A highlight of the 2015 year has been the Cultural Diversity unit undertaken by my Year 12 Society and Culture students, titled Reconciliation@MOC.
When developing the new Learning and Assessment Plan at the end of 2014, I aimed to have this assessment task produce something meaningful, constructive and hopefully capacity building for our school each year. I consequently scheduled it to coincide with the school's existing Aboriginal Cultural Week in Term 3 each year and began consultation with Julie Hodgkinson, our Aboriginal Secondary Education Transition Officer (ASETO). The major Reconciliation project undertaken at the school this year was the painting of a new mural. At first documenting this process was going to be the students' assessment task but as the timing didn't quite work out, we still contributed to the mural but made running the Senior Years Aboriginal Cultural Week assembly our focus instead. Our class's contribution to the mural is still a fantastic achievement and I am proud of how the design reflects the students' mature understanding of Reconciliation. As students were approaching this unit with differing levels of knowledge and understanding of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures, we began by coming to grips with the context of our local community. This included visiting the local Stolen Generations Memorial and Healing Garden, a visit from Michelle Mitolo, Placemaking Officer and Janine Hinton, Community Development Officer, from the City of Playford and an excursion to the Migration Museum to undertake their education program that explores the impact of European settlement on the Indigenous peoples of South Australia. A variety of in-class activities were also implemented, with a student favourite being the episode of Who Do You Think You Are? about Adam Goodes, as this was just before the booing controversy began and students said they felt well-informed about his background during the subsequent debate. One of the aspects of the SACE Stage 2 Society and Culture course that I value highly is the Collaboration assessment criteria. We are required to implement one Group Interaction task but I opt to include the Collaboration criteria in some of the other tasks because I have found that they provide great scope for differentiation and developing the SACE and AC Personal and Social capability. For this task, each student negotiated an individual contribution with their peers and me, based on perceptions of their strengths. This ranged from speaking at assembly through to organising the AV material. | The task was designed to prepare students for the more autonomous Group Interaction project that follows, so I didn't relinquish full control! One of the desired outcomes I made clear to the students was that MOC's Senior Years students should recognise the complexity of Indigenous cultural settings and linguistic backgrounds at our College, as well as traditional and contemporary cultural expressions. By this stage of the unit, the students appreciated the diverse nature of Indigenous staff and students at MOC, so they readily accepted this aim. The other key outcome that the students developed was that they wanted the assembly to show that Reconciliation can be fun. This derived from two main perspectives (1) a desire to bust the myth that Reconciliation was all about "making white people feel guilty", as some students felt this unit had taken them on a journey away from that initial impression and they wanted their peers to appreciate this too; and (2) the students were worried about how an assembly would be received by their peers; as assemblies were usually considered boring, they felt entertainment was key to ensuring Reconciliation was promoted, rather than having the opposite effect. Student and staff feedback suggests that both aims were achieved and the Year 12s are currently in the process of recording their individual reflections, as part of the assignment. Finally, a word on Jordan's contribution to this unit. Jordan is a Ngarrindjeri woman, co-captain of MOC's SAASTA team and a former Year 11 student of mine. Although I take care to ensure that students from minority groups are not burdened with any obligation to "represent" their communities, I am also mindful that it means these students can, if they choose, capitalise on demonstrating their unique perspectives on and deep understanding of issues directly impacting on their lives. Jordan's main role was to organise for comedian Joshua Warrior to perform at the assembly, as the students had enjoyed watching Kevin Kropinyeri and Sean Choolburra's comedy during our unit and Joshua was a family friend of Jordan's. However, she voluntarily became the sounding board for the class and myself as the project progressed. She helped us navigate the relatively complex networks within our community, allowed students to understand that there are a variety of opinions within the Indigenous community, and avoid some potential gaffs at the assembly itself. Jordan, in turn, built on her natural leadership skills and grew in confidence as she got to know her peers better and saw their active support for Reconciliation. I look forward to seeing what Jordan's post-school pathways will be. |
The most popular part of the assembly based on audience feedback!
Relevant pages from my website are:
I would also be happy to discuss the specific policies and protocols that I have met through the above example but, in general, feel that I go well beyond the minimum requirements when it comes to teaching Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives. | Relevant standards include: 1.4 Design and implement effective teaching strategies that are responsive to the local community and cultural setting, linguistic background and histories of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. 2.4 Provide opportunities for students to develop understanding of and respect for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories, cultures and languages. 4.4 Ensure students’ wellbeing and safety within school by implementing school and/ or system, curriculum and legislative requirements. 7.1 Meet codes of ethics and conduct established by regulatory authorities, systems and schools. 7.2 Understand the implications of and comply with relevant legislative, administrative, organisational and professional requirements, policies and processes. |