Here are my questions:
So what might this mean for literacy and numeracy teaching and learning Birth to 4?
What does this mean for me as an educator and learner?
What might it mean for Aboriginal children?
What might it mean for all children?
One of the explanations of Aboriginal pedagogy I have encountered is 8 ways. 8 ways is an Aboriginal pedagogy developed by the people of Western New South Wales. The framework is expressed as eight interconnected pedagogies involving narrative-driven learning, visualised learning processes, hands-on/reflective techniques, use of symbols/metaphors, land-based learning, indirect/synergistic logic, modelled/scaffolded genre mastery, and connectedness to community.
While the 8 ways provides insight into Aboriginal pedagogies it must be noted that this has been developed in a particular context. There may be some general applications for others and it is helpful in providing a starting point for conversation.
Another important note about context comes from the diverse nature of Aboriginal nations and groups. Aboriginal Languages: Click on this link for interactive map. I have experienced first hand the discontent and ill-feeling a tool like this can have. People are incredibly anxious about cultural sensitivity and appropriateness given this diversity. And rightly so. However as in the process of reconciliation if we are paralysed by fear and do nothing we will not move forward. I see 8 ways an part of the process of heading towards reconciliation.
To value and honour a pedagogy that has existed for 10s of 1000s of years is significant. To use it to add to what we already know and do is beneficial for all involved. This is not just a pedagogy for Aboriginal children. There are elements of this for everyone. I have thought about how I might use some of the elements when I am teaching adults.
There are links between the 8 ways and the ideas I explored in the reading post "Artefacts for Learning" Cultural artefacts are so much more than boomerangs and spears. They include dancing, dreamtime stories, art, land, and language. And what I discovered in the readings was that artefacts more broadly, according to Anthony and Walshaw can be almost anything - children's work, graphs, models metaphors mathematical symbols and equations and even the number system to examples, stories, illustrations, textbooks, rulers, clocks, calendars, technology, and problem contexts.
Anthony, G. & Walshaw, M. (2007a). Mathematics teaching for diverse learners utilises tools as learning supports in Pedagogy in Mathematics/Pangarau.
Wellington: Ministry of Education. P126-140
Supporting children to make links to everyday events is central to Aboriginal pedagogies. This contextualised learning is important for all children and parallels early childhood pedagogy of play.
The links to literacy and numeracy learning aside from those mentioned above become evident in the information on the 8 ways Wiki Spaces site
http://8ways.wikispaces.com/8way+maths
The authors provide excellent resources to support educator reflection on practice in order to incorporate the Aboriginal pedagogies outlined in 8 ways.
There is a shift we need to make in the teaching of maths in Indigenous contexts. It is
quite simply this:
Rather than trying to bring out the culture in maths, we need to bring out the maths in culture.
We also need to shift our understanding of what culture is for the purposes of education. Material culture (i.e. didgeridoos, dot painting, dance, bush tucker) is very important, but arguably is the least productive aspect of our culture to include in curricula.
The more productive side of culture is the intangible, the unseen, the previously unexamined. We're talking about the genuine lived reality of our students here. You might find this side by examining the following questions in the community, questions which actually pertain to the students' authentic home cultures as they impact on the learning of maths:
What is their attitude towards money?
What do they believe about luck and chance?
What kinds of patterns do they habitually respond to in the world around them?
What substitutions and abstract symbols or ideas do they use? (e.g. this stands for that).
How do they customarily make predictions and estimations?
How do they compare things and assign value?
How do they classify and categorise objects, people, and places?
What are their strategies for memorising? Solving problems and dilemmas?
Do they ever have to concentrate on two things at once? What is their technique for doing this?
How do they divide and distribute resources amongst family members?
What kinds of instructions are they used to following? Oral or print? Single- or multi-step?
On language
Katrina Power Kaurna women said ….language is culture.
In South Australia Kaurna Warra Pintyandi is the caretaker of the Kaurna Language. They recently launched a series of videos to continue to "wake the sleeping language"
Accompanying this is a set of written resources the most recent being Kulluru Marni Ngattaitya: A Kaurna Learners' and Teachers' Guide.
Learning and teaching Kaurna is an exciting prospect.
I still have so much to learn.
I still want to know more.
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