Pasifika hui

Words really can’t explain what it is to me to be fully immersed in the cultures of Pasifika.  Experiencing Tongan, Nuiean, Tokelaun, Cook Island, Samoan

• To prepare, complete with lavalava ready for the welcome to the ‘village’;
• To enter and greet the chief and family, and sit cross legged in a circle on mats;
• To listen and soak up the interaction and witness the kava preparation;
• To hear the singing, to feel the pulse of the dancing;
• To really listen, to really hear and really learn…
• What a privilege…. 

Following on from this session we were in teams to take a term from a culture and create a banner.  Our term was Feoaki –  relationship, relationship building!

Team ‘purple’ worked to create a masterpiece…

Yet another rare privilege in the day was to hear stories from leaders within each of the cultures.  There really is nothing that sticks with me more, than the sharing of a personal story.  To quote my favourite lecturer, “do not judge me til you walk 39 days in my mocassins…”

Another true highlight of the day was a total lack of using devices until this afternoon.  I know they are key tools of our work, but oh, it is so very refreshing to do without them! 

Kia ora, kia orana

Kia ora, kia orana

E. . . ei tiare, e - tiare -

Tiare, Lalaga Tivaevae Niu

Kia ora, kia orana

Kia ora, kia orana

E. . . ei tiare, e - tiare

Tiare, tiare, Tātai Aho Rau

Tiare, Lalaga Tivaevae Niu

I just love the sound....

And, just when you thought it couldn't get any better...

Tomorrow is another day......

Pasifika hui...

So, here I am in the air bound for Auckland.  This is another precious opportunity made possible by the best company in the world, CORE Education! I am heading to Auckland for a Pasifika hui.  I am privileged to have opportunity to increase my Pasifika language and cultural awareness culminating with Polyfest on Friday. It is hard to explain how it feels to be adopted by a company that values it’s employees, and cultures the way CORE does.  I am really looking forward to connecting with my dear Pasifika friends, Anthony, Manu, Togi, Shannon, and Rutu, as well as reconnecting with my colleagues who are attending this hui.  My goals for the hui are:

·      Interogate PEP (Pasifika Education Plan further)

·      Learn new vocab

·      Learn new songs

·      Understand Lalaga Tivaevae Niu in new ways

·      Learn the Pasifika songs adopted by our CORE family

·      Actively connect with, listen to, and collaborate with everyone at the hui

·      Embrace Polyfest to the full

·      Gain a greater understanding of our Priority learners

Alongside all of this I am extremely privileged to be rooming with my buddy Catriona, so in a way it is like school camp.  I am sure we will natter into the wee small hours as we have so much to catch up on, share, discuss, question, challenge and work on.  It is a rare privilege to have a colleague based at the other end of New Zealand who is a dear friend and a valued  source of collaboration and learning.  

Precious time at home!

I have just had a six-day stint at home – my longest stint home so far this year and it was bliss!  My sister was down from the North Island and we had many laughs, and giggles as we shared stories and adventures from our past.  On Saturday we took Mum for a drive down memory lane to her home area of Katea Valley.  This was a wonderful opportunity for us to rekindle some of her long-term memories as we visited the site of her family homestead and met colleagues she grew up with. 

We were also able to have another wonderful family get-together which is increasingly precious.

This week I have been working mainly online from home and I want to reflect on the focus and direction of our LwDT journey this year.  The year begins with us scoping our schools which involves visiting schools to identify targets, goals, strengths and needs.  This year our management team have worked to create very clear pathways and documentation to enable us to best articulate and meet the needs of our schools.  I am really enjoying the increased focus and direction.  I am reflecting on times in my teaching career when I found we were able to effect the greatest impact.  It was indeed, in times such as these with sharp focus, boundaries and goals.

I was also able to celebrate with my son’s girlfriend last night!  She graduates on Friday and as I will still be in Auckland.  Graduation is a very special celebration and I am so proud of her.  I am really looking forward to seeing the photos and celebrating with her again on Friday night.

Educampdunners

YES – it is time for the fourth #educampdunners and this one is to be held at Silverstream Primary school on Saturday 22^nd March 2014. 

The date, venue and time are set, we now await the enthusiastic, passionate educators who make these occasions the MAGIC that they are! 

Please share far and wide to encourage anyone and everyone who is interested in education to come along and share, network, collaborate and learn and grow together. 

Please add to the SMACKDOWN anything you wish to share on the day.  Even if you are unable to attend we encourage you to add links of anything you think is worth sharing.  You are welcome to skype in and attend virtually, or follow from afar via twitter or the shared google doc!

YAY for #educamps!

I am in awe of people’s commitment to the educamp philosophy.  We have 9 people signed up so far and apart from me they are all from well outside Dunedin, one from Wanaka, one from Queenstown, one from Christchurch, 6 from Timaru!  Come on educators from in and around Otago!  This is too good an opportunity to miss! 

We have timed this educamp with Otago Anniversary weekend.  What an incredible opportunity to take part in the most amazing, free PD around and still have a two day weekend!  Time perhaps to try out some of your new learning from educamp!

http://educampnz.wikispaces.com/Educampdunners 

Sign up here!

Flying to Invercargill today!

Here I am in the air flying to Invercargill.  Ahead are three exceptionally full on days travelling around schools in the south as we continue our scoping process. 

As we fly south, on the third day of Autumn, I am shocked to see snow so low on the hilltops.  I was hoping for a late summer, stretching into autumn, but alas it does not look very likely! 

So, time to set some autumn goals!

My poor old garden kind of missed out on its spring clean up so the autumn clean up is going to be HUGE!  I love this autumn time in the garden though as the colours change and it is time to bed everything down for winter!  My newly purchased gardening gloves from the Ellerslie Flower Show will come in very handy as I cut, trim, weed and mulch!  I am really looking forward to a complete weekend at home to begin this at the end of a crazy week!

Back to Christchurch!

Driving back to Christchurch with my girl yesterday was a wonderful journey.  We took our time, enjoyed the sights and stopped at Riverstone kitchen for a scrumptious lunch!!!  A walk around the gardens, and the shops followed, and we even checked out progress on the castle!

We arrived back in Christchurch in time for me to ‘check into the flat’ and head out for a ‘family’ birthday.  What a wonderful meal and great fun catching up.  At one stage during the night, a rather intoxicated man walked past our table swinging a set of car keys.  I did what I thought was the right thing at the time and followed him out the door to make sure he wasn’t going to drive away.  To my surprise he got in the drivers seat after quite an effort to unlock the car and his partner got in the passenger seat.  After getting ‘back-up’ from the table I was brave enough to knock on the window and ask him for his car keys.  To my delight and surprise he handed over the keys and left the car.  His partner locked the car up and they left with friends in another car without any scene or agro!  What is it going to take to get the message through?  What is it we need to do to ensure drunks are not on our roads… How can we empower our learners of today to make decisions that will keep us safe?