He Kaiako

Blog post #4 for Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori

The key word in Kaiako is ako.  I love this term because it shows that teaching and learning are interchangeable. You cannot be a teacher without being a learner.

I was telling a reliever today about how for my "final" year of Uni I went down to Otago... then I rephrased that because that wasn't my final year and I'm not quite sure I have had my final year yet! (I've been to Uni 4 times now - I either love learning or am quite mad!!!)

I have a thirst for learning, whether formal or informal. I want to know about the new stuff, the "dangerous" stuff that nobody quite knows enough about yet. I also love being a generalist rather than a specialist - I have too many curiosities!

I believe that this is important for my learners to know and see me as a learner too. I get them to teach me things. My current challenge is to learn how to play Lord of the Dance on the recorder.  I have an enthusiastic 7 year old helping me with this challenge.

I have put the challenge out to my students this week to be leaders in te reo Māori.  I told them that I couldn't do it all by myself and I also told them that the drive shouldn't just come from me either. "Yeah that makes sense Miss" they said.  I may know more te reo than them but they have just as much responsibility to keep the language alive.

This kaiako is also off to Educamp Palmy this Saturday, in her own free time to do some more learning.  I will also be sharing some knowledge too.  It is fantastic professional development that really fuels my passion for teaching and will permeate my classroom come Monday morning.