Citizenship through History - Local Aboriginal History

Gulpa Gaka to Yorta Yorta Woka

(Welcome to Yorta Yorta Country)

(Yorta Yorta Nation Aboriginal Corporation [YYNAC], 2010).


                    The Australian Curriculum’s Humanities and Social Sciences (HASS) education aims to provide students with a deep understanding of the world in which they live (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA], 2018). Teaching historical content and literacies is important for your children to better understand their current place in history, as well as the significance of historical events in their own and others’ societies; aiding them in becoming more active and informed citizens (Hoodless, 2008; Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA), 2008). 

                    Echuca is an Aboriginal name meaning “meeting of the waters” and is the traditional land of the Yorta Yorta people. It is important that our students develop an understanding and appreciation of the rich Aboriginal history this town has to offer. Our year 3 students will be exploring how people contribute to their communities both past and present and so our focus will be on helping our children empathise and understand, people of the past and how they lived (ACARA, 2018).This unit of work will use an inquiry based approach to develop understanding in humanities and social science (Gilbert & Hoepper, 2014).Inquiry based learning is an approach to education in which your children will be active participants in their own learning; posing questions, researching, problem solving and exploring different scenarios (Gilbert & Hoepper, 2014). 
                                                                                                                                                                        
                 Parental involvement is always encouraged as it supports your child’s educational and developmental outcomes (Hoover-Dempsey & Sandler, 1995). A conversation at dinner time about your knowledge of local Aboriginal history, canoe trees and the history of the Murray River can be beneficial to expanding prior knowledge and making deeper connections with the content we will be exploring (Brady & Kennedy, 2012).
  

(Aboriginal Dreamtime & Stories, 2014).

The use of primary sources will help to gain an empathetic connection to the past as well as inspire curiosity (Noel,2007).To help develop students Historical Literacy we will use interactive experiences such as a group activity building a traditional shelter; known as a Humpy (McDevitt & Ormrod, 2010). Students will also be given opportunities to explore the Yorta Yorta language and make nets for catching fish with the help of a local Aboriginal Elder.

Inquiry questions:


What aspects of Aboriginal culture do we still see today?
How has Aboriginal history shaped our local community? Why?
How did Aboriginal people contribute to their communities in the past?

 General capabilities:

 Literacy
Numeracy
 Critical and Creative thinking
 Personal and Social Capability 
Intercultural understanding (ACARA, 2018)

  Cross Curriculum Priority: 

 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures (ACARA, 2018).


 At the end of this unit of work students will complete a summative writing task. Students will be asked to answer the question: How did Aboriginal people contribute to their communities in the past? Your children's work will be displayed with evidence of other activities undertaken during the unit; in order to aid student confidence and pride in their work (Brady & Kennedy, 2012). 


Words: 480

 References:


Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority. (2018). The Australian Curriculum: HASS (Version 8.3). Retrieved from file:///Users/Tegan/Downloads/AustralianCurriculum.pdf

Brady, L., & Kennedy, K. (2012). Assessment and Reporting-Celebrating student achievement(4thed.). Frenchs Forest, NSW: Pearson Australia.

Gilbert, R. & Hoepper, B. (2014). Teaching Humanities and Social Sciences: History,
Geography, Economics & Citizenship (5th Ed.). South Melbourne, VIC: Cengage Learning.

Hoover-Dempsey, K. V., & Sandler, H. M. (1995). Parental involvement in children's education: Why does it make a difference? Teachers College Record, 97(2), 310-331.

Reynolds, R. (2014). Teaching Humanities and Social Sciences (3rd Ed.). South Melbourne, VIC: Oxford University Press.

Noel, A.M. (2007). Elements of a winning field trip. Kappa Delta Pi, 44(1), 42-44. Retrieved from http://eled3140spring2014,wikispaces.com/file/view/Elements+of+a+WInning+Field+Trip.pdf

McDevitt, T. M., & Ormrod, J. E. (2010). Child development and education(4thed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson. 

 Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA
(2008). Melbourne declaration on educational goals for young Australians. Retrieved from
http://www.curriculum.edu.au/verve/_resources/National_Declaration_on_the_Educational
Goals_fr_Young_Australians.pdf

Comments

  1. Christy KhooApril 9, 2019 at 6:45 AM

    Hi Tegan,
    Great start with listing the aim of this blog in order to help reader to know where the blog is leading to with the learning out come. I believe it may be helpful for you to rephrase the third sentence of the second paragraph in this blog post as it was slightly confusing with the sentence structure. Similar to the blog post before, I suggest it might be a good idea to double check the appropriate referencing for more than one resources (they can be very tricky sometimes). Overall, it was a good read about Yorta Yorta Country.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tegan McDougallApril 12, 2019 at 8:56 PM

      Hi Christy,
      I will rephrase the third sentence and referencing thank you.

      Delete
  2. Lily BondApril 9, 2019 at 11:33 PM

    Hi Tegan,

    I really enjoyed reading your post. It is engaging and easy for parents to understand exactly what their child will be doing. There is not much I would change about this as I feel like you have coved all of the outcomes of the assessment.
    The only things I picked up on include:
    • As Christy mentioned I think you will need to change your reference in the first paragraph to
    (Hoodless, 2008; Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA), 2008).
    • I have noticed that your word count is 548. I had a look and got 446. You may want to double-check this so you are not penalised for exceeding the word count.
    • Parents could be addressed earlier to show how they are incorporated and involved in their students learning
    Thanks for the post
    Lily ☺

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tegan McDougallApril 12, 2019 at 9:00 PM

      Hi Lily,

      The referencing will be changed throughout the blogs and I am not sure why I was referencing it that way to be honest. I will double check the word count as I feel I must have edited the blog before the post went up but not changed the word count. Thank you for the feedback on all three blogs they will be taken into account as I edit.

      Tegan

      Delete

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