Service, Sacrifice, Identity

Overview

This is lesson 3 of 7 in the unit Māori Battalion Justice Legacy. Students examine Māori Battalion experiences during training and overseas service through a curated collection of letters, oral-history extracts, military records and images. They compare perspectives, consider whose voices are present or absent, and collect accurate evidence for a dialogue developed in later lessons.

Learning intentions

• WALT identify and describe perspectives in historical sources.
• WALT explain how values, experiences and motivations shaped Māori Battalion perspectives.
• WALT evaluate the strengths and limitations of different primary sources.
• WALT select specific historical evidence for use in a historically accurate dialogue.

Success criteria

• I can identify who created a source, what they experienced and what perspective it presents.
• I can support an interpretation with precise details such as names, dates, places or short quotations.
• I can explain how two sources present different or similar perspectives.
• I can identify whose voice is represented and whose voice may be missing.

Curriculum links

• Engage with a variety of primary sources in a historical context: students annotate and connect written, oral, military and visual sources, considering strengths and limitations.
• Demonstrate understanding of perspectives on a historical context: students identify, describe and explain differing perspectives using relevant evidence.
• Demonstrate understanding of the significance of a historical context: students consider the significance of service, sacrifice, identity and remembrance for Māori and Aotearoa New Zealand.
• New Zealand Curriculum Level 6: thinking; using language, symbols and texts; managing self; participating and contributing.

Lesson structure (60 minutes)

1. 0–7 min · Hook and prior learning. Teacher displays a wartime image of Māori Battalion soldiers alongside the question, “What might this image show—and what might it hide?” using the opening image and inquiry question. Students silently record two observations and one question, then share with a partner. Teacher briefly revisits lesson 2 and clarifies that an observation is not yet an interpretation.

2. 7–15 min · Context and source-reading model. Teacher explains that the 28th (Māori) Battalion was formed in 1940, trained in New Zealand and overseas, and served in places including Greece, Crete, North Africa and Italy. Using the context and source-reading model, teacher models annotation of one short source, identifying creator, date, audience, purpose, perspective and one precise piece of evidence. Students suggest what the source can and cannot tell historians.

3. 15–35 min · Source investigation. Teacher places students in five pairs and distributes the source investigation and evidence collector. Each pair receives one source set or station: a soldier’s letter, an oral-history extract, a military record, a photograph, or a source representing whānau or public remembrance. Students annotate their source, recording what it suggests about training, discipline, relationships, combat, sacrifice or identity. They must record at least three accurate details and one limitation. Teacher circulates, checks unfamiliar terms and asks, “What evidence in the source supports that claim?”

4. 35–47 min · Jigsaw perspective comparison. Teacher asks pairs to regroup so that each new group contains students who investigated different source types, referring to the comparison task and discussion prompts. Students teach one another their source and complete the comparison section of the worksheet: one similarity, one difference, and one possible reason for the difference. Groups discuss whose voice is strongest, whose voice is absent, and how the source type affects what is remembered.

5. 47–55 min · Dialogue evidence workshop. Teacher introduces the later dialogue task: students will create a historically grounded exchange between people connected to the Māori Battalion experience, without pretending that one invented character speaks for all Māori. Students use the dialogue evidence bank to select four details, including at least one date, place, person or quotation, and link each detail to a perspective. Teacher models the difference between a historically supported line—“Training at Trentham prepared soldiers for overseas service”—and an unsupported generalisation—“Everyone felt the same about the war.”

6. 55–60 min · Plenary and exit check. Teacher returns to the opening question through the final reflection prompt. Students complete the final worksheet response: “One perspective I understand better is…; one voice or limitation I still need to investigate is…; one accurate detail I will use in the dialogue is…”. Invite two students to share, affirming that uncertainty and source limitations are part of historical thinking.

Resources

• the Service, Sacrifice, and Identity slide deck
• the source investigation and evidence collector
• Curated source pack: letter, oral-history extract, military record, photograph and remembrance source
• Projected image of Māori Battalion soldiers
• Highlighters or coloured pens
• Board or shared digital workspace
• Class timeline showing 1940 formation and major theatres of service

Assessment

• During modelling and pair work, check whether students distinguish observation, inference and judgement, and whether claims are supported by source evidence.
• Review annotations for creator, context, perspective, relevant historical detail, and a justified strength or limitation.
• Use the final worksheet response to identify students ready to develop a dialogue and students needing further support with chronology, source interpretation or precise evidence.

Differentiation

• Provide a source-reading scaffold with prompts: “This source was created by…”, “It suggests… because…”, and “It cannot tell us…”.
• Offer shorter extracts, audio versions of written sources, a glossary of military and te reo Māori terms, and enlarged or high-contrast images for students requiring reading or visual support.
• Pair students deliberately and assign roles such as reader, evidence checker, recorder and reporter; allow oral responses before written recording.
• Extend confident students by asking them to compare reliability across the whole collection and explain how the wider context of wartime service, colonisation and Māori identity may have shaped each perspective.