1. FACULTY OF EDUCATION PRACTICUM
TEACHING PLAN NO:1
LESSON TITLE : Indigenous Education (Sorry
Day Artefact)
DATE: LEVEL: Grade 5/6
VELS : Domain and Dimension DURATION: Whole Day
LEARNING FOCUS: General statement outlining where this
lesson is placed in the overall program. Refer to the VELS learning
focus statements.
OBJECTIVES: What exactly will students do/achieve in the lesson?
(You can consult VELS progression points).
The aim of this lesson is for student to explore and respond to
others, develop skills, process emotions, express emotions and
ideas by signifying a purpose. Students will be able to reflect on
others ideas and identify key features and participate in
performance.
 Students will be able to apply and develop their knowledge by
exploring processes and ways to communicate concepts arising
from their personal experiences and the world around them.
 Students will be able to

TIME TEACHER ACTIVITIES * LEARNER ACTIVITIES * MATERIALS *
Introduction
Community Links
Community links: we bring new knowledge home to
help our mob, applying learning for community benefit.
Complete a whole class brainstorm- Discuss with the
students why people say sorry. What does sorry mean to
them?
In groups students will then discuss the reasons why a
country might hold a National Sorry Day, what they could
be apologizing for and record answers on their brainstorm
sheet. Students will then all come together for a whole
class discussion and the teacher will record the student’s
answers on a class brainstorm sheet.
Students will be able to participate in a whole
class brainstorm about why people say sorry,
what do it mean to them when someone says
sorry?
In groups students will then discuss the reasons
they might think a country will hold a National
Sorry Day. Students will work individually to
record their answers, which will then be shared
with the whole class.
 https://lms.latr
obe.edu.au/pl
uginfile.php/15
64575/mod_re
source/content
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%20Presentati
on.pdf
 Appendix one

2. Story Sharing
Visit from an elder from the local indigenous
community
An elder will visit the school and sit down with students in
order to innovate five intercultural symbols representing the
school rules/classroom rules.
The elders teach using stories, drawing lessons from
narratives to actively involve learners in introspection and
analysis’. This is not monologic but a shared dialogue with
learners; hence teaching and learning is also a social
activity in Aboriginal pedagogy.
Non-Linear Methods
Non-linear: Producing innovations and understandings
by thinking laterally.
Whole-to-part breakdown of community - town, then
groups, then families, then key individuals.
Students will structure and look at the grammar of a story
before crafting one in the target language. Students will
work independently being scaffolded throughout this task.
Learning Maps
Learning maps: explicitly mapping/ visualizing
process. We picture our pathways of knowledge.
Creating a map
Students will be modelled how to create a map with the
Students will have a visit from an elder who will
help them create 5 symbols that will represent the
school rules.
Students will be listening to narrative stories for
the elder. They will be learning about their culture.
Students will be looking at the structure and
grammar of a story. They will be then crafting a
story in one target language. Students will be
working individually and will be scaffold by the
teacher.
Students will be creating a whole school map as a

3. teacher modeling a map of the whole school. The map will
include everything in the school and a pathway around the
school. Then students will be asked to create their own
map of the school explaining what they see when they are
at the school. They will then be able to explain to the
teacher how they are going to get to their intended location.
whole class and then as an individual. They will be
mapping everything they see in the school and
creating images for this.
Students will then direct the teacher around their
map of the school.
10min
40mins
Body
Story Sharing
Story sharing: We connect through the stories we
share: approaching learning through a narrative.
Personal narrative stories are central
Symbols and Images
Symbols and images: we keep and share knowledge with
art and objects.
Talk about the Aboriginal flag:
Black represents the Aboriginal people-past (ancestors
who were the first people of this land), present and future.
Red represents Mother Earth from whom all life and
spirituality have come.
Yellow represents the sun, the giver of life, light and
warmth.
Dream time/ Stories
Guest speaker will come in to tell the students stories
about local dreaming and oral histrory.
Complete a time line with students in order of events
(Refer to appendix one)
Students will be having a discussion on what they
know about the Aboriginal flag. The teacher wants
students to talk about what they believe the three
colours on the flag and what they represent.
Students will be listening to their quest speaker
who will talk about the dreamtime and share
stories.
Students will complete a time line ordering the
order of events in appendix one.
 www.nationals
orryday.tripod.
com
 http://vickidroz
dowski.files.w
ordpress.com/
2012/10/indivi
dual-investigation-of-
a-learning-theory-aboriginal-pedagogy.
pdf
 http://8ways.wi
kispaces.com/
+Best+Aborigi
nal+Pedagogy
+Practice

4. 10min
20min
20mins
Students will read and rewrite the overview of Aboriginal
society as seven statements
Non-verbal: we see, we think, act, make and share without
words.
Story board
Students will create their own storyboard using images to
explain their story. The teacher will model what they are
expecting students to achieve and then students will be
able to demonstrate their story without using words.
Community Links
Community links: we bring new knowledge home to help
our mob, applying learning for community benefit.
Show students an image of the stolen generation-students
will identify questions about the photographs they
are given. They will then swap their questions while the
other group is answering their questions.
Rabbit proof fence
Personal testimonies from the stolen generation- get
students to read the accounts of children who were taken
from their families. Student’s work through the internet
based comparison chart, group discussions chart and
consolidating the comparisons.
Deconstruct/Reconstruct
Students will create a storyboard using nothing
but images to explain their story.
Students will be looking at images from the stolen
generation and will be identifying questions they
have about the images.
They will then be answering other group’s
questions.
Students will be reading the accounts of children
who were taken from their families in the stolen
generation. They will be generating group
discussions.

5. 5mins
15mins
Deconstruct/reconstruct: modeling and scaffolding,
working from whole parts. Holistic, global, scaffold and
independent learning orientations of students.
Students will write a letter as if they were from the
stolen generation.
The text is modelled by the more knowledgeable other
before the learner tires the task independently.
Story Sharing
Song: took the children away
Think/pair/share. What Archie Roach telling us in verses
two? Pairs of students use the worksheet to help them dig
deeper.
-Get students to rewrite verse two in their own words (using
music of a popular song students perform their song to
each other.)
Vox pop/ values and continuum – student interviews
three people for their response to the question ‘ should a
prime minister apologize for past injustices.’ Student cut
and past vox pop onto the group poster headed with the
values and continuum. The vox pops are organised and
pasted accordingly.
Land Links
Land links: place-based learning, linking content to local
land and place.
Visit to the local community
Teach the students about green stone and why aboriginals
wanted to obtain it. Talk about the history and then explain
Students will be watching the teacher model a
letter students will be writing as if they were apart
of the stolen generation.
Students will be listening to a song.
Students will be working in partners to do a
think/pair/share.
Students will then be asked to rewrite verse two in
their own words using a popular song.
Students will conduct interviews with three people
on their response to the question ‘Should the
prime minister apologize for past injustices?’
Students will learn about green stone and why
aboriginals wanted to obtain the stone.

6. we are going to do a land visit to where they mined
greenstone from in our local community.
Students will go on a walk to the Mount William stone axe
quarry in Lancefield to experience the prehistoric aboriginal
sight. Students will be able to walk the tracks of that
comprise of the remains of hundreds of mining pits and the
mounds of waste rock where aboriginal people obtained
green stone.
Students will then visit Mount William stone axe
quarry in Lancefield to see the prehistoric sight.
40
minute
s
Conclusion
Students will be able to reflect on their learning journey, by
creating a journal entry answering questions about their
experience today.
The questions will include:
 What did you learn today?
 Did you learn something new? What was it?
 Did you enjoy today? Why?
 What did you find interesting?

The teacher will then hold a share circle where they can
answer some of these questions as a whole class
reflection.
Pack up time.
Students will be reflecting on their own learning in
a journal entry. They will be answering questions
based on their day’s experiences.
Students will be participating in share time with
the whole class generating a whole class
reflection on the day’s events.
Students will pack up ready to leave for the day.
* What will I do to assist learning? What are the main
stages of the lesson? What is the content of each part?
What introductions, explanations, demonstrations,
examples, illustrations, key questions will I provide?
*What will the children will be engaged in at
different stages of the lesson? Where will they will
be working? Will they be working as a whole
class, individually, in pairs, groups, etc.
* What do I need for
the lesson: materials,
resources, aids, etc.
Where did I get to with my learning in this subject?

7. I gained my personal learning in this subject by creating goals, planning on how I was going to meet my goals and then creating a learning log to
show what I did in order to achieve my set goals by the end of the subject. I used my personal learning diagnostic to see what skills I thought I
already had and what skills I would need to gain and learn about. When I filled in this sheet I had realised that I haven’t b een fortunate enough to
haven’t used any of these skills in my planning and teaching.
I have learnt a lot about the 8 way of knowing in indigenous learning. I believe this is a fantastic was to incorporate these activites into
your planning. It creates a more hands-on type of learning experience it’s a more self to world experience, which I believe is what kids are lacking
these days.
What does this mean for me as a person and future teacher?
I have learnt so much throughout this subject, I have learnt that its’ not that easy to just p lan an ATSI unit or artefact the way you would normally
do it. You need to think about how these students learn and how family members in their small communities teach them. As a future teacher I
will use the 8 ways of knowing, and try to incorporate these into every lesson not just one. I think this had now given me a better understanding
into their being more than one way of explain or showing a student something, I will now use these new skills in order to help each individual
learner. I think this means for me that I have now gained a skill that not a lot of people have I would have love to have been taught in these
different ways throughout my school as I feel I am a more visual learner and these 8 ways of knowing really focus on that .
Where to know?
The learning I have done over this subject is incredible it will enable me to do so much more when I am planning for an ATSI content and
learners of the future as I will now be able to incorporate the 8 ways of knowing in to my lessons in order to cater for every individual learner.

8. References
Tripod (2014) .National Sorry Day. Retrieved from: www.nationalsorryday.tripod.com
8 ways(2012). Aboriginal Ways of Learning. Retrieved from: http://8ways.wikispaces.com/
Yunkaporta, T (2012). Indigenous Knowledge Systems: Comparing Aboriginal and Western Ways of Knowing. Retrieved from:
http://aboriginalrights.suite101.com/article.cfm/indigenous_knowledge_syste ms
8 ways(2012). Aboriginal Ways of Learning. Retrieved from: http://8ways.wikispaces.com/+Best+Aboriginal+Pedagogy+Practice
Wikipedia (2014). Mount William stone axe quarry. Retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_William_stone_axe_quarry
Yunkaporta, T, (2009). Aboriginal pedagogies at the cultural interface. Retrieved from: http://eprints.jcu.edu.au/10974/4/04Bookchapter.pdf
Closing the Gap through Indigenous Education (2014). Indigenous 8 ways of knowing. Retrieved from:
http://closethecircle.blogspot.com.au/2011/05/8-aboriginal-ways-of-learning.html
New learning (2014). Indigenous 8 ways of knowing. Retrieved from: http://newlearningonline.com/literacies/chapter-1/eight-aboriginal-ways-
of-learning

9. Appendix 1
1901 January 1st - Federation - The Commonwealth Constitution states "in reckoning the numbers of people... Aboriginal natives shall not be
counted
Aboriginal people are excluded from the vote, pensions, employment in post offices, enlistment in armed forces and maternity allowance.
1904 The Queensland government establishes Cherbourg, an Aboriginal community, about 30 km from Gympie.
1908 - The Invalid and Old Age Pensioner Act provides social security but not for Aboriginals.
1905 - The Western Australia Aborigines Act is passed, making the Chief Protector the legal guardian of every Aboriginal and 'half-caste' child
under 16 years old.
1909 - Aboriginal schools established in NSW. Exclusion of Aboriginal children from public schools. The teacher is usually the reserve manager's
untrained wife.
1911 – The Chief protector can remove children by force 1912 – Maternity allowance introduced but not for
Aboriginal people
1918 Protection Board given powers to remove children from their families for training as domestic servants.
1914 - Beginning of WWI. Aboriginal children continue to be removed from their families during the period 1914 to 1918, including children whose
fathers are overseas at war. Aboriginal soldiers are among Australian troops at Gallipoli.
1920 - Aboriginal population is estimated to be at its lowest at 60,000 - 70,000. It is widely believed to be a 'dying race'. Most Australians have no
contact with Aboriginal people due to segregation and social conventions.
1926 - Following the killing of a European in Dala, Western Australia, 11 Aboriginal people are murdered in police custody; no prosecut ions
follow.
1927 - Federal law for family endowment excludes Aboriginal people. Aboriginal people are denied maternity allowance and old age pension and
banned from central Perth

10. 1928 - Conniston Massacre in the Northern Territory.
32 Aboriginal people shot after a European dingo trapper and a station owner are attacked by them.
A court of inquiry rules the action 'justified'. Aboriginal people are refused legal aid by the federal government.
1934 - Aboriginal people can apply to 'cease being Aboriginal' and have access to the same rights as 'whites'.
1936 - Aboriginal people permitted to be taken into custody without trial or appeal and prohibited from entering prescribed towns without a permit.
1937 - Assimilation policy
Aboriginal people of mixed descent are to be assimilated into white society whether they want to be or not, those not living tribally are to be
educated and all others are to stay on reserves.
1939 - World War II . Aboriginal people are not recognised as citizens, but serve in Europe, the Middle East, the Pacific and New Guinea.
1950 - The first formal schooling for Aboriginal children in the Northern Territory is provided. Lack of facilities is rationalised by the claim that
children "beyond the age of 10 couldn't keep up with white children anyway".
Aboriginal children assimilate into NSW local schools, if all other parents agree. This right of veto is removed in 1960.
1953 - The Northern Territory Welfare Ordinance makes Aboriginal people wards of the government, basically making Aboriginal adults and
children, minors.
1960 - The Department of Native Affairs ceases forcefully taking Aboriginal children and sending them to missions.
Aboriginal people become eligible for social service benefits.
1962 – The right to vote
1965 - Northern Territory patrol officers 'bring in' the last group of Aboriginal people - the Pintubi people - living independently in the desert. They
are relocated to Papunya and Yuendumu,
The 'assisted Aborigines‘ policy - Aboriginals could be detained for up to a year for behaving in an 'offensive, threatening, insolent, insulting,
disorderly, obscene or indecent manner' or 'leaving, escaping or attempting to leave or escape from a reserve'.
1967 - Aboriginal people counted in the census.

11. Sorry Day 1998
It was decided that to recognise the wrongs that had been done to our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples that a Na tional Sorry Day
should be declared. Sorry Day offered the community the opportunity to participate in activities to say sorry for what had been done to our
Indigenous people.
We remember that the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are our first Australians and deserve special consideration.