Education-Resources "Moriori" Unit

o  Identity, Culture and Organisation:  Students learn about society and communities and how they function, about the diverse cultures and identities of people within those communities, and about the impact of these on the participation of groups and individuals.

o  Continuity and Change: Students learn about past events, experiences, and actions, and their changing interpretation over time, to understand about the past, the present, and possible futures.

o  Social Enquiry: Through social inquiry, students ask questions, gather information, and examine the background to important societal ideas and events, explore and analyse values and perspectives relating to these ideas and events; and develop understandings about issues and the ways that people (themselves and others) make decisions and participate in social action. 

o formal and informal groups make decisions that impact on communities;

o people remember and record the past in different ways;

o the movement of people affects cultural diversity and interaction in New Zealand.

Specific Learning Outcomes

By the end of this unit, students will be able to:

• Discuss, describe and illustrate the events that contributed to the supposed demise of the Moriori people.
• Discuss and describe the possible reasons for Nunuku's law, and the benefits of the “covenant of peace ”
• Describe how events on Rekohu have changed the culture and lifestyles of the inhabitants

Additional Curriculum areas:  Mathematics Statistics

Students will: be able to create a population timeline illustrating the decline of the Moriori people.

n The Past (History)    n The Present  n  Equality

n Rights       n Multicultural    n Indigenous people 

n thinking

Establish prior knowledge: (can be done over 2-3 sessions)

1.        Introduce the subject “Moriori”  and get students to stand on a continuum (invisible line) of understanding, ranging from  1= no knowledge to 10=lots of knowledge. Students allocate themselves a number based on their position on the continuum and record these in their topic books under the title of “On a scale of 1-10, my knowledge of Moriori is ___?.

2.       Break the class into groups based on a wide range of continuum numbers and do a brainstorming session on “Everything that we know about Moriori” See Brainstorm instructions/rules   (sheet A)

3.       Class discussion on Who/What are/were Moriori.   (Teacher to observe and/or record students input)

4.       After discussions have run there course, students to complete small card statements of agreed outcomes and pin to wall under a heading of “What we think we know.”

Identifying the unknown: (2-3 sessions)

1.        Students then need to identify what they want or need to know to fill in the gaps and to prove or disprove their statements. Individuals create cards with at least one question each. These go on wall under the heading of “What we want to know.”

2.       Class discussion about each of these questions focusing on possible answers and any further question raised may be recorded.

Background information (1-2 sessions)

1.        Teacher to read out the passage about the passing of Tommy Solomon (See sheet B) and pin copy on wall in focus area/ topic zone.

2.       Discuss: Who Tommy Solomon was and, why was he the last full-blooded Moriori?   Where are the Chatham Islands and what other names are/were these islands known by? (See Fact sheet E)

ICT Challenge: (Over several session and as homework)

Using the internet, encyclopedias and any other medium, locate, collate and record as much information as you can about Moriori.

Teacher to photocopy and cut out squares from Question Matrix (sheet C) and pin to wall in ‘topic zone' of classroom. Students will work their way through at least 2 questions from each column. And 2 shaded self composed questions.

Application of new Knowledge:

• Read to the class the section on Nunuku's law (Sheet G) and discuss why they followed the covenant of peace.

• What were the benefits of Nunuku's Law?

Teacher to pose these questions to groups and each group to do a presentation of their responses.

• How did the Maori get to Rekohu and why did they go there?

• What did Moriori do when Maori arrived?

• Why did the Moriori  not fight?

• What would it have meant to Moriori if they had fought and won or lost?

• Why did Maori Walk the Land –Takahi when Moriori offered to share with them the bounty of the islands and they had after all looked after those Maori who had suffered on the voyage out.

• What could the situation be like today for Moriori if they had retaliated?

• If they had retained their land (and presumably, mana) would there still be any full blooded Moriori left alive today?

Teacher to cut and post excerpts from Sheet G on wall to help students answer question matrix.

Students share own work and presentations and these are posted on topic zone of classroom.

Assessment items, schedule and activities:See links below

 1 “Alphabet Soup” (See sheet D)

2 Teacher to photocopy, administer and then mark the quiz  (Sheet I)

3 Assessment matrix for achievement objectives and specific learning outcomes.

4 Quiz about Rekohu/Moriori History

5 Anecdotal notes and observations from class/group discussions.

6 Timeline activity. Students are asked to create a timeline based on their knowledge of the population of Moriori between the years 1791 – 1934. Prior learning about timelines in mathematics or via Statistics website would be advantageous   (See Exemplar of a timeline of Moriori population decline.  (Sheet F)

7 Self assessment sheet

Resources

See Links below;

     King, Michael. Moriori A People Rediscovered (Revised Edition). Revised ed. Auckland: Penguin Books, 2000.

(Michael King's book Moriori: A People Re-Discovered is an essential component of any study on Moriori. Included with this unit plan are several documents which contain excerpts, quotes or ideas from that book, which will enable you to teach the unit with or without the book. ) 

      King, Michael. 'Solomon, Tommy 1884 - 1933'.  Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, updated 7 April 2006
URL: http://www.dnzb.govt.nz/

     King, M. & Morrison, R. A Land Apart: The Chatham Islands of New Zealand. Auckland: Random House, 1990.

      Denise Davis and Māui Solomon. 'Moriori', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, updated 21-Dec-2006
URL: http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/NewZealanders/MaoriNewZealanders/Moriori/en

Unit Evaluation

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