2.4 Provide Appendix 5.

1 is a unit about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (ATSI)

opportunities cultures that I taught my Foundation cohort in 2018. This unit plan
for students to demonstrates my abilities to and evidence that I do provide students with
develop opportunities to develop understanding of and respect for ATSI histories,
understanding cultures and languages. This unit was not the only opportunity to explore ATSI
of and respect history, culture and language in the year; for example, we also made
for Aboriginal connections through stories, Harmony Day, NAIDOC Week, music making and
and Torres number games. In this particular unit we were focussing on the concept of
Strait Islander place in connection to ATSI people. During the unit students explored local
histories, Aboriginal history through local artefacts, stories from a local elder and photos
cultures and of the local area. Students were given the opportunity to develop
languages. understanding of local Aboriginal culture when we read stories, watched
videos and talked with the local elder. Students had the opportunity to gain
understanding and respect of language through sharing personal stories and
talking with the local elder about the language group in the area. Throughout
this unit I gave students the opportunities to explore artefacts, pose
wonderings, share personal stories of their own cultures, investigate our local
area and consult an expert. I taught this unit and provided these varied
opportunities not only to address the Australian Curriculum requirements for
Foundation but to introduce many of the students to the rich Aboriginal
community they live in, it is a community with a strong culture, recognised
history and respected community members. The impact on student learning
after the multiple opportunities I designed and implemented was that the
students did build an understanding of and respect for the local Aboriginal
histories, cultures and languages. Some students at the beginning were
confused about what an Aboriginal person could look like and no student could
provide information on the local area. Students at the end were able to
articulate facts about the local Aboriginal group and speak about ATSI culture
and history in a respectful and informed manner. I provided each student with
the learning opportunities and they each gained new understanding and
increased levels of respect, evidenced in their assessment task, peer
conversations and information they shared with families. The unit sparked
many conversations at home, parents came into school and told me their child
asked about their family’s culture. As a teacher I developed and increased my
own understanding and respect of the local Aboriginal histories, cultures and
languages. The school had a respected relationship with the local Aboriginal
corporation, and I had invaluable discussions with some of their community
workers about correct terminology, appropriate content and local places. This
helped shape my own thinking, my planning and success of this unit. I not only
furthered my own content knowledge for teaching but for my life, developing a
greater understanding and respect for my local community members and the
abundant culture.
1.5 Develop Appendix 5.1 is a unit plan around the history, culture and concept of place to
teaching Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. In the unit plan I differentiated my
activities that teaching and activities to support the needs of all my students and their full
incorporate range of abilities. I differentiated to suit the needs of my students using
differentiated knowledge gathered from the pre-assessment task, my understandings of the
strategies to class and any relevant individual assessments, diagnoses or individual
meet the education plans (IEPs). I also planned for differentiation to ensure I had
specific learning considered each student and their full range of abilities; I include a section in
needs of my planning called ‘adjustments/strategies to include all students’. In this
students with section I have considered how myself and the various teacher assistants will
the full range of work within this unit to support the specific needs of students. For example I
abilities. have named up that I will video student thinking, instead of asking students to
write and draw, as one student was highly triggered by holding a pencil and
being asked to write or draw but was engaged and enthusiastic when asked
questions with the iPad. I differentiate my teaching and learning programs, as
evidenced in appendix 5.1, to ensure I meet the specific learning needs of
students with the full range of abilities across the entire curriculum. I
differentiate to meet the specific teaching strategies outlined in some
student’s IEPs, for example one student had a goal around sentence formation
and a strategy identified was for adults to use a letter and sound card to work
with the child to construct a simple sentence. I also differentiate to allow all
students to work with the Australian Curriculum skills and content as some
students function either at, above or below the grade level and I either enable
or extend their learning activities to allow them to engage. I differentiate in my
classroom to encourage participation, using some teaching strategies like
incorporating hands on manipulatives to engage all students, especially those
who may have engagement as an identified need. Planning for and being
prepared to differentiate for the full range of student abilities has a great
impact on student learning. The reason I differentiate is to improve and
facilitate learning, for all students. In this particular unit one of the impacts on
student learning is that all students participated in every experience and every
learning task. Because of this the students all made gains in their learning, each
student could provide information on at least one aspect of our inquiry, such
as the local country name or the local language group. As a teacher
differentiating is part of the role, not just delivering content but shaping a
learning journey for each student under your care. Ensuring that all their
abilities are catered for and each student has the opportunity to improve their
learning outcomes. Differentiating is also important to me when formally
reporting on student learning, as I have specific statements about what each
student can do and work samples to show their learning progress. I have never
known teaching without differentiating, it has been something embedded in
my practice from university and will continue to be a part of my everyday
planning and teaching.
1.4 Design and Appendix 5.1 is a unit plan that evidences how I respond to the local cultural
implement setting to implement effective teaching strategies. In my class nine students
effective were formally identified as Aboriginal and we were living and learning in a
teaching community of rich Aboriginal history and culture. To teach effectively I not only
strategies that considered the content of my teaching but also how I would be delivering it.
are responsive Part of this was seeking cultural advice and understanding, appendix 5.2 are
to the local notes from a phone call I made with an Aboriginal consultant that I recorded
community and for the school office and my personal organisation notes. The informal
cultural setting, conversations I later shared with this consultant built up my general knowledge
linguistic of the area, the culture and language group. This knowledge and support
background and enabled me to value the local Aboriginal culture and share this history with my
histories of students. The consultant also came into the school one afternoon to chat with
Aboriginal and the students and answer questions the students had developed, enabling my
Torres Strait students to build connections and relationships within the community and
Islander value the culture. I was also fortunate enough to have two Aboriginal
students. Educational Assistants working within my room three days a week to support
my class in general and one specific student who identified as Aboriginal. These
assistants were able to share information about the local community and
cultural setting. They were in our classroom during the inquiry to aid
collaboration, encourage engagement and support Aboriginal and non-
Aboriginal students coming together to value the community’s history. These
teaching strategies of sharing history, engagement, collaboration and valuing
the culture were specific to the unit, appendix 5.1, but I also use specific
teaching strategies when teaching my culturally diverse cohort. To be
responsive to the cultural setting I engage with families and invite them to join
their child’s learning journey, I set high expectations of learning and behaviour,
I provide specific learning goals and I differentiate learning to suit each child.
These strategies were planned for in the ‘adjustments/strategies to include all
students’ in appendix 5.1. The responsive strategies I implemented for my unit
of work and the teaching strategies implemented daily have a great impact on
student achievement by allowing all students to access the learning program
and succeed, regardless of their starting point. Student enthusiasm and
engagement was also increased when we had the Aboriginal Educational
Assistants helping and when we interviewed the Aboriginal consultant, many
students shared at the end of the day that their favourite part of the day was
working with one of the assistants. One family came in the week after we
interview the consultant telling me that they had driven around on the
weekend to see the different cultural landmarks he had told us about,
demonstrating the value and understanding of Aboriginal culture was flowing
onto the wider families. As a teacher I feel empowered and confident when I
fully understand the topic knowledge and I felt comfortable engaging in this
topic knowing I had the support of many Aboriginal Educational workers and
the local corporation. I could see my teaching strategies, such as setting
specific goals, were supporting students to participate and learn because many
students referred to the goal throughout the lesson. For example, ‘I am
successful because I now know the local language.’ Implementing responsive
teaching strategies also made me accountable to all students and ensured I
was meeting each student’s needs.