Stellar images

Something to brighten up your day and waste hours looking at them, as if you were on holiday enjoying the view.
"Time spend wasting was not wasted"
- John Lennon

Teaching, my passion

Im so happy that i get to follow my passion and for that, I thank my Mum and Dad for allowing me to study. Without them I would have to find my own way.

Growing up in Whangarei New Zealand and going to Te Kura Kaupapa Maori O Te Rawhitiroa, I was restricted learning English. In fact, I never had a proper english class until I was ten and even then it was just one day a week.

I remember my first day. I was looking forward to going to my english class that I braved the torrential rain even when I was given permission to stay home. I had waited so long to learn this subject that nothing was going to keep me back. I felt so proud that on top of being gifted with learning the language of my Maori ancestors I would be learning the language of the world. English gave me the ability to excel as a Maori of which I could express in English.

Right now, I am in the middle of completing a Bachelor of Arts/Masters of Secondary Teaching. A long way, almost 10 years, since I began that first lesson. Many who know me are really surprised that I learnt english so late in life. They are usually surprised and it makes me feel proud.

I may be auto didactic but to get to a stage of being self taught I learnt from the best = Teachers.

I could tell you of the teachers who got me to this state: first of all, my family, my first primary teacher Whaea (Maori for Miss/Mrs) Tatiana. Matua (Maori for Mr/Sir) Alex Henare and most notable in my life Matua Ross Smith, Whaea Dorothy Waetford, Whaea Vee Almark and Whaea Ana Henare. If there ever was an Olympics for teaching, they would have taken out the gold medal. I felt that these teachers were proud of me and could see me as a student who loved to learn. Apart from serious illness, nothing kept me from going to school and wanting to know what we were going to learn about today.

Then, in December 2001 I moved to Australia and began middle school the following year. It was a whole new world and I was an alien in it. But where I had little hope in myself and my lack of understanding for english, like essays and assignments, I found it again in my teachers. Particularly my english teacher Mrs Brody who encouraged me to read (something I really love then and now) when no one else did. Ms Beasly my french teacher was also an inspiring lady, Mrs Harrison my Computing teacher and Mr Belinfante my art teacher, Mrs Sant and Mr Forrero my maths teachers. And I would like to add that Ms Rogerro, a substitute teacher, was one of the best. Part time actor, she was someone who was passionate about life and learning and she too saw something in me that encouraged me to find out what was shining so bright within me.

But the downside of the move was that I had no way of maintaining my link to my ancestors through speaking te reo. No one at home spoke it a part from my sister Stacy, who was ashamed to speak it. For me, it was like severing my umbilical cord to my ancestors by not speaking Maori every day and as a constant student I wish to pick it up once again.

Going to Penshurst Girls Middle School, I became comfortable and my education was steadily increasing. I had gotten into a set rhythm and I liked it; I knew what was expected of me and I was in my comfort zone.

That was until 2006 when I had to attend Oatley Senior High School. I absolutely hated the idea of attending a co-ed high school. I was comfortable and I hated change. There was no way to get out of it and my first week was filled with fear and uncertainty.

But my fear was soon relinquished. I had teachers that I was mature enough to not take this feeling for granted. I had teachers who I chose as mentors in my life Mrs Karen Vitale who I saw as someone like me. She was who I wanted to be and a teacher who taught her subject with constant passion and interest. Someone who would be in my autobiography. Another teacher,

Dr Robert Hamilton, inspired this blog. See, he is going through a legal dispute regarding him as a teacher and all I can say is that it is a shame. He is someone who touched my life and was more that a teacher, he was a human being. I know that his legacy will go on in me.

My 13 years of schooling, both Maori and English, has taught me that where I go in life, teachers are always going to there and needed. They make up the fabric of my life and I hope that by becoming a teacher it will be a tribute to what they have done for me. That I could be as passionate as they that I could inspire people life me. Where there is hopelessness there will always be an equally brighter light that would draw those who need it, so that this light would make them want to see a brand new day. I want to be that light.

Thats the key; to love learning and never stop. Always be thirsty for it, always want more because life is so short not to discover everything. We only have a small amount of time here so discover it: our history, current affairs, events, cultures, countries, space, occupations, maths, science all of it.

Grasp life by always being a student of the world and loving it.