Reconciliation

Unit of Learning
The Wombats: Alana Smith, Demcey Anderson,
Em Carter, Phoebe Budge and Roxy Lewis
 Context
UNDERSTANDING BY DESIGN BACKWARDS PLANNING UNIT OF LEARNING
CONTEXT
TITLE OF UNIT Indigenous culture and reconciliation YEAR 5
CURRICULUM AREA Eng, HASS, Sci, Math, Art, Dan, Mus, Dram, D&T, HPE TIME FRAME 8 weeks
DEVELOPED BY Em Carter, Phoebe Budge, Roxy Lewis, Alana Smith, Demcey Anderson
FRAMING PEDAGOGY Reconciliation pedagogy – how it is used in this unit plan:
- understanding history from a critical, ‘shared’ perspective
- being conscious about curriculum construction and resource selection
- championing anti-racism strategies
- connecting with community
- reflecting critically on practice
- constructing a culturally safe learning environment
- dispelling racialised myths
- being part of a broader reconciliation movement
 Learning Requirements
ACHIEVEMENT STANDARDS
English Dance
Hass Music
Science Drama
Mathematics Design tech
Art HPE
CONTENT DISCRIPTORS
ENGLISH DANCE
Understand how to move beyond making bare assertions and take account of differing perspectives and points Explore movement and choreographic devices using the elements of dance to choreograph dances that
of view (ACELA1502) communicate meaning (ACADAM009)
Understand how texts vary in purpose, structure and topic as well as the degree of formality (ACELA1504) Perform dance using expressive skills to communicate a choreographer’s ideas, including performing dances of
Understand the use of vocabulary to express greater precision of meaning, and know that words can have cultural groups in the community (ACADAM011)
different meanings in different contexts (ACELA1512) Explain how the elements of dance and production elements communicate meaning by comparing dances from
Identify aspects of literary texts that convey details or information about particular social, cultural and different social, cultural and historical contexts, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander dance
historical contexts (ACELT1608) (ACADAR012)
Present a point of view about particular literary texts using appropriate metalanguage, and reflecting on the HASS
viewpoints of others (ACELT1609) Examine different viewpoints on actions, events, issues and phenomena in the past and present (ACHASSI099)
Create literary texts using realistic and fantasy settings and characters that draw on the worlds represented in Work in groups to generate responses to issues and challenges (ACHASSI102)
texts students have experienced (ACELT1612) Reflect on learning to propose personal and/or collective action in response to an issue or challenge, and predict
Clarify understanding of content as it unfolds in formal and informal situations, connecting ideas to students’ the probable effects (ACHASSI104)
own experiences and present and justify a point of view (ACELY1699) The nature of convict or colonial presence, including the factors that influenced patterns of development,
Plan, rehearse and deliver presentations for defined audiences and purposes incorporating accurate and aspects of the daily life of the inhabitants (including Aboriginal Peoples and Torres Strait Islander Peoples) and
sequenced content and multimodal elements (ACELY1700) how the environment changed (ACHASSK107)
SCIENCE The influence of people, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, on the environmental
Science involves testing predictions by gathering data and using evidence to develop explanations of events characteristics of Australian places (ACHASSK112)
and phenomena and reflects historical and cultural contributions (ACSHE081) The environmental and human influences on the location and characteristics of a place and the management of
ART spaces within them (ACHASSK113)
Explore ideas and practices used by artists, including practices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists, MATHS
to represent different views, beliefs and opinions (ACAVAM114) Describe, continue and create patterns with fractions, decimals and whole numbers resulting from addition and
Explain how visual arts conventions communicate meaning by comparing artworks from different social, subtraction (ACMNA107)
cultural and historical contexts, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artworks (ACAVAR117)
 Learning Requirements
CROSS-CURRICULUM PRIORITIES
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures
Country/Place
OI.2: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities maintain a special connection to and responsibility for Country/Place.
OI.3: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples have holistic belief systems and are spiritually and intellectually connected to the land, sea, sky and waterways.
Culture
OI.5: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ ways of life are uniquely expressed through ways of being, knowing, thinking and doing.
OI.6: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples live in Australia as first peoples of Country or Place and demonstrate resilience in responding to historic and
contemporary impacts of colonisation. 
People
OI.8: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples' family and kinship structures are strong and sophisticated.
OI.9: The significant contributions of Aboriginal Peoples and Torres Strait Islander Peoples in the present and past are acknowledged locally, nationally and globally.
Sustainability
Systems
OI.3: Sustainable patterns of living rely on the interdependence of healthy social, economic and ecological systems.
World views
OI.4: World views that recognise the dependence of living things on healthy ecosystems, and value diversity and social justice, are essential for achieving sustainability.
OI.5: World views are formed by experiences at personal, local, national and global levels, and are linked to individual and community actions for sustainability.
Futures
OI.7: Actions for a more sustainable future reflect values of care, respect and responsibility, and require us to explore and understand environments.
AITSL CONNECTIONS
Grad 2.4 Understand and respect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to promote reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians: Demonstrate
broad knowledge of, understanding of and respect for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories, cultures and languages.
 Learning Requirements

UNDERSTANDINGS ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS

OVERARCHING UNDERSTANDING OVERARCHING TOPICAL
Students will understand the importance of reconciliation. What are my roles and What can we learn about a culture through
Students will understand how actions of the past impact the present and how responsibilities in reconciliation? its art forms? (Art, Dance, Drama, Music,
actions of the present will impact the future. How am I connected to those in the English)
RELATED MISCONCEPTIONS past and the future? How are patterns present in our lives? (PE,
Australia was a no man’s land before European colonization. How is meaning conveyed in Maths, Art)
Dot paintings have no meaning. Indigenous tradition? How can we sustain our planet? (Sci, D&T,
Aboriginal Australians were homeless and wandered in the bush.   HASS)
Dreaming Stories are just for entertainment.
KNOWLEDGE SKILLS
Students will know: Students will be able to:
The meaning of reconciliation. Make meaning from visual and physical mediums.
That knowledge develops from many people’s contributions. Identify opportunities for action on reconciliation in their own lives.
 Assessment Evidence
PERFORMANCE TASK DESCRIPTION
SUMMATIVE TASK 1 Reconciliation performance and production – representations of history and the future of reconciliation
SUMMATIVE TASK 2 Reconciliation promise – an agreement to active reconciliation in their lives
OTHER EVIDENCE
Vocabulary list
Timeline
Sustainability report
Maths task
Gameplay
RESOURCES AND MATERIALS
History written by Indigenous authors/from Indigenous perspectives
Dreaming storybooks
Diorama materials
Environmental issues handout
Indigenous music
Painting materials
Items for costumes
BOM Indigenous Weather Knowledge website
 
 Week 1: HASS and English
LESSON 1 LESSON 2
English HASS and English
• Introduction to unit • Learn about connection with Country/Place
Mention of safe space and respect • Develop timeline of events 1700-current day, including
• Write up key vocabulary words and meanings o Pre-1788
Reconciliation, responsibility, indigenous, Aboriginal peoples, Torres o 1788 First Fleet
o 1788-1934 Frontier Wars
Strait Islanders, culture, country, Kaurna, racism, multiculturalism o 1789 Smallpox epidemic
• Read a Dreaming Story o 1839 and 1841 Frontier Wars fighting in SA
• Talk about storytelling traditions and oral narratives and use of images and o 1902 Voting rights in SA
visual language o 1914-1918 WWI
o 1938 Day of Mourning
• Purpose of Dreaming Stories. o 1939-1945 WWII
o 1967 Referendum
o 1985 Uluru returned to Indigenous ownership
o 1988 Mabo v Queensland
o 1991 Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation established
o 1992 Mabo v Queensland
o 1999 Motion of Reconciliation
o 2008 Apology to the Stolen Generations
• Note that Indigenous people have lived in Australia since the beginning of the
Dreaming, not 40,000 years ago
• Note that Indigenous history is oral and not necessarily dateable, nor should
it be
• Groups to work on certain collections of dates and write up a 1-3 sentence
description (or more if this is continued in other lessons)
• This lesson also involves time, place, relationships and measurement
concepts within Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander contexts.
 Week 2: Science and Technologies
LESSON 1 LESSON 2
Science Science and Technologies
• Introduction to Indigenous scientific approaches • Sustainability mini-project
o observation, using all the senses • Students select an environmental issue (handout) and predict and
o prediction and hypothesis hypothesise as a group how the issue might be addressed using observation
o testing (trial and error) and considering all of their senses
• Talk about sustainability and the importance of maintaining the world you • Students trial their individual solutions and come to a conclusion as a
live in group as to which is best suited to tack the environmental issue
• Group investigations into: • Students then construct a diorama model of the environment and the
o Medicine sustainable measures taken
o Fire management
o Astronomy
o Weather
 Week 3: PE and Maths
LESSON 1 LESSON 2
Mathematics Health and Physical Education
• Students will solve fraction problems, describing, continuing and creating • Building upon the patterns and symbols from the previous lesson, students
patterns with fractions, decimals and whole numbers resulting from addition will use the symbols as movements, and perform these patterns as movement
and subtraction sequences while playing a modified version of the traditional Indigenous
• Using the answers, decipher a secret message (several differing worksheets) skipping game Gunane
• The message will require them to place Indigenous symbols with their • Explain historical background of game, rules, and language:
corresponding fraction o Jagara/Jagera people from Brisbane area spoke Wakka Wakka language
o Gunane means ‘jump’
o “The rope (vine) is circled round and round and either one or two players skip at
a time.
o The players skip away and attempt to keep going for as long as they can.
o To stay in for as long as possible the player/s skipping must watch every
movement of the hands of those who turn the rope.” (Edwards and Meston,
2008)
o Students must complete a pattern of movement from their mathematics code
• Students then play a modified version of the traditional Indigenous chasing
game Munhanganing
• Explain historical background of game, rules, and language:
o Jagara/Jagera people from Arnhem Land area spoke Datiwuy language
o Munhanganing means ‘gecko’
o Two teams – geckos ‘munhanganing’ and flies ‘wurrurlurl’ – have ribbons
tucked into their belts as tails
o Each team must catch the tail of the other team
• When caught, students must return to a designated spot to be ‘saved’ by their
team before returning to the game.
Gunane Munhanganing
(gun-ane) (mun-hang-an-ing)
 Week 4: Art and English
LESSON 1 LESSON 2
Visual Art and English Visual Art
• Students look at traditional and contemporary artworks Warm up
• In pairs, they identify symbols they recognise • Bringing the class together
• In pairs, they describe the relationship between the people and country/place • Introduction of task
represented in the artwork Main Task
• In pairs, students attempt to tell the story they can see within the artwork • Today’s task is to create an Indigenous Australian reconciliation artwork in
• The pair reports back to the class, with opportunities for questions and groups.
comments • Students are asked to incorporate at least three Indigenous Australian artwork
symbols that have been previously used in the classroom.
• Students will be using their table groups to complete this task.
• Each table will be allocated a ‘time frame’ in which their reconciliation
artwork is to be set. For example;
o Table 1: Arrival of White people
o Table 2: The Stolen Generation
o Table 3: Reconciliation in 2017
o Table 4: Reconciliation in the future
Class Debrief
• Allow students to show their artwork to the rest of the class.
• Leading questions:
• In what time period is your artwork set?
• Can you explain what your artwork means and why?
• By ending on table 4, we will be able to discuss as a class how we would all
like to see reconciliation in the future.
 Week 5: Excursion and Reconciliation
LESSON 1 LESSON 2
Excursion to Kaurna Cultural Center Reconciliation promise
• The primary aims of the Living Kaurna Cultural Centre are to: • Students brainstorm in groups on actions for reconciliation
o Assist Kaurna people to develop a sustainable future o Including acknowledgement, promoting unification, and
o Conserve and renew Kaurna culture and heritage, as committing to reconciliation
well as conserving the European heritage of the site o Must include active points of things they can do in their
o Provide an indigenous cultural experience own lives
o Provide education and training for indigenous and non- • Students share and each point is summarised on the board
indigenous people • Students vote on the most important ideas
o Promote conciliation between Kaurna, Aboriginal and • The promise is written up and all students sign the agreement
non-Aboriginal communities
o Exhibit locally hand crafted aboriginal gifts and artwork
• Talk about custodial responsibility
• Talk about progress towards reconciliation, recognition, and
equality
• Talk about status and rights, past and present, including
movements for change, the contributions to Australian
society, and current issues
• Students begin brainstorming ideas for the class
reconciliation promise, with the assistance of elders at the
centre
 Week 6: English and The Arts
LESSON 1 LESSON 2
English and Drama Dance, Drama and Music
Visit by elder/dancer Visit by elder/dancer
• Students write a verbal story about coming of white people, the past, • Students create a dance story, some dance, some speak, some play music,
present and future, focusing on reconciliation some create costumes, set, etc.

Week 7: Preparation
LESSON 1 LESSON 2
Preparing for performance
Practicing dance and music, Writing narration,
Painting backdrop, Creating costumes

Week 8: Performance
LESSON 1 LESSON 2
Last minute preparation Perform at assembly
Perform in front of buddy class
 Warning: The following slide contains
images of Aboriginal People who may be
deceased.
 Emily Kame
Kngwarreye

• Significant Australian contemporary

artist
• She is an Anmatyerre elder
• Became an artist at the age of 80
• Produced over 3,000 paintings over
eight years
• Inspired by her cultural life, lifelong
custodianship of the women’s
Dreaming in Alhalkere

National Museum of Australia. (2017) Emily Kame Kngwarrey. Retrieved 4 October 2017 from http://www.nma.gov.au/exhibitions/utopia_the_genius_of_emily_kame_kngwarreye/emily_kame_kngwarreye
 Class Activity
Visual Art
Warm up
• Bringing the class together
• Introduction of task

Main Task
• Today’s task is to create an Indigenous Australian reconciliation artwork in groups.
• Students are asked to incorporate at least three Indigenous Australian artwork symbols that have been previously used in the classroom.
• Students will be using their table groups to complete this task.
• Each table will be allocated a ‘time frame’ in which their reconciliation artwork is to be set. For example;
• Table 1: Arrival of White people
• Table 2: The Stolen Generation
• Table 3: Reconciliation in 2017
• Table 4: Reconciliation in the future

Class Debrief
• Allow students to show their artwork to the rest of the class.
• Leading questions:
• In what time period is your artwork set?
• Can you explain what your artwork means and why?
• By ending on table 4, we will be able to discuss as a class how we would all like to see reconciliation in the future.
 Class Activity

Create an artwork in the style of

Indigenous dot paintings. Your
artwork must incorporate at least 3
Indigenous Australian symbols. You
will be assigned an era in which to
set your artwork.

You will need to share your artwork

and explain what you have painted.
What could you do?