Te Haerenga...the journey

Kua eke i runga i te waka kotahi. 

Kia mahara tatou kei hoe whakatuara.  

Kia tika ano te tikanga o te hoe ki to te hunga o te ihu. 

Kei huri te hunga o te kei ki te hoe whakamuri.

Now that we have all embarked on one canoe, 

let us be careful that we do not pull backwards. 

Let us all pull in the same direction as those who sit in the bows; do not let the people in the stern paddle in the opposite direction.

No other school offers anything quite like Te Haerenga. Learners undertake a year-long, learning journey in all aspects of their campus life; academic, outdoors, social and spiritual. 

The journey parallels that of a waka journey, with three distinct phases...

• The first phase, manning the waka, focuses on understanding their place and their role and is closely guided. (LEARN)
• Casting off involves leaving the shore but remaining in safe waters...learners at this stage will be encouraged to take calculated risks and to cope with making mistakes. (CREATE)
• Finally, in exploring new horizons, the learners are encouraged to explore new horizons, to spread their wings, all the while reflecting on where they have been and on those who have taken the journey with them. (SHARE)

...beginning of a journey for my Monster and I.

As I have reflected upon these last couple of weeks in my new role as a PLD facilitator for MET, I have been drawn again and again to my son's new school handbook for the adventure he is also undertaking.  This week he had his powhiri at Mangatawhiri as he embarks upon the next 5 years of his learning journey. He has for the last 3 years been a student within a Manaiakalani school where he has embraced, benefited and grown in the LCS pedagogy.  However, this year will be very different to any that he has known as he steps into the unknown (but proven) realm of foci upon personal transformation by becoming aware of his innate talents and strengths, adapting and accepting himself to be relatable to all others, continuing to contribute positively to his world and developing depth to his capabilities as a learner in a different genre...

We are both going to (and have already) face new challenges personally and professionally, discover opportunities designed to stretch and grow us in ways we were not aware of, but we are willing to enter into the adventure hopeful that we will emerge at the end a more confident, resilient and capable learner/facilitator who enables and empowers others to be the best that they can be regardless of any situation and one where we too can resinate with that mantra. So what can I add to my LCS journey as a PLD facilitator to date?

Learn:

I have learnt to to help others when, and how, to roll a student blog over...

• Log into blogger.com
• Choose blog to roll
• Settings > basic > permissions
• Add author, once accepted amend to admin, remove old admin
• Settings > email (new admin & pupil) into comment & post
• Layout > header (update details)

Create:

I am a new creation...my label has changed.  

I am not a product of my circumstances, I am a product of my decisions and as creativity is contagious it should be passed along.  Motivation to empower the teachers (and students) to engage with the curriculum in an authentic way begins with getting the foundations correct and initially this has been in ensuring that all student/class blogs are all ready to go so that they are a tool to create to learn.

Share:

I am being guided/mentored to tell, to deliver, to report, to point out, to brief, to relay, to divulge, to advise, to let someone know...

But smart Manaiakalani learners are at home today in a digital world and therefore have to be cyber-smart in their sharing too.  The next step in my journey is to enable our learners to share smartly, by empowering and supporting their teachers to be smarter, which will then grow, accelerate and allow progress to occur in their students learning...

1. Work with learners to establish an authentic audience for their learning outcomes
2. Empower our learners with an evidence-based belief that their personal voice is valuable and powerful

Judges 18 v6

"...be assured.  Your journey is taken care of."