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❤️‍🩹🌿 Lesson 13: Reclaiming Your Mauri

⏱️ 75 minutes 📚 Year 8 🇳🇿 NZ Curriculum: Health, Technology

Kaitiaki Tikanga: Kia ora. We have built three walls of our whare. Now we turn to the most sacred part: Taha Wairua. This is about your spirit, your values, your inner essence. We call this your `mauri`. It is your life force. Some things nourish our mauri; some things drain it.

Kaitiaki Hauora: And in the digital world, many things are designed to drain your mauri without you even noticing. Have you ever finished scrolling and felt tired, empty, or just... blah? That is the feeling of your mauri being depleted. Today, we learn to notice this. We learn to become guardians of our own energy.

Knowledge (Māramatanga)

  • Define 'mauri' as a personal life force, energy, and essence.
  • Understand that different digital activities can either drain or restore one's mauri.
  • Recognise that the 'attention economy' is designed to extract our energy and focus.

Skills (Pūkenga)

  • Mindfully self-assess their own energy and emotional state (mauri).
  • Analyse their digital habits to identify "mauri drainers" and "mauri restorers."
  • Create a personal plan to protect and nurture their mauri.

Values (Wairuatanga)

  • Value their own energy and attention as a precious taonga.
  • Develop a sense of agency and self-determination (rangatiratanga) over their digital lives.
  • Appreciate the importance of rest and restoration for their overall well-being.

➡️ Whakatūwhera | The Energy Meter (15 minutes)

Main Activity: Human Barometer

  • Setup (5 mins): The teacher draws a large "energy meter" on the board, from "Drained" (empty) to "Energised" (full).
  • Activity (10 mins): The teacher calls out different activities (digital and non-digital). After each one, students move to stand at the point on the energy meter that reflects how that activity makes them feel.
    • "Scrolling through TikTok for 30 minutes."
    • "Playing a favourite sport with friends."
    • "Watching a funny movie with your whānau."
    • "Getting into an argument in a comment section."
  • Discussion: Why do some digital activities drain us while others energise us? This introduces the concept of mauri.

💡 Main Learning | The Mauri Audit (35 minutes)

Main Activity: Tracking the Flow of Energy

  • Introducing the Audit (5 mins): The teacher introduces the 'My Mauri Audit' handout. "This is a tool for you to become a scientist of your own energy. For the next 24 hours, you will be a kaitiaki of your mauri, noticing where it goes."
  • Guided Practice (15 mins): As a class, students fill out the first section of the handout: "My Digital Habits." They list the top 3-5 apps or digital activities they spend the most time on. Then, for just ONE of those activities, the teacher guides them through the analysis questions on the handout.
  • The 24-Hour Challenge (15 mins): The teacher explains the main task: For the next 24 hours, students are to use the handout to mindfully track their top 3 digital activities. They will note how they felt *before*, and how they felt *after*. They will then analyse their findings and create a "Mauri Protection Plan."
Teacher Note: This is the main formative assessment for this lesson. The depth of their reflection is more important than the amount of time they track. Frame it as a personal, private investigation. The "Mauri Protection Plan" is the key part that shows they can apply their findings.

🤝 Consolidation | Sharing Mauri Protection Strategies (20 minutes)

Main Activity: A Kete of Strategies

  • Think-Pair-Share (15 mins): The next day, after completing their audit, students share their "Mauri Protection Plan" with a partner. The goal is to share strategies and learn from each other.
  • Building the Kete (5 mins): The teacher asks students to share one effective strategy they heard. These are collected on the board in a "Kete of Mauri Strategies" for the whole class to use. Examples might include: "Set a timer," "Turn off autoplay," "Follow accounts that make me feel good," "Unfollow accounts that make me feel drained."
Formative Assessment: The completed 'My Mauri Audit' handout, especially the "Mauri Protection Plan" section, is the key artifact. It assesses a student's ability to self-reflect, analyse their habits, and create a proactive plan for their own well-being.

🏁 Whakakapi | You are the Kaitiaki (5 minutes)

Main Activity: Final Reflection

  • Kaitiaki Tikanga concludes: "Your mauri is your most precious taonga. No one can guard it for you. Only you can be the kaitiaki of your own life force. The whakataukī says, 'An active soul is a healthy soul.' This means being an active, conscious chooser in your digital life, not a passive consumer. Choose to protect your mauri."