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Picnic table area at Walter L Smith Reserve

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Picnic table area at Walter L Smith Reserve

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References:
Hamm, C 2015, ‘Walking With Place: Storying Reconciliation Pedagogies in Early Childhood Education’, Canadian Children, vol. 40, no. 2, Canadian Association for Young Children, pp. 56–66, viewed < <http://wallaby.vu.edu.au:2048/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx>

Orion M J et. Al Hamm C 2019, Does the Public use more than kin and places?, Common Worlds Research Collective, viewed 30th October 2019, <http://commonworlds.net/does-the-public-include-more-than-human-kin-and-places/>

Music as a language 2013, YouTube, TEDx TALKS, viewed 30TH October 2019, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=4&v=2zvjW9arAZ0>

Ungunmerr-Baumann M 2002, session 3: Dadirri, lecture notes, Music, Movement and Dramatic Arts ECE2008, Victoria University, delivered 1st November 2019, <https://vucollaborate.vu.edu.au/d2l/le/content/472979/viewContent/3696034/View>

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As I hopped out of my car I walked steadily to the Walter L Smith Reserve approximately 50 metres away from my car. As a walked through the gate to the left I walked straight up to the picnic table and sat down on the seat. As I made my way there I felt the raindrops run down my face, feeling the wet rain hit my pale, cold skin. As I sat here in this still, calm position I took the time to listen and observe what was around me in this place. I was particularly intrigued by the way the birds were moving and sounding in harmony with each other. The birds sounded as if they were talking to each other but in their own language tweeting and squawking. They were moving constantly sometimes in a circular direction. What I found most interesting was the way there was always a leader. There was always one bird leading the rest. I found this really interesting, it made me wonder if every species on earth has a leader, Do we need a leader to survive in life? Why is it that we need a leader? And What should a leader look like? After spending the time sitting for a few minutes taking everything in I began to move around the reserve, I was particularly drawn to the way the raindrops slowly hit the water and how much of a large impact each and every raindrop made once hitting the water. It made me think about life and how the smallest of things may leave a large impact on someone’s life. That is exactly what I hope to do in my future teaching practice. I hope to be able to create small experiences for children that have a large impact on their life and their future

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As I moved through this magnificent, beauty of nature I allowed my body to move freely and listen to what my body was trying to tell me. I allowed my body to take lead over my mind. As I walked around the lake in a clockwise direction I observed the bodily movements of the ducks and how ducks move. I began to think about how every living organism can look completely different but move the same way. Humans generally speaking move by placing one leg in front of the other which gets them to their destinations. Ducks move in a very similar way. Ducks move in the water by using their legs and their feet to glide through the water to reach their location. This made me think about common worlds and how we’re always connected and in relation with our natural environment no matter if we’re human, animals or the non-human elements such as the land, water, sand etc.

From this thought I began to think what the materials in this environment and what these materials feel like on bare skin. When I was a child I had a lot of creativity and imagination. Getting dirty and messy wasn’t a worry for me. This place I visited was a place I went to a lot as a child and I wanted to relive my childhood in this space as an adult. I began to see myself taking off my socks and shows and placing my feet in the rainy wet grass feeling the grass in between my toes. It wasn’t a feeling that was comfortable to me, but that may be because it is something unnatural. It made me think about and wonder do we become uncomfortable about new things because it’s unknown to us or because it’s unnatural. From this I started to think about past present and how our past always influences our present and that our past, present and future always have relations with each other. Our feelings may change from our past to our present but they always relate in ways that we may not realise.

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As I walked through the Walter L Smith Reserve I came to a stop as I reached the picnic table. I sat there and intently listened to my surroundings. I closed my eyes and listened to the different sounds, expressions and noises I could hear. It was so fascinating how all the different sounds could be heard all at once. As I was listening so intently the sounds together began to sound like a song, like music. It made me think about Victor’s TED TALK about music as a language and how the sounds I was hearing was natures own language of speaking to the world. While listening to music we don’t listen particularly to each note or each individual sound. We listen to the song as a whole. The sounds I heard were incredible. As there were so many different sounds I sat down and tried to listen to each sound individually.  I heard the rain drops each individual and each one after the other. The more I listened the more it appeared as a pattern. Like the raindrops were creating their own music. I got off the picnic table seat and began to walk through the reserve and I suddenly heard a few tweeting noises, but they didn’t sound the same. It reminded me of my childhood when I was at the zoo seeing the bird enclosure and hearing so many squawking noises all at once but having no idea which bird it was coming from. There were birds flying everywhere. This encouraged my thinking of my childhood and how I had so much freedom I could be whoever I wanted to be. In life sometimes I wonder what it would be like to be a bird with so much freedom, what it would feel like to fly and travel the world. The listening I undertook in this time made me think about Dadirri and the deep listening and quiet stillness that allows us to be in the moment with place and really understand the land we’re situated on. Actively listening in this time allowed me to understand what was around me without rushing. Just sitting and taking everything in. My mind suddenly wondered an began to think about how precious life is and how sometimes we take life for granted without even knowing it