Learning Plan for Prior-to-school age
| Headings | Descriptions |
| Name of Experience | Music experience using Indigenous people’s songs
Art experience using pictures and paintings ICT experience Card games experience Story telling experience Drawing experience |
| Age Group | 3-5 years |
| Description | Select simple songs common among Indigenous people especially the ones that were sung by children as they played or while performing various fan activities.
Dividing the class in a group of three and circulating paintings or/and books containing pictures expressing Indigenous culture and practices including hunting, farming and of community symbols as implied by Jorgenson, Grootenboer & Sullivan (2013). Creating animation videos based on various Indigenous cultural practices and showing them to the children. The videos can also capture different activities that involved children playing or listening to stories narrated by grandparents. Dividing the children into a group of four and designing card games that allow the children to discuss and ask questions concerning Indigenous people’s way of life. For instance, the children can pick cards in terns and whoever has the card ask questions or talk about their knowledge of Indigenous people. The cards can contain printed pictures of Indigenous cultural symbols. Narrating to the children simple stories about the Indigenous people’s origin and history that were told to children at their age. Draw pictures of Indigenous symbols and let the children color them. You can also let them draw simple symbols. |
| Rationale | For children at this age, music is a great learning technique since it a fan activity that all children would comfortably engage in and offers a fan way to memorize the concepts. Thus simple songs that children can easily master would help them learn a lot.
Pictures and paintings especially colored ones are always appealing to children at this age thus motivates them to learn more. At this age, children are fascinated by animation videos since they find them fan to watch thus forms an effective medium of learning about the topic since they learn as they watch. At this age, games are very important to children hence is an interesting way of learning as they actively engage children. Children also like listening to stories and stories are reliable ways of learning about people’s history thus are applicable at this stage. Stories are also easily remembered thus makes it easier to master the communities’ history as claimed by Jorgensen & Lowrie (2013). Children at this stage also love drawing and coloring hence forms an effective way to engage them in active learning. |
| Resources | Picture books
Story books Songs and poetry books Animation videos and video player Make cards that contain pictures of Indigenous cultural symbols Marker pen Drawing book for every student A set up drawing table Various colors |
| Introduction | Introduce the topic by a song from the Indigenous community, then poems and stories since they are a fan way to commence learning about communities. |
| Strategies | Engage the students in the activities
Let students participate actively in all activities Focus on activities that foster positive outcome in regard to perception the Indigenous culture. |
| Conclusion | The children should learn more about Indigenous people by engaging in other digital games and activities during their free time as they leave the experiences. |
Learning Plan for Primary School age
| Headings | Descriptions |
| Name of Experience | ICT experience
Music experience using songs sung by Indigenous communities Story telling experience to explore beliefs, history and culture of the Indigenous communities Art experience using pictures and paintings Experimental experiences Peer discussion groups |
| Age Group | 6-13 years of age |
| Description | Showing the students clips and videos of Indigenous communities performing different activities to help understand their way of life from hunting, camping, their cultural activities, rights of presage and their everyday life so that they get to fully understand the people and the significance of their practices.
Narrating to the students’ stories that were told to children by the communities. Through the stories, the students gets to learn their values and beliefs since they were used as a means of passing moral lessons and were told to children at particular ages thus is a way of understanding the educational system of the Indigenous people as suggested by Anderson, Bunda & Walter (2008 ). Grouping students and distributing pictures and paintings of Indigenous communities performing various activities and the landscape before colonial inversion also forms an effective way to know more about them. Teaching the children songs that were sung during different cultural ceremonies also helps them learn. The songs sung during different rites of passage forms a significant base when learning about several cultural practices. This way the children gets to learn more about the weight placed on cultural practices and customs and their significance which were often communicated by the songs as stated by Kitson & Bowes (2010). Dividing the children into groups and designing discussion questions concerning the communities for them to discuss among themselves and present their research findings in class. This way they get to widen their prior knowledge concerning the subject. Organize for the children to participate in some of the activities carried out by the Indigenous people like camping. They can also make some of the traditional artifacts made by the community such as ports and carvings. This helps the students to explore culture by being a part of it thus helping them make judgments based on rational thinking. The children can also visit an elder from the community for undistorted account of Indigenous people’s way of life. |
| Rationale | At this stage the learners are expected to comprehend more complex concepts regarding the tribe as they expand their knowledge from pre-school thus videos helps them remember whatever they learn as they back up theoretical knowledge.
Songs are relevant at this stage since they are interesting and easily memorable thus helps students master the concept and motivates them to desire to know more. Story telling is also an effective way of learning about people’s history and evolution over the years. Art is an effective way of preserving people’s culture since paintings and other artwork like carvings can be stored for centuries thus offer exposure to undistorted cultural practices as suggested by Robinson & Diaz (2007). At this stage, the students are curious to experiment thus learning about the Indigenous communities by experimenting would be beneficial as it eliminates their doubts regarding various concepts taught theoretically. Peer group discussion aids students in developing self-esteem and critical thinking techniques since some students only feel free to share their opinions among their peers and friends. |
| Resources | Story books
Picture books and paintings A visit to the museum Songs and poetry books Wood and curving materials Videos and video player An elder from Indigenous community |
| Introduction | Introduce the subject by a song, poem or by narrating a story about Indigenous people. Can also begin with questions. |
| Strategies | Use approaches that promote positivity in perceiving the Indigenous practices.
Invite students to actively participate in the activities. |
| Conclusion | Suggest that the learners continue learning more about Indigenous people by reading books published on the subject at their own time after leaving the experience. |
People Also Read
Critical reflection on your own current attitudes and values (including potential bias and prejudice, and from where this might originate) in relation to Indigenous peoples and how these may affect your teaching and professional relationships (300 words).
Non-Indigenous people have come up with several negative stereotypes regarding Indigenous people that greatly affect students’ learning abilities. The long held believes make Indigenous people be perceived and treated like lesser human beings, and am aware that at some point I developed negative attitudes towards them which are toxic to effective learning of Indigenous communities that is aimed at promoting equity and diversity. For instance, I tend to think that the Aborigines are primitive, uneducated, violent and unreligious considering they did not have any formal education, engage in violent sports and do not practice Christianity, an indication of un-civilization. This judgmental attitude based on ignorance and misconception is likely to negatively influence the learning process of the children considering that I may not be able approach the subject of Indigenous people impartially, occasionally expressing ill-feelings which corrupts judgments and fosters hatred, discrimination and racism. Therefore, may negatively affect the outcome of the study as the learners may also adopt the negative perceptions since children have tendencies of believing in what they are told especially by adults as implied by Giugni & Mundine (2010).
Furthermore, this kind of attitude may destroy my professional relationships with colleagues and parents who disagree with my views as it may result to misunderstanding, bitterness and hatred, and could even end my career as a teacher. They may also interfere with my professional duty as an advocate for equality and respect for other people’s culture especially those of Indigenous community that have long been trashed. That is why I am determined to work on my attitude with the hope of understanding and accepting Indigenous people’s culture, customs and values instead of expecting them to be what they are not so that the learner’s may benefit from learning the reality as they make their own rational conclusions instead of being corrupted by biased prejudices as required by Derman-Sparks & Edwards (2010).
Critical reflection on how Indigenous education and perspectives aligns with your professional role as an advocate for children and families (200 words).
Paulin (3009 claims that Indigenous education and perspectives focus on promoting children’s healthy development emotionally as well as physically. They do teach values aimed at enhancing family growth and strengthening family ties as well hence are in line with my professional role as an advocate for children and families. As much as not all Indigenous communities’ practices and believes regarding families and children are beneficial to the current generation, some of their values and customs plays a significant role in maintaining peace and harmony thus strengthening the family and minimizing incidences of family distractions that are common today. For instance, the values pertaining to love and respect for one another while promoting the spirit of forgiveness as well as the art of compromise and understanding for one another helps brings people together as stated by Fisher, Hydon, Jewell & Nyland (2008). Indigenous people’s belief in the extended family where instilling values and morals on children is communal responsibility also aid in positive growth of children. The activities designed for children at different stages of growth ranging from games to duties enable them to grow effectively socially, physically and spiritually as they are designed to boost their self-esteem thus promoting children’s general well-being and preparing them for adulthood.
Critical reflection on how you plan to use authentic learning experiences to enable all children learn about Indigenous peoples and perspectives (300 words)
Children have different learning styles, level of concentration and understanding that is often difficult to capture- such that in most cases not all children benefit from a particular teaching technique. In addition, teaching children about sensitive topics like Indigenous people and perspectives often associated with discrimination and racism is quite challenging due to the inappropriate earlier orientation to the subject by adults that focuses on negative stereotypes as claimed by Freire (2004). However by utilizing authentic learning experiences in teaching the subject, I believe all children will be able to benefit. This is because they eliminate major barriers to learning such as low understanding level as they incorporate various learning techniques relevant to all students that are simple, interesting as well as realist hence motives students to learn more about the Indigenous people and perspectives in terms of their culture, political organizations, economic activities, customs and values objectively. The experiences also help children develop critical thinking skills that enable them to effectively learn more from the communities’ way of life.
Authentic learning experiences are beneficial to all children since they offer them the opportunity to better their existing knowledge on the topic by fully exploring the subject by engaging in various learning activities including real life experience. They also foster active learning that encourages complete participation by learners and makes learning more interesting and realist unlike the convectional teaching techniques that promoted passive learning where students were rarely involved in the process. In addition, authentic learning experiences also give students first- hand information on the history and evolution of the community over the years from the community elders. They offer the children the opportunity to have fun while learning hence aid students develop the zeal to learn more about the Indigenous communities’ perspective of the world without feeling obliged to as implied by Robinson & Diaz (2007).
References
Anderson, C., Bunda, T., & Walter, M. (2008 ). Indigenous Higher Education: The Role of Universities in Releasing the Potential. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education,28 (pp. 1-8).
Derman-Sparks, L., & Edwards, J. O. (2010). Anti-Bias Education for Young Children and Ourselves. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children.
Fisher, B., Hydon, C., Jewell, P., & Nyland, B. (2008). Walking Respectfully: Exploring Indigenous Culture and Reconciliation in Early Childhood Practice. Victoria: Early Childhood Australia.
Freire, P. (2004). Pedagogy of Hope: Reliving Pedagogy of the Oppressed New York: The Continuum Publishing Company
Giugni, M., & Mundine, K. (2010). Talkin’ Up and Speakin’ Out: Aboriginal and Multicultural Voices in Early Childhood. Baulkham Hills, NSW: Pademelon Press.
Harrison, N., & Greenfield, M. (2011). Relationship to place: positioning Aboriginal knowledge and perspectives in classroom pedagogies. Critical studies in education, 52(1) (pp. 65-76).
Jorgensen, R., & Lowrie, T. (2013). Both ways strong: Using digital games to engage Aboriginal learners. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 17(2) (pp.130-142).
Jorgenson, R., Grootenboer, P., & Sullivan, P. (2013). Pedagogies to enhance learning for Indigenous students. Evidence-based practice (pp. 1- 20). Dordrecht: Springer.
Kitson, R., & Bowes, J. (2010). Incorporating Indigenous ways of knowing in early education for Indigenous children. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 35(4) (pp. 81-89).
Robinson, K., & Diaz, C. (2007). Diversity and difference in early childhood education: Issues for theory and practice. Maidenhead: Open University Press.
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