Anne-Maree McDougall
“I remember preparing for a literacy lesson as an education student and finding Annie and Moon by Miriam Smith…
It was the first book I had come across that reflected the lives and homes of solo parents in Aotearoa and it inspired me to think more philosophically about what a home is. It’s a book that has stayed with me.
I’m the Deputy Principal (Primary Years) at Mercury Bay Area School in Whitianga. Our school is the largest area school in the country with around 1000 students. The permanent population of Whitianga is around 5000–6000 and so our school forms a large part of the local community. Whitianga is also a place of significance to Aotearoa as a bicultural nation; Wharekaho is the site of the first known pōwhiri between Māori (Ngāti Hei) and Pākehā.
I love being part of an area school; having the opportunity to see a student’s school learning journey all the way through and being part of a community where the school is a central component. My role is to work alongside our teachers and students to help achieve their learning goals and deliver our vision of “Growing Good People, Growing Good Learners”.
The large majority of the books and resources we use are New Zealand published. Our maths and literacy programmes are structured around New Zealand resources and our school (like many others in Aotearoa) is developing our culturally responsive pedagogy. Having texts which reflect our culture helps that enormously. For students, seeing themselves in books and resources helps them to make learning connections.
Texts our teachers come back to again and again, and which help us to think critically about our practise, include Clarity in the Classroom and Using Evidence in Teaching Practice: Implications for Professional Learning. In addition, Teaching to the North-East and Colouring in the White Spaces are thought-provoking works that have been motivating for us in our culturally responsive journey.
New Zealand voices are vital in education. While there is much we can learn from other countries, an understanding of where we are and the values and cultural context of what has happened in the past in the place we live is critical for teaching and learning.
It’s exciting to see the many books that are being published in te reo Māori. On a personal level, these have helped boost my own understanding of sentence structures and phrasing. From a teaching perspective, our school has invested in many titles and it gives us such joy to hear our tamariki reading in te reo Māori.
In addition to my role as Deputy Principal, I’m also the author of a number of education resources. Years after reading Annie and Moon that very first time, when I worked with Essential Resources to publish Thinking about Picture Books, I came back to the ideas Miriam Smith’s story had inspired about what a home is and referenced her work and these ideas in my own book.”
Anne-Maree McDougall is Deputy Principal of Mercury Bay Area School and the author of a number of education resources.