🎯 Professional Learning & Development Goals

Goal 1: Te Reo Māori & Tikanga Development

Goal Type	Classroom Practice, Personal, Cultural Competence
Goal Statement	Develop my abilities to communicate in Te Reo as well as Tikanga Māori and seamlessly utilise it throughout my classroom practice.
Links to Professional Standards	Teaching Council Standards: Demonstrate commitment to tangata whenuatanga and Te Tiriti o Waitangi partnership in Aotearoa New Zealand Standard 3: Design and plan culturally responsive pedagogies Standard 4: Establish a culturally inclusive learning environment
Specific Targets	Complete Te Whanake 1: Te Kākano 3rd Edition Successfully complete year-long "Te Reo for the Classroom" university course Establish regular hui with Poihakena Marae in Whaingaroa Integrate te reo Māori greetings, instructions, and curriculum content daily
Initial Learning Actions	Work through Te Whanake 1: Te Kākano systematically Attend all sessions of university te reo course Coordinate with Poihakena Marae for immersion opportunities
On-going PLD Needs	As I progress, I will identify additional professional learning needs in cultural practice, pronunciation coaching, and curriculum integration of mātauranga Māori.

Reality: Immediately overwhelmed. University course assumed prior knowledge. Got through only ~4 chapters of Māori Made Easy before stalling. Monday nights became a struggle to stay awake after teaching.

Early Warning Signs: Fell behind on university assignments by Week 3. Good at vocabulary (kupu) but completely lost with sentence structure/grammar. Drops app used sporadically.

What I Should Have Done: Recognized I was drowning and asked for help early - from teachers, from classmates, from my supervisor. Instead, I avoided the problem and hoped it would resolve itself.

Date	Strategy/Action & Rationale	Reflection/Review
Feb-March Term 1	Strategy: Enrolled in university "Te Reo for the Classroom" course AND Monday evening community courses. Bought Te Kākano and Scotty Morrison's Māori Made Easy. Downloaded Drops app. Made classroom labels. Rationale: Wanted to attack it from all angles. Thought evening classes plus uni course plus two textbooks would guarantee fluency.
April-May Term 2	Strategy: Made contact with Poihakena Marae hoping immersion would help. Tried to catch up on missed university assignments. Kept using basic karakia and greetings in classroom. Rationale: Thought marae connection might make learning click. Desperate to salvage university course.	Marae Experience: First visit to Poihakena Marae was beautiful but also intimidating. Realized how little I actually know - couldn't follow most conversations. Kaumātua were kind but I felt like an imposter. University Course: Failed first major assessment. Feedback: "Insufficient understanding of basic grammatical structures." This was crushing. Tried to attend catch-up sessions but workload from teaching + GradDip felt impossible. Evidence: Friends commented that my pronunciation was improving. One noted, "It sounds so naturalistic the way you weave te reo into your everyday speech." Hidden Challenge: I actually feel confident listening and reading, but my Canadian accent means people underestimate my ability. I know the kupu, but I freeze on grammar when speaking.	Classroom Use: Kept using basic phrases but started a "Lexicon Shift" - replacing specific English words permanently. "Kirikiriroa" comes to mind faster than "Hamilton" now. Also "Ngā mihi", "Aroha mai", "mahi", "kai", "tikanga", "kumareti". This felt like real, permanent change even if the grammar wasn't there.
June-July Term 2-3	Strategy: Made difficult decision to withdraw from university course rather than fail. Continued self-study with Te Whanake at much slower pace. Maintained some marae connection. Rationale: Withdrawal better than failing on transcript. Self-study removes pressure and allows learning at my own pace.	Withdrawal: Officially withdrew from university course June 15. Felt like massive failure - this was one of my three main PLD goals. Had to tell colleagues and principal. Embarrassing. Self-Study Reality: Working through Te Kākano 1 slowly. I've accepted that my strength is reading and listening comprehension, while speaking requires more confidence to overcome the grammar barrier. Creative Win: Created a Māori Wordle game for the students (and myself). It's actually amazing! It helped me engage with vocabulary in a fun, low-pressure way without the anxiety of sentence construction. Students loved it too. Classroom Integration: The "Lexicon Shift" strategy worked better than formal lessons. Using "Aroha mai" or "Ngā mihi" is automatic now.
Aug-Nov Term 3-4	Strategy: Continued slow, sporadic self-study. Focused on using what I know well rather than constantly learning new material. Maintained occasional marae visits when possible. Rationale: Realistic about capacity. Better to consolidate basic competency than keep failing at advanced goals.	Honest Progress: Finished maybe 10 total chapters of Te Whanake by December. Far from completing book. But what I have learned, I know better. Marae Visits: Visited Poihakena Marae regularly throughout the year (instead of monthly noho). Each time felt valuable for cultural understanding even if reo skills not dramatically improving. Classroom Reality: Use te reo for maybe 15-20% of classroom interactions (greetings, karakia, basic instructions). Students are familiar with these routines. Haven't progressed to full bilingual teaching envisioned. What I Actually Learned: Te reo can't be rushed. Requires consistent, sustained effort over years, not months. Cultural learning (tikanga) progressed better than language - relationships with Poihakena community are real even if my reo is still basic.
Mid-Year Evaluation (Week 5, Term 2): Progress: Struggling significantly. Behind in university course (failed first assessment). Te Whanake study inconsistent. Made marae connection but overwhelmed by cultural/linguistic complexity. Evidence: University assessment feedback showing lack of grammatical understanding. Attendance records showing missed lectures/tutorials. Partial completion of Te Whanake (4-5 chapters). Challenges: Drastically underestimated difficulty. Competing demands of teaching, GradDip, and te reo impossible to balance. Lack of foundational knowledge making everything harder. Honest Next Steps: (1) Decide whether to withdraw from university course or fail it, (2) Get realistic about what's achievable in remaining year, (3) Focus on cultural relationships even if language learning slow, (4) Stop avoiding the struggle and ask for help.
End-of-Year Evaluation (Week 10, Term 4 - December 2025): Honest Truth: Failed this goal. Withdrew from university course (incomplete). Did not complete Te Whanake 1. Did not achieve daily classroom integration envisioned. What Actually Happened: Completed ~10 chapters of Te Whanake (out of 15) - partial progress Withdrew from university course to avoid failing grade Visited Poihakena Marae regularly (valuable connection but no overnight noho) Classroom te reo limited to basic routines (~15-20% of instruction) Did NOT achieve functional fluency or seamless classroom integration Why I Failed: Combination of factors - underestimated difficulty, overcommitted with GradDip + teaching, lacked foundational knowledge, didn't ask for help early enough. Learning te reo requires sustained daily practice I couldn't maintain. What I Did Learn (Despite Failure): Lexicon Shift: Permanent replacement of core words (Kirikiriroa, mahi, kai, aroha mai) - these are now my default Receptive Skills: Listening and reading are actually quite strong, even if speaking lags behind Māori Wordle: Created a successful digital resource that engaged students with te reo in a gamified way Cultural understanding deepened through regular Poihakena Marae visits Tikanga principles now inform my teaching even when not using te reo Processing Failure: This hurt. Felt embarrassed telling colleagues I withdrew. Questioned whether I'm cut out for this work. But also learning that failure doesn't mean give up - means adjust approach. Realistic Next Year Goals: Finish Te Whanake 1 by end of 2026 (realistic 12-month goal) Consider re-enrolling in university te reo course when less overwhelmed Maintain marae relationships quarterly (not monthly) Consolidate and expand basic classroom te reo repertoire Accept this as multi-year journey, not single-year achievement Silver Lining: Students do respond to the te reo I use daily. Small impacts matter. Marae relationships are real and will continue. Failed the goal but didn't kill the dream.

Goal 2: Graduate Diploma (Waikato University)

Goal Type	Personal, Professional, Academic
Goal Statement	Write down my Kaupapa into an evidence-based research project.
Links to Professional Standards	Teaching Council Standards & ITE Requirements: Demonstrate commitment to bicultural partnership and Kaupapa Māori research methodologies Final requirement for graduating teacher certification
Specific Targets	Complete comprehensive literature review Conduct ethical research aligned with Kaupapa Māori principles Draft and submit polished research project meeting academic standards
Initial Learning Actions	Clarify research question with supervisor Complete ethics application Attend academic writing workshops Establish research timeline with milestones
On-going PLD Needs	Training in qualitative research methods, Kaupapa Māori methodology, academic writing support, and time management strategies.

Date	Strategy/Action & Rationale	Reflection/Review
Jan-March Term 1	Strategy: Enrolled in Graduate Diploma at Waikato University. Planned to attend lectures (Mon/Tue) and tutorials while teaching full-time at a school in Raglan. Rationale: GradDip is the pathway to full certification. Thought I could balance it with teaching.	Scheduling Impossibility: Immediately realized the schedule was unworkable. Lectures on Monday and Tuesday - couldn't make them because of school hours. One tutorial only offered Thursday/Friday during school days - impossible. Evening tutorials existed, but even when school finished early, I couldn't get home to Raglan in time. And I couldn't stay at school late enough for class to finish. Life Chaos: Also dealing with move to Raglan, flatmate drama, adjusting to new school. Distracted by developing feelings for Whaea Caitlyn (another teacher). Everything felt overwhelming. The Math Didn't Work: No matter how I tried to arrange it, teaching full-time in Raglan + GradDip classes in Hamilton = impossible logistics. I was already missing most classes by Week 3. What I Should Have Done: Recognized this was structurally unworkable from Day 1. Should have either NOT taken on full-time teaching this year (pushed for relief teaching only while doing the GradDip properly), or deferred the GradDip until I had teaching experience under my belt. Instead, I kept trying to make the impossible work - missing classes, falling further behind, and setting myself up for failure.
April-June Term 2	Strategy: After ethics finally approved (late April), tried to do literature review while teaching full-time. Attended some writing workshops. Joined peer writing group for accountability. Rationale: Needed structure and deadlines to stay on track. Couldn't do this in isolation.	Literature Review Hell: Reading dozens of articles but struggling to synthesize them. Draft lit review was just summaries of other people's research - no actual analysis or argument. Supervisor feedback: "This is descriptive, not analytical." Writing Workshops: Helpful for mechanics (referencing, formatting) but didn't fix fundamental problem - I didn't really understand what I was supposed to be researching or arguing. Burnout Starting: Teaching full-time + trying to write GradDip project + te reo goals = impossible. Some weeks didn't touch it at all. Peer writing group became place where I made excuses for lack of progress.
July-Sept Term 3	Strategy: Collected some data (student interviews, work samples) from my Māori Battalion unit. Tried to finish lit review. Attempted to start findings chapter. Rationale: Data collection felt more concrete than theoretical writing - easier to actually DO something.	Data Collection: Student interviews provided some interesting insights. They did engage better with bilingual unit. But I didn't know what to DO with the data analytically. Analysis Paralysis: Sat with interview transcripts and student work for weeks. Couldn't figure out how to code or analyze in meaningful way. NVivo software confusing. Created some random "themes" but they felt forced. Falling Further Behind: Lit review still not done properly. Supervisor getting concerned. I was avoiding meetings because I had nothing to show. This is when I should have asked for extension or withdrawal, but I was in denial.
Oct-Dec Term 4	Strategy: Panicked attempt to finish something - anything - that could pass as a research project. Wrote frantically but without real understanding or coherent argument. Rationale: Too embarrassed to quit. Thought maybe I could pull something together at last minute.	Crash and Burn: Realized in early December I had nothing submittable. Draft was just 8,000 scattered words. Had honest conversation with supervisor and decided not to submit. Result: Did not submit. Failed the Graduate Diploma. Supervisor agreed it was the right call rather than failing a submission. "Better to not submit than to submit something that will definitely fail." Devastating: This was my path to full certification. Failing the GradDip means another year provisional. Had to tell principal, colleagues, family. Questioned everything about whether I should even be teaching. What Went Wrong: The fundamental problem was motivation and exhaustion. I was succeeding at the practical side - learning classroom strategies, curriculum in practice, actually teaching. But the GradDip demanded something else: inward focus, theoretical reflection, critical analysis of pedagogy. I was too exhausted from full-time teaching to "play with concepts theoretically" as the assignments required. The Mismatch: ITE is designed for people learning to teach. I was already teaching full-time. The program asked me to step back and analyze what I was doing, write academically about it, engage with theory. But I had no energy left after teaching all day to then theorize about teaching. I could DO the work, but I couldn't write about doing the work.
Mid-Year Evaluation (Week 5, Term 2): Progress: Minimal real progress. Ethics approved but already weeks behind. Lit review draft exists but supervisor feedback says it's not analytical. Haven't started methodology or findings. Evidence: Draft lit review document (weak). Ethics approval (took 6 weeks vs planned 2). Missed multiple supervisor meetings. Peer group aware I'm struggling. Challenges: Don't really understand what I'm researching. Time management failing. Teaching + GradDip + te reo impossible to balance. Imposter syndrome severe. Reality Check: Should consider withdrawing or getting extension. But too embarrassed to admit I'm failing.
End-of-Year Evaluation (Week 10, Term 4 - December 2025): Brutal Truth: Failed Graduate Diploma at Waikato. Did not submit final research project. Did not pass. Did not graduate. What Actually Happened: Realized in December I was nowhere near ready Had ~8,000 words of confused, poorly analyzed content Supervisor advised against submission to avoid fail on record Did not meet graduation requirements for the GradDip Remain on provisional certification for another year Why I Failed: The core issue was motivation and capacity: Exhaustion vs. Theory: Succeeding at practical teaching but too exhausted to engage with theoretical analysis required by assignments Wrong Timing: ITE programs assume you're learning to teach. I was already teaching full-time and had no bandwidth for the inward, reflective work Motivation Crisis: Couldn't find the motivation to write academically about teaching when I was barely surviving teaching itself Time Scarcity: Full-time teaching + GradDip + te reo = impossible mathematics Didn't ask for help when struggling - hid problems from supervisor Consequences: Staying provisional teacher another year. Can't apply for permanent positions. Feels like professional setback. Had to have difficult conversations with principal, colleagues, family about why I'm not graduating. What I Did Learn (Through Failure): Theory vs. Practice: I learned HOW to teach in practice, but ITE also demands learning how to think critically ABOUT teaching in a theoretical way - two different skillsets Timing Matters: Doing ITE while teaching full-time is brutally hard. The reflective, inward work requires energy I didn't have My Māori Battalion unit WAS effective (data showed this) even if I couldn't analyze it academically Understanding limits and capacity is important - I can't do everything at once Processing This Failure: Devastating. Feels like I let everyone down - supervisor, school, myself. But supervisor said I can resubmit next year if I want. Question is whether I have capacity/ability to actually do this properly. Options for Next Year: New Plan: Enrolling in University of Auckland Online Graduate Diploma in Teaching (Secondary) for 2026. Researching the program now - it offers a fresh start with a different support structure. Accept provisional status for now and focus on getting certified through this new pathway. Honest Question: Is this the right move? Yes. The Waikato program clearly wasn't working for me. A fresh start at UoA, with a specific focus on Secondary teaching, feels like a better fit. I'm ready to try again.

Goal 3: Curriculum Planning & Syllabus Development

Goal Type	Classroom Practice, Curriculum
Goal Statement	Develop my lesson planning into enough structure to provide a syllabus going into next year.
Links to Professional Standards	Teaching Council Standards: Standard 3: Design and plan effective learning experiences Design coherent, progressive teaching and learning programmes
Specific Targets	Create comprehensive unit plans for all subject areas Develop year-long scope and sequence documents aligned to NZ Curriculum Design integrated assessment schedules Complete draft syllabus for all teaching areas
Initial Learning Actions	Audit existing lesson plans and identify coverage gaps Study exemplar syllabi from colleagues Set up digital planning system Map learning objectives to NZ Curriculum
On-going PLD Needs	Understanding by Design (UbD) methodology, NZ Curriculum refresh training, Assessment for Learning strategies, and differentiation principles.

Date	Strategy/Action & Rationale	Reflection/Review
Feb-April Term 1	Strategy: Started with good intentions - planned to create systematic unit plans and syllabi. Looked at existing plans, realized they were inadequate. Set up folders. Rationale: Needed better organization. Last year's teaching was too chaotic and reactive.	Reality: Lots of planning to plan, not much actual planning. Created folder structures but didn't fill them with content. Too overwhelmed with GradDip ethics and failing te reo course. Unexpected Development: Started building simple HTML website to organize my own resources (early March). Just wanted somewhere to keep handouts and links. Called it "Te Kete Ako" - the basket of knowledge. Initial Motivation: Easier to share link with students than printing everything. Wasn't thinking of it as "curriculum planning" - just practical organization tool.
May-July Term 2	Strategy: Attended UbD workshop (May 24-25) which was valuable. Redesigned Māori Battalion unit for GradDip research. Meanwhile, kept adding to Te Kete Ako website whenever I made new resources. Rationale: Website became easier way to "plan" than formal unit plan documents. Could just upload resources as I created them.	UbD Workshop: Genuinely helpful for thinking about backward design. Applied it properly to ONE unit first: Treaty of Waitangi vs Treaty of Versailles. Chose this unit because I had lots of content but needed to compare complex, wordy legal documents for Year 8s - required extensive scaffolding and guidance. Resource Creation: Created a bunch of resources for TOW v TOV. The unit ended before I got the site properly set up (domain purchase, proper deployment). For a long time, Te Kete Ako was just running on Netlify development servers - only accessible on my laptop in Chrome, effectively just an application running locally. Te Kete Ako Growing: Website started accumulating resources organically. Added handouts I created for classes, links to YouTube videos I used, some unit outlines. Realized other teachers might find this useful too. Shift in Focus: Instead of creating formal syllabi (which felt overwhelming), started thinking: what if I just make resources PUBLIC and shareable? Te Kete Ako could be contribution to broader teaching community, not just my own planning. Honest Assessment: Building the website felt more achievable than systematic curriculum planning - and it was. So I leaned into my strengths.
Aug-Oct Term 3-4	Strategy: Shifted goal entirely - focused on building out Te Kete Ako as educational resource platform. Added subject pages, organized by year level, created browse functionality. Stopped pretending I was doing "curriculum planning" in traditional sense. Rationale: Playing to my strengths. Can't write formal unit plans while drowning in GradDip work, but CAN code a website and organize resources during spare moments.	Website Development: Built proper navigation, homepage with featured resources, browse by subject/year level, individual resource pages. Learned more web development in these months than expected. Content Added: Started adding unit plans I'd created (the few that existed), handouts from various lessons, external links to quality NZ curriculum resources. Maybe 30-40 resources total by October. Other Teachers Noticing: Showed colleague the site - she asked if she could contribute resources. Suddenly realized this could be collaborative platform, not just my personal filing system. Dissertation Consuming Everything: Oct-Nov, website development stopped completely. Just trying to finish GradDip project (which I was failing at anyway). Te Kete Ako sat untouched.
Nov-Dec Term 4	Strategy: After GradDip failure (Dec 9), returned to Te Kete Ako with renewed energy. This felt like something I COULD actually do, unlike academic research. Spent December break building it out properly. Rationale: Needed a win. Needed to feel competent at something. Website development was concrete, achievable, immediately useful.	December Focus: Treated Te Kete Ako like my real PLD project (which it basically was all along). Added more resources, improved design, created better organization system, added news/updates section. What Te Kete Ako Actually Is: Not a formal curriculum planning system. It's a resource-sharing platform. Has unit plans, handouts, links, ideas - all things I created for teaching or found useful. Open to anyone. Mentor Teacher's Take: When I showed her in December, she was surprisingly supportive. She acknowledged that while it wasn't the standard planning format, the sheer volume of resources showed I had been doing the work—just in a different way. Honest Reflection: Did I achieve my goal of "comprehensive syllabi"? No. Did I create systematic unit-by-unit plans for full year? No. Did I build something potentially more valuable than my individual planning would've been? Maybe? Feels like consolation prize for failing original goal.
Mid-Year Evaluation (Week 5, Term 2): Progress on Original Goal: Minimal. Did audit, attended UbD workshop, created one unit plan. That's it. Most "planning" still week-to-week scramble. Unexpected Development: Built early version of Te Kete Ako website. Starting to accumulate resources there. Not sure if this "counts" as curriculum planning. Reality Check: Probably not going to create comprehensive syllabi this year. Too much else happening (failing dissertation, failing te reo). Te Kete Ako feels more achievable and maybe more useful long-term? Pivot Decision: Quietly shifting focus from formal curriculum documents to building resource platform. Easier to explain if anyone asks.
End-of-Year Evaluation (Week 10, Term 4 - December 2025): Reframing the Goal: While I didn't create traditional "comprehensive syllabi," I actually did extensive curriculum planning throughout the year. Te Kete Ako is the culmination of that work - a living, growing platform showcasing hundreds of hours of curriculum development. What I Actually Did: Built Te Kete Ako - educational resource website for NZ teachers Current State: Established a digital repository with 370+ teaching resources. It's messy but functional. Unit Collections: ~120 unit-specific resources. It's more of a "resource bank" than a set of formal plans, but it allows me to grab what I need quickly. Key Exemplars: "Year 8 Systems" (35 files) and "Māori Battalion" are the only truly complete units. The rest are works in progress. Platform Architecture: The website works. It has search, filtering, and resource management. It's not perfect, but it's a solid foundation. Why This Approach Worked: Instead of creating static documents that would sit in a folder, I built a dynamic platform that organizes my planning work and makes it shareable. Every resource I created for teaching went into Te Kete Ako. The platform IS my curriculum planning system - just not in the traditional format. The Real Achievement: I created 370+ teaching resources this year. That's not "failing at planning" - that's prolific curriculum development. Te Kete Ako is how I organized, curated, and made that work accessible. It's evidence of extensive planning work, not a consolation prize. Impact: Colleagues are using the platform. Students benefited from the resources. The website has robust search and filtering. This is working curriculum planning infrastructure, just delivered differently than the original goal imagined. Practical Impact for 2026: Still don't have comprehensive planning system for my own teaching. Will still be somewhat reactive. But DO have foundation of Te Kete Ako that could become something bigger. Question is whether I invest more in personal planning or platform development. Honest Assessment: Te Kete Ako represents successful curriculum planning work - just delivered through a digital platform rather than traditional syllabi. The volume of resources created this year demonstrates I was doing the planning work consistently. The platform is proof of that work. Next Year: Keep building Te Kete Ako - add more resources, invite other teachers to contribute Also do SOME systematic unit planning for my own classes (realistic: 3-4 more units, not whole year) Accept that I'm better at building tools/platforms than formal curriculum documents See if Te Kete Ako can become collaborative rather than just my project Silver Lining: At least I made SOMETHING. In year where I failed dissertation and te reo course, Te Kete Ako is tangible achievement. Not what I planned, but it exists and might help people.