Rarotonga Trip Post #1

In the recent Term 2 School Holidays I was very fortunate to travel to Rarotonga with the MIT group. 

We stayed together in Rarotonga at the Edgewater Resort for four days and spent our time visiting schools and working on and presenting our MIT projects to teachers in Rarotonga. 

A highlight from the trip for me was visiting all the different schools. We were very fortunate to visit six schools, majority primary and one secondary. 

I found it interesting looking at the different ways they delivered their curriculum. Looking into the resources they use, meeting the children and looking into the similarities and differences between how we teach in New Zealand and how they teach in Rarotonga. But also the differences between all the amazing schools in Rarotonga. 

Although we use the same curriculum, it was interesting to see how it is used in a completely different setting and with varying degrees of resources. It made me feel very fortunate in regards to the access we have to wifi and the affordances this provides us with in New Zealand.  It made me reflect on the education we provide our students with and how we run our learning programmes. I would find it very different and challenging running the programme I currently run in New Zealand in Rarotonga. The teachers over there do an amazing job with the resources they have. 

Spending some time at these schools also taught me about some elements of Rarotongan culture. 

I felt very fortunate to have this opportunity to learn more about the culture in an authentic context. 

In addition to visiting these schools, we also spent some of our time working on our projects, listening to others projects and presenting them to teachers in Rarotonga. 

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It was great to listen in to where everyone is at with their projects and think about how their projects could be used in my own school and to see the progress that others are making.  

I'm looking forward to seeing where their projects go this year.