Kaupapa Maori Principles considered in implementing my change

KAUPAPA MāORI PRINCIPLES

Considering that my target student group comprises Maori and pacifica students,it would be important to get the blessing of my maori parents demonstrating Aroha ( love and respect) for their culture by following the Kaupapa Maori principles throughout the implementation of my changed pedagogy. This  would also stress the importance of kaupapa by working together with parents so that collectively we can raise student achievement.

The following principles have been selected from a list by Rangahau (1990) and I have deliberately decided to use a table to explain how these principles would guide my change. Furthermore, being a multimodal assignment topic, what better way than to use different modes of communication.

Kaupapa Maori Principles considered in implementing my change
Kaupapa  principle	What it means	How I would use the kaupapa principles to guide my implementation.	Possible obsticles
Tino Rangatiratanga	The Principle of Self-determination. Allowing Māori to control their own culture, aspirations and destiny.	Students take ownership of their learning
Ako Māori	The Principle of Culturally Preferred Pedagogy acknowledges teaching and learning practices that are inherent and unique to Māori, as well as practices that may not be traditionally derived but are preferred by Māori.	With consultation will come possible acceptance of the pedagogy
Kaupapa	The Principle of Collective Philosophy. Research seen as contributing to the overall vision	The formation of a partnership helps towards a collective vision and aspiration of maori.
Ata	The Principle of building and growing Respectful Relationships	By consulting maori, we demonstrate through aroha we can create improved relationships.
Whānau	The Principle of Extended Family Structure. obligations of the researcher to nurture and care for these relationships .	By working alongside maori Respecting and maintaining family values Maintaining privacy of data

Table 1

Stakeholder community

STAKEHOLDER COMMUNITY

Having looked at several readings about  the effectiveness of multi modal texts, I am more than convinced that I owe it to my students to change my pedagogy accordingly. I would therefore consider myself the first stakeholder. Due to the very nature of the way we share our professional learning, I  would consider my colleague who teaches the same level as me(Y5/6) as an early adopter since we plan our lessons collaboratively. My input in planning  a multi modal programme will benefit my colleague greatly. My group of Maori and Pasifica students would be the beneficiary of this change and hopefully the remainder of the class would comprise the early adopters.

It is said that you cannot kindle a light in others unless you have the spark within yourself. I therefore plan to implement this new change, and convince other colleagues on the staff of its value. The BOT therefore would be a worthy stakeholder.

I am hopeful that once the data is available to gauge the effectiveness of my changed pedagogy, other colleagues will find it encouraging to follow in my footsteps, hence bringing about change to the rest of the school population(early majority).

Being part of the COL, I am required to undertake an inquiry into my teaching and blog the process regularly. I am excited to share my new learning on my blogs, so that the greater Manaiakalani COL  can benefit from my research findings about multi modality. The teachers in  this COL represents the late majority.

Multimodality and metacognitive instruction

Research 4 MULTIMODALITY AND METACOGNITIVE INSTRUCTION IN DEVELOPING TWO READING STRATEGIES by Sen & Towndrow.

• learners who move across two or more modes have opportunities to invent connections between them, which can lead to richer and deeper understandings. 

• As the elements in a multimodal text come together, it is possible to create meanings that could not have been expressed in a mono-modal text alone;

•  different modes-such as images, gestures, written language, and spoken language-each play a unique role in how they help the reader make meaning.

• (Gee and Hayes, 2011) state that multimodality is not new. They go on to

 Explain, “People of all cultures have always used a range of ways to represent ideas and communicate meaning through speech, writing, image, gesture and movement, music and sound.” 

Teaching With Multiple Modalities

Research 2: Teaching With Multiple Modalities by Phil Wilder- Read Write Think journal

When we know about the learning style habits of our students, we can use multiple modes of learning  to engage students in literacy activities in a  meaningful way.  We should not strive to put every mode in every lesson, but with multimodal resources, we can successfully hone their ability to learn.

• We should strive to move away from the traditional practices of teaching with one modality (typically linguistic) for all students in a lesson. Instead, if we  know that  our students learn in different ways, then we also need to teach students to process information through multiple modalities.

• Students should be encouraged to search for and use clips from news media, blogs, etc that replace traditional print, because these help to make comprehension of the text easier.

• A good strategy is to rotate students to write for the class blogs so everyone has a chance to have their work on the class blog.

• Try to get students to express themselves in as many ways as possible, visually, verbally and even musically.

• Writing should not only be restricted to complete essays or recounts, but also include letters to friends, lists, personal learning statements, truth statements etc.

Nobody Wants to Read Anymore!

Research 1: Nobody Wants to Read Anymore! Using a Multimodal Approach to Make Literature Engaging by Riki Thompson and Matthew McIlnay(2019)

In this article, Thompson and Mcllnay highlight concerns about changing reading habits, and they address the role of digital media in literacy practices, and the problem of adequate access to reading materials. Having found their research a bit concerning, I started to look closely at how they suggested teachers reinvogarate students’ interest in reading. My take from Thompson and Mcllnay’s article are as follows:

• In English language teaching (ELT) contexts, the use of visual texts  produced positive outcomes, including increasing student participation, improving reading comprehension, inspiring students’ motivation and building confidence.

• A panel of experts argue that the cause of the problem “is the way schools teach reading, with current instructional approaches relying upon outdated methods based on assumptions about learning (Wexler, 2018). Students who aren't interested should be assisted to connect rather than being alienated, and they should be made available materials, including ‘books from an array of genres and text types, magazines, the Internet, resource materials, and real-life documents’(Gambrell, 2011, p. 173).

• By allowing choice, children won’t view reading as a boring activity that is forced upon them.

• As a solution to the problem, they advocate for an eclectic mix of genres, formats and media, and attention to multiple communicative modes. 

• According to Ryu  (2016): ‘Graphic elements can easily lower learners’ emotional and intellectual barriers because a “picture can say a thousand words”’ (p. 64). 

Multimodal text benefits for Reading and Writing

In researching how multimodal reading activities can lead to improved writing skills, I came across this very profound relationship between reading and writing by  Braunger and Lewis, cited in Anggrainy, S(2016) .

 Braunger and Lewis (1997, p. 24) state that “writing leads to improved reading achievement, reading leads to better writing performance and combined instruction leads to a higher level of thinking than when either process is taught”. 

This really gave me an important insight into the value of multimodal reading for writing and vice versa. Indeed a win-win situation, and with the introduction of multi-modal texts, this positive gain for students can only be described as accelerated learning.

Multimodal Learning Strategies and Examples

Research 3:  Multimodal Learning Strategies and Examples by Laney Kennedy (2019)

This article gave me a really in depth understanding of multimodal learning strategies and how students can accelerate their learning as a result of the level of  engagement due to the variety of modes that students could use for meaningful learning.

• Multimodal learning in education means teaching concepts using multiple modes.

• Modes are channels of information, or anything that communicates meaning in some way, including: pictures,illustrations, audio, speech, writing and print, music, movement, gestures, facial expressions and colour.

•  One student might need as many visuals as possible, while another would swap a picture for a verbal explanation in a heartbeat. Other students need information in multiple formats for concepts to stick. This is why a multimodal approach to education is best.

• The following figure clearly illustrates the four modes that students use most often to make meaningful connections.

Figure 1: VARK model    Source: Kompas Muda

Visual learners  learn best by seeing, responding to visual cues like images, graphs or charts. 

Aural learners learn best by hearing, responding to auditory cues like verbal instruction, discussions or songs. 

Read/Write learners learn best by reading and writing, responding to written cues like lecture notes, books and cue cards. 

Kinesthetic learners learn best by doing, responding to tactile cues like movement, actions and real-life examples. 

Kennedy (2019) concludes,“A multimodal learning style works most effectively with many communication inputs, or modes. A multimodal learner will thrive in a comprehensive learning environment that uses visual, auditory and kinesthetic inputs — both verbal and non-verbal — including videos, images, actions, real-life examples and hands-on activities”.