Tuesday 18 August 2015

The importance of Hauora or just be kind to your knees.

I love sport. I love playing it. I love watching it. I love talking about it. 

Unfortunately my body does not always keep up with my love of sport.

I had my first knee surgery at 16 and on Thursday last week I had my 4th knee operation, removing a bone spur and one of the pins in my left knee. The procedure went well and now I have an interesting memento to share with my students when I get back to school in Week 7.


My second year of teaching is throwing up a multitude of challenges, obstacles, and learning opportunities.
It is frustrating to have health issues interfere with your work life but it very important to take note when you are not well. 

As teachers, we know that our students pick up on our moods and respond to our general disposition, so when one area of hauora is unbalanced this affects more than just the teacher, it affects the whole class.

Hauora refers to 4 key areas of personal well-being: taha tinana (the body), taha wairua (the spirit), taha hinengaro (the mind), and taha whanau (the social). Dr Mason Durie's Whare Tapa Wha model is embraced at TPS and we help students to recognise the importance of having balance and stability across all 4 areas of self to promote health and well-being.

So I am practicing what I teach :-) and taking care of my taha tinana.

I am very much looking forward to getting back into the playground and running around with my students - with 2 working knees.

Sunday 9 August 2015

Cat's Cradle, Witches Broom and an Eiffel Tower - Learning String Games

Learning String Games - Tuakana/Teina Session

In Week 3 we decided to link our inquiry topic - Practicing Peaceful Play - with a Tuakana/Teina session and had the students exploring different types of string games.

It was fantastic to see a mixture of 'expert others' in both the Year 7 and the Year 4 classes. Students who were able to share their existing knowledge of string games (for example Cat's Cradle) and teach their buddy.

I introduced the students to a selection of youtube clips and they were off!! Students watched the videos and taught each other how to complete the more complicated string games like the Eiffel Tower and Fishnet. 

It was really interesting to see the different ways that students learnt - some responded really well to the videos while others learnt better by having a buddy talk them through the steps.

A couple of the students showed great patience teaching me how to correctly make the Cat's Cradle and to 'cut off my fingers', and I think this kind of learning and teaching experience is invaluable. The students are empowered to take control of their learning and to understand that they have skills and knowledge to share. 

My highlight was seeing the persistence and focus of many of the students, who set themselves challenges to complete complicated and difficult string games. It certainly paid off with many students mastering a range of different games.


Following on from the exploration session, the students were asked to create step-by-step instructions to teach others how to complete a specific string game. Check out Marcus, October and Mason's instructional presentation here.

I found that some students were much more suited to oral instructions and so I borrowed a couple of Ipads and got some of the students to make their own instructional videos. These just need a little editing before posting but check back on the class blog soon.

A thoroughly enjoyable set of lessons and it's great to see that these types of old fashioned games still make up an important and fun part of children's lives today.