reaction to Maori assessment

Reaction & Entry of Rameka article: Maori approaches to assessment

In reading this article, I thought how amazing it would be to have this kind of support from my own government. I understand that it just didn’t happen this way. They probably had to work and fight for this type of support, like we are doing in Hooper Bay.

In reading this article I saw many similarities between my culture and the Maori culture, especially on the view of children. In the Yup’ik ways, we value and treasure each child, as do the Maori. We both understand that each one is special and bring with them a world of wealth and contribution. Another important similarity I saw was the relatedness and connectedness of everything and everyone. The child is viewed as an individual who is in the process of becoming. The child is bringing into the classroom already having some knowledge about their world. My job then in my class is to use that knowledge and expand and teach them to “read, write, and do math” in the Yup’ik language.

As for assessment, I have to give these assessments that are state and nationally mandated to “show” they are learning and progressing. These assessments are given to each and every child in the school and district. I like how the Maori plan uses the community and individual child and make authentic assessments. They are sensitive to the fact that each community is different, the article mentioned that the community and school need to work together to make their own authentic assessment that is relevant to their environment and is based on their local beliefs and culture. The beliefs and values are diverse in each community, though they might be similar, they are practiced in a different ways, so the article advised for the community and school to work together to make their assessment authentic to their “place”.