Tēnā koutou,
This week signals the Māori new year in Aotearoa, New Zealand - Matariki. Alas, it is the third morning I have been up this week to watch Matariki rising but it has been too cloudy! Manawatū - I still love you! I was first introduced to Matariki when I first started working as a beginning teacher at Coley Street School. Maurice Rehu lead us through creating a day where the whole school community came together to celebrate things Māori - play games, spend time with each other and eat kai. Maurice used half a term to train our Kapa Haka to lead activities with the rest of our school. With my new learning nested in my kete, I took my understanding of Matariki to my new school, Russell Street School. And for 10 years there, Rosie Parker and I explored many different ways that we could celebrate Matariki as a community - wananga days, performances, hangi, soup etc. Initially, my understanding was that there were 7 stars of Matariki. You may have heard of "The 7 Sisters" or "Pleiades"... however, the most accurate kōrero for Māori is Te Iwa o Matariki - the nine stars of Matariki. In 2017, a mate of mine posted that he was going to see a Dr Rangi Matamua up at Massey. I was sitting on the couch and was obviously too late to book a ticket so I did what any digital native (or in my case, digital immigrant) would do... I did a quick google search on the name. An hour long video came up and I clicked on it thinking, "flip, an hour? I'm never gonna watch all that!" An hour later, I was still on the couch feeling ecstatic. My mind was blown! I was inspired and I couldn't wait to share my new learning. However, on the other hand I also felt embarrassed because the books and stories I had been telling the students in my class and the teachers in my school were based on a Pākehā world view. And this is always the case that we teach "knowledge" to our students but seldom we consider whose knowledge we are teaching, which is scary. The first thing I did was delete a 7 Sisters of Matariki youtube video from my youtube channel. Check out this video explaining Te Iwi o Matariki by Te Wananga o Aotearoa.
Like the video, all good stories have a back story. This has been my journey so far.
And now, as Kaitirwā Tumuaki (deputy principal) of a new school I am wondering how I might impart my knowledge within this new space? As a leader, how do I impart knowledge for our teachers? I feel quite frightened by this seemingly new process. Because as a classroom teacher, I would just do it: provide some inspiration, initiate a class discussion, spark some imagination to demonstrate learning and then step back and observe to provide feedback and feed forward for my learners. This learning cycle seems very easy and familiar to me when working with learners in the same space for six hours a day... how do leaders get the same level of involvement, engagement or accelerated progress at a 2 hour staff meeting once a fortnight? How do leaders transfer their learning in such a way that they empower teac-hers to provide opportunities for our tamariki? How do leaders prevent teachers from just going back to their classrooms and doing the same thing they have always done? Grace Hopper's famous quote, “The most dangerous phrase in the language is: We’ve always done it this way.“, raises the question “Are we doing this because we always have, or because it’s the right thing to do?“ I have digressed from the purpose of my post, but I am glad I have because this has caused me to think. I have some questions that I am going to let simmer for a while. And also in a way, it has helped me to circle back to my purpose... leading through a Māori lens. I want to acknowledge each star within the Matariki cluster and consider ways in which I can position myself as a leader within each using the information from https://www.twoa.ac.nz/hononga-stay-connected/te-iwa-o-matariki MatarikiReflection: I feel so grateful for the year that has passed.
Environment:
PōhutukawaWaitī
WaitāWaipuna-ā-Rangi, Ururangi
Waipuna-ā-Rangi is connected with the rain. Ururangi is the star connected with the winds.
Tupuānuku, Tupuārangi
Tupuānuku is the star connected with everything that grows within the soil to be harvested or gathered for food. Tupuārangi is connected with everything that grows up in the trees: fruits, berries and birds.
Hiwa-i-te-Rangi
Wayfinding Leardership
My initial thoughts to somehow connect each star to a personal aspect of my life left me a little spars, especially with using knowledge of the waters, the rains and wind... I needed to read a little further so I extended search on the internet to discover this article. Man, did this speak to me? Check out the video where Dr Chellie Spiller explains further. As a descendant of Hoturoa, the great high priest who navigated the Tainui Waka to Aotearoa combined with my Swedish Viking roots, I related strongly with the concepts of this. I have discovered my inner Wayfinder because this is me, this is within my DNA.
If you are still with me, I thank you for sticking around this long... I have set out to post about one thing, and discovered another. All the best with the up and coming term. Ngā mihi nui Nic
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