Aboriginal and Culturally Responsive Pedagogies Reflection

The knowledge I have gained throughout this unit has been valuable and irreplaceable for my

professional pedagogy. I have learned a great number of aspects concerning Aboriginal and

Torres Strait Islander learning, many which have challenged my previous knowledge

acquired throughout my schooling and social life. These learning challenges are what have

opened my mind to new ways of teaching and learning, as well as reprogramming my own

mind with these perspectives to aid in my professional development and benefit future

Indigenous Australian students.

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From these new learning experiences, I have taken away valuable knowledge of how our

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students learn, specifically their ways of being,

knowing, thinking, and doing. This will forever change the way I teach content and life skills

to my students within Music, specifically for music theory which is a topic most students

struggle with. Though many other teachers in this degree have presented concerns about this

new teaching and learning style, I believe this is an excellent strategy for any Creative Arts

subject in schools as students can easily look at the bigger picture/content and work their way

to creating a project which is contextually meaningful in the creative process. Other resources

and strategies I will implement in my professional teaching are the 8 Ways of Learning

(2020), an Aboriginal pedagogy which includes important cultural and historical aspects

which students can connect with and how teacher can implement these aspects into learning

activities, my favourite being ‘Yarning Circles’ linking with story sharing and non-verbal

learning which is an essential part of Music.