Lesson 6: Narrative Power
Weaving Stories: Media, Bias, and Indigenous Voice
Lesson Overview
Focus
Analysing how Indigenous stories are told (and by whom).
Key Concept
Mana Motuhake (Autonomy over our own stories)
Outcome
Students create a "Counter-Narrative" media piece.
🎥 Media Anchor (8 mins)
Video: Ngā Tamatoa Documentary Context
- How does narrative framing shift public understanding of power and legitimacy?
- Which media-check process best protects accuracy when building a counter-narrative?
Karakia Timatanga | Cultural Opening
"Ka pū te ruha, ka hao te rangatahi"
The old net is cast aside, the new net goes fishing.
New generations are using new tools (TikTok, Instagram, Podcasts) to tell old stories. We are weaving the new net of Indigenous media.
Phase 1: Who tells the story? (15 mins)
🗞️ The "Framing" Game
How a story is framed changes how we feel about it. Compare these two headlines about the same event:
Headline A (Mainstream 1990s)
"Protesters Block Progress: Road Stalled by Activists"
Frame: Conflict, Obstruction, Progress = Road.
Headline B (Indigenous Media)
"Kaitiaki Stand Firm to Protect Ancestral Burial Grounds"
Frame: Protection, History, Progress = Respect.
Discussion: Which headline makes you feel the "protesters" are the problem? Which one makes you feel they are heroes?
Phase 2: Media Triangulation (20 mins)
🔍 Finding the Truth in the Middle
To get the full picture, we need to look at three points of the triangle.
Mainstream Media
TV News, Major Papers. Often "objective" but can miss cultural context.
Indigenous Media
Whakaata Māori, Iwi Radio. Centers Indigenous worldview.
Grassroots/Social
Hashtags, Live Streams. Raw, immediate, but check validity.
Phase 3: The Counter-Narrative Studio (25 mins)
🎥 Create Your Story
It's your turn to weave the net. Choose a topic (e.g., Climate actions, Te Reo in schools) and create a "Counter-Narrative" piece.
The Podcast Intro
Write a 30-second script introducing the issue from a rangatahi perspective.
The Carousel
Draft 3 slides for Instagram: The Hook, The Facts, The Call to Action.
The Op-Ed
Write the opening paragraph of an opinion piece: "Why We Can't Wait."
Whakamutunga | Reflection
Question: Why is it important that we tell our own stories, rather than letting others tell them for us?
Ko te reo te mauri o te mana Māori. (Language is the life force of Māori mana.)
Curriculum alignment
- Text Studies — Practices: A question asks something, and often begins with words such as who, what, where, when, why, or how. Words such as ‘because’ and ‘so’ are used to explain why something happened…
- Language Studies — Practices: A question asks something, and often begins with words such as who, what, where, when, why, or how. Words such as ‘because’ and ‘so’ are used to explain why something happened…
- Text Studies — Knowledge: Discussions have different purposes (e.g. sharing ideas, asking questions, giving feedback, and solving problems) and ways of participating (e.g. offering suggestions or opini…
- Language Studies — Knowledge: Discussions have different purposes (e.g. sharing ideas, asking questions, giving feedback, and solving problems) and ways of participating (e.g. offering suggestions or opini…
- Text Studies — Knowledge: Communicating and Presenting — Knowledge (Phase 1): - A question asks something, and often begins with words such as who, what, where, when, why, or how. - Words such as 'beca…
📋 Teacher Planning Snapshot
Ngā Whāinga Ako — Learning Intentions
Students will investigate global indigenous solidarity movements through a historical lens, using whakapapa of resistance to trace how communities have organised across borders to assert tino rangatiratanga and mana motuhake. This unit connects Aotearoa's struggle for sovereignty to broader international movements for indigenous rights and decolonisation.
Ngā Paearu Angitū — Success Criteria
- ✅ I can analyse and compare perspectives from multiple indigenous resistance movements globally.
- ✅ I can explain how solidarity across difference has strengthened indigenous rights campaigns.
- ✅ I can evaluate the significance of international indigenous solidarity for Aotearoa New Zealand.
Differentiation & Inclusion
Scaffold support: Provide graphic organisers for comparing movements. Entry-level tasks focus on identifying key events; extension tasks require evaluating the effectiveness of solidarity strategies and writing a persuasive historical argument.
ELL / ESOL: Pre-teach key historical terms (sovereignty, solidarity, colonisation, decolonisation). Provide bilingual glossaries where available; allow discussion in home language first.
Inclusion: Use structured note-taking templates and chunked readings. Neurodiverse learners benefit from visual timelines and choice in how they demonstrate understanding — oral, visual, or written formats all valid. Ensure content is presented sensitively given the potential for personal connection to histories of dispossession.
Mātauranga Māori lens: Centre whakapapa as a methodology — tracing the genealogy of resistance ideas across cultures and time. Frame the hīkoi as both a political act and a cultural expression of rangatiratanga. Connect to the whakataukī: "He aha te mea nui o te ao? He tangata, he tangata, he tangata."
Prior knowledge: Best used after foundational study of colonisation and the Treaty of Waitangi. Familiarity with basic historical inquiry skills is recommended.