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Week 27 - Examine Your Cultural Context (Take Action)

Step 1 (What): What is your understanding of indigenous knowledge and cultural responsiveness and what area mentioned above do you want to focus on for discussion?
To my mind, indigenous knowledge and cultural responsiveness are separate concepts. While they obviously impact upon each other, it is important to discuss each of them in turn. Cultural responsiveness is a product of how we respond to the different cultures in our classrooms. Culture is the lens through which we view our daily interactions. In a video titled "Teaching Tolerance", Geneva Gay from the University of Washington talks about the difference between tangible and intangible culture. Tangible culture involves clear concrete examples you can easily experience, such as displays, music or art. The more important aspects of culture are the intangibles, aspects such as values, beliefs and feelings. This dichotomy can be seen in Milne's (2017) stages of culturally sustaining practice. Milne imagines a continuum ranging from a totally "white" space to school in which children can succeed authentically as Maori. Tangible displays of culture such as waiata or art displays are lower down the continuum than attempts to change the values or belief systems of a school.
Indigenous knowledge (in NZ this knowledge is represented by Mātauranga Māori) is the belief systems and knowledge of a local people. Cultural responsiveness is how we value this knowledge and beliefs, and how we make sure our teaching embraces students cultural differences. In the words of Jacqueline Irvine from the video "Teaching Tolerance". "teachers are cultural translators, cultural bridge builders". 
I have selected the areas of communication methods and decision making to critically examine how the ways I take action have been informed by indigenous knowledge and culturally responsive pedagogy. 
Step 2 (So what): Examine how indigenous knowledge and cultural responsiveness are informing the way you are taking action
According to Milne's scale, I think that traditionally our school has probably been nearer the "White space" end of the continuum rather than the "Authentically succeeding as Maori" end.
This has begun to change in recent years, but we still have some way to go. In previous years I have put up Tikanga Maori displays and had the kids take part in Maori themed art. While these are a good start (as an immigrant to NZ, Mātauranga Māori was a new experience for me) these steps are still quite tokenistic. I received my NZ certificate in Te Reo Maori (Level 1) last year and since then I have been trying to integrate more of the principles of Kaupapa Maori into my practice. An important principle of this project is Tino Rangatiratanga or The Principle of Self-determination. I have tried to give my children a sense of agency in their learning by letting them choose the maths knowledge they feel they need to work on, and having the children assess each other's learning. Indirectly, I hope that my inquiry may also affect Kia piki ake i ngā raruraru o te kainga or The Principle of Socio-Economic Mediation. Bishop et al (2009) have written about the educational disparities facing Maori students in NZ, and the transition to Intermediate school seems to be the point at which a number of children decide they don't like maths (Rimm-Kaufman et al (2014)). If I can give my students a good grounding in number knowledge, hopefully, I will be setting them up for success when they transition schools.
Step 3 (What next) What might you need to consider or take action on to move up to the next level of cultural responsiveness? What are the next steps?
My next step is to embed and normalise some more of the principles of Kaupapa Maori in my practice, particularly Ata orThe Principle of Growing Respectful Relationships. Positive relationships between home and school are the key for helping Maori children succeed as Maori, and if I can work harder to get parents and whanau on board with the aims of this study, I think it will increase the children's engagement as well. 
References 
Bishop, R., Berryman, M., Cavanagh, T., & Teddy, L. (2009). Te kotahitanga: Addressing educational disparities facing Māori students in New Zealand. Teaching and Teacher Education, 25(5), 734-742.
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
Rimm-Kaufman, S. E., Baroody, A. E., Larsen, R. A., Curby, T. W., & Abry, T. (2015). To what extent do teacher–student interaction quality and student gender contribute to fifth graders’ engagement in mathematics learning?. Journal of Educational Psychology, 107(1), 170.
Teaching Tolerance.( 2010, Jun 17).Introduction to Culturally Relevant Pedagogy.[video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGTVjJuRaZ8

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