Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to investigate whether personal, positive affirmation and interaction with Pasifika students could lead to an increase in their participation and achievement in the mathematics classroom. For a period of two terms, I changed my interaction style by making sure that I took every opportunity in the classroom to make a personal and positive exchange between targeted senior Pasifika students and myself. I made an attempt to avoid all negative statements or actions. In some cases, I communicated with family members when I felt that it was beneficial for my student’s achievement. I drew on academic literature that gave me insight into how minority mathematics education outside of New Zealand could be likened to the situation faced by Pasifika mathematics learners in New Zealand. This led me to explore literature on how a growth mind-set can uplift students, and the influences that positive affirmations had on their academic aspirations. I kept a diary of my positive interactions as well as my thoughts and observations on how my exchanges were received by the students. Diary entries were used to prompt me to think of the next positive action and how it would affect each student’s achievement. As my positive interactions became more natural and frequent, I found that the relationship established between myself and my Pasifika students resulted in a more focused and driven student intent on achieving to their maximum. In conclusion, my findings led me to ask how this approach could be taken further so that success could be replicated on a bigger scale.
