He toa taumata rau

To follow is a learning story I wrote about my moko, Taylor.  I wanted to share this as it is a Nanna's prerogative to feel a sense of pride, whakahi, when they see dispositional learning happening for their grandchildren that will have positive outcomes right throughout life.  What better way to celebrate the learning than by writing a learning story about our adventure around Mauao and the way Taylor embodied the  disposition of persevering.
As teachers when we are sending these positive messages to children about their learning the implications are far reaching.  What a wonderful privilege to be able to build into children's lives strong messages about them being capable and confident life long learners.

He toa taumata rau.

We all went for a walk around Mauao recently - you, Fletcher, Uncle Jordan and myself.  As we started our journey of adventure you were keen to try the tracks that Uncle Jordan and Fletcher were taking.  These tracks were not the main walking tracks they were narrow little tracks above the main path.  

You ventured along the first path a short distance then decided that you were not confident enough to go any further and asked me a assist you down.  Fletcher and Uncle Jordan continued to take the higher more risky road.  Every now and then you would give that road another try, traveling along it as far as you were confident, setting your own limitation you knew when it was time to get down.

The wonderful thing about going around Mauao is that there are places that can grab our imaginations. A walk around the base of The Mount can become a time of great adventure and creativity as we found out on this day.  We had taken a pathway that lead down to a beach and you, Fletcher and Uncle Jordan stopped to create a wonderful piece of art work out of drift wood.  This was truly a team effort that required everyone pitching in and doing their bit. 

Once completed we sat back and took photos.  We could here the wow’s and  the“oooh look at that” from the people 

passing by.  Our mission was complete, our structure built and now it was time to keep moving.

 Back on the track you decided once again to follow the steps of Fletcher and Uncle Jordan.  They ran along quite swiftly and managed the trickiness and the height of the path with ease.  You however, could not keep up, but.........and it is a big BUT, you were staying on that tricky path.  Even when the path grew narrow and high you stayed there and you stayed there and you stayed there.  Amazing Taylor you conquered your fear one little step at a time.  

Finally the track became quite high and even the bravest of the brave, Uncle Jordan, had trouble getting down off the dizzying  heights.  However, seeing Uncle Jordan struggle to manage on a very slippery slope did not put you off you still wanted to keep going.  It was at this point I asked that you come down which you most reluctantly did.  It was not because of the height, not because of the slipperiness, not because I was worried about you,  but what would normally take an hour to walk around the base of The Mount had already taken us two hours and were only half way there.

Taylor, bravery has many resting places, He toa taumata rau,  is my favourite - whakatauki -  proverb.  I know that you are brave because you kept going with something even when it was scary.  Brave sits well on you Taylor.

What did I learn about Taylor today?

I realised that Taylor sets his own limits as to what he can and cannot accomplish.  But I also learnt is that Taylor will continue to try at tasks that seem too hard, too scary and too tricky until he has mastered them. This ability to persevere  with difficult will see you rise to challenges in the future Taylor.

Taylor you come from a long line of brave people.  Relations that saw big mountains in front of them but still tried to climb them.

Lynn Rupe (Kaiako, Nanna, Kuia)

April 2012