori performances we did. I enjoyed learning the language at it was great. The expectation was I would continue this in Rotorua. Unfortunately an interaction with a teacher blasted my confidence, and the decision was made to continue my education in a mainstream class. It is something I regret but it has made me stronger in my motivation to be a more culturally responsive teacher, not just for Maori, but all cultures that I have the pleasure to have in my class and school. With this I agree 100% with Ellerbrock, et al (2016) who states that "Teachers who are culturally responsive and who use the cultural knowledge, prior experience, frames of reference and performance styles of ethnically diverse students to make learning encounters more relevant and effective for them".

So what.

As teachers, we have such a huge influence on children, their learning, personal life, social development, and experiences. We spend more time with children then some of their parents, so how we interact with them will go a long way to how they develop. We need to look at ourselves, how we treat individuals, how we relate to each unique characteristics of our children, and how we incorporate cultural pedagogy into their learning, to build their own cultural identity. We build relationships, trust, and respect with our children. What I have just written also applies to our parents. They are the biggest part of our children’s cultural identity and it is expected that working together will have a greater impact on our children.


Now What: 

 

The Unitec’s Poutama tool:

By using this I believe that I am in the middle part of this tool but and still becoming more confident in my own practice. I know I can make the necessary steps to continue my ascent to the red area. My mind set is great, personally I am trying to and wanting to change but it is also about changing the system that we are in. As Anne Milne (2013) says we do work with a white colonial education model that is now beginning to change, and the teaching profession and NZ curriculum calls for us to be culturally responsive "The curriculum reflects New Zealand’s cultural diversity and values the histories and traditions of all its people." Ministry of Education (2007).

References: 
 Milne, B.A. (2013). Colouring in the white spaces: Reclaiming cultural identity in whitestream schools. (Doctoral Thesis, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand). Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/10289/7868

Ministry of Education (2007). The New Zealand Curriculum. Wellington:Learning Media

Teaching Tolerance. (2010, Jun 17).Introduction to Culturally Relevant Pedagogy.[video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGTVjJuRaZ8