Every second Friday afternoon, we have been diving into our interests and exploring what our passions are. We have turned these interests into our Passion Projects. A Passion Project is a self-directed activity that ākonga (learners) choose based on something they’re curious or excited about. It gives them the chance to explore ideas creatively and independently, following what sparks their interest.
We started our projects by brainstorming potential interests and things we wanted to learn about. We asked questions like: What makes you feel happy, sad or angry? What changes would you like to see in the world? Ākonga were encouraged to come up with as many ideas as they could. Here are a few examples:
Create model swimming pools, new school playgrounds and bike tracks
Learn to sew/make clothes, dolls and robotic dinosaurs.
Create habitats for animals like ladybugs and butterflies.
Learn to cook treats like donuts and ice cream
Learn a new skill, like Karate or improve their sporting skills.
Once ākonga had done their brainstorming and chosen an idea, they started researching their topic, thinking about what they already knew and what they wanted to learn. This is where our Tuakana/Teina time helped us. Every Friday afternoon, a group of Koru and Pōhutukawa ākonga come together for Tuakana/Teina time. Tuakana/Teina is a type of relationship that focuses on the older/more experienced ākonga helping and guiding the younger/less experienced ākonga. In this case, our Tuakana taught us a lot about our interests and helped us in the planning phase of our project.
After we selected a topic and gathered information, we moved to the planning phase. We thought about how we could make an impact, learn or teach people something new. This is where we began to design our projects. Ākonga put great thought into their designs, ensuring they had a clear idea of what they wanted to achieve. With the support off our Tuakana, we made a list of steps and resources we needed (within reason - sadly, we couldn’t provide the requested blocks of gold or lava!).
Next term, we’ll begin creating our Passion Projects – and we can’t wait! Our ākonga are super excited to take the next step and start making, building, and learning something new.
It has been wonderful to see the enthusiasm and creativity that these projects have sparked. The range of ideas shows just how different and unique our ākonga are
Stay tuned to see what happens with our Passion Projects next term - we can’t wait to share the finished results with you!
