Whakapapa and Creative Practice

Overview

Students investigate a Māori creative practitioner connected to kapa haka, music, performance, education, or cultural leadership. They identify the person’s contribution, status, influences, and a significant created work, then communicate their findings through annotated visual inquiry. The lesson builds skills in researching cultural context and recording visual and contextual information respectfully.

Learning intentions

Students will:

• identify visual, cultural, biographical, and creative elements connected to a Māori practitioner
• investigate what shaped the practitioner’s ideas, values, and creative practice
• analyse the significance of one created work or contribution
• record research using sketches, symbols, annotations, and concise written explanations
• use culturally respectful language and distinguish evidence from assumption

Success criteria

• I can accurately identify my chosen practitioner and explain their role or status.
• I can describe significant influences, achievements, and cultural connections.
• I can analyse one work or contribution and explain why it matters.
• I can record my research visually and acknowledge where my information came from.
• I can avoid treating Māori culture as a single, uniform tradition.

Curriculum links

• Explore Visual Arts processes and conventions to inform own art making: use drawing, annotation, layout, and visual recording to respond to an art-making intention.
• Use practice-based visual inquiry to explore an Aotearoa New Zealand Māori context and another cultural context: identify and record visual and cultural information through practical visual arts processes.
• Produce a significant resolved artwork appropriate to established art-making conventions: develop an informed visual response using relevant presentation conventions.
• New Zealand Curriculum Arts, Level 6: understand how the arts shape and reflect identity, culture, and values; develop ideas in response to materials, methods, and contexts.

Lesson structure (60 minutes)

1. 0–7 min · Hook and cultural framing. Teacher opens with the opening image and inquiry question and asks: “What can a person’s creative work reveal about identity, place, language, and responsibility?” Explain that the class will study people as living individuals with distinct iwi, whānau, professional, and cultural connections—not as representatives of all Māori. Students make a quick written or sketched response and share one observation.

2. 7–15 min · Model an inquiry. Teacher models a short example using one practitioner, such as Rob Ruha, Hirini Melbourne, Sir Pita Sharples, or Pere Wihongi, showing how to separate fact, interpretation, and unanswered questions on the model research slides. Discuss possible roles, including musician, composer, educator, performer, leader, researcher, or advocate. Students identify the person’s role/status, one influence, one contribution, and one question requiring evidence.

3. 15–20 min · Choose and plan. Teacher introduces the available practitioner choices and checks that students select a person with reliable, accessible information. Distribute the practitioner visual inquiry worksheet and support students to choose one person individually or in pairs. Students write a provisional inquiry question, such as “How has this person used creative practice to strengthen identity, language, or community?”

4. 20–38 min · Guided visual inquiry. Teacher circulates, prompting students to use approved books, previously selected websites, library databases, or teacher-provided source extracts; remind students not to copy images, lyrics, or cultural designs without permission. Students complete the worksheet by recording: name and correct pronunciation if available; iwi, whānau, place, or community connections where publicly and appropriately shared; professional or cultural status; significant influences; key achievements; one created work or contribution; and the title and platform or publication where it can be found. They add at least three visual elements—such as a portrait study, place sketch, symbolic colour choices, timeline, diagram, or annotated detail—and label each as observed, sourced, or interpreted.

5. 38–49 min · Significance analysis. Teacher uses the analysis prompts to model moving beyond biography: “What was created?”, “What choices or ideas are evident?”, “Who might it serve?”, “What values or histories does it connect to?”, and “Why is it significant?” Students write a 100–150-word analysis explaining how the selected work or contribution reflects the practitioner’s purpose, context, and influence. Students must identify one fact and explain their own interpretation separately.

6. 49–56 min · Peer kōrero and refinement. Teacher places students in five pairs, with each student briefly presenting their visual inquiry. Partners give feedback using two prompts: “The strongest connection between the person and their context is…” and “One place where you need clearer evidence or respectful wording is…” Students revise one annotation and one sentence in response to feedback.

7. 56–60 min · Exit reflection. Teacher returns to the closing reflection slide and asks students to complete the final section of the worksheet: “The most significant thing I learned was…”, “My understanding changed because…”, and “One question I still have is…” Invite two students to share. Collect worksheets or photograph them for formative evidence.

Resources

• the practitioner inquiry slide deck
• the practitioner visual inquiry worksheet
• Teacher-approved source extracts and biography notes
• Library books, school databases, or pre-checked digital sources
• Devices with headphones, where available
• A3 paper or visual diaries
• Pencils, fine-liners, coloured pencils, and rulers
• Projector or interactive display
• Board space for the fact–interpretation–question model

Assessment

• During planning and research, check that students can distinguish a practitioner’s documented status and contribution from personal assumptions.
• Review visual annotations for accurate observation, relevant cultural/contextual information, source acknowledgement, and a clear connection between the practitioner and selected work.
• Use the final written reflection to assess whether students can explain significance rather than only list biographical facts.

Differentiation

• Provide a teacher-curated choice of practitioners and short source extracts for students who need reduced reading load or more structured research.
• Offer sentence starters: “This person is significant because…”, “Their practice was shaped by…”, and “This work communicates…”
• Allow students to respond through a combination of drawing, labelled diagrams, bullet points, and recorded kōrero before completing the written analysis.
• Extend confident students by comparing two practitioners, investigating how status and audience affect creative choices, or considering what information should remain private or be handled with tikanga.
• Support EAL and learning-support students with pronunciation guidance, a visual timeline, keyword banks, chunked instructions, and teacher check-ins at each research stage.