WEEK 2 · CHOICE / EMPIRE / AOTEAROA · PHASE 2 · DECK ph-a + a1–a25
Why did Aotearoa New Zealand go?
▸ This lesson runs inside the continuous classroom deck — Phase 2 · Aotearoa & the Great War
WALT / We are learning to
- explain how New Zealand’s place in the British Empire shaped entry into the war;
- distinguish being at war from choosing active participation;
- explain why people living in the same country could make different choices about service;
- recognise Māori responses as varied, iwi-contextual and politically reasoned;
- read school and recruitment material as evidence of how patriotism was taught.
Identity question: Was New Zealand fighting as Britain, for Britain, or as New Zealand?
Functional reo: He aha tō whakaaro? / What do you think? Use as a recurring oral prompt. Students may reason in the language that gives them the greatest precision; the goal is meaningful use, not performance for its own sake.
Lesson 3 · At war with Britain — but making choices
- Retrieval: rebuild the Week 1 cause chain in 60 seconds, then pair-repair.
- Historical hinge: Britain’s declaration placed NZ at war; New Zealand leaders and society still made active choices about troops, money, Samoa and mobilisation.
- Three-way evidence sort: “mostly British” · “emerging NZ” · “both / complicated”. Students must defend placement and are allowed an uncertainty pile.
- Samoa, August 1914: first NZ operation. Mark it with a “return in Week 6” symbol because later mandate / influenza history changes what this early action means.
- Recruitment source: analyse what identity organisers wanted people to perform. Do not infer that every reader believed the message.
- The war enters the classroom: use the School Journal / school patriotism inquiry to show that identity was being taught to children while the war was happening. Ask how a school can shape citizenship without assuming students passively accept it.
Lesson 4 · Would You Go?
- Students receive historically situated role / identity cards. They decide before being given all the evidence.
- Feed reasons for service and non-service: loyalty, duty, adventure, work, whānau/community expectations, pressure, political recognition, historical grievance.
- Māori responses begin inside the main story: not one view, not one week. Link choices to iwi histories and relationships with the Crown.
- Introduce the Māori / Native Contingent and accurate WW1 terminology.
- Introduce Ngata and Pōmare as distinct pro-service political voices, not one generic “Māori support” position.
- Students revisit the same role decision: what changed, what did not, and why?
Deep-learning moves
- Decision before explanation.
- Identity as evidence, not slogan.
- School itself becomes a historical comparison point.
- Scale shift: Empire → Aotearoa → rohe / iwi / community → individual.
- Keep an uncertainty category.
- Revisit the same decision after new evidence.
Kaiako guardrails
- Do not teach “Britain made NZ fight” or “NZ freely chose war” as complete by itself. The tension between constitutional dependence and enthusiastic / active participation is the learning.
- Do not say “Māori supported / opposed the war” without naming whose position and historical context.
- Do not confuse WW1 Māori units with the WW2 28th Māori Battalion.
- Do not teach wartime schooling as “propaganda = lies”. Ask who selected information, what values were promoted, and which kinds of response were made easier or harder to express.
Deck implementation
Phase 2 is implemented as divider ph-a plus slides a1–a25 inside the 174-slide deck. Preserve the school-at-war source inquiry when adapting the sequence; slide count remains subordinate to the learning.