inquiryBITES

Knowlege & World Views in the Critical Classroom: a journey of on-going inquiry

These notes are to accompany a lecture given on 31st August, 2009 for pre-service education students enrolled in EDB007 Culture Studies: Indigenous Education (mid-semester) at Queensland University of Technology. This post can be conjunction with the slides on slideshare.net/leesawatego

So far in this semester, students have explored concepts such as standpoint, epistemologies, the power & privelege of knowledge.

In this lecture we expand these concepts, but also include the idea of the critical classroom & inquiry to highlight the importance understanding & incorporating different knowledges and world views into your practice.

In the past I've regularly used a quote by Gale about the impact of book on Indigenous readers. She states:

"books can be dangerous to Indigenous readers if they

• do not reinforce our values, actions, customs, culture and identity;
• when they tell us only about others they are saying that we do not exist;
• they may be writing about us but are writing things which are untrue; &
• they are writing about us but saying negative and insensitive things which tell us we are not good."

Re-reading this quote this morning, I've realised that above is most certainly true, but less true in a critical classroom. In a critical classroom, you're not just interested in "what the knowledge says" but "how did we get that knowledge in the first place".

A critical classroom expects a constant tenor of inquiry that questions and reflects on what is written/said, who wrote/said it and why.

Many parents of Indigenous children in Australian clasrooms do not see this idea of the critical classroom in practice. For many parents, the singing of the national anthem & the flag is problematic. In addition, many schools in Australia still only have a single flagpole (for the Australian flag).

What impact (for better & for worse) does our world view have on our education practice? How can we "alter" our practice to make it more effective?

Two examples in the key learning areas of art/SOSE and science show that it is possible to incorporate different ways of seeing into the everyday classroom, not just at NAIDOC week.

Some links for your PLN

On slideshare.net

• Kurt Love
• Tony Ward

A few blogs to get you started (not many of these are on "cultural studies" or "Indigenous education", but they're education blogs about transforming teaching practice in all areas)

• Ecology of Education
• Teach Paperless

Other stuff to add to your PLN

• Sir Ken Robinson's TED talk Schools Kill Creativity

 

Hey Super Geek! Have I got an untapped market for you!!!

Update 28th August, 2009 Have just found this blog. There is also a free e-book related to free-technology available from the website.

Are you a supergeek service?

You know, the kind that goes around fixing up ordinary folks computers? Or ordinary folk bring their stuff to you? And sometimes their problems are hardware, but quite often is software?

Do your customers struggle with the new-fangled things like that friend-book thingy or that twitter stuff that they've heard about on the news or read in the local paper?

Is this you??

Here's an untapped market - PARENTS OF SCHOOL CHILDREN.

I reckon there's an invisible wall between home & school in relation to technology and learning. You could be the link. Be able to answer questions like:

1) which kind of computer I should buy on my limited budget.
2) I tried to save money and space on the mini-computer I bought, so i got Compare Office not Microsoft Word, how do I help my kids take their files between two softwares at home & school.
3) What's this blackboard thing about? (or whatever system is used in your community)
4) How do I help my child remember all their passwords? why so many passwords?
5) What's google docs? And other free-software? Should I use it? How do I use it?
6) How do they access email?
7) How do I connect to the internet?
8) What's a modem?
9) How do I keep my child safe?
10) What's a firefox?

See how mundane these types of questions are? Imagine all the learning that is being stifled because these questions are in the way?

You could easily answer those questions & be paid for it.

How would you do it?
* First, you need to get to know what teachers are doing in the classroom. Get around the education networks (#edchat on twitter for instance), know about moodle, edmodo, wikis etc.
* Second, get to know parents - their needs & gaps in their knowledge etc.
* Third, get yourself a parent/family client.
* Fourth, provide them with the BEST service ever, answer ALL the questions. If you can't answer a question, go and find the answer and get back to them.
* Fifth, call them up a week later & check how the family* is doing.
* Sixth, repeat.

I reckon Word-of-Mouth will keep you busy for a long time.

* Notice I changed from Parents to Families - technology (take-up & resistance) influences & involves the entire family. It impacts of family dynamics positively & negatively. Your great service can have a positive impact on individual families & communities.

Schools don't have time, teachers don't have time or the expertise (many teachers are still technology novices themselves), but you school super geek, could fill this gap.

So, if you want to be the SUPER-IST SUPER GEEK in your community, why not niche yourself to become my family's SUPER GEEK.

Remember: No school in Australia would be permitted to endorse you or your services, but official endorsement is not what you're looking for.

Free-Range Scholar Support Service

I'm making up an acronym -  Free-Range-Scholar (I think I've plagarised it from @blogdiva - but because we're free-range its okay). I've referred to myself in recent years as an academic refugee - its like a Life-Long Learner, but kinda not, because despite ourselves, we do look for the rigour of academia (even if we don't always achieve it).

But I think we FRS' love reading academic texts - newspapers really are not enough & some stuff on the web is dodgy (not all - but some. This is fine if you're a university student or staff member, then you will have access to that stuff through your library's databases.

However, if you're NOT then its really hard to access some journals. They cost $$.

So, under the blog category of free-range-scholar, I'm linking good quality writings from the web (readings, journal articles & ejournals) about all kinds of topics.

The first is the International Journal of Critical Indigenous Studies. They're based at the Indigenous Studies Research Network based at QUT, Brisbane, Australia.

If you know of any good journals on the web, drop me a line.

Thanks, Leesa

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Birrguu Matya: A Wiradjuri Game by Donna Hensen

Birrguu Matya. Have you heard of this game before? Its great. My kids love this game. It comes wrapped in a little foldable felt mat (which doubles as the game board). I hang it up so it doesn't get lost.

I've not been able to find very much information at all about the game, nor its creator Donna Hensen. Well, when I say creator, I mean creator in its current format, as its based on a traditional game from the Wiradjuri people.

I highly recommend this game for students. I'd purchase one or two sets at least for the classroom, then inspire the students to make their own games using whatever is around them.

Here is a summary of the information that I can find about the game, including where you can purchase it.

• here is a link to a unit on Mathematics in Indigenous contexts at Quirindi School (NSW Board of Studies)
• you can purchase it from Dreamtime Kullilla Art Products , Echidnas on the Loose,   Eco-Toys,    Gecko Educational,  Kangaroo Valley Woodcrafts,   Bud's Toys , and many others. The prices are probably all very similar once you take into consideration credit card fees and postage. Though I've bought mine from Dreamtime Kullilla Art Products as they are an Aboriginal Owned Company (some of the others listed above may be as well, but i've not researched them).

I've not been able to find any further information on the internet about Donna Hensen the designer. But I thoroughly recommend this game to every family. 

Social Media is changing the marketing rules - hurry up & learn em!

I uploaded the trailer teaser to my facebook account last night. I found it because @kissability went to the You Cannot Buy My Soul concert, fell in love with Dan Sultan, googled him when she got home, and found the trailer on You Tube. She then tweeted the link which I saw & clicked as well. I, being an old BND fan since the original production, of course shared it with my friends on facebook with the idea to have a BND Sing-a-long cinema session. I mean who could resist singing "There's nothing I would rather be than to be an Aborigine" at the top of their lungs. Checking Facebook this morning, turns out I've got a couple of friends keen on coming along. So how about we find out more about the release doubt, how about I connect with someone and suggest we do it in Brisbane (maybe make it a special night, perhaps a small donation & turn it into a fundraiser for something, we could dress up or something - who knows). But guess what - can I find the connect point with the producers or the show? nothing. There are heaps of mentions, newspaper articles & ABC stories.

But where to connect????? Nothing.

This is a web2.0 world and there is no connect point for BND. We the people can help you market your film, because some of us feel like we partly own the story - its been in our lives for so long, we want to generate the buzz because we believe in it. Help us to help you to help us.

Remember the Star Trek legend? Those fans bought a dead series back to life. Now we may not do anything that grand - but we can do something.

How to start?

1)Start a Facebook fan page

2)Start a blog (wordpress is free)

3)Share - photos, anecdotes, dates & events, information, history.

We'll do the rest for you!!

28 December 09

I've been meaning to write an update to this post for a month or so. I just wanted to comment on my own post by saying that I think its a bit mean spirited. As someone who is trying to "do" the social media thing - and am struggling to get it done - how can I bag the film-makers for not doing. So apologies to the team. I'm excited about the film - will be singing my heart out indeed!!

Bran Nue Dae: The Movie [check out the teaser trailer]