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I acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the lands on which I work and live on. I live in the Melbourne area, where I live and study on the land of the Wurundjeri peoples of the Kulin Nation. I pay my respects to their Elders, past, present, and emerging.

Throughout this unit, I have gained a greater understanding for the land, the cultures, the stories, and the original owners of the Land. I would like to thank my Aboriginal educators, as they have taught me how to be a more inclusive teacher.

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Although I have not yet implemented the lesson plans above, I have gained a greater knowledge for how to plan a lesson, which is more inclusive. Throughout this unit, I have aimed to include as much of my learnings from the lectures to my assignments that I have completed. I have also read the feedback and know how to improve on my knowledge and to grasp a greater understanding for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and perspectives. In this reflection, I will be going over how I included the cross-curriculum priorities into my lesson plans, and the reasoning behind the sequences of the lessons and how they build upon the last lesson.

Cross-Curriculum Priorities:

The classroom that I would be using these lesson plans for would be grade one. Before I though about what types of learning activities that I could come up with, I looked towards the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) and the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) to find what learning outcomes that I wanted the students to experience. There are three key concepts, the first highlighting that there is a ‘special connection to Country/Place’ by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The second key concept examines the ‘diversity’ of Aboriginal people through ‘language, ways of life and experiences’. And the third concept referring to ‘kinship structures’ (ACARA 2016) After I had chosen the curriculum codes, I decided to think of some activities that each lesson could link to the curriculum with. To further connect with Aboriginal students, Shay and Oliver (2021:90) explain how Aboriginal students are ‘relational’ and ‘place-based learners’, so I had to take this into account when finding the right curriculum codes. I also took into account that each lesson should link back to the students individually and personally so that they can gain as much from the lesson as possible and so that they can use what they have learnt back into their everyday lives.

Sequence of lessons:

I believe that each student has their own preference of how they learn best and how they gain information, so for each of the three lessons, I tired to think of different learning methods to include. After I had accounted for each type of learning method, I wanted each lesson to build on the last one, so the students knowledge is growing. For lesson one, students will learn what an ‘Acknowledgement to Country’ is and why it is important to refer to it every day, which is what will happen at the start of each school day. The second lesson will be outside, where students can acknowledge the land on which they study and play on. The third lesson is about finding out more about their favourite holiday destinations and the students finding the Aboriginal name for that place. These three lessons all link up and build upon each other, aiming to expand on the students learning.

Overall evaluation:

These practice lesson plans are a great way to start early on how to make a lesson plan, and to receive feedback from people that have lots of experience and with that feedback, it will help to make me become a better teacher in the future, where my feedback was very positive and that I am on the right track. Through this task, I have learnt how to create a lesson plan that is inclusive for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Throughout the unit, including assessment task one, I have learnt more about the history side, to do with colonialism and the stolen generation. This has further increased my knowledge and given my understanding more depth about how to properly change my pedological approach. I want to make my classroom a safe place, where each and every one of my students voices are heard and respected, because ‘we do not all communicate in the same way’, and to be successful in when teaching Aboriginal students, we must be ‘aware’ of this (Shay and Oliver 2021:98). Without an inclusive environment for all, not everyone will have an equal opportunity to learn. Once I start to teach in a school, I will implement these lesson plans so that we can start on the right foot, so that the students will have an inclusive mindset. Writing these lesson plans have changed me as a person, where my teaching skills and mindset will have strengthened and my knowledge for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders culture and perspectives has increased.

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Before the unit had begun, I knew that in the future I would be educating students about Indigenous Australians and wanted to teach in a way that would show a respect towards Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and perspectives. I would do this in a way that would focus on reconciliation and to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land. Perso and Hayward (2015:27) provide some strategies that help with getting to know and find out more about Aboriginal students. They first explain that it is important to ‘get to know the students by talking to them individually’. It is also important that you not just listen with your ears, but also your ‘mind and your heart’ and to ask yourself ‘what are they really saying?’. By ensuring that representation and participation of Indigenous Australians occurs, it is important that the Australian Curriculum is used in a way that will educate through Indigenous approaches. There are a number of ways that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people approach learning. There are ‘8 simple pedagogies’ that can be used in the classroom for a ‘starting point for dialogue’ (8 Ways n.d). I will also include an example of one of the 8 ways from each lesson to show that I have integrated Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander approaches to learning:

1.       Story sharing:
Lesson 1 – ‘Welcome to country’ by Aunty Joy Murphy and Lisa Kennedy

2.       Learning maps:
Lesson 3 – Learning the Aboriginal name of a holiday destination and using a map

3.       Non-verbal

4.       Symbols and images

5.       Land links:
Lesson 2 – Going to the barn and experiencing indigenous flora and fauna

6.       Non-linear:

7.       Deconstruct/reconstruct

8.       Community links

By including these eight interconnected pedagogies, I have aimed to make the activities appropriate for both indigenous and non-indigenous Australians. Story sharing is important for Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander people because it helps students to learn through a narrative where it can become more entertaining. Learning maps is also important because it helps students to visually process where a place is, and they can link that back to them personally whether it be where they live or where their favorite place to go in the holidays. And land links are also important, as students are able to connect to the land on which they study and play on. Being able to identify what they have been learning about and linking it back to the place they are on. These three of the ‘8 Ways’ were used to integrate Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander approaches to learning.

I could also implement a ‘Yarning circle’ during group times when we are discussing what we have learnt or done at the end of each lesson. The Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority (2020) explain how a ‘Yarning Circle’ is an ‘important process within Aboriginal culture’. This would encourage ‘trusting relationships’, provide a ‘safe place’ and it will ‘enrich learning experiences for students’.

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Throughout this unit, I have been blessed to have the opportunity to be taught how to become a more inclusive teacher. I have used what I have been given by the unit lecturers and included it into all the work that I have completed, to the best of my ability. I have developed skills when it comes to:

-          Creating lessons that include Indigenous pedagogies

-          Including cross-curriculum priorities into lesson plans

-          Learning more about the Australian Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander community, stories, culture, and rich history

-          Utilising Indigenous Australians perspectives

In this section, I will evaluate my own learnings from this unit, with what challenges I had faced, how I changed my outlook from before the unit to after, and what are my plans for the future in regard to being a more inclusive teacher.

Challenges:

Coming into this unit, I had little knowledge when it came to how to include Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander content into a lesson. I was unsure of how to include the content and to translate that into an activity that the students would enjoy and learn from. I also found difficulty in finding a way to try to word what I would say and write down so that it would not be misinterpreted. I thought that I would say or do the wrong thing that would offend someone. I also had a poor knowledge of the rich culture and history of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Changes:

To solve these issues, I have taken into account some great readings that have deepened my knowledge on not just how to implement Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander content into different lessons, but to understand the perspectives and culture that they have. Once I understood this, it made making the lessons much easier and made more sense. The seminars and lectures have also deepened my knowledge and I have learnt many things about the cultures and perspectives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Plans for future:

Looking towards the future, where I see myself as a teacher, I believe that I will be able to cater for all cultures and perspectives, especially for Australian and Torres Strait Islanders. This unit has opened up my eyes for look for students with different backgrounds and adjust my pedagogical approach so that my classes are welcoming for everyone and inclusive, so that each student has an equal opportunity to excel in the classroom. I will continue to find ways to implement more Indigenous perspectives into my classroom to be an inclusive teacher. I will also look towards more resources, whether it be books, videos, or online resources, I have found over the unit that there are many other places where I can get information from to help me on my teaching journey, especially when it comes to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.

In conclusion, over this unit and the three assignment tasks that I have completed, I am grateful for everyone that has helped me learn through their teachings and their feedbacks, for I have learnt more than I could imagine. I now see myself as being a more inclusive teacher and am looking forward to building strong relationships with the students that I will be teaching in the future and putting everything that I have learnt into practice.

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Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (n.d.) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures, ACARA, accessed 14 February 2022

NSW Department of Education (n.d.) 8 Aboriginal ways of learning, 8 Ways, accessed 16 February 2022

Shay M and Oliver R (2021) Indigenous Education in Australia: Learning and Teaching for Deadly Futures, Routledge, New York

Perso T and Hayward C (2015) Teaching Indigenous Students: Cultural Awareness and Classroom Strategies for Improving Learning Outcomes, Taylor & Francis Group, New York

QCAA (Queensland Curriculum & Assessment Authority) (2020) Yarning Circles, Queensland Curriculum & Assessment Authority, accessed 15 February 2022. https://www.qcaa.qld.edu.au/about/k-12-policies/aboriginal-torres-strait-islander-perspectives/resources/yarning-circles