Aboriginal and Culturally Responsive Pedagogy – Individual reflection

The content in the unit has helped me to effectively contribute to my group assignment by
incorporating Yunkaporta’s 8 ways pedagogy into the unit outline and individual lesson plan.
I believe that by making 8 ways pedagogy the focus of our group unit outline, we were
successful in promoting a positive sense of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander identity and
building high expectation relationships between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal individuals.
As a result, we were able to successfully incorporate AITSL’s 2.4 standard “Understand and
respect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to promote reconciliation between
Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians” (AITSL, 2011). In relation to the group
assignment, I contributed by incorporating and focusing on ‘Story sharing’ as one of the 8
ways pedagogy. Additionally, my integration of ‘Story sharing’ into the group assignment
and lesson plan refers to the AITSL standard 1.4 “Strategies for teaching Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander students” (AITSL, 2011). To exemplify, a yarning circle activity was
integrated into my lesson plan with the intent for students to express themselves and their
learning experiences in a diverse way. Similarly, I perceived the yarning circle as an
opportunity to allow Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students to feel confident in the
expression of their knowledge and learning experience as it relates learning back to their
culture and incites feelings of familiarity. Yunkaporta (2009) refers to story sharing as a
“Powerful tool in the Aboriginal language classroom” (p. 42) and a chance for students to
share their stories. In relation to this, I believe that my integration of the yarning circle will
make the lesson plan one which raises the expectations that non-Aboriginal people have
toward Aboriginal students as it gives Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders a chance to refer
to their culture while demonstrating deep engagement and knowledge. I also believe that
incorporating Yunkaporta’s 8 ways pedagogy into the group assignment helped me to
practice to develop my teaching skills. I believe that the knowledge and skills gained
throughout this unit is beneficial for my future career as a teacher as I am more informed on
the ways in which the educational gaps between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal students can
be changed. Ultimately, by referring to Yunkaporta’s article, I was able to contribute to the
creative development of a unit outline and lesson plan in a way that meets the AITSL
standards 1.4 as well as 2.4.

Overall, the unit ‘Aboriginal and Culturally Responsive Pedagogy has provided me with the
skills required to develop as a more culturally responsive educator and ensure that the
educational needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students are consistently met.