Writer: Liz Hay
Released May 2008
Context
This two part DVD series on New Zealand identity is divided into seven sections: Place and Environment, Culture and Identity, Society - Continuity and Change, Pioneers - Sport and War, People and Events, Economic Identity and Memory and Reality. Within each section there are a number of clips that illustrate concepts or ideas relating to that aspect of New Zealand’s identity.
This material can be used as lesson starters or catalysts for a wider discussion on the issues they raise. The DVDs should not be shown in one or two long sittings! These DVDs can be used as part of a unit exploring the Identity, Culture and Organisation conceptual strand of the Social Science learning area in the revised New Zealand Curriculum. It is important to note that this is not a complete unit. Instead it is a list of ideas that teachers may find useful. These support materials have included the examination of the concept of identity within a wider discussion of the impact the movement of people has on both the people themselves and the place they move to.
Outline
These support materials suggest some ways that these DVDs can be used by teachers. They have been written to reflect the revised New Zealand Curriculum. All of the ideas here will need to be adapted by teachers in order to suit the learners in their classes. As new resources relating to revised New Zealand Curriculum are released by the Ministry of Education, these support materials will be updated.
The New Zealand Curriculum identifies five key competencies that people need to live, learn, work and contribute as active members of their communities (see pages 12-13) or visit:
http://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/the_new_zealand_curriculum/key_competencies
It could be useful for teachers to think about how some of these key competencies could be integrated into learning programmes. Some examples of how some activities outlined in these support materials could be linked to some of the key competencies are shown below.
Key Competencies
Relating to others
What this might mean for your learners: Students learn about their own ideas and those of others as they listen, compare and clarify their thinking with other students.
Example of activities: Through students presenting their “Me Box” they will be sharing their ideas and clarifying their own thinking.
Participating and Contributing
What this might mean for your learners: Learning will happen when the students can make a link to their own lives and the community they live in.
Example of activities: Students present their own personal and national identity to the class. They can study the influence of a particular group of people on their community.
Relating to others
What this might mean for your learners: Students are encouraged to develop their critical thinking and understanding to enable them to make decisions.
Example of activities: Students, through engaging with the questions posed, will develop their critical thinking
This outline assumes that teachers when using the DVDs will:
- access the Teacher’s Booklets which provide a detailed summary of the content of each clip on the DVDs
- preview the DVDs in advance and select which clips best fit their learning intention
- write relevant Learning Intentions for each lesson
- write Success Criteria for each lesson. (These are indicators of how students will know that they have achieved success and should be written in the form of ‘I can’ statements)
Effective pedagogy is at the centre of the New Zealand Curriculum. One way to start each lesson would be to use an advanced organiser that has the following:
- What the students are to learn
- How they are going to learn it
- Why they are learning it
- How what the students are learning is connected to existing knowledge, including other learning areas
- How students will recognise when they have learnt it
Possible Learning Topics
New Zealand Identity or New Zealand Identities?
(A number of ideas used in these support materials come from the Wellington East Girls’ College Social Studies Department. Thank you to Kathryn Hutchinson in particular for her ideas on the changing New Zealand diet and Margaret Rushbrook for her assignment task.)
NCEA assessment
