Activity 9, Evaluations of cultural responsiveness in practice.

24/02/2016
http://garethmcghie.weebly.com/blog
He iti toku reo, engari he iti he pounamu,
I dont have a large store of the Maori language, but what little I have is precious
to me!
As I have often said throughout the duration of this post-grad course I consider
myself an artist first and a teacher second. My artwork drives me and my
teaching practice is built upon it. Because my artwork largely revolves around
traditional and contemporary Maori carving practice I am fortunate enough to be
able to bring that small store of Te reo Maori, and Tikanga Maori into my
classrooms.
I do not for a moment however believe that it is those two elements alone (Te reo
and Tikanga) that make for culturally responsive teaching in my own practice.
These things certainly help in a Maori context but I truly aim for the classes I
teach in to be culturally safe places for all my students.
The classes I teach tend to be very multi-cultural and I consider it my first task as
a teacher to celebrate the differences between these cultures while at the same
time highlighting the overwhelming similarities! Art as they say is a universal
language and I have found it to be so especially in the learning environment.
I have been fortunate enough in my life to have spent considerable time
immersed within several different cultures, firstly amongst Maori on the east
coast where I was born and raised and within the community of practice I carve
within. Considerable time spent in Hong Kong and in China teaching has also
given me much to draw on. Months spent in the north of Scotland and the
Orkney Islands augment a world view I would love to keep expanding upon.
The first area I would comment upon would be that of communication. I speak a
little Te reo and use it often within my classes. During my time in Hong Kong and
China I have picked up a small store of Mandarin and encourage the use of
languages other than English to be used within our teaching spaces. As I have
said within the art world spoken language can be augmented with symbolism
and design and the use and illustration of cultural mythologies and history make
for a rich learning environment. Traditions, mythologies and history are great
mechanisms to illustrate similarities between cultures and my students often find
great commonality in them. It is this commonality that allows student and
therefore class relationships to develop, and as Russel Bishop states in his video
on culturally responsive teaching it is this relationship centred education that has
such positive cultural benefits for our students.
There are great differences of course, particularly in the way students have
travelled through their high schooling. I have particularly found that our Chinese
students have tended to come from high school systems that do not necessarily
encourage independent thought and self-direction. As a result of these disparities
in previous academic experience I need to become broader minded when it
comes to assessment and its associated intricacies. It is by utilizing a broad
range of strategies, and pedagogical approaches in this area that I can ensure all
students are in the best possible position to be successful academically.

This area of assessment is one I intend looking at more and more from multicultural perspectives as this year progresses. An example of this is how material
is presented for assessment. Some of my Maori students for example much
prefer oral presentation alongside visual slides and illustrations as opposed to
written essay. In this format they are able to use Pepeha,Karakia,Waiata,or
Tauparapara to greater effect also. The abilities of my Chinese students however
with both written and spoken English can sometimes take a while to develop so I
need to employ more robust mechanisms that allow them to demonstrate ability
and understanding in different ways. One way is the use of video and moving
image with much less use of text. What is absolutely paramount is that all
students within class need to feel safe culturally and creatively. In my experience
so far if I can protect and nurture the creative first, the academic will inevitably
follow.
Nga mihi nui, Gareth