Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and practices

Curriculum:
Situation:
I developed a program for Library each Friday in which implemented Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander cultures and practices through the use of reading Dream time stories. I
developed an understanding myself about Aboriginal People and Torres Strait Islander
cultures and beliefs through creating this program and then collaborating with the onsite
Aboriginal learning support staff on campus, Miss K. Miss K advised me on respectful
practices and helped to implement my program into the classroom. This provided me with
the information to respectfully implement the program I developed into the classroom. We
co-collaborated this program. The program is below.
Action:
Implementing the Stories of the Dreamtime into our Friday sessions was something that
both the children and I looked forward to. Each Friday we would speak read a Dreamtime
story and speak about what the dreamtime means and how important it is to some
Aboriginal people. Each week we would read a different dreamtime story which is shown in
the plan below. Each story was followed on with a discussion and formal observations
through questioning. At the end of Library, the children would sit for 15 minutes and
complete a colouring in, which would link to the Dreamtime story. You can see the in depth
questioning developed in the outline of the lessons I created below.

To further develop and reinforce the children’s understandings we also completed a craft in
the afternoon and throughout the term exposed the students to various Aboriginal music
and Torres Strait Islander music through listening while we crafted. An extremely enjoyable
experience. We learnt the song ‘Taba Naba’ and sung this song twice a week as a class. The
song is linked in a YouTube video below. Fridays became a day the students would look
forward too. The Dreamtime stories captured their imaginations and I heard lots of
discussions within the classroom and playground about them.

Outcome:
The children developed an understanding of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures
and practices, this was evident through listening to their answers to questions and general
discussions. This was such an enjoyable program to develop and it provided a sense of
belonging for the Aboriginal students we had in the classroom and also valuable information
for all the children.