Junior exams week (15 June to 18 June 2021)

 Revising is a way to learn about the craft of writing. Phyllis Whitney famously wrote, "Good stories are not written. They are rewritten." Learning to revise teaches students about the characteristics of good writing, which will carry over into their future writing. Revision skills complement reading skills; revision requires that writers distance themselves from the writing and critically evaluate a text. 

Strategies of revision: Once students have organised their checklist/timetable, they should work through each topic with help from textbooks, class notes and any online resources. Working through the topics one at a time, with a mixture of learning the information and testing yourself, can be an effective way to revise. Focus on one topic at a time from the highlighted checklists until you understand it. Each time you learn a topic you will increase your mark, and the more you learn, the better your grade will be. Study a section of your notes, and memorise the essential points. hide your notes, and try to write down everything you can remember. Check what you've written against your notes. Note down what you got wrong, or forgot, and learn them.

Get organised: Arrive at the exam venue in The earlier you start, the more prepared you will be. Starting early allows you time to really learn the material and understand it – and it means you can cope with any factors that may unexpectedly disrupt your revision. Also, “cramming” is just not effective for everyone, and will often only create more stress. Spend a couple of hours figuring out the material you will need to know for each exam and map out a revision timetable that takes into account when each of your exams is.

Make your revision timetable as detailed as possible, writing exactly what you need to do each day, for how long, and make sure you schedule in regular study breaks too. Without regular breaks, you could be headed for stress and burnout, which definitely won’t contribute to exam success.  Revision can be a highly personal process and it’s worth testing out a few different methods before finding an approach that suits you. This will make sure that you are working smarter, not harder. Along the same lines, figure out when you learn best. This may be early in the morning or late at night – again, each person is different. Plan your revision to utilise the times when you think you are at peak productivity levels.  If speech or songs with lyrics are too distracting for you, try film scores or instrumental music. For others, pin-drop silence will be the only thing that works. The only way to know for sure is to test this out. Also, as a side note, make sure you wear comfortable clothes and have plenty of water and healthy snacks to hand. 

If you must have your phone near you, download an app that stops you from continuously checking Instagram or Facebook. Forest is a particularly innovative one. It plants a seed when you lock your phone and a tree continues to grow until you quit the app. To make sure your tree keeps growing, don't go on to any other apps on your phone. If this doesn't work for you, there are plenty of other productivity apps that can stop you from unnecessarily checking your phone. 

It is important to ensure that all this revision doesn’t go to waste and that you are able to apply the knowledge in an exam situation. 

Samoan Language week 2021

 Samoan Language Week - Vaiaso o le Gagana Sāmoa is the celebration of Samoan culture and language and aims to encourage New Zealanders to learn and experience some of it.

Samoan make up the largest group of Pacific Islanders living in New Zealand so it's very important to recognise and commemorate their heritage. There are around 150,000 people residing in NZ who identify as Samoan. Samoan Language Week gives students of all backgrounds the chance to learn some basic Samoan and gives students who speak Samoan the opportunity to share their knowledge in the classroom. There are also community events that take place across New Zealand to celebrate it. 

In Tamaki college, Samoan language week is celebrated from 31 May to 2 June. All students were invited to dress "Cultural wear with a Samoan Flair". Girls were invited to wear puletasi and for the boys wear a tidy aloha shirt with an 'ie faitaga. This week we had a Samoan language house competitions. Students performed Samoan cultural dance in assembly. It was great to watch our mentoring students perform the Samoan language week celebration. Happy to see Pasifika students all around New Zealand embrace culture and pride. This week we had a very delicious kai from Samoan cultural teachers. very pleased to see and share their culture with them.

Pacific languages, cultures and identity are essential to the health, wellbeing and lifetime success of Pacific peoples and their communities in Aotearoa.

Samoan language week celebration at Staffroom

Hunua Falls camp(Reflection)

Outdoor education forms a key part of the New Zealand Curriculum. Values, key competencies and achievement objectives from specific learning areas, such as Health, Science and Physical Education, can be effectively learned and assessed through well-planned camping experiences. Improved social skills are one of the bonuses of attending a well run School Camp. Children need to interact with each other in a different setting and different environments to help improve their social skills. Spending 8 hours a day at school is one thing but eating meals together, travelling together and sharing accommodation together teaches children the worth of working together and treating others with respect.

There have many occasions in that time I have seen the students who excel at school actually find they are challenged and pushed into the stretch zone requiring resilience. Whilst on the flip side the student that has a hard time in the classroom thrives in the hands-on environment of camps and enabling them to earn a greater level of respect among their peers. School camps can help build self-esteem, especially for these students. Camps with a physical education component, such as bushwalking or kayaking, for example, can make students with ‘hands-on’ talents feel good about themselves and celebrate their own success. I got an opportunity to go with year 9&10 on camp at Hunua Falls. Hunua Falls Camp offers a remote forest park setting in a remarkably convenient location. The camp is designed to provide affordable accommodation and outdoor activities for a wide range of groups. We did a lot of activities of water such as the presence of nitrate and phosphorous in water, and the clarity of the water at Hunua Falls. Students participated really well and enjoyed the activities. 

Waterfall

Water testing by students

Phosphate test by students

Visit to The University of Auckalnd Medical School

  27th May 2021.

Level 3 biology students working on AS91602 (Intergarte biological knowledge to develop an informed response to a socio-scientific response) Genomics. They got an opportunity to go to the University of Auckland and talk to different scientists who are working in this field. Dr Thierry helped us to organise a visit and we are very thankful to him for this opportunity.

This trip was on 27 May and Students to arrive at 85 Park Road, Grafton (main reception area/atrium) and the day started with Karakia (given by Malakai ‘Ofanoa). Then, Drs Collin Tukuitonga and Malakai ‘Ofanoa talked about his journey at Auckland University and talks/Discussions by young bio/medical professionals about career experiences, and/or their research and, where applicable, the intersection with genomics. Dr Kimiora Henare obtained a BSc in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Auckland, before completing an MHSc at the Auckland Cancer Society Research Centre (ACSRC) under the supervision of Professor Lai-Ming Ching. He s also researching Genomics into Medicines. Genomics Into Medicine (GIM) is a University of Auckland Strategic Research Initiative for research-led clinical genomics. GIM aims to generate a multi-disciplinary network of scientists and DHB clinicians, who align around the common vision of improving patient care through genomics. This network will connect with scientists and clinicians from other NZ universities and overseas and will be guided by Māori medical and scientific leaders.

After that, Students briefed on etiquette and rules when visiting the AMRF Medical Sciences Learning Center (no photography, respect of those persons, passed, represented in the MSLC pathology collection).  Students informed that if they feel uncomfortable, they are welcome to wait outside the MSLC (accompanied) during that part of the visit. During visiting of AMRF lab students saw different specimens related to their study and they were very happy and enjoying that time. They had a lot of questions and were asking different researchers. We had limited time and we came back to school before lunch. Genomics team at Auckland Uni.

Teacher Only Day(TOD) 13 May 2021

 The May 2021 Teacher Only Day focuses on two of the seven changes to NCEA: Mana Ōrite mō te Mātauranga Māori and Strengthening Literacy & Numeracy and Te Reo Matatini me Te Pāngarau. This follows TOD 1 from November 2020 which introduced the NCEA Change programme and will be followed by TOD 3 in August 2021 which focuses on the Review of Achievement Standards (RAS).

 Through an online Learning Management System provided by the Ministry of Education, schools will be provided with a proposed structure and additional materials and resources to support rich school level discussions around these topics. Within this structure, the ordering and pacing of the day can be decided by schools. The planning for the second Teacher Only Day in support of the NCEA Change Programme is underway. The focus of this day will be on Mana Ōrite mō Te Mātauranga Māori and Strengthening Literacy & Numeracy and Te Reo Matatini me te Pāngarau.

1. Welcome and Overview This module introduces the day and provides an update on the wider NCEA Change Programme and current state. It then provides an overview of the TOD2 materials and structure.

2. Resource Kete (self-selected) This module is a collection of materials and resources related to the Mana Ōrite mō Te Mātauranga Māori module that might provide a stimulus for wider-ranging conversations (such as Aotearoa NZ Histories, Te Ao Haka or Ka Hikitia). The intention is to provide a selection of resources that may help guide and focus your discussions, and which you can engage with as needed. 

 3. Mana Ōrite mō Te Mātauranga Māori This module is designed to describe the changes to NCEA in both English and Māori mediums driven by the principle of equitable treatment of Māori bodies of knowledge. The module provides space and support to discuss what these changes could mean within your context - English medium schools may want to include local iwi in this discussion and offer them a place to present their view, while Kura Māori will have dedicated time to discuss the changes within their context. The module ends with some exercises designed to solidify thinking around implementing the changes in practice. This will be an opportunity to explore in more depth why this change is important, consider some of the real-life successes in supporting Mana Ōrite in secondary schools and korero about where your school is currently sitting on its own journey.

4. Literacy & Numeracy / Te Reo Matatini me Te Pāngarau This module focuses on providing concrete information on what the changes are and why they are being made, followed by an in-depth look at the standards as well as the assessments. The module ends with specific, practical support for implementing the changes. There will be a focus on what the core curriculum changes are and why they are important. There will be opportunities for you to discuss what the changes to Literacy & Numeracy standards will mean in your school and what tools and supports you might need to aide your school’s change journey.

Design thinking( AKomanga Kaihanga)

 Design thinking is a non-linear, iterative process that teams use to understand users, challenge assumptions, redefine problems and create innovative solutions to prototype and test. Involving five phases—Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype and Test—it is most useful to tackle problems that are ill-defined or unknown.

Stage 1: Empathize is the first stage of the design thinking process. Design teams conduct research to get personal grasps of their users’ needs. They set aside assumptions to obtain insights into the users’ world by observing and consulting with users. This way, they can understand users’ experiences, motivations and problems. 

Stage 2: Define—State Your Users' Needs and Problems: It’s time to accumulate the information gathered during the Empathize stage. You then analyze your observations and synthesize them to define the core problems you and your team have identified. These definitions are called problem statements. You can create personas to help keep your efforts human-centred before proceeding to ideation.

Stage 3: Ideate—Challenge Assumptions and Create Ideas: Now, you’re ready to generate ideas. The solid background of knowledge from the first two phases means you can start to “think outside the box”, look for alternative ways to view the problem and identify innovative solutions to the problem statement you’ve created. Brainstorming is particularly useful here..

Stage 4: Prototype—Start to Create Solutions: This is an experimental phase. The aim is to identify the best possible solution for each problem found. Your team should produce some inexpensive, scaled-down versions of the product (or specific features found within the product) to investigate the ideas you’ve generated. This could involve simply paper prototyping.

Stage 5: Test—Try Your Solutions Out: Evaluators rigorously test the prototypes. Although this is the final phase, design thinking is iterative: Teams often use the results to redefine one or more further problems. So, you can return to previous stages to make further iterations, alterations and refinements – to find or rule out alternative solutions.

Overall, you should understand that these stages are different modes that contribute to the entire design project, rather than sequential steps. Your goal throughout is to gain the deepest understanding of the users and what their ideal solution/product would be.

Genomics introduced to Level 3 Biology students(AS91602)

 Genomics is a rapidly growing field with a rich history and an exciting future. Take advantage of our ready-made teaching tools to present the foundations to your students and help them understand the impact of genomics in their lives. This year we planned to Introduced GENOMICS to level 2&3 biology students. we are collaborating with Dr Thierry lint who is PhD. in biology and specialised in genomics.  He encouraged us to introduced genomics and let students familiar with this concept. In this way, students know about role of genomics and genes in the health of an individual and how diseases vary in different ethnicities. To introduced genomics in our school, we invited Dr Thierry into our classroom so that he can talk with students and answers students questions. This lesson was awesome. Students showed interest in genomics and very excited to work on it with their next internal standard AS91602. 

Dr Thierry talked about Genomics as the study of whole genomes of organisms and incorporates elements from genetics. Genomics uses a combination of recombinant DNA, DNA sequencing methods, and bioinformatics to sequence, assemble, and analyse the structure and function of genomes. It differs from ‘classical genetics’ in that it considers an organism’s full complement of hereditary material, rather than one gene or one gene product at a time. Moreover, genomics focuses on interactions between loci and alleles within the genome and other interactions such as epistasis, pleiotropy and heterosis.