As I’m gently stepping on this land I would like to Acknowledge the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation who are traditional custodians of the land where this beautiful park and lake are located in Melbourne West and pay my respect to their Elders past, present and emerging. This was and always will be Aboriginal land.

 As I was stepping on the lush lawn, I could see that the ground was still wet from yesterday’s rain which made my reconsider my initial thought of taking my shoes off. As I was getting close to the lake I could feel on my face big drops of rain, oh no I thought, I forgot my umbrella. I crouched down closer to the lake, got my camera ready for a quick photoshoot when I noticed a group of ducks paddling towards me. I thought to myself how wonderful; I will have some wildlife in my photoshoot. I didn’t realise at the time, but this group of ducks were different to your normal duck, as one of them has started talking to me in a human voice! At first, I thought someone was playing a trick on me by playing a recorded voice and after numerous checks around me I realised that they could talk. One of them said:” Yes, we can talk and that is one feature we got to keep. We were humans before and got tricked by the evil crayfish to come into this lake”.  I replied,” Really, how?’ The duck said:” We didn’t know then but now do that this lake is enchanted. The crayfish told us that if we step into the lake, we will be eternally young and beautiful. But now we are stuck being ducks instead.” “Oh, no, that is terrible” I said.  Ducks started crying and in one voice they all shouted:” We need your help, please, please.” I asked:” What do I need to do?” The ducks replied:” We just need to a human to stroke our feathers and then we will turn back into the humans.”  I moved closer to the lake to help the ducks when suddenly out of water jumped the evil crayfish and bit me on the ankle. “Ouch!” I cried and as I was falling into the water, I could feel my body immediately starting to transform. Slowly, but surely, I realised I am a FROG.” Oh no, the frog and just like the one in the story ‘I don’t want to be a frog’ I definitely didn’t want to be the frog.

Over the next few months I’ve seen my friends; ducks trying desperately to convince other humans to help them but it looks like my story has scared everyone off.

Nowadays, I am still a frog and that is my reality. I guess I should have been more careful what I wished for.

The end

While studying this unit I have realised how much I’ve enjoyed engaging in different drama, movement and music elements, I believe they play a fundamental role not just in the lives of children but also adults too. Ever since being a child I have enjoyed dancing like no-one is watching but I didn’t think I had it in me to write the creative story. I have always wanted to get better at it because I remember loving to listen to the stories being told by my grandfather.  My brother and I would ask him every summer holiday when we stayed over at his house to tell us stories from when he was a child, he was such a great storyteller!  While writing the creative response I have realised that my imagination and storytelling are better than I thought, and I have remembered there is Storytelling with children book on my bookshelf which I will go back to and read again. Now that i have experience in writing my own story I would like to incorporate storytelling into my future teaching practices and aid children in fostering creativity, imaginations and give children another medium to tell their own stories explore their emotions. Also, we can create stories together, have fun and change them the way we like.

Just like in Mutton bird dance (Bangarradance theatre, 2015) drama, dance and movement play the important role in storytelling even though sometimes there are no words spoken, we can see other ways of storytelling. Reading to Ungunmerr, M-R (1988) article had inspired me where she beautifully reflects how Indigenous people have throughout the history shared and listened to the stories, which have been told or sung and continued to be re told. Through storytelling they have kept their tradition and spirit alive. In Aboriginal way children learn to listen from very early on in their lives.  And by hearing the stories, they are learning them by watching and listening to their Elders, then waiting and acting.

While watching Movement, Sound, Play Video (TEDx Talks,2018) made me reflect and realise that dance and movement are actual the same thing that they can’t be separated. As we know from previous units when children move, they learn because body is teaching the brain. I would like to continue to encourage children to move to better understand the world around them. The video made me realise even more about the importance of environment children are in and how they can learn from their peers and teachers.

Also, being involved in The Parallaxis(n.d.) game while in class gave me some great ideas to play with the children and encourage them to practise their imagination skills, language, cognitive, problem-solving skills etc.

 In the video by MiriamRoseFoundation (2017) she says “To know me, it’s to breathe with me. To breathe with me, it’s to listen deeply. To listen deeply is to connect.” This resonates with me; I feel as I am getting older, I am starting to appreciate the time spent alone (which is rare in my household) when I am able to slow down and really listen just like when I visited the country on my own. Many times in our lives we get too busy to notice things and it is my belief that we all need time to slow down and smell roses so to speak.

I really enjoyed going on the country visit, it gave me an opportunity to go out and reconnect with nature. I used to much more before but since starting to study I don’t have as much time. For me the day we don't spend outside is the day lost just like its being described in the Wilson, R., & Wilson, R. (2007) reading. It aligns with my belief that children need to spend as much time as possible outside to allow all their senses to explore. Very often I’ve observed children in older age groups at my service spending too much inside. I have challenged this but met with the response that children need to be prepared for school academically by being involved in many table experiences (writing, counting). Just like in the reading I believe there is too many expectations for children to perform academically and all they really need is time and space to play, in nature particularly and that is what I plan to do once I become teacher. I plan to take children to many excursions to the local parks and reserves, beaches as well spending as much time outside at our service and setting up natural experiences such as dirt, sand seashells, earthworms, bark and other natural loose parts.

While learning through this unit I’ve strengthen my belief that children need to have daily encounters exploring the music. As both Victor Wooten (TEDx Talks,2013) and Dr. Shinichi Suzuki (Suzuki Association of the Americas, n.d.) believed all children are capable learners who need to be learning the music the same way as they learn their first language or as Dr. Shinichi Suzuki called it mother-tongue approach. I would like to implement this approach in my future teaching practices. I believe that now I have more knowledge to implement it, I would like to dedicate the permanent learning corner just to music and have not only the traditional musical instruments there but also elements from nature such as rocks, sticks, seashells etc. Just like in the reading of Movement in the Wild ( Arianaca, 2017) where they encourage us to go outside in nature and connect with our senses I would like to try this with children, encourage them to notice the things around them, listen to the nature and dance with it in the way such as how trees, plants, birds, butterflies, frogs move and so on.

The environment that I was surrounded by greeted and accepted me just as Aunty Joy Murphy did in Welcome Video (Australia Day Victoria, 2021). I felt like that I belonged to this country. I felt a deep connection to the video and clear message that Aunty Joy had for us all; we need to continue to nurture the country just like the Aboriginal people did for thousands of years. My personal and professional commitment is to continue to further raise my own awareness about Indigenous cultures and learn and grow with it and teach future generations to take good care of our rainforest, the land, the rivers and the sea.

About the Suzuki MethodTM – Suzuki Association of the Americas. (n.d.). https://suzukidev.org/about/about-the-suzuki-method/

Arianaca. (2017, April 10). Movement in the Wild: Nature as dance partner - The Earthbody Institute. The Earthbody Institute.

https://www.theearthbodyinstitute.com/2017/03/movement-in-the-wild-nature-as-dance-partner/

Australia Day Victoria. (2021, January 29). Welcome, by Aunty Joy Murphy AO, Wurundjeri woi Wurrung Elder [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9ta1EQJYqE

Bangarradance theatre. (2015, May 20). Bangarra Education Resources Mutton Bird [Video]. YouTube.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-PV98Oshkc

MiriamRoseFoundation. (2017, November 29). DADIRRI (Official Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr Video) :: 3 minute promo [Video]. YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tow2tR_ezL8

The Parallaxis – A game of walking between worlds. (n.d.). The Parallaxis. https://www.the-parallaxis.com/

TEDx Talks. (2013, May 30). Music as a Language: Victor Wooten at TEDxGabriolaIsland [Video]. YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zvjW9arAZ0

TEDx Talks. (2018, March 19). Movement, Sound, Play | Artifact Dance Project | TEDxTucson [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrgpeuPbp-I

Ungunmerr, M.-R. (1988). Dadirri: Inner deep listening and quiet still awareness.

 https://www.miriamrosefoundation.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Dadirri_Handout.pdf

Wilson, R., & Wilson, R. (2007). Nature and young children. In Routledge eBooks.

https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203940723