Cook Islands Summit

In October I was privileged to be a presenter at the 2024 Cook Island Teacher's Summit, and I'll start of by saying WOW. What an awesome experience, and opportunity; to be able to connect and share ideas with a wonderful group of teachers is something that I will always treasure. It is opportunities like this that make me so thankful to be a part of the Manaiakalani family.

I thought it would be cool to share with you what I presented, and share some of the awesome PLD that I got a chance to be a part of;

I'll get mine out the way first. My presentation focused on my inquiry question for 2024 - How can I improve my student's conceptual understanding of mathematical concepts?

This question was one that built on my MIT '23 project of improving students comprehension of word problems, and came about because I realised that vocabulary and comprehension was only a small part of what my students were finding difficult; they also needed support in their retention of basic facts, and number knowledge. Some of them needed additional support through the use of manipulatives to make connections between abstract equations, and the real world applications of them.

This was where T-Shaped Mathematics came from; an adaptation of a learning model that we use in our literacy planning; the idea that in order to improve conceptual understanding of a topic our students must be offered a range of learning opportunities, exercises, and strategies that best suit them. By offering this wide range we can ensure that students can find the one that works best for them.

I have built my mathematics program this year on the foundation of the CPA approach, as well as elements of traditional, and reformist pedagogy; rote learning through the regular practice of multiplication and division, and addition/subtraction through repeatable exercises as warm ups; a range of questions which required the use of manipulatives, both physical and digital, and fun and engaging games that we can play in math that foster collaboration, and learning from their peers. The aim of this was, in simple terms, to do the mahi, and then get the treats. Following this principal has been instrumental in the improved engagement, and results I have seen this year.

Examples of how this is done can be seen in the slides below; 

The best part of the Cook Island Summit, aside from the amazing location, weather, people, and places we got to see, was the opportunity to learn from expert teachers, and to spend the time talking, and sharing ideas with them;

I was fortunate enough to be able to attend some awesome workshops; the first was a workshop entitled Beyond the Reef; presented by Pelu Leaupepetele, the principal of Kedgley Intermediate. This workshop was focused, primarily on leadership in schools, but carried with it some critically important messages, particularly for teachers of primarily Pasifika schools, of vulnerability, honesty, and openness, and how relationships between the leadership, teachers, and students can create a school environment where students and teachers open up, and can share and be vulnerable with each other, and in doing so, can build trusting relationships which foster a school which is healthy, and happy.

The second workshop is one I am very thankful I was able to attend, it was extremely popular, and with good reason. The workshop was titled Ruapekapeka, and the title, which I knew to be a famous battle in the New Zealand Wars, was so much more. Presented by Ian McGee and Tess Whelan from Taylormade Media we were introduced to matautanga.co.nz, an absolutely incredible resource. The ins and out of which I could spend all day writing about, however I simply implore you to explore their resource. It is amazing, and absolutely free. I will 1000% be using this as the foundation for my Aotearoa's History unit starting off 2025.

The first day done and dusted we all gathered together to experience Captain Tama's tour. What an awesome day - I cannot empasise enough just how beautiful the Cook Islands are, and we were gifted an incredible, and hilarious trip out to a small island, maybe 10 minutes by boat from Rarotonga. We were kept fed, and entertained by the wonderful Captains and spent a lush couple of hours swimming, sunbathing, and nearly being eaten by an overly friendly Giant Trevally. 

I will share with you more details about Day 2 of the Summit in another post, because there is simply too much to read in one go.