Everybody Belongs Teaching Plans

New Zealand Curriculum:

Curriculum Links: Health and Physical Education

Level 3:

Personal Health and physical development

Strand A: 1 Personal growth and development

Students will identify factors that affect personal, physical, social and emotional growth and develop skills to manage changes.

Strand A: 4 Personal identity

Students will describe how their own feelings, beliefs, and actions, and those of other people, contribute to their personal sense of self-worth.

Level 3:

Relationships with Other People:

Strand C: 1   Relationships

Students will identify and compare ways of establishing relationships and managing changing relationships.

Strand C: 2   Identity, sensitivity, and respect

Students will identify ways in which people discriminate and ways to act responsibly to support themselves and other people.

Level 3:

Healthy Communities and Environments

Strand D: 3 Rights, responsibilities, and laws

Students will research and describe current health and safety guidelines and practices in their school and take action to enhance their effectiveness.

Strand D: 4 People and the environment

Students will plan and implement a programme to enhance an identified social or physical aspect of their classroom or school environment.

Curriculum Links: Health and Physical Education

Level 4:

Personal Health and physical development

Strand A: 1 Personal growth and development

Students will identify factors that affect personal, physical, social and emotional

growth and develop skills to manage changes

Strand A:  4 Personal identity

Students will describe how their own feelings, beliefs, and actions, and those of other people, contribute to their personal sense of self-worth.

Level 4:

Relationships with Other People

Strand C: 1   Relationships

Students will identify the effects of changing situations, roles and responsibilities on relationships and describe appropriate responses.

Strand C: 2   Identity, sensitivity, and respect

Students will recognize instances of discrimination and will act responsibly to support

their own rights and feelings and those of other people.

Level 4:

Healthy Communities and Environments

Strand D: 3 Rights, responsibilities, and laws

Students will specify individual responsibilities and take collective action for the care and safety of other people in their school and in the wider community.

Strand D: 4 People and the environment

  1. Who I am? 

  2. What does it mean to belong at school? 

  3. Rights and Responsibilities

  4. Looking out for each other 

• These topics may be explored over the course of a term 

• The activities suggested in this unit support ongoing conversations and activities designed to support children's growing awareness of diversity as a strength. 

Learning goals:

• I am learning to recognise diversity as a strength within the communities I live in.
• I am learning to value diversity.

Thematic Links:

• Student identity
• Relationships
• Teaching

Reflective Questions

(For Teachers)                                                           

Thinking about Diversity (Lesson A)

 Introduce the term diversity.

 Brainstorm in pairs, group, class – complete a mind map what we think this means in our class, school or community.

Activity 1 provided if applicable (working in pairs, groups or class)                                                                                              

• How does my language reflect that I value all students equally?
• How do I show equity in my practice so all students are valued and my planning is respectful of culture, religion, disability, background  - all the different ways of being?

Knowing the learner (Lesson B)

 1. View Ben’s video.

Ben talks about the importance of adults in the school knowing you before they teach you.

Group discussion - starter questions

• Why is it important that the teacher knows you?
• Can you think of something about you that would be helpful if the teacher knew? (For example- maybe it is easier for you to work if the blinds in the classroom are down and there is no glare on your work
• Tell a friend/group member something about you that makes learning easier
• Plan a process (poster, picture, role play)through which you can share helpful information about yourself?

Activity 2 – ‘Knowing Me’ may be used/modified

 Questions include

 Survey questions:

 1. Where I am from

 2. What language/s we speak or use at home?

 3. How long I have been in New Zealand

 4. What celebrations/ festivals are important to me and my family?

 5. What are three things that are important to know about me?

 6. One way that I like to learn is by…..

 7.Three things that make it easier for me to learn are ……

 8. Other information that will help you to know me better ….

  Discuss as a class – how this information is shared – respect student decision making. (just with teacher? With a friend)

  It is useful for the teacher to complete the survey and share their

responses. 

     OR

  Complete activity Me – right now!  from the Curriculum in Action series Resource. 

• How do I develop relationships with my students?
• What family links do I use to support this learning?
• If we recognize knowing students means we care about them, what does this mean in terms of day-to-day classroom practice?
• How as a teacher do I remind/show my students that I am a learner with them?

Knowing the learner (Lesson C)

Recap/extension of lesson b.

Discuss – why is it important that adults in the school know you before they teach you? How can we do this?

View Hamish’s video. 

Discuss getting to know each other – the need for everyone to be accepted for who they are. What do we need to know about each other to support and respect each other?

How could we respond when we witness situations or are part of discussions where we hear people ridiculed, teased or abused because their way of being is not accepted?

Brainstorm/chart ideas for positive /affirming action

• How do I support my students to respect each other?
• How do I support my students to see diversity as a strength within the classroom and within our communities?
• How do I value individual student’s strengths in my planning and teaching?
• What are my beliefs about student capability?
• Does my assessment recognise all my students as capable learners?
• Do I have support to access professional development so I can meaningfully assess all my students?

Knowing the learner (Lesson D) 

View Katherine’s video.

Class/group discussion

Discuss why someone would get rid of the things (hearing aids) they need most to help them learn?

What could have helped Katherine to make a different decision?

Students complete survey – supported as needed (adapted from Defining Diversity – a facilitation manual to use with the New to New Zealand publication, Ministry of Education, 2008). It is important for students to show their name on this survey. 

OR

Complete activity Me – right now!  from the Curriculum in Action series Resource:

I am learning to share who I am and who my family are.

Introduce Junior Journal 53 (Ministry of Education, 2016).

Read Pepeha (Pataka and Monique Moore). This is about a way of introducing yourself through te reo. The section ‘What’s in a Pepeha?’ provides a visual model to support understanding across cultures and abilities. The next article ‘Toku Pepeha’ provides a model for students to use.

You can download the audio for the stories within this journal here.

Use the model for Pepeha or Mihi as appropriate for your school and the student’s level of understanding.

Alternate resource:

Unit 1: Ko au (I, me, myself) provides extensive information and resources on saying who you are and your family. There are animated videos to support learning throughout this resource and there are multiple resources for self, peer and teacher assessments. 

To support students with learning and/or remembering their mihi:

• Have the student or another student record the mihi and this can be played back as often as needed
• Use symbols and / or photos (mountain, river, photos of family members etc) that prompt the order and the content of the mihi
• Create a class poster that can be displayed showing those symbols will the key word under the symbol (eg a symbol for a river and the word te awa)
• Make a slideshow, focusing on students knowing part of the mihi and building on as they become more confident with this learning

Extend further through:

Oral language – learning and sharing mihi (at school and home) through video

Students may access assistive software to support writing of mihi (Story Maker)

Visual Language – create a visual mihi showing photos of you, your whanau and things that are important to you (apps such as Book Creator, Screencastify, Videos) The Arts  -  create a visual artwork to show who you are and where you come from.

• How does our school celebrate cultural diversity?
• How do I understand culture?
• How do we acknowledge all ways of being as equal and equally valued?
• Do we recognise or seek family/whanau voice within classroom learning?

Learning Goals: 

• I am learning to recognise what belonging looks like. 
• I am learning to recognise ways to include others at school. 

Thematic Links: 

• Barriers 
• Relationships 
• Teaching and Learning 

What is belonging?

View Jessica’s video and / or Kayla’s video. 

Can be done in groups, with a partner or as a class discussion

• What are the issues Jessica / Kayla  faced?
• Why did she/ they  have to deal with these issues?

Discuss the meaning of belonging. Complete vocabulary spider with Activity 3. 

• What do we think ‘to belong’ means, what the dictionary tells us (in that context),
• word family (belong, belongs, belonging),
• what does this look like (students draw
• their own picture of what this means), school/learning –
• what does this mean at school (Learning, social),

Sentence or a few sentences about what this means in real life, synonyms for belonging, antonyms for belonging.

• How is my belonging as a staff member supported at school?
• How do I support my students to belong in the classroom, in the New Zealand Curriculum, as a friend, as a learner, as a community member?

Belonging is …

View James’s film.

What did belonging mean for James? 

Work in pairs to complete a cline showing from ‘not belonging’ through to ‘belonging’. Activity 4

Brainstorm the words that can have similar meanings. Place the words along the cline to show where they might fit.

Alternately you can decide to start at words like on the fringe at the left hand side of

the cline through to belonging at the right hand side and fit words in between these two meanings.

Make a class chart of some suggested vocabulary to start with:

excluded, included, member, right to be there, part of, on the fringe, part of a group,

outsider, connected, avoid, disconnected, loyalty, acceptance, association, relationship, insecurity) 

OR What it feels like worksheet:  two columns showing belonging and ‘not belonging’ putting the words under the categories they best fit  Activity 5. 

Belonging as Community

Discuss – who has the right to belong at school?  (Build on sense of community and every child having the right to be part of their school community)

Y Chart -  Activity 6  Belonging looks like, feels like, sounds like. 

(Cameron, 2004)

Some students may choose to keep these charts private, or choose who they are shared with

• Sometimes students choose not to share their work or to answer questions. What might silence mean?

Learning Goals: 

• I am learning to develop practices that ensure the safety of each person within my class and school. 
• I am learning to understand the rights and responsibilities that support belonging in a community. 

Thematic Links: 

• Relationships 
• Student Identity 

Contracts support belonging.

 How do we understand the word ‘rights’?

How do we understand the word ‘responsibilities’?

Brainstorm ideas and help students to create links between rights and responsibilities.

View Kayla’s video.

• What is Kayla saying about rights?
• What could we do to support Kayla’s rights?
•  How can we help support the rights of others within the class?

Read ‘The Tree Hut Treaty’ (Grace, 2006)

Unpack the word ‘treaty’

Discuss the advantages/disadvantages of a class contract

What are important class treaty rules that support everyone being included and belonging within our class?

As a class brainstorm , then categorise, refine ideas, and create a class contract

Ensure the contract is accessible and meaningful for all students. (will some students benefit from an aural copy, or a copy that includes pictures or photos to be read able to be read?)

Once completed all students and adults working within the class sign the contract (in their own way). Make this contract visible for all (including adults who may work within the classroom). Use social story books, posters and/or video and photos to reinforce this.

• How do class discussions value/ include all voices? 

Rights and responsibilities

View films of Ben and James. 

Both Ben and James recognized and value their responsibilities. How does having responsibilities make them feel?

How does responsibility support risk taking?

What are the outcomes of students having  responsibilities?

Pair and group work looking at the rights of students within our class and the corresponding responsibilities.

Discuss:  How can we ensure everyone’s rights are looked after? What responsibilities do we need to consider?  What rules do we need in our classroom and our school?

Community in the classroom

Brainstorm the word community. Record key words, pictures  or phrases

Discuss with students ways we can create a school and class community.

Create a class responsibilities chart.

Students to think about contributions they could make that would support class as community. Create a chart. Include all names including adults. Record beside each name the responsibility or role that person chooses to support community.

Students may like to brainstorm this in pairs.

Students might each like to nominate a buddy to help them in their tasks

• How do I meaningfully support all students to be active, contributing members of the school community?

Learning Goals: 

• I am learning to develop respect for the rights of other people. 
• I am learning to identify ways of working with others.
• I am learning to treat others with respect and accept out uniqueness. 

Thematic Links: 

• Relationships 
• Student Identity 
• Barriers 
• Teaching and Learning

Being Accepted

Watch Jessica’s film.

Jessica left her primary school and moved to a different setting. How could Jessica had been better supported?

Brainstorm activities that are part of school excluding the learning areas (eg: having friends in the playground; talking about the weekend; school camp; Kapa Haka; sports teams; cultural opportunities; school formals; opportunities to represent the school; school trips)

How as a class and a school to we support each other to participate in the wider context of school life?

What could we do better?

• As a school, do we expect all students to participate in or learning opportunities?
• What is our school culture around expectations? Do the expectations apply to all students?
• How do I enact equity?
• Who is responsible for student advocacy? What is my role? What is the school’s role?

Family

Watch Cecilia’s film.

• What are things your family value or enjoy doing together?
• Do other families share the same or different values, experiences, activities? 

With a partner/group complete Venn diagram in relation to family/whanau. Activity 7 

• As a teacher and as a school is partnership with family valued?
• How might we overcome any challenges in communication to support student learning and well-being?

Respect

Watch Katherine’s film. 

Group / class discussions

• What is similar /different between Katherine and yourself?
• What could have been done differently so Katherine could feel that she belongs?
• How can we make our class/school environment a better place so everyone is respected for who they are?

Discuss these issues and consider simple adaptations or solutions to make the classroom a place where people accept difference and see it as a strength.

Ako

What do we understand by ako?

Watch Peter’s film. 

• What do you learn from Peter?
• Can you identify the different  roles Peter demonstrates in this film?
• Discuss ako – what are ways in which we learn from each other? What have other students taught you through their differences?

Create posters to reinforce the positive ways in which we can work together.

• How do I understand my role and the complexities within it?
• Am I able to lead and collaborate?
• Do my students see me as a teacher and a learner?
• How do I understand power and the use of it in a classroom?
• How do I support respectful classroom and peer relationships?