It took about 90 minutes for us to get to Coromandel Town from HaHei. It was a gloriously and unusually sunny day.  We went directly to our backpacker/hotel, the Anchor Lodge. Waiting there for us was a "strongman" bus and our driver to the top of the Coromandel Peninsula, Nigel Strongman.  This bus was pretty sparse, with hard bench seats and no seat belts, but it had great pick up and a good turning radius. We needed it.  The roads climbed and climbed with hairpin turns and cliff's edge driving with no guard rails.  The views were gorgeous, but nothing compared to what we found when we got to the top.

Dasha and Jaclyn climb back on the bus after one of the stops to the top

The group poses on a hill with our destination behind them during a stop

It took about 3 hours for us to get to Fletcher's Bay, where the road ends and the walkway begins.  Occasionally, Nigel would stop and let us stretch our legs at scenic overlooks that were precursors to the absolute beauty we were going to see once we started the hike.  Nigel dropped us off and then he had to make a huge circle to be ready to pick us up at the end of our walk because no road goes directly through that area.


Nikki acts as "sign model" for the Coromandel Hike


Cathy, our fearless leader, poses at the start of the Coromandel Walkway

Before we took off on the hike, we ate the sandwiches we had purchased at the Coromandel Bakery, then headed out.  We expected it to be steep for a while at the beginning, based on the maps that Nigel gave us, but we didn't expect it to be steep for so long.  We were absolutely awestruck by the views we saw as we rounded corners and reached the tops of the ridges we were climbing, calves burning and heavily breathing.  Finally, we reached a level part of the walkway and continued to be rewarded by fabulous coastlines for our efforts.  It was slippery at points as part of the walkway was watercovered and muddy.  It took us 3 1/2 hours to complete the walk and Nigel was waiting for us at the end with coffee, tea and of course, bikkies.


One of many breath-taking views


Nicole fords a stream on the hike


David looks back from a scenic view of sugar loaf rock


The group poses in tree that is hundreds of years old at the end of the hike.

We returned to the Anchor Lodge at about 6:30 pm and gave everyone about an hour to rest and get ready for dinner in downtown Coromandel Town.  Barry gave us a ride in the coach bus to the Pepper Tree Restaurant and ribs and pasta abounded.  Kati and Amy split a meal and then decided to have pavlova (the meringue dessert).  The rest of us were stuffed.


Kati and Amy share pavlova

Sunday began as beautifully as the previous three days, sunny and bright with a temp of about 55 degrees. Sunday morning was one of the few days of the trip where we had time to roust in a leisurely way; having breakfast (I walked to the UMU Cafe with 4 of the team and had an unforgettable breakfast of ciabatta French toast stuffed with berry compote and cream cheese then covered with maple syrup-incredible and not likely to be replicated at home) and a team meeting before 11 am, when we were scheduled to head back to Auckland and meet our Massey High School home stay families. 

Cathy convinced Barry that we should stop at a Kauri grove.  Kauri are these huge trees the size of redwoods.  Many of them have been cut down for use in art and construction, but there is a move to replant and replenish the supply, but it will take hundreds of years to grow trees as big as those that have been saved in this grove.


The team is able to stand back to back around the base of a Kauri tree.




As we headed back to Auckland, it began to pour.  When we stopped at about 2 pm for lunch in Thames, we needed our umbrellas and raincoats to get from the bus to the cafe.  We felt very lucky that the weekend weather had cooperated with us.

We arrived at Massey High School at about 5:30 pm in the rain and were happy to see a welcome sign for us on the school marquee.  One by one the host families arrived to pick up the UM students and whisked them off.  Cathy and I were picked up by Bernadette Stockman, an art teacher and dean at Massey.  She took us to her lovely, spacious home where we met her husband Peter.  They live about 7 kilometers from the high school in a rural area.  She and Peter designed their home about 19 years ago, along with a gorgeous deck and swimming pool and tennis court area.  They live on 8 acres and currently have 5 cows for beef, but have had goats, horses and dogs when their 4 grown children were young.  We ate a delicious lamb roast and vegetables for dinner and talked from our arrival, through apricot cake for dessert until after 10 pm.  Bernie and Peter are generous hosts and we rested comfortably in their home.

Sorry to have been away for so many days. It is 7:00 am on Saturday, and I am at the back of a bus, watching the cows and sheep graze on the steep, lush pastures of the North Island countryside. The bus is carrying us to Coromandel Town for the day’s adventure. More on that later.

Tuesday at Knighton gave me the opportunity to visit several of the classrooms of the UM students to watch the roles that they were playing out in their internships.

Here are some of the scenes I witnessed:

Tony helps a student with her reading                                        Brian works with students in math


Nikki and her CT prepare for Phys Ed                                       

 

We met with the students after school to talk about Mere Berryman’s presentation in preparation for our next phase of their internships; Massey High School in Auckland which successfully implements Te Kotahitanga in their classrooms. Then we talked about how to graciously and thoughtfully exit their Knighton classrooms and home-stay families.

Tuesday night, Cathy and I brought in “take-away” food for dinner, did laundry and cleaned up the Chaplain’s House in preparation for Thursday’s departure on our 4 day geographical tour of the east side of the North Island. I baked ginger snaps to add to the chocolate chip cookies I made on Monday as a thank you to the teachers, staff and administrators to be served at Wednesday tea.

Wednesday, our last day at Knighton! It was hard to believe. The students arrived with their thank you notes ready for distribution. Some of them brought children’s books which they gifted to their classroom library. At 9:00 am, we met with Brian, Sandra and Carol (the English Language Learners team of teachers) and Materoa (the lead teacher of the bi-cultural Maori team) to learn more about the specifics of their programs and to ask questions about what we had been seeing during our time in the school. The ELL group talked about the strategies they employ and how they measure their success, one small step at a time. Materoa used an interactive strategy to show us how she teaches and uses Maori in her classroom and then shared the new NZ curriculum document for Maori. It is brand new; she had not even shared it with her staff yet. We explored the document using “treasure hunt” of questions she had prepared and then she asked us what we thought about the curriculum.

Then came tea. The cookies were a hit and the teachers, administrators and staff were very grateful for the home baked treats.

Following the presentation and tea, the students went to their host classrooms for the last time. I observed the last two classrooms; Mary’s and Nicole and Justine’s. Here is what they were doing for their last day;

Nicole helps with a project             Justine reads Dr. Suess to her class                                       Mary and her CT watch a student teacher

At noon, we met with Drew, Barb and Geoff, just as we had at the beginning of our stay. They asked us questions and we asked them questions. Geoff complimented the UM ANZ Team, saying that feedback from the staff and students was extremely positive, that they were professional and he appreciated the work that they had done during our stay. He welcomed us back any time. We gave each administrator a small gift in appreciation of their efforts.


Drew, Barb and Geoff with their School of Education gear

Wednesday was a free afternoon for the students. They spent the last night with their host families in different ways; special dinners, shopping and going into the “glow worm” caves. Cathy and I had a last dinner with Deborah Fraser, in appreciation of everything she had done at the University and with Knighton to make our stay a productive and successful experience.

Thursday morning at 7:45 am, the students arrived at the Chaplain’s House with all of their stuff. As a short break before starting the last week of our internship back in Aukland, we are taking a few days to explore the geography of the North Island. We boarded a bus to Rotorua. Rototura is a town in the middle of the North Island which is sacred to the Maori people and is prime sheep country. The first part of this sojourn consisted of a stop at the Agrodome for the sheep show. Here, we were able to get up close and personal with sheep and watch a demonstration of how the work on a sheep farm is done. I know that we learned a lot and, in addition, I don’t think I have laughed that hard in a long time. 
Here are a few photos from the Agrodome

Yes, it is a real black sheep                                                          Tony and Megan prepare to milk a cow



Above, Tony milks a cow, Kati poses with a shepherd's dog and the team poses in front of the sheep display.

We left the Agrodome and headed to what was a tremendously fun way to see to land structures of Lake Rotorua; a gondola ride up a small mountain and a luge ride down. We rode up in 6-8 person gondolas and then rode a luge-like wheeled vehicle down. After our first time down on the “scenic” run, we took ski-lift back to the top, and then chose between the ‘intermediate” and “advanced” runs for a second down the mountain on the luge. Yours truly, took the intermediate run, after hearing from someone in line that the advanced was steep and fast. Not something I necessarily wanted in the description of my day. We took the ski lift up one more time, had lunch at the top and then took the gondola back down.


Cathy, Antwaun and Brian look back on the view from the gondola and speed racers preparing for action.

We jumped back on the bus with Barry our driver ready to take us to the Maori village in downtown Rotorua. We participated in another powhiri with Dave as our leader or “chief” and then watched another Maori performance show of the haka, poi and song. Following the performance, we walked the grounds and went through a kiwi house (we couldn’t find them), saw the boiling mud and geysers famous in this region of New Zealand. It was amazing to see what the power of the heat below the earth can produce when it is near the crust.


Boiling mud and geysers

We checked into our hostel/backpacker place in downtown Rotorua and walked to a place called “The Fat Dog” for dinner. After we were absolutely stuffed, we had the opportunity to step into pools created from the hot water springs of Rotorua. We spent about two hours soaking in the different pools that are regulated to be at varying degrees of HOT. We were pretty much like cooked pasta following our time in the pools and after our very busy day. We headed back to the hostel and crashed. And that was just Thursday.


Students soak in the hot spring mineral water pools and then this is what happened in the lobby when they got out.

At 7:00 am, we boarded our bus and headed to the hot water beach and tried to catch low tide. This is a place, where at low tide, you can take a shovel, dig yourself a hole and create your own hot water hot tub. Unfortunately, the surf was up that day, so the most we were able to do, was to did our feet into the sand and look for hot spots. Believe me, when you found one, it was really, really not!


Huan, Cathy and I find hotspots on the hot water beach

Next, we headed to HaHei, a small town on Mercury Bay. We checked into another hostel/backpacker place and headed to the beach for sea-kayaking. The group had a fabulous time even though a storm came up in the middle of the trip. We saw cathedral cove which is an awesome rock formation. The kayaking took about 4 hours. The group got back, showered up and caught dinner at the only restaurant open at HaHei in winter at night.


Kayaks await the students while they take a lesson               Cathedral Cove

This morning, Saturday, we are back on the bus, taking a very windy road to the next part of our time together. We are headed to the Coromandel Walkway. When I say windy, I mean crazy windy. We are going to be treated to a 3-4 walk along the ridge of the Coromandel peninsula, one of the most beautiful areas of the country. I’ll let you know how it goes.

We started our second week at Knighton School excitedly looking forward to getting back into the classrooms and anticipating that this would be a very short week (we are only here until Wednesday) and we would have to say good-bye to the wonderful children, teachers and administrators who have so warmly welcomed our group from “Mitch-i-gan”.

Today I went into Huan and David’s level 3/4 multi-cultural classroom. They were working on making a character craft project which meant folding paper to create cross-legged readers. Eventually, according to the classroom teacher Jackie, it would become a holder for adjectives they would use to do a character profile for books they are currently reading. David and Huan went from table to table diligently modeling for each of the groups how to make the paper figure. Their teacher was able to work on other areas with students while they helped to complete this task.

Next, I went in to watch Brianna work with level 2 students in reading. She read the same book with a small group of students who were all reading at approximately the same level. It was quite obvious that the students loved working with her. Her gentle manner and easy smile are very welcoming to students, but when she gets on the playground with them, they also like her lighthearted competiveness when playing ball and tag.

Lastly, I watched Antwaun and Jaclyn in their cross-grouping math class. In the senior school, levels 5 and 6, the students are grouped by ability for their math classes. Antwaun and Jaclyn’s class was working on fractions. After practicing, the teacher Diane, asked them to add up the number of pieces of clothing each were wearing and figure out what fraction, percentage and decimal number would be represented by their shirt. Jaclyn and Antwaun went from student to student group helping them with this task.

After school, we met at the Student Union and walked to the School of Education to listen to Mere Berryman talk with us about Te Kotahitanga which is the secondary curriculum that she and Russell Bishop have created for level 9 and 10 Maori students. This level is the critical time when most Maori drop out of school.

Mere Berryman works for the Ministry of Education in New Zealand. She and Russell Bishop, Professor at the University of Waikato, worked on a multi-phase research project to address this disengagement of Maori students from school and to plan a curriculum to help meet their learning needs. They developed Te Kotahitanga which means unity of purpose. We talked about the three phases of the project and the dramatic results of the new curriculum and professional development that was an essential part of it.

Phase 1

Mere and Russell met with focus groups of teachers, students and whanau (families) to talk about what students would need to be successful.  They discocered that most teachers thought of Maori kids with a deficit perspective, which meant that teachers held them to low expectations based on beliefs about their ability to succeed.  Maori families and students described a need for strong relationships with their teachers and varied ways of receiving instruction.

Phase 2

In the second part of the project, Mere and Russell targeted classrooms in which they worked with teachers through professional development to think differently about Maori students and the way they deliver instruction.  By building relationships with the Maori students, setting high expectations and using strategies like cooperative learning, the teachers saw a marked improvement in Maori student achievement.  The problem was that this did not transfer into subject areas and classrooms that were not using the Te Kotahitanga plan.  Students continued to do poorly and skip school.

Phase 3
In this phase, Mere and Russell implemented a "whole school" approach using their professional development model and curriculum in several schools.  This is when they saw student success across the board.  When the principal and teachers worked together to implement the project plan, the students responded with engagement and learning.  Te Kotahitanga, as measured by literacy test scores over two years and two different groups of students, improved student achievement not aonly for Maori students but for Pacifika, Pakeha and other sutdents, as well.

Based on the success of theproject, Te Kotahitanga is being supported by the Ministry of Education and will be implemented in 100 new schools.

Following Mere's presentation, Cathy and I made our way back to the Chaplain's House, where I began baking chocolate chip cookies (10 dozen) to take to Knighton on wednesday for the 10 am tea, to say thank you to the administrators, faculty and staff.  Tomorrow  night I will make ginger snaps.  They eat a lot of "bikkies" in one tea here!

Environmental Service Project

Saturday, we participated in an environmental clear and plant project with Professor Martin Thrupp and the Environmental Education students from the University of Waikato. We divided into two groups, the planters and the bamboo cutters/haulers, which would switch after lunch. The planting group was walked down a beautiful boardwalk that follows the Waikato River and introduced to the various native plants that grew along it by Jerry, a City Council Member and conservationist. After about a 15 minute walk, we arrived at the plant area. Jerry showed us how to plant and where to plant the various types that were sitting there in small circular and square containers. We planted wineberry, cabbage and many other native plants into the side of a gulley that went all the way down to the river.

Jerry explains how to plant             Megan and Mary get to work


Brianna plants on a steep slope     Justine and Jaclyn stop along the boardwalk
 

We ate Dominos pizza with the environmental ed students for lunch and then the UM students switched jobs and I became a bamboo hauler. Bamboo is an invasive non-native plant that needed to be removed so that native plants could thrive in the area. There was a group of about four people in the woods with Martin and a chain saw. He cut 30-40 foot long pieces of heavy bamboo down and the students hauled it out to the boardwalk where it was lifted up to us to carry for about 200 yards where we piled it up for disposal. It was very hard work, but I liked it better than the planting. At least I felt like I was getting a workout.


Megan brings the bamboo down from the bush and Mary helps haul down the boardwalk to the holding spot


Martin and the afternoon bamboo team admire part of their work and Team Bamboo cheers finishing the job

At about 4 pm, we all changed clothes and then walked with Martin, his friend Maureka and his children, Simon and Grace to have some dinner at the Boston Café and Bar. We ate huge antipasto platters with tons of good food on them.

Martin was kind enough to give Cathy and me a ride home and we are absolutely done in. I can hardly keep my eyes open and my legs ache, but it was a great day of giving back.

Trip to Raglan

Sunday was a day for us to explore Raglan, one of the best surfing beaches in the world and the one with the longest left hand ride in the world. When we got up, it was gorgeous out. I didn’t even grab a jacket on the way out the door. That jinxed us.

We met everyone at the bus center and left in the bright sunshine on the bus to Raglan. The landscape was green and lush with sheep and cows sporadically placed on the steep sided of hills. Then the wind started to blow and the rain started to fall. We got to the small town of Raglan in the pouring rain which continued for the entire 6 hours we were there. Along with gale force winds! We went our separate ways and agreed to meet back at Cathy and I visited the shops (where I kept finding and buying beautiful and unique things), drank tea and coffee in the cafes and ate a fabulous lunch at Orca, a fun place right on the water. I did try to walk to the Mauna Beach with two of the students, but the driving rain and wind drove us back to Blacksands Café where the rest were hunkered down playing hearts, drinking hot drinks and playing “show and tell” with the items we bought. It did not go as we had hoped, but it was a fun trip, nonetheless.


Coffee and tea in the rain in Raglan

Day 4 at Knighton

I started this day in a different Maori bi-cultural classroom, the level 5/6 group. The 1/2 group and the 3/4 group joined us for the morning ritual, only today was a bit different. Carol is the ELL lead teacher and her father passed away and the funeral was earlier in the week. This was her first day back in school, and the bi-cultural classrooms held a unique ceremony to welcome her back to school. It was very special to be a part of this community recognition of her loss and then receiving her back in this ceremonial way. The group recited specific prayers and sang songs appropriate for her return.

 Materoa is the teacher and she instructed in Maori for almost the entire time I was in her room and when she spoke English it was for my benefit. This was quite different from my experience in the 1/2 classroom, where Taina spoke both Maori and English. It certainly was evident that the students who go through the three levels and six years in the bi-cultural program have a fluent understanding of both Maori and English at the end.

After tea, I joined Megan in her assigned level 4 multi-cultural classroom. She taught a successful math lesson on patterns before tea and I was joining them for reading. The students were reading stories appropriate to their reading levels and then were asked to complete study guides for the story. The questions on the guides were more than just recall question/answer. The students were asked to create charts, draw depictions, analyze the plot, and identify themes and many other engaging extensions of their comprehension. Megan read a story to the class after they had worked quietly and diligently on their reading journals and they were all ears. The morning ended with Jo, the teacher in that room for the day, and the students singing fun songs for Megan about bad hair days and getting rid of their long johns.

After school, we went back to the Chaplain’s House and met with Stephen May, a professor at the University of Waikato in the Department of Arts and Language Education, who is also on the Board of Trustees for Knighton School. Stephen has done some very intriguing writing about multi-cultural and bi-cultural classrooms in Aotearoa New Zealand that the UM students have read. It was a pleasure to meet him and have him speak to us about his books and articles. He asked the students to introduce themselves and explain why they had chosen to participate in this trip. He talked about the history of multi-cultural and bi-cultural education globally and had recommendations for improving achievement and multicultural approaches in most ANZ schools (these are from his talk and an article he wrote for the Waikato Journal of Education titled, Accommodating Multiculturalism and Biculturalism in Aotearoa New Zealand: Implications for Language Education):

1.        Further extend Maori-medium education

2.       Explore other forms of bilingual education for Maori, the indigenous “national minority” of ANZ

3.       Extend similar access to bi-lingual education “ethnic minority” groups, those who have immigrated to ANZ

4.       Where that is not an option, develop language centered multicultural education programs in schools

5.       Develop and adopt a nationally coordinated language education policy

After Stephen left, the ANZ team went home to their home stays. Cathy and I followed our established pattern of heading to the Student Union, working on our computers for about 3 hours. This time we both wrote a few post-cards home, before closing up and heading to dinner. 

Day 5 at Knighton School             

Every Friday, Materoa, the teacher in the bi-cultural level 5/6 classroom , and her students make vegetable soup. She does this as a communal activity, but also to feed the hungry children in her classroom. They feed some of the children each day; the children know that there is cereal and bread in a cupboard in the classroom and are welcome to have this food for breakfast and lunch, if the family is unable to send food for the day. Materoa said that she and the other teachers have noticed an increase in the number of students who eat the food from the classroom cupboard from last year to this year. She invited us to have lunch with her group today. To contribute to the meal, each of the ANZ Team members delivered vegetables to her classroom before school.

This morning I went into the multi-cultural level 5 classroom of Whakarongo Tauranga, or Ms. T, as her students call her. She is an incredible caring and skilled teacher and it was a joy to watch her interact with her class. These students are working on a project/presentation using a new software called Keynote. It is a huge project in which the students create profiles of themselves and their interests for a family night to be held at the end of the term in early July. Before they can work on their projects in the computer suite, they must have completed all of their regular classroom work. Each of the students is excited about and motivated to go to the computer suite. Kati Lebioda, is the UM student in this classroom and Kati has played many roles in the room this week. One of them is as photographer for the profile project. I accompanied Katie and a quiet student out to the playground, where she took a variety of photos of the student on the playground. I could tell that the student appreciated Kati’s attention and kind manner.  Ms. T will download the photos for the student to use in his project.

As we walked back toward the classroom, which was quite far from the playground, I heard Kati say, “You can run back if you would like. You do not need to wait for me.” When the student didn’t take off running, Kati added, “I really enjoy your company.” The young man puffed out his chest and skipped in next to her, chatting all the way.

At 10 am, the ANZ Team was invited to a Kapa Haka, which is a demonstration of Maori cultural arts, by the three bi-cultural Maori classrooms. The children sang and then had us sing and do the hand gestures with them to one of the songs. Then they gave each of us a “poi” which is a small ball on the end of a string. The poi was used by Maori warriors to strengthen their wrists to be able to effectively use weapons. Now, the poi is used in dances. We tried to imitate the movements of the classroom students as they adeptly used the poi. We know that we will need lots of practice. We watched the young men and boys sing a Haka, one of the fierce dances and songs of the Maori warriors. They stamped their feet and strongly sang, as they made the gestures to accompany the singing.

During tea, the UM students are spending more and more time on the playground with the children rather than in the staff room.  The children love to have them jump rope, play basketball and run around with them.

It was a beautiful day, about 65 and sunny. I spent the hour after tea watching the teachers conduct physical education activities on the playground. The teachers instruct in music, art and physical education as part of their class load.

At 12:30, we went to Materoa’s class and ate their delicious vegetable soup with them. The UM students sat on the floor visiting with the 9 and 10 year olds. Soon they were all playing hand clapping games in pairs and then a huge circle formed and the classroom students taught the UM students a fun singing game in which after each round of singing, one person is eliminated. They were all laughing and truly enjoying themselves. Materoa could tell that her students felt valued by the UM students because none of them left the room for the entire lunch period to go outside for recess, which they were welcome to do. In fact, students who were on the playground were peering in the open doors to see what all of the fun was about. 

We left school at about 1:30 pm. UM students had a rare free afternoon. Some were going horseback riding, others shopping and one to take photos (Cathy made arrangements for one of the UM students who is an art and design major, Mary Crylen, to meet a faculty artist on campus and this led to Mary being given access to cameras and the University dark room).

One of the host families planned a bonfire for the UM students tonight, but it was really raining, so I will be anxious to hear if it happened.

Cathy and I joined Deborah Fraser and her husband, Rob, at their home for a delicious dinner and to watch the Hamilton Chiefs take on the South African Brumbees in the final round of the round robin rugby regional competition for the Super 14 league. It was pouring, so we were happy to be able to watch the game in the comfort of Deborah and Rob’s beautiful home. The Chiefs won and secured home field advantage for the first round of the finals. Cathy and I have been converted into rugby fanatics. Go Chiefs!

Kia ora!
I am trying to catch up on my posts.  Here are Tuesday and Wednesday.  Tomorrow I will post Thursday and Friday.  Our access to internet has been somewhat limited, so I have been cutting and pasting my postings from Word documents.  Hopefully, once I catch up, I can stick with it.

Students drinking Sanka and Milo before school in the grad room

Day 2 at Knighton
 

The ANZ Team seems to be fitting in well in their classroom placements. They meet in the "grad room" before school to get organized and have "freeze dried coffee" (the norm in ANZ) or milo (hot chocolate). They are also afforded the opportunity to visit and help in the Maori bi-cultural classrooms and the ELL (English Language Learners) classrooms. Cathy and I have the pleasure of travelling to all of the classrooms and connecting to teachers and students across the Knighton campus. Knighton has what I would consider “multi-cultural” and “bi-cultural” classrooms. The bi-cultural classrooms are those in which part of the instruction is delivered in Maori and the multi-cultural classrooms are those in which multiple ethnicities are represented, acknowledged and celebrated.

Knighton has three classrooms where about 70% of the curriculum is to be delivered in Maori. On Tuesday morning, I started in the bi-cultural level 1-2 classroom, five and six year olds. The first thing we did was to move into one classroom with all of the bi-cultural classroom students. Each day begins when one of the male students gives a shortened whakapapa (geneology) and addresses each adult in the classroom one at a time, then the children greet the adults. For example they said, “Kia Ora Whanua Kathryn” to me. Because I had been welcomed onto the campus in a powhiri, I was now considered whanua or family. Kia Ora is the Maori greeting phrase. They continue the morning routine with asking each adult if they have any announcements. Then there is a short sharing time for a few students to make announcements which seem to have to do with family news. They finish with a prayer and songs with gestures and then retire back to their classrooms.

Taina, was the teacher with this group. She told me that she had quite a range of Maori fluency in her room.   She was teaching the five and six year olds to read and write in English and to become fluent in Maori. It was fun to watch her work with the children, as she sang and spoke in both English and Maori. They talked about the weather, read a book about patterns and then it was time for them to write. They were journal writing and Nikki Ostrowski, Taina and I worked with them individually to identify the letter sounds in the words they wanted to write. By then, it was time for tea. 

I asked Taina how Maori language accommodated new words, like those related to invention, innovation and technology. She said that they have created a Maori Language Council to try to keep the integrity of the language and yet allow the language to grow to include new ideas and concepts. For example “computer” in Maori is the Maori word for “electricity” and the word for “brain” put together. Made perfect sense to me.

After tea, I went into the ELL classroom and watched Brian, one of the ELL teachers work with a level 3 boy from Somalia. Brian was very pleased with the progress of this student, as he had come a long way in his ability to speak English in just a little over a year. Brian said that adjustment to school for some of the Somali students had been difficult as they came to New Zealand often traumatized from the war and from being in the refugee camps. Two of the UM students, Tony and Huan played a game of “Who Is It?” with the boy. This game allowed the boy to use adjectives to identify a particular person from a whole board full of pictures of people with different appearance traits (beards, glasses, red hair, etc). It was fun for all of them.

In our ANZ Team afternoon debrief. Cathy talked with the students about research related to “culture shock”. Then we had them draw their trajectory of culture shock so far in this trip. We broke into two groups, and she and I each led a small group to have each student share their experience so far. Most expressed “euphoria” during the first few days, but then the graphs dipped for many due to the uncertainty and anxiousness they felt about the home stays. Luckily, settling into the home stays and their experiences in the Knighton classrooms had their graphs on an upswing.

Cathy and I worked in the student union on-line and then went to downtown Hamilton for dinner. I had lamb, probably for the first time since college. It was melt in my mouth delicious. I guess I made a good decision in waiting to eat it in the land of millions of sheep.


Dave, Dasha, Tony, Antwaun and Brianna wait for school to start.

Day 3 at Knighton

On Wednesday, the UM students returned to their placements and seem to have settled into a routine. Cathy and I visited with Geoff, the principal and Drew, the deputy principal, to talk about teacher the evaluation system at Knighton. The two of them were interested in what UM SOE does to evaluate teacher candidates and were especially intrigued by Cathy’s “co-observation” process as a way to work with new teachers.

After school and for our afternoon meeting, we went back to the Marae on the University campus to meet with Tina, Koro and the Maori “moti” or culture class. There were about 50 people in the group, all wanting to be Maori or bi-lingual elementary teachers. They sang for us, taught us how to use poi and then had the four men in our group attempt to do a “haka”. It was hilarious watching Dave, Tony, Brian and Antwaun try to do this very fierce traditional complicated song and dance as led by the experienced Maori students and Koro. Everyone enjoyed their attempts and they were very good sports to try.

Once again, the generous Maori group fed us a huge lunch and sang many songs. We sang the Michigan fight song and Antwaun wowed our hosts by a spine tingling version of the National Anthem which earned him a standing ovation from the entire roomful of people.

Antwaun after his rendition of the National Anthem                  UM students enjoy lunch and song with Maori culture group


UM students talk with members of the Moti Class                   Tina and few of the Maori students pose with us

Cathy and I are making a habit of occupying the same table in the University of Waikato Student Union to get on-line to catch up on email and other work. We are able to spend 3-4 hours there, after our afternoon meetings with the students. This night, we finished working, then walked over to the little dairy store to buy fish and chips for dinner. It came wrapped in newspaper, just as you might expect. Unfortunately, ketchup is something you pay for "ala carte".  Here Cathy models "tomato sauce" (ketchup) and ginger root beer which I have enjoyed and is not available in the states.

 

Cathy and I arrived at Knighton Normal School at about 8:00 am. In ANZ, a normal school is one that has a partnership with a School of Education at a University. There are 26 of them in ANZ. Knighton works with the University of Waikato.



Everyone was very welcoming. They gave us an office just off the main lobby as a space to use as a home base. Cathy introduced me to the principal and the two deputy principals. We met up with the ANZ GIEU Team and they looked very professional and rested.

We were asked to wait in the front of the school for the students in the Maori bi-cultural classrooms to hold a powhiri for us. Remember that a powhiri is the Maori welcome ceremony with singing and speeches. We were absolutely awestruck as the children (about 75 of them) sang so joyfully and proudly to us in Maori. Their voices were strong and they made the gestures that accompanied their songs with great flourish and grace. We were humbled by their welcome and I had tears in my eyes when they finished. We sang our songs too, Pokarekare Ana and The Michigan Fight Song , which they seemed to enjoy.

After the ceremony, we shared bikkies and drinks with them to complete the ceremony. Then, Geoff, the principal, brought us into a conference room and talked to us about the structure of the school system in New Zealand and the demographics and daily workings of the school. Drew and Barb, the Deputy Principals also spoke with us. We learned that Knighton School is 40% Maori, 36% Pakeha and the other 25% are Pacific Islanders and from Somalia. The school names the levels 1 to 6 (this is the same as K-5 in the US), with any child able to enter right after their 5^th birthday, no matter when in the school year that happens. The Ministry of Education gives an allotment of money to each school based on Decile ratings (rating of 1 to 10 with 1 being the lowest SES and 10 being the highest). The principal determines how that money will be spent on everything for the school except teacher salaries. Teachers are paid directly by the Ministry according to the same scale for all. Teachers can earn additional salary through management units for taking on leadership roles or extra-curricular responsibilities in the school. The principal is hired by a Board of Trustees, but his salary is determined by the Ministry.

The school has a group of foundational principles that each of the students are expected to learn; getting along, organization, persistence and confidence. In addition, students are taught an acronym in response to bullying or unwelcome comments known as WITS for walk away, ignore, talk and seek help.

Barb, one of the DE’s gave all of us a tour of the school. The school is one story and almost all of the doors open to the outside. They form a central compound and some of the classrooms are back to back with others and face the outside. She showed the students the “grad room” which is a room reserved at the school specifically for teacher candidates from the university. She invited them to get coffee and congregate there each morning, if they would like.

At 10:30 every day, there is tea. This is a 15 minute break in which the Level 1-6 students have a snack and then recess. All of the teachers, staff and administrators go into the staff room for coffee/tea and bikkies. We sat at various parts of the room and introduced ourselves to them.

The ANZ Team members finished their morning by going to their assigned classrooms and Cathy and I walked through the school grounds again and then met for about an hour with Barb, the Deputy Principal, to talk about her role as Special Projects Administrator. She coordinates all of the university teacher candidate experiences and classroom placements. It is an immense job.


This is the Chaplain's House where Cathy and I live

At 12:30 pm, we left school. The team members had an allowance to get lunch and then we all met at the Chaplain’s House for a debriefing. Cathy and I asked them for a first quarter round of feedback, which they readily and constructively gave us. Then, we gave each home stay placement a chance to describe the composition of the family they were with and what they did, ate and talked about with their hosts. It seemed that they had all had a great first day.
 

When the team members left to go back to their home stays at about 3 pm, Cathy and I ran errands. At 5 pm, a friend and colleague of Cathy’s, also named Cathy, picked us up and took us to her home for dinner. Her husband Alistair and son Hamish were there, too and we had a wonderful meal of baked fresh fish and steamed veggies and mashed potatoes. Alistair made a wonderful apple crisp for dessert. We got home about 9:30 pm and crashed.

After another restless night on the marae, I got up at about 6 am and went into the dining room to read until the troops rousted. Cathy joined me and we laughed heartily about the sounds not found in nature which had kept us up for a good part of the night. The first of the students came in and we prepared bacon and eggs for the group. Following breakfast, Deborah Fraser joined us on the marae to talk about her life as a Pakeha or white New Zealander. Deborah talked about growing up and going to school for the first part of her life with a great appreciation for and deep friendships with Maori classmates. She moved to a predominantly Pakeha school and was very hurt and disappointed by the prejudice and discriminatory comments made by the people in her new school. She asked the students to describe how their experiences in NZ have made them think differently about their own cultural experiences. Deborah was an informed and engaging speaker who connected with the students and really listened to them.


Deborah Fraser and David Metler

Next, Tina and Warren Williams and Koro Ngapo met with us in the School of Education. Each of them did a whakapapa (genealogy including geography and ancestry) and then invited each of us to do our own. It was a very different way for each of us to describe ourselves, our identity. After explaining that I had lived in 5 different states,  I talked about my river being the Mississippi, my mountain the Rib and my lake Michigan. I talked about my heritage being German and that I was fifth generation German-American. I named my father, mother, partner (husband) and children and then myself. After that, the three of them opened the floor to any question, ANY QUESTION, that we might have about Maori culture. They were patient, humorous and thorough in their answers.

 
Tina Williams with Amy, Justine, Nikki and Kati       Warren and Koro show off their UM School of Education hats

Cathy and I prepped them for their home-stays from about 2 to 3:30 pm and then we waited in the lobby of the School of Ed, because of the rain, for each to be picked up. They were very nervous. The students would be staying with teachers and staff from Knighton School, the school where they would be doing their internships for the next 10 days.  It was great when the first family showed up and I called the name of the student placed with that family, the rest cheered as if he had won a grand prize. Within about 15 minutes, all had been picked up and it felt strangely quiet as Cathy and made our way to buy a few groceries and headed back to the Chaplain’s House. We ate a quick dinner and I was in bed by 7:30 pm. I was exhausted and we had to be at Knighton School early in the morning.

 

After a restless night for many of us, due to strange surroundings and noisy sleeping others, we got up to communally prepare, and clean up after, our breakfast, as is the custom for all meals on the Marae.

Carl Mika, a Maori lawyer and University of Waikato Doctoral candidate, met with us to talk about Maori history and current legal status. We learned about the Pakeha and Maori Treaty of Waitaingi, which established the 3 P’s; participation, partnership and protection. These were the principles of the treaty between the Maori and Pakeha (European settlers). We also learned about the Maori Tribunal, which is the governance unit that makes decisions about Maori disputes that fall under the jurisdiction of the Treaty. This is the unit that determined that everything Maori, both tangible and intangible is a treasure, including the language.  This has contributed to the revitalization of Maori language in schools. Carl talked about his own experiences in school and how he chose to learn Maori at sixteen, even though his mother told him that it was not worth the effort. The students had many questions for Carl which he graciously and kindly answered.

Carl joined us for lunch in our communal kitchen and as he prepared to leave, our next speaker, Paul Whitinui, arrived. Paul is a lecturer in the Department of Sports and Kinesiology at the University of Waikato who wrote a fascinating dissertation about the power of culturally relevant practices in Maori education; specifically the Haka which is a Maori warrior tradition. This was a demonstration of power which was used as an intimidation device before battle. In fact, in Maori history, the haka could actually prevent a battle, if one tribe could fiercely intimidate their opponent into believing they could not win a battle with the tribe. The haka involves singing, dancing and making one’s eyes very big and sticking out the tongue as far and as flatly as possible. We saw a demonstration at the Auckland Museum and it is a ferocious display. Paul reinforced the historical information the students had heard from others and added the concept of prayer/spirituality.


Paul Whitinui                                                                                    Auckland Museum Haka performance

Following Paul’s presentation, we prepared for the Chiefs vs. Hurricanes rugby match. The students were going on their own in cabs, to dinner and then to the “green zone” which is the student section of the stadium. Cathy and I were joining University of Waikato Professor Deborah Fraser and her husband Rob for dinner and the game. Deborah and Cathy worked together when Cathy did her sabbatical here 15 years ago.

Rob, Cathy and Deborah prepare for the game                       I've got my Chiefs gear on 

This was a HUGE game. The National Team in New Zealand is the All Blacks and during the off-season, the All Black team members join regional teams across Australia and New Zealand who play each other. It culminates in a 14 team round robin tournament in which the top 4 teams play off in the finals. The game we were to watch was one of the last in the round robin in which the number 1 team (Wellington Hurricanes) was playing number 2 (Hamilton Chiefs). This town was like Ann Arbor on the day of the OSU football game. People were dressed up like uber-fans and the energy was at an incredible level. Cathy and I sat on the mid-field line about 7 rows up. We had a blast cheering and trying to learn exactly what was going on. The Chiefs won and as a result will have home field advantage for at least the first game of the finals. I had great fun and am so glad to have had this unique experience.



 

After breakfast at Bamber House, we packed up our things and cleared out. Two vans picked us up and drove us down to the Inter-city Bus Terminal. We had about 2 hours, so the students wandered around downtown Auckland, securing lunch for the bus ride and site-seeing.

The bus ride took about 2 hours, with views of sheep, cattle and horses on the rolling hills. We caught cabs to the “Chaplain’s House” at Waikato University, which is where Cathy and I will be living for the twelve days we will be here. The students left all of their stuff in our place while we made our way to campus.

We were heading to the Marae. A Marae is a sacred Maori meeting place with ornate carvings and cultural symbols. People from the University were going to have a powhiri for us to begin our weekend on the marae. A powhiri is a traditional welcome ceremony which has a set protocol and begins when the visitors receive an invitation to enter the structure in song from a Maori woman. The women in our group enter first, then, take the chairs behind where the men who follow will sit. We sat directly facing the host group of Maori.

Ray, a Maori elder, stood, facing us, and gave a greeting which included a whakapapa, a Maori geneology which includes both the people and the geography from which the speaker has come, given in the Maori language. Then the Maori group sang a song. Warren Williams, a Maori man, and his partner, Tina, sat with us and gave us cues about what we should do. Warren spoke for us, in Maori, as part of the ceremony. Then we sang the Michigan fight song. Ray spoke again. Then we lined up and gave each member of the welcoming group a “hangi” which is a gesture in which two people touch foreheads and then noses as they shake hands and share air as part of the welcoming ceremony. Finally, as is tradition, our hosts shared a dinner with us. Maori women prepared a delicious dinner of roast chicken and all kinds of other foods. 

Following dinner, Ray spent about an hour talking with us about all of the symbols in the marae building. Each part of the structure is representative of a part of the human body, and the carved figures within represent qualities like humility, service, knowledge and generosity. We understood so much more and were very comfortable sleeping here after learning about this place we would call home for the next two nights.

The students then collected their things from the Chaplain’s House and headed with us down to the Marae to set up the mattresses and sleeping bags to spend the night.

Sorry to have been out of touch for a few days.  We lost internet access after our last day in Auckland and have just been able to get back on.  I am sitting in a computer lab at the University of Waikato and through the generosity of the School of Education here, I am able to use the internet.  Hopefully, I will be able to find an internet cafe in the next day or two so that I can add some of the fabulous photos to the blog, maybe even a gallery.
So much has happened in a short time.  I will try to do this in chronological order, without getting too wordy and you up with what has happened in short order:
Climbing Mount Rangitoto
   We took the city bus to the ferry dock in downtown Auckland where we caught the ferry out to Rangitoto Island.  The volcano on this island has had relatively recent volcanic activity, as far as volcanoes go, having erupted just 600 years ago.  It is lush and green with black volcanic rock as a base.  Deidre LeFevre, Auckland University Faculty, was waiting for us on the shore as the ferry docked.  She was to be our guide for the hike.

   We took off on our hike up the volcano and the summit looked very far in the distance.  We stopped about 15 minutes from the summit to explore some volcanic caves.  Some students went deep into one.  Not me, I chose to go into the one where you could see the way our from the entrance, brave soul that I am.



   We climbed a steep incline for about 15 minutes before reaching the summit. It was well worth the climb as we emerged into a bright sunny view around us.  We kept commenting on the beauty as we did a 360 degree turn with each direction being more amazing than the last.  We saw another rainbow in our series of seeing at least one everyday, but realized  that there would be rain coming upon us very quickly.  We made our way into a shelter that had uncovered windows and door openings. It poured, it hailed and the wind blew like crazy.  We ate our lunches in the structure and waited for it to pass.



   It took about 2 hours for us to get to the summit and a little more than half that to get down.  We were exhausted and awestruck by the experience.  We thanked Dee and jumped back on the ferry to Auckland.  After docking,  we made our way to a Thai restaurant for dinner, where Cathy amazed the students with her fluency in the language.  Another memorable day for the group, as they learn about the plants, geography and history of ANZ..


 

• Who am I?  What it means to be Maori, Pakeha and Maori/Pakeha.
• Who are you?  How do your identities influence who you are and how you interact with others?
• Who cares?

We emerged from underneath the bridge with traffic on both sides of us zooming past and then climbed up stairs and the arch of the bridge to the top. It was breath-taking.  It was very windy, but the sun was out and we got another great view of the city. 

Last night, we were doing everything we could to keep the students awake until at least 8:00 pm. We walked to Mt. Edens Village for dinner. Cathy took one group out for fish and chips, and I took the non-fish eaters out to a place called BurgerWisconsin.  The woman behind the counter asked  us whether the burgers were as good as we get in Wisconsin in the US.

Today we are headed to Auckland University for a presentation by the author of a book we read on what it means to be a mixed Maori and Pakeha descended person and this afternoon we are going to the Auckland Museum. 

I am tired, but next week when the students are in homestays at night, I should be able to catch up.

Cathy Reischl and I are making some final arrangements for the trip. Cathy has been communicating via email and phone with our generous hosts from the schools and universities where we will visit, live, work and learn.  I have been confirming shuttle rides, a first day activity, blog learning, and securing traveler's checks.  We are leaving in 4 days and the students will join us a day later.  I am including our first week's itinerary and will try to let you know how it unfolds. There is not much time left before the adventure begins!

Aotearoa New Zealand GIEU MAY 2009 Calendar

As part of the start of the group blog, we each are writing an intro bio.  Here is mine:
I feel extremely fortunate to have the opportunity to be part of this wonderful adventure and look forward to the opportunity to learn from the people, the places, the landscape, the experiences, my friend (and the reason I am in this position) Cathy Reischl and the fabulous 15; the 15 undergrads who make up the ANZ Learning Team.

I have been the Coordinator for the Secondary Undergraduate Program at the School of Education at UM for 5 years. Prior to that, I was a social studies teacher and professional development trainer for the Green Bay Public Schools in Green Bay, WI. I was born and spent much of my childhood in Wisconsin, though I did attend 8 schools in 4 states before graduating from high school and the University of Minnesota in the Twin Cities. I have 4 children and a wonderful husband with whom I recently celebrated a 25^th anniversary. My children, three boys and a girl, are in high school and above. I love to travel, read, watch sports, spend time with family and exercise by walking long distances at a quick pace. 

As a prequel to our travels, the team particpated in a variety of intercultural experiences. 

To begin, we attended a weekly meeting of the Ojibwe language group.  At that meeting, we met Howard, a native speaker.  Howard spoke with us about his experiences on the reserve and the role that Ojibwe language and hockey played in his youth and he introduced us to spoken Ojibwe.

Then on March 21, 2009, 14 of us took the ferry to Walpole Island to meet and learn from the Ojibwe community there.  Through the generous efforts of Meg Noori, UM Ojibwe language instructor, we met with Mark, former tribal chairman; Dean, maple syrup maker and herbalist; Rita and the other elders in the Homemaker's Association; Chris and Eddie, Language revitalization proponents and others to learn about the role that language, school and culture have played in their lives.

As a result, we learned about traditional practices, the tragic history of residential schools, the efforts of tribal members to invigorate language use in the lives of the Ojibwe people on Walpole Island.  We, also, learned about ourselves as participants in inter-cultural experiences.

This is a picture of part of the group on the ferry on our way back click on the link below to see all of the pictures from the trip.

Walpole Island March 2009


 

It is April 14 and we are 17 days from our departure.  It is hard to believe that we will begin our inter-cultural experience in Aotearoa New Zealand so soon.  I am excited for this unbelievable opportunity and ecstatic to share it with Cathy and the ANZ Team; Tony, Huan, Nicky, Nicole, Antwaun, Justine, Brianna, Brian, Amy, Megan, Dascha, Mary, David, Katie, and Jaclyn.  Time to think about packing.  I am a notorious over-packer and am determined to fight that urge.  "Light and less" is my mantra.