Rotorua Boy's High School Head Boy Jared Lasike.
You might already recognise Jared Lasike. The Rotorua Boys’ High School head boy whose Anzac Day address, comparing World War I camaraderie with today’s divisiveness, went viral earlier this year.
Today, along with acting head Rie Morris and the school’s leader of learning in technology and art, Melissa Magatogia, he’s telling the Herald about the school’s use of technology, which includes an iPad for every student.
The tablets help underpin an approach that “gives students more agency,” Magatogia says. In everyday terms, that means they might respond to an assignment by making a video or creating a presentation rather than writing an essay, Lasike says.
Using iPads has “made our classwork more accessible and encouraged learning at home,” he adds.
Some students might go on to become app developers, but the technology is used to enable interactive learning rather than an end in itself. Lasike, who in June was awarded a Te Ara a Kupe Beaton Scholarship to pursue an Ivy League education in the US, wants to study medicine at Johns Hopkins or Harvard.
“Being able to use Apple devices in the classroom has really streamlined our classwork. It allows us to adapt how we present our learning. Not everyone wants to write a 20-page essay but using iPads lets us present our work in other ways,” Lasike says.
Rotorua Boys’ High first went a device-for-every-student push last decade, and became an Apple Distinguished School in 2020. Every student getting access to an iPad had redefined teaching at the school, Magatogia says.
Many students at the Decile 3 school - whose old boys include Once Were Warriors author Alan Duff - are drawn from lower socio-economic neighbourhoods.
Yet under longtime principal Chris Grinter, who retired last year, Rotorua Boys’ High, or Raukura, went from a struggling school to a falling roll to becoming synonymous with high achievement.
It’s now the the recipient of awards for sporting and cultural success and its academic results are a source of pride.
Last year’s NCEA results for Year 12 students came in at an average achievement of 92%, and 96% for Year 13.
“At Rotorua Boys’ High School, we are proudly achieving around 20% higher than national average benchmarks, so our boys are living up to the school motto, ‘whāia te iti kahurangi’ (to the stars, through adversity)” says Morris, who took the reins on Grinter’s departure.
Grinter might be best-known for discovering Jonah Lomu (while Wesley College deputy head) but his accomplishments at Rotorua Boys’ High were broad-ranging, with many tied to addressing the inequities faced by many Māori youth (of the school’s 1250 students, 75% are Māori the highest ratio in the country).
“When the stars align for them, they can really shine and achieve as well as any other students in New Zealand. Statistics show that hasn’t always been the case,” Grinter said.
“I take a lot of satisfaction in the way we have focused on ensuring our young Māori men achieve the equal of the boys of New Zealand, regardless of ethnic background. Within this school there used to be a pretty significant gap between Māori achievement and non-Māori achievement. We as a staff and a school have worked hard to review teaching practice so we can get good fit for young Māori learners,” Grinter told the Herald earlier this year.
In recent years, technology has played a central role in achieving that vision.
School leaders, including the recently-retired Grinter, set out to create an inclusive teaching and learning environment that embraced Māori culture. So they turned to Apple technology, starting with a 1:1 student iPad program. iPad’s powerful functions and multimodal nature enables each student to express himself beyond the written word and in ways that support the Māori culture’s rich tradition of oral storytelling, Magatogia says.
Today, every teacher at Rotorua Boys’ receives a Ministry of Education-subsidised MacBook, as well as a school-issued iPad and Apple Pencil.
School leaders have found that these devices enable teachers to create engaging and interactive lessons that embrace the reciprocal, knowledge-sharing nature of Māori culture. Together with professional learning, every educator completes the Apple Teacher program, and several are Certified Apple Learning Coaches. Teachers are supported with the knowledge and tools they need to design dynamic, inclusive lessons.
For example, Magatogia, and her team are building digital resources called Raukura Rauemi in collaboration with local iwi.
The goal is to support teachers with culturally-relevant learning materials that students can easily connect with. Each resource is based on a local legend, which Magatogia illustrates using Sketchbook on her iPad with Apple Pencil. She then animates her illustrations in Keynote on Mac and works with other teachers to build out a syllabus for each key learning area. Since the initial launch, teachers have seen a huge increase in student engagement and strengthened dialogue around Māori culture in the classroom.
“Connecting students to their whānau (family), our community, and our local environment through learning was the inspiration for our culturally responsive resources,” Magatogia says.
“In Year 9, we learned about local legends such as Te Ao Kapurangi using Keynote. I’ve never been asked to present something so artistic and was blown away with what we could do,” Lasikie says.
In a Year 13 history class, teacher Josh Lewis uses iPad to create interactive lessons that help students deepen their understanding of complex topics, such as displaced communities and local land disputes. In one lesson, students learn about the areas affected by Mount Tarawera’s volcanic eruption, like The Buried Village of Te Wairoa. To understand the history of the land, students take screenshots in Apple Maps as well as local iwi tribal maps and overlay them in Keynote to see where the borders overlap and identify key landmarks.
Then Lewis takes the students on a field trip to visit the area, where they use iPad to take photos and videos and record audio notes. Whaea Tiaho Fairhall, assistant leader of learning Māori faculty and a direct descendant of iwi impacted by the disaster describes what life was like before and after the eruption. By giving students the tools to collect evidence and develop their own points of view in a final presentation, Lewis finds they gain a greater understanding of the significance of land boundaries and how history has impacted their culture and their futures.
With its culturally responsive curriculum and 1:1 student iPad program, Rotorua Boys’ is building an inclusive environment where students can express themselves and engage fully with their learning, Morris says. The combination of Apple devices and professional learning allows teachers to create culturally-resonant lessons with confidence.
And the proof is in the results, Morris says. Since implementing the new learning program, school leaders have seen improvements in literacy, numeracy, and an average achievement of 92% across NCEA Levels 1-3, positioning students for success in the classroom and beyond.
Chris Keall is an Auckland-based member of the Herald’s business team. He joined the Herald in 2018 and is the technology editor and a senior business writer.
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