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Evidence 6
First Nations Perspectives in the classroom
Within the cultural context of St Patrick's there are 5 students who identify as Aboriginal. 4 of those students are located in the Middle Primary classroom and 1 is located in the Early Years classroom. Over the last 2.5 years of teaching, I have been providing opportunities for students to develop their understanding and respect for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories, culture and perspectives through Mathematics, English, Religion and HASS (2.4). This is a concept I am continually refining and gaining confidence to teach within the classroom with guidance from the First Nations education team in Townsville. To close the gap between our school and the Koa community, staff worked with the First Nations education team to refine out schools Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) (2.4 - evidence 1 below).​​
Evidence 1: Screenshot of PD completed
Above is a picture of evidence 2 from the early years classroom displaying an Acknowledgment of County, Aboriginal, Australia and Torres Strait Islander flag. This is introduced on the 1st day of school and continuously referred to throughout the school year. Students learn about why we say an acknowledgment and the importance of representing all Australians, as well as the significance of colour and symbols and our flags (2.4)
In Mathematics, I taught First Nations perspectives and introduced students to string games. This activity was to assist students in creating, identifying and understanding the different ways in which 2D shapes can be represented in Dreaming stories. To the right is a screenshot of a lesson plan and a resource located from the Australian Museum to replicated an emu foot, billabong and yam (1.4, 2.4).
Evidence 2: Screenshot of Maths lesson teaching string games a First Nations perspective.
In Religion, students were learning about the Creation story from the bible. To represent First Nations perspective we read about The Rainbow Serpent and Tiddalick the Frog and the importance of their story and how those animals helped to create the world. As apart of an integrated unit with English a prep students created a story map of the story Tiddalick the Frog and represented the story through images and writing (1.4, 2.4). A video of a prep student sharing her story map is located to the right in evidence 3.
Evidence 3: Video of a prep sharing her story map about Tiddalick the Frog.