Ko Wai ahau?

Who am I?

I whānau mai au i te taha o te awa o Tigris

I raro i te maru o te maunga o Zagros

He uri ahau nō Iraq, nō Turkey, nō Greece

Kei te noho au kei roretana, otautahi

Ko Chris taku tane

Ko Leo taku tama, ko Charm taku tamahine

Ko Ayyam O'Brien tōku ingoa

Kia ora koutou, I am a kaiako pitomata (by distance learning) with Massey University through the Graduate Diploma of Learning and Teaching in Primary Endorsement. My passion for teaching stems from my family history of teachers and having previously coached soccer teams in the age range of 4–7 years and volunteered at rugby clubs to work with team managers for rugby teams in the age group of 5-8 years. This fueled my passion even more, inspiring me to begin my teaching career at Massey University, where I earned my BA in Education and am currently pursuing my Grad. Dip. in Learning and Teaching—Primary Education. During my BA, I was fortunate enough to have worked as a teaching carer in one of the local ECE centres in Rolleston, Christchurch, teaching 4-5-year-olds. So far, my journey has been one that I will always look back on and cherish forever, as I was born to be a teacher. 

It has been amazing and wonderful, which has also immensely grown my drive and passion to become a Kaiako in Aotearoa, New Zealand. I have learned a lot about myself during this journey, and I am sure I will continue to learn throughout my teaching career, as teachers are also learners. What I've discovered about myself is that I'm adaptable, collaborative, empathetic, patient, and, most importantly, I've always loved learning. I have always engaged myself in activities where tamariki are involved, for varying reasons, but the ones that stand out the most for me are: I love being part of their ever-developing world and influencing them in a positive way, but also learning together in an enhancing environment. I am looking forwards to and excited about my learning journey as a Kaiako through this programme in primary education. During this program, I wish to enhance my Te Reo Maori as well as learn how to impart knowledge in an effective way, but most importantly, I want to learn how to create an inclusive and equitable teaching environment.

I am married to my soul mate Chris and we have two beautiful children Charm and Leo, they keep us young and on our feet and we love it!!! We reside in Roretana, Otautahi (Rolleston Christchurch). In my spare time I run my little business called Celebrating Love, I am a marriage celebrant and a hair and makeup artist and absolutely love it very much especially meeting new people and socialising. I love teaching, reading, dancing, cooking and being a mum. I will always be young at heart, and I love living life to the fullest and I like to think of myself as an optimistic person and most of all a lifelong learner.