School Hall reflection

This imaginary school hall scenario involved 10 teaching colleagues who participated in a role play. We were all given a range of different characters to act out. The chairman identified a number of "challenges" that had come to the school board's attention and were being shared with parents of this "hypothetical" school. Some examples of the characters were a doctor, a lawyer, a cleaner, a farmer and an ERO representative. The issues that were brought to light were low oral language acquisition, lack of Te Reo Maori participation, students who needed support with transition to Intermediate, students who struggled with curriculum based literacy and maths learning, ESOL support, lower levels in Reading and Maths etc... So after a heated debate it was agreed that these pertinent issues either needed to be removed or dealt with as soon as possible, especially considering the principal was overseas stuck on a cruise ship. It was easy to relate to these challenges as they are based on the reality of the problems that we currently face in our low decile schools which have Maori/Pasifika students who attend. Research shows evidence of the learning outcomes of these students and how it affects them if not addressed by teaching professionals. So it was interesting to find out how other teachers might investigate these challenges over a period of time.