EDF2031 Indigenous perspectives on teaching and learning

Jeane Freer Thursday tutorial 11am

Assignment task 1.4

Week two topic: Histories, policies and practice
Theme: Rights
Year level: 6
Age: 12 years old

The learning resource I have chosen for the topic of histories, policies and
practices in the theme of rights was from the Reconciliation Australia website
and is in the form of an information sheet (Reconciliation Australia, n.d.). The
information sheet is a timeline that gives basic data about the rises and falls of
the rights of Indigenous peoples. This lesson teaches students about the
history of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and the breakthroughs
that have been made in regards to Indigenous rights since the arrival of the
First Fleet.

The lesson will begin with the children receiving a copy of the information
sheet (Reconciliation Australia, n.d.), and a discussion will take place in
regards to what major dates/events appear on the timeline. Students will be
asked to do a think, pair, share about some of the dates they already know
about, and those they would like to learn more about. This will not only assess
prior knowledge, but also allow the teacher to calculate what the students
would like to learn in regards to Indigenous histories, policies and practices.

After the think, pair, share discussion, the students will pull one of the dates
out of a container (allowing for fairness), and they will research this time/event
in Indigenous history, either through books in the school library or on the

Michaela Downward 26156458

EDF2031 Indigenous perspectives on teaching and learning

Jeane Freer Thursday tutorial 11am

Internet. For example: if a student was to pull 1967 out of the container, the
student will refer to the information sheet, find out this date is important due to
the referendum and then do research on what the referendum did for
Indigenous peoples and why it is historically important.

Following this research, the teacher will bring out a long piece of paper, and
the students will turn it into a giant timeline, using pictures and text, for a
whole class collaborative project. Finally, the students will come up one by
one and discuss their part of the timeline, what the historical time was and
why it is important. Using this approach means all of the students are
involved, and they learn about many of the important dates in Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander peoples history in depth without having to research all
of them individually.

The aim of the lesson is for students to better understand the fight for
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples rights, the events that have had
an impact and how these have been entwined with history. As shown by
Harrison (2011), it is necessary for all students to acknowledge and respect
Indigenous history. The students knowledge will be established through their
ability to discuss important time periods and events in Indigenous history and
show this through the information they collect in the research stage.

Michaela Downward 26156458

EDF2031 Indigenous perspectives on teaching and learning

Jeane Freer Thursday tutorial 11am

References
Harrison, N. (2011). Teaching and learning in Aboriginal education (2nd ed.).
South Melbourne: Oxford University Press.

Reconciliation Australia (n.d.). Reconciliation timeline. Retrieved October 16,

2015, from http://www.reconciliation.org.au/nrw/wpcontent/uploads/2014/03/Reconciliation-timeline.pdf

Michaela Downward 26156458