Jan+Robertson+Keynote

 Jan Robertson is a leadership consultant based on Waiheke Island. Jan is the Academic Director of the New Zealand Aspiring Principals’ Programme and a senior researcher for the University of Waikato and Adjunct Professor at Griffith University. Jan is regarded internationally for her work on coaching educational leadership and her research and practice in leadership and learning relationships. Jan’s keynote address will bring together the principles of effective learning relationships, coaching and culturally responsive practice in classrooms, schools and communities. Jan will focus on specific metaphor that would underpin the capability of educators who keep culture, capacity, community and collaboration at the heart of their practice and will give specific examples of these in action. You will be challenged to reflect on your own practice and examine your values, beliefs and assumptions about culture and knowledge

//Your Comments//

Kia ora koutou - What questions are you currently holding about culturally responsive pedagogy? I look forward to being with you next Monday - your questions will help me think about my presentation. Ka kite ano, Jan Robertson. Kia ora ano - I am home now and hoping that the rest of your day was a success. I was thinking on the way home about capability - and I was not sure I had been clear enough about how it is our responsibility to continually work on our own capability. Are we critical thinkers? Are we creative? What are qualities and values of the NZC for students and which areas do we need to develop ourselves in order to be able to develop them in our students? I think I feel really strongly that students 'learn what they live' and if we, as their teachers and leaders, don't model that we honour our dual cultural heritage, another generation will not learn too ... again. And if students do not hear any words of te reo in the classroom or the school - will they believe that that language is honored and important to know? It is Māori Language Week – Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori – 23-29 July. What a good time to learn some more - a mihi, a karakia, some of the metaphor from Kiwi Leadership. I know how hard we all work - but we really have to start stepping up and doing things differently if we ever want to do better for Maori achievement in our schools. I'd love to hear your questions or comments. Kia kaha, Jan Tena koe Jan Raising Maori achievement is a topic I too am very passionate about. I struggle with the difficult task of changing teacher's mindsets, prejudices, looking from a Maori viewpoint - promoting biculturalism. It has been a very challenging journey and at times, very disheartening. I am curious about Maori achievement in the kura kaupapa setting where I assume these students have teacher's who already share and understand their viewpoint - do the results show improvement? Is it more about quality teachers and by this I mean those teachers who are willing to explore, and find ways to engage student's? The underachievers data suggests that there are not many of these "quality" teacher's out there? Is it a Maori issue or a "quality teacher" issue? It is nice to be able to share my thoughts and ask questions. Nga mihi! Kia ora Jan.I have been reflecting on your keynote and once again you have made me think... What do we involve our teachers in that will effect their classroom practice and ultimately impact on the students learning? Hearing the story about the paua made me think about the layers that build as I learn then at times how some of those layers peel away as my thinking reshapes. You also have made me think more about 'my' whakatauki. Thank you for the thought provoking presentation. I also appreciated the challenge to consider how we develop our capacity as teachers, leaders, schools and communities - do we challenge our traditional models of PD, Meetings, classrooms etc and are we clear about why we choose the formats we do? - an interesting question for me is - if I was a maori learner in my own school ( teacher or student) would I see myself, my language, culture and history reflected in everyday events .... and what potential is there in my own role to create , model and enact change? Kia ora korua - I certainly do not have all the answers but I do have some thoughts. It is about quality teachers. Interesting you should ask that "Writer number 1" because I had just finished reading an article by Gloria Glason Billings written in 1995 called But isn't that just good teaching? http://nationalequityproject.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/ladson-billings_1995.pdf and yes it is - with a but ... the but is that teachers need to understand how important culture is at the heart of learning, and sometimes teachers of the dominant culture and therefore schooling paradigm, don't even consider that it is //their// culture that determines how everything is done in the school - and how that privileges people //of// that culture.This article by Gloria gives some wonderful examples of ako - students as teachers, but also how teachers can use students' music, language, families, culture as the resources in the classroom, which then honors that culture and makes people more connected. I cannot quote research on kura - but those students, in quality kura, certainly know the meaning of Maori achieving success as Maori. It is not a Maori issue. There is a poverty challenge, a challenge of raising expectations by all, a challenge to improve teachers' abilities to centre culture at the heart of learning. That is great teaching. Often in my keynote I use the example of an anthropologist like "writer number 2" has done., and I ask your exact words "would I see myself, my language, culture and history reflected in everyday events" ... in fact, I take principals for walks around their own school, starting outside the gates, and I ask them what Maori parents might feel "talks to them" or where can see their culture reflected and therefore honored (and it has to be more than the kapa haka group). ... so yes, great question. As a school leader, I would be interested in classrooms to hear how often teachers are referring to culture during the curriculum, getting different cultural perspectives, giving different cultural perspectives... this is what I meant by "educating for diversity" - how many teacher do do this? I think there is huge potential for leaders at all levels to model change - in fact, the classroom teacher leaders can be the most powerful in this. I don't think there is enough critical examination of why we do things in the way we do, in schools - teaching, meetings, consultation, parents, PD - - and if we really examined why some parents do not come to schools, maybe we would do things differently, rather than just saying "they don't come to meetings".. Anyway, that is my wild, wet Sunday morning's worth of thoughts. Thank you for extending the korero and sharing your thoughts. Nga mihi, Jan