Happy Birthday David Unaipon

Today, the 28th of September is the 140th birthday of David Unaipon. He was the first published Aboriginal author. He was a scientist and mathematician, an inventor and a religious educator.

We can only image what his life, as an Aboriginal man must have been like 140 years ago. It is not hard to imagine the hardships and disappointment he would have experienced as a result of society's embedded racism against Aboriginal people. And we can only imagine what he might have achieved had he been given the same opportunities as other men of his age.

Sadly, most Australian's, young and old, will say "who?" when we mention his name. Let's spread the word of him and work and begin to make him the household name he should be.

More information about David Unaipon:

• Diju Know about David Unaipon from ABC's Message Club. Written by Anita Heiss.
• Local and history information about David Unaipon from Adelaide
• Fact Sheet from the Racism No Way resource. 

Image credit: A deadly birthday cake for David Unaipon by Annie Ah Kee using Minecraft.

WYP: Creating effective relationships with families

A question from LB in Brisbane: Do you have any tips or ideas on how best form and nurture 'effective relationships' with Indigenous students and their family?

 Thanks for your question LB. I can only speak from personal experience, but for me, the key to forming and nurturing effective relationships with Indigenous students and their families, is the same for all students with some subtle differences.

What is an effective relationship?
No doubt an academic definition of an “effective relationship‘ exists but a commonsense definition would be a relationship that works. Have you ever heard people say “I don’t need to like you, but we do have to work together”? Well for many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families, it may be the same thing. At the minimum, I really am not interested if you like my children or me, but you do have to create an environment where my children’s learning needs are met.

Some facets of an effective relationship in a school context include:

Good Communication: 
Be a good communicator, and be available to be a good communicator. The day-to-day to-and-fro of school & home life, is not easy. As an educator take different opportunities to provide incidental as well as intentional communication.

• Incidental communication are those opportunities for communication that are not planned. A wave or a smile as you’re walking to and from school or across the carpark, or at the local shops. When parents are dropping their children at school. This is particularly relevant for the “be available to be a good communicator” principle. If you’re walking along with your head down, a scowl or a frown on your face, there will not be many parents, except the most insistent ones, who approach you.
• Intentional communication is where you set out to communicate a specific message to your students and their families. You’ll need to consider the different modes of communication available to you. Some parents will prefer a paper newsletter, an email newsletter, a pre-arranged interview time, etc.

Your core job as a teacher is communication. Just as your students require different modes of communication based on their diverse needs, so too do their parents. Some specific strategies might be:

• Depending on your school community, perhaps brainstorm with your school leaders, families and community about different communication opportunities. 
• As a school you may decide to make your weekly assembly a major event with lots of extended family attending - with notices being read out as well as other updates for families. 
• Create visually attractive newsletter templates that can be easily and quickly reproduced for families.
• Create a visually attractive yearly calendar so that families know what events are coming up.
• Encourage families to attend the P&C/School council events. Make them welcome when they do turn up. 
• As a school community develop appropriate social media spaces for your school. 

Good listening
Another key aspect of being able to nurture an effective relationship is good listening. A part of good listening is opening your mind to what another person is saying.  A few points to remember:

• Remember that some people “say things” by actually not saying anything. It can be frustrating, but no feedback can be feedback. 
• Don’t assume that you know what your families are talking about. Carefully re-phrase statements to check that you have heard correctly. 
• Take time to learn about the history of the community, the school and families. 

Being thoughtful
Think before you speak. Don’t self-censor yourself, but you do need to have a handle on your language and how it impacts on others. Don’t use terms that you know will offend people, for example, “full-blood”, “half-caste” etc.

Remember:

• You can’t know everything. You’re not a mind-reader. And if you’re new to a school, then you need time and space to find out what you should know. 
• Allow yourself to make mistakes. 
• Acknowledge people for their contributions to your learning. 
• Treat people respectfully and they’ll respect you back. 
• Treat community educators as your peers. They may not have a teaching degree, but they have the same degree of knowledge in their fields of expertise and there’s a good chance they’ve been “studying” it longer than the 4 or 5 years it took you to get your degree.Really think about how much time you've invested in getting to know about your school.

Other hints and tips: 

• Don’t assume that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people will want to be your cultural educator. Some will offer to lend a hand, but make sure you’re putting in effort to find information yourself. 
• Say sorry when you need to - say it as soon as you realise you’ve messed up. If people know you’re genuine, they’ll move past. 
• Give people time to get to know you. And give yourself time to get to know others. 
• Follow the work of Dr Chris Sarra and understand and know what your expectations are. 
• Think about the link between your relationship with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and their families and what you're teaching in your classroom. Is your curriculum respectful and acknowledging? 

Effective relationships are not rocket science, it takes patience, time, and plenty of respect building.

"You can't have a partnership without a relationship, and you can't have a relationship without a conversation" What Works

What other aspects of effective relationships are there? Are their any other specific things that we can do to foster positive relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and their families?

I look forward to your feedback.


Some online resources:

• Working with Aboriginal people and communities
• What works

2012 Deadly Singles of the Year - some class ideas

One of the categories at the 2012 Deadly Awards is Single of the Year. Each song in this category is very different and spans a range of different styles and genres. Each artist expresses different ideas in their music - some sing about identity, some sing about music, and others love. We have found links to each of the nominated 2012 singles for you.

Class activity ideas:
1. Listen to each of the songs
2. Go online and find out more about each artist
3. What are the different styles of music in this year's singles?
4. What styles do you like or don't like?
5. What other artists are in each of the different categories? Eg. Troy Cassar-Daley is a country music artist, who are some other country music artists you know of
6. What are these Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists singing about in their music?
7. The artists nominated in 2012 are at different stages in their careers. Some have a very strong web presence, while others are still developing theirs. What kinds of technology and mediums can an artist use to generate an audience.

Yabu Band - Petrol, Paint and Glue

http://www.voiceproductions.com.au/assets/music/Petrol-Paint-and-Glue.mp3

Troy Cassar-Daley - Country Is
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXpiiV5SsVY

Yung Warriors - Standing Strong
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clJZDJuf2gs

Busby Marou - I Still Don't Believe
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3SYLJNimRg


Jessica Mauboy - Galaxy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGwm5vIYKDY

The Deadlys

It's time to celebrate The Deadlys. Created in 1997, The Deadlys celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander musicians, artists, sports people and community leaders. In 2012 the Deadly Awards will be held on the 25th of September at the Sydney Opera House.

The Deadlys, like the NAIDOC awards, provide a positive affirmation of identity and achievement. In the face of overwhelming negative depictions in the mainstream imagination for over 200 years, affirmation is important.

Best of luck to all the nominees. The Critical Classroom team will not be in Sydney, but we'll definitely be watching the social media feed as well looking for the broadcast.

Will you be following The Deadlys? 

Blak History Month 2012

It's been pretty quiet here on The Critical Classroom front for July. We did get our first 2012 E-News finished and sent out*. But we've been pretty much consumed with getting the 2012 Blak History Month fact sheets completed. 

You can download your own copies of 31 Great Moments in Blakhistory from the Blak History Month Facebook page. I'll update our Blak History Month for Teachers website when I have some free time.

*If you would like to download a copy, you'll find it here. You can subscribe to upcoming monthly E-News by subscribing here.

You have no customers in your Cafe? Do you blame them for not coming or do work harder to make your Cafe better?

This is the analogy that Ian Mackie from the Department of Education in Queensland raised today at the Dare to Lead’s National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Conference. His paper raised a number of questions: Can we continue to blame parents and communities who are unable to support our industrial education system? Is that the best solution? Or is it just the simplest?

The theme for the conference was '2025 Building Strong Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Students for their Future' and for me Ian Mackiés presentation best summed up my concerns about the direction of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education and how we need to come up with new solutions that really do listen to community.

The conference began with a Welcome to Country by Aunty Agnes Shea accompanied by Mr Duncan Smith and his two sons who entertained participants with three songs. The sound of language, Didj, boomerangs and clapsticks echoed through the large meeting room. It was then followed by an award ceremony with awards for Excellence in Leadership in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education for 2011 presented by the Minister for School Education, Early Childhood and Youth, the Honourable Peter Garrett.

I was able to attend a number of sessions. The first keynote "Yes you do make a difference!", Associate Professor Robert Somerville from Western Australia, outlined a practical research-based approach of the work of Vic Zbar (2009). His work, "Punching above their weight", presented a very useful discussion about the preconditions for success which he argued are:

1. Strong Leadership - stable, skilled at resource allocation and can draw out staff expertise 
2. High Expectations - of students and high efficacy between teachers and students
3. Orderly Environment - consistent message not petty rules but consequences
4. Focus on core priorities - no more than 5 

He also argues that there should not be a focus on achieving regular attendance rates above 90 per cent, rather about increasing “average” attendance.

As I mentioned above, I also attended the keynote “From Attendance Crisis to Participation Crisis:  Reframing the Indigenous Attendance Problem” by Ian Mackie, the Assistant Director-General Indigenous Education and Training Futures - Education Queensland and it really got me thinking.

He argued that poor attendance at schools can be attributed to three reasons:

1. Poor or hostile parental and carer attitudes towards school. From his experience, we continue to blame the victim. But taking the cafe analogy, parents and students are our customers. If we were running a cafe for example and people were not coming would we blame the customers or the chef for serving bad food.  Do we go to those customers and say you should eat this food because it is good for you?  Of course, it sounds ridiculous, but we continue to do this to our students. 
2. Poor societal support or insufficient valuing of education. Here he argued that we need to be careful that we don’t continue to say “attend school, do well and you will get a good job”. Because this is not an accurate picture of how various job markets work in the new century. 
3. Poor teaching and inconsistent attitudes and policies towards attendance. He proposed that instead of saying to a child that is late “why are you late? get to the office”, why not say “we’re glad to see you at school today”. Most schools will send students who arrived late to the office where they are confronted with an old cranky (usually) lady, stand around for 10 minutes fill in a form why late, then walk to class, making them even later, missed instruction, struggle, and sit through stuff it didn’t want to be here anyway. 

I also listened to Rory O’Connor’s presentation. I’m afraid I took very few notes at his session, as I was too busy watching the slideshow of Rory’s images. He and I are from the same country - Yugambeh - and his images featured many of my family. Oops. I’ll have to make a point of getting along to another of his sessions so that I can stay on the key messages.

Overall, an excellent day in Canberra, and I look forward to attending more in the future.

Yours in Unity, Lisa M Buxton.

Aboriginal diggers fighting for recognition of their service

Our nation have fallen short on all accounts when it comes to our treatment of our Indigenous servicemen and women. Pastor Denis Atkinson

In our previous posts about an Indigenous perspective of ANZAC Day, we wrote about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander service men and women being discriminated against.

Here is a link to Uncle John Lovett who is seeking to have his father's, grandfather's and uncles service recognised and a recognition by the state that those men were not given the same recognition as other service men and women on their return from military duty.



What must be remembered in talking about compensation claims for previous wrongs, and I think it's something that is rarely thought about when determining the amount of compensation to award, is that when you do not allow people to take advantage of a wage or benefit you not only discriminate against that person at the point in time, but you also impact on the economic and social condition of the next generations.

Benefits (like privilege) advantage the present, AND the future.
Likewise denying benefits to a whole generation disadvantages present and future generations.

ANZAC Day from an Indigenous perspective - online resources

I posted recently three conceptualisations of ANZAC Day from an Indigenous perspective. This post provides a number of useful online resources based on these ideas.

The War of Colonisation
The war of colonisation has not been recognised as a "war" despite the devastation for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples and cultures.

Some useful resources: 

• National Gallery of Australia: Aboriginal Memorial exhibition which recognises all thoseAboriginal people who have lost their lives since 1788. http://nga.gov.au/AboriginalMemorial/home.cfm
• A chilling read is a list of massacres of Indigenous Australians http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_massacres_of_Indigenous_Australians
• The Myall Creek Massacre http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myall_Creek_massacre
• Tracker: ANZAC Day march labelled as disrespectful  http://tracker.org.au/2012/04/anzac-day-marched-labeled-disrespectful/
• Tracker: Invasion debate: Was Australia settled peacefully?  http://tracker.org.au/2011/08/the-invasion-debate-was-australia-invaded-or-peacefully-settled/

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were diggers too
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men and women have given their lives in every official military operation since Federation.

Some useful resources:

• Story of quest for a local Aboriginal War Memorial (Adelaide) http://city-messenger.whereilive.com.au/news/story/no-sign-of-aboriginal-memorial/
• The Australian War Memorial: Too Dark for the lighthorse: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People in the defence forces http://www.awm.gov.au/education/resources/box/3/
• Australian War Memorial: Reginald Saunders, the first Aboriginal person to be given a commissioned rank. http://www.awm.gov.au/encyclopedia/aborigines/indigenous.asp
• The Australian War Memorial: "One ilan man": the Torres Strait Light Infantry http://www.awm.gov.au/wartime/12/ilan-man
• Tracker: Aboriginal War Veteran on memorial on Bondi memorial  http://tracker.org.au/2011/11/aboriginal-war-veteran-featured-on-bondi-memorial/
• Tracker: Renewed calls for an Aboriginal veterans memorial in Sydney  http://tracker.org.au/2011/05/renewed-calls-for-an-aboriginal-veterans-memorial-in-sydney/
• ABC: A light is shone on Aboriginal soldiers'service. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2010-10-29/a-light-is-shone-on-aboriginal-soldiers-service/2316108

Social Media resources

• Facebook: Mark of respect for Indigenous Australians. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mark-of-respect-for-indigenous-Australian-soldiers/159267687432284

Leesa Watego

Exploring ANZAC Day from an Indigenous perspective

[Note: This post contains images, words and works of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who are now deceased]

 

We can understand ANZAC Day in relation to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People in a number of different ways. Here are three ways of conceptualising Indigenous responses -

1) Challenge the authority of ANZAC Day
ANZAC Day as a commemoration remembers the sacrifices of Australian men and women in Australian wars since World War 1. It is a recognition of those who "wore a uniform" in official battles. From an Indigenous perspective, this day is flawed as it fails to acknowledge the thousands of Australians - men, women and children - who fought and lost their lives in the War that was/is Colonisation. The above National Gallery of Australia exhibition created in 1988 is a recognition of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who have died since colonisation.

2) There were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander diggers too
This perspective acknowledges ANZAC Day but recognises that there have been Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander diggers in every Australian conflict since Federation. These men and women fought proudly beside their comrades. That there has been little acknowledgement of the contribution of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander diggers is linked to the third concept.

3) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander diggers were treated as second-class citizens
This perspective is about a recognition that many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander diggers, despite their sacrifice and contribution in wars overseas, were treated as second-class citizens when they returned home. When they returned home they were subject to the same individual and systemic racism from White individuals and institutions as they were when they left.

William Cooper, Secretary of the Australian Aborigines’ League, argued in 1939

that Aborigines should not fight for White Australia. Cooper had lost his son in the First World War and was bitter that Aboriginal sacrifice had not brought any improvement in rights and conditions. He likened conditions in White-administered Aboriginal settlements to those suffered by Jews under Hitler. Cooper demanded improvements at home before taking up "‘the privilege of defending the land which was taken from him by the White race without compensation or even kindness'. Quote source

There are multiple ways of conceptualising ANZAC Day, these are just three. The key is to be considerate and understanding of these different perspectives (and the many others you will encounter) as you approach your investigations of this annual event.

Leesa Watego

Koori Radio: great for your classroom

Just had a spot of Koori Radio talking about The Critical Classroom. Talking on radio & tv isn't my thing but Lola Forester was fabulous, she even gave me some hints on exercising while blogging. 

Please make sure you check out the Gadigal Web Site and other community radio stations in your area. Community media is so important and programmes like this help to circulate information & ideas. It's the type of programme you could easily run in the background of your classroom during silent reading.

Go to the National Indigenous Radio Service for information about and links to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander radio stations. 


Leesa Watego