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Applying a Local Story to Teaching and Learning
Key content
Key content
We see how local knowledge can provide an appropriate context for teaching and learning – in this case, a Kai Tahu story about Rākaihautū. This story is likened to the PD workshop, where teachers can “chew on things later” – as they reflect on what they’ve learnt, and make changes.
Things to think about
Things to think about
How might you find out about local stories that you could use to enhance the teaching and learning in your school/in your learning area?
Transcript
Transcript
Kathleen Scott, Te Reo Māori Advisor, UC Education Plus, University of Canterbury:
I ka rā o mua, ka tae mai tētahi waka ki tēnei motu. Ko te ikoa o taua waka ko Uruao. Ko te rakatira o taua waka, ko Rakaihautu. I tae mai i te waka o Uruao ki Whakatū.
In days gone by the Uruao waka landed at Whakatū, which is near Nelson. And on board was Rakaihautu and the iwi of Waitaha.
I whakaaro ia, pēhea tā rātou oraka ki tēnei whenua hou. As a leader he was thinking what kind of livelihood are our people going to have in this new land?
Ka werohia ia, e tana kō ki te whenua. Ka puta mai ka puna e toru. He used his kō or digging stick to pierce the ground and out came three puna, pools. He puna tino makariri. He puna hauaitu. He puna kikī i te tuna, i te pātiki, i ka kai katoa. He puna waimaria. Tētahi atu puna he ahua paruparu, he puna karikari.
He puna hauaitu, he puna waimarie, he puna karikari
One pool was frozen solid. One pool was brimming with kai, all kinds of kai. And one pool that was muddy, dug by the hand of people that gave an inkling of what it was going to be like here ... yes there’re going to be some frozen pools and we can start to feel that time of the year even here in Ōtautahi at the moment. That this land is a bountiful land. Dug by the hand of people.
Rākaihautū set off, he went to the place which is now Rotoiti. He named the lake, the glacial lake ... dug out with his kō as the kōrero goes.
He went down through the land digging out many of our lakes, you can see the glacial ones ... Tekapo, Pūkaki, Whakatipu, Waimāori. Fresh water Lake Whakatipu. Whakatipu Waitai down by the sea. Whakatipu Waitai salt water Lake Whakatipu.
Travelled around the islands and eventually they settled up in this region ... in the Waitaha region. While living here in this bountiful land, they would go to the Hāpua, ki te tiki kai.
Here’s a picture of some of our people gathering kai. Tuna here. And we gather tuna, and some of us have just been doing it in this time of the year te heke tuna. We can eat it fresh, we can smoke it ... you can see the fires getting ready for smoking it ... or we can pāwhara, split it and dry it. When we think about that, you can enjoy some of it now. Some of it we can take for later, to chew on later.
What’s that got to do with my learning today? We want you to have some things to chew on later.
The best student outcomes come from coming to some kind of professional learning environment where you have some dissonance and you later reflect on it and you make some changes.
Rākaihautū when he was digging those pools ... we’re still continuing to dig pools. Jane wants you to be what she calls stirrers ... go back to your schools and dig some pools there.
So you may have some muddy things happening today. Later it settles. Kei te pai?
