“ kanyini ”
Identity Perspectives & Significance
Active History: Culture & Environment
5T will share a text ‘The Rabbits’ (Marsden, 1998). An analogy which will introduce students to colonisation effects from the perspective of Aboriginal Australians during the early 19th century; presenting the need for sustainability, and respect for Australia's first peoples' desire for preservation of landscapes, flora and fauna. The ‘rabbits’ (European settlers’) construct Rabbit City, which causes implications upon the environment and upon the ‘possums’ (Aboriginal Australians’) lives.
Fraser (2019, August, 13).
Empathy promotes engagement, aiding comprehension of historical perspectives within modern society (Davidson, 2017). Class 5T will pose questions, as they point out sentences and vocabulary which they are drawn to, such as “they won’t understand the right ways”, ‘”...chopped down our trees” (Marsden, 1998, p. 20) could be inferred by the students as – sustainable, healthy environment, destroyed for colonial purposes: building, heating and farming.
For deeper context, students will watch “The Land Owns Us” (Global Oneness Project, 2009).
“With this in mind..”
·
Groups will discuss, then consolidate their understandings of the narrative and Aboriginal principles to form their own perspectives ‘about the past’. They create a short, ‘possum perspective’ monologue to share.
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A yarning story will engage and inform students of Tasmanian Aboriginal Australians’ way of life
and preservation/conservation patterns, prior to colonisation.
A yarning story will engage and inform students of Tasmanian Aboriginal Australians’ way of life
and preservation/conservation patterns, prior to colonisation.
Watching ‘liyini milaythina rrala (Singing Country Strong)’ introduces the only known Aboriginal language of Tasmania (“lutruwita”) – palawa kani; lost resulting from colonisation (Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre [TAC], (2016a). Only a few places in Tasmania still carry their original names, such as the Tarkine “takayna” (TAC, 2020).
Students will examine successes regarding closing four-wheeled drive tracks upon Aboriginal Cultural Landscape, due to artefact damage – Aboriginal shell middens, historical primary sources which provide Aboriginal hunting and foraging evidence (TAC, 2016b).
Class 5T will visit Tarkine (“takayna”); utilising interrogation techniques (who/what/where/how/when/why?) to closely analyse middens, to piece together the local ‘Tarkiner’ Peoples’ social history, from thousands of years ago (Zarmati, 2015; TAC, 2020). Specie/ecosystem, also national park landscape and unprotected forest diversities will also be explored; with questioning regarding peoples’ impact on continuity (continued land clearing). “Has tree significance changed considerably since colonial times?”
Upon return, students generally discuss modern impact upon heritage sites and individually research current conditions of another Australian landmark with Aboriginal significance. Supported with historical reasoning (why: contextualisation of cultural/environmental/social significance/perspectives), students digitally create newsletter posters explaining how, from colonial times to today, landscapes, flora and fauna have been impacted (van Drie, 2007). What has and hasn’t succeeded in the past “Were these fair/successful?”, and suggestions of strategies/protocols for communities to support preservation of their chosen environment. These will be displayed on Skoolbag and around the school during National Reconciliation Week.
It’s going to be a great year!
Word count: 548
Curriculum Links:
Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA], (2016). Foundation to Year 10
Curriculum: Humanities and Social Sciences: Year 5 Civics and Citizenship, History and Geography (version 8.3). Australia: ACARA. Retrieved from:
Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA], (2016). Foundation to Year 10
Curriculum: Year 5 English: Literacy (version 8.3). Australia: ACARA.
Retrieved from:
Australian Electoral Commission [AEC], (2019). Democracy Rules: Topics and Investigations: Topic 1
You and me, the decision makers. In Parliamentary Education Office [PEO] (2019). Year 5:
Lessons 1 to 2 – Living in a democracy: Activity 1 of Democracy Rules. Retrieved from:
Brett, P. (2018). Retrieving the civic dimension in history: Creating meaningful and memorable links
between History & Civics & Citizenship in primary classrooms. The Social Educator, (36)2 p. 15-29. Retrieved from:
Davison, M. (2017). Teaching about the First World War Today: Historical
Empathy. Citizenship, Social & Economics Education, (16)3 p.148-156. Retrieved from:
Fraser. (2019, August, 13). The Rabbits by John Marsden & Shaun Tan [Video]. YouTube. Retrieved
from:
Gilbert, R., & Hoepper, B. (2017) Teaching Humanities and Social Sciences: History, Geography,
Economics and Citizenship in the Australian Curriculum (5th Ed.). South Melbourne, VIC: Cengage Learning.
Global Oneness Project (2009, February, 26). The Land Owns Us [Video]. YouTube. Retrieved from:
Hogan, M. (2018). What is kanyini? Retrieved from:
Korff, J. (2018). Creative spirits. Meaning of land to Aboriginal people. Retrieved from:
Marsden, J. (1998). The Rabbits . Port Melbourne, Victoria : Thomas C. Lothian Pty Ltd.
Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre [TAC], (2016b). Four Wheel-Drive track remain closed.
Retrieved from:
Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre [TAC], (2016a). liyini milaythina rrala (Singing Country
Strong). Retrieved from:
Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre [TAC], (2020). Aboriginal place names.
Retrieved from:
Van Drie, J., & Van Boxtel (2007). Historical Reasoning: Towards a Framework for Analysing Students’
Reasoning about the Past. In Educational Psychology Review (20)p. 87-110. Retrieved form:
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10648-007-9056-1
Zarmati, L. (2015). Archaeology as Pedagogy at Sydney’s ‘Big Dig’. In Historic Environment: Policy &
Practice, (6)2 p.177-191. Retrieved from:
DOI: 10.1179/1756750515Z.00000000082
Hi Nicole,
ReplyDeleteWell done on your first post, this was a very insightful read!
I liked the topic you picked and thought it was very relevant for students given it’s a local issue. It also gives students a chance to take action, which gives them motivation to complete their work as they feel they are helping a big cause. I like that the activity starts off with being outside. Students can develop a real-world learning experience and become more engaged and enthusiastic about the subject. Using a different classroom environment makes learning more exciting and is a good introduction to teaching why the Tarkine “Takayna” should be protected. One thing that I could suggest is to maybe make the post less formal and more appealing to parents. It slightly reads like an essay rather than a blog post, which can easily be fixed by using more inviting language. It also looks like the word count is over by quite a bit, so perhaps cut back on the extent of the activity? Otherwise it is a very well presented and visual post that provides a lot of helpful information on what you will be teaching that is backed up with many references. Good luck on your future posts!
Thanks,
Kate (Meg)
Updated feedback:
ReplyDeleteHi Nicole,
I really like the topic you have changed for this post! You have provided so many resources for the students to work with, it shows you’ve done very extensive research. I also like the question “how would you feel about your home being taken away?” I think it’s so important to teach students historical empathy so that they can better understand past experiences. Your activity where the students point our sentences and vocabulary is a good way to link to literacy as well. I also like that it ends with the students displaying their work, I think this works well to better motivate them to try their hardest!
I’ve noticed a small mistake in this paragraph: “Groups will discuss, then consolidate their understandings of the narrative and Aboriginal principles to form their own perspectives about ‘about the past”. You have “about” written twice.
This is a very detailed post that informs parents of what their children will be learning and again, links to relevant literature. Well done!
Thanks,
Kate (Meg)
Good Morning Kate.
DeleteI have corrected my error, I completely overlooked that - thank you. I would like to also like to thank you for your detailed feedback, however, predominantly for - providing a second detailed feedback for AT1.1, as I basically started again from scratch. Your effort and time is greatly appreciated! :)
Kind regards,
Nicole.