Dear Koori Curriculum,
I wonder if you could give me some advice please?
I’m a prep teacher at a culturally diverse school. I would like to incorporate more Indigenous awareness within my classroom, and have decided this year to set up a space where students can explore, and learn through play in an area that’s dedicated to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander learning resources.
I wonder if you would be willing to offer some suggestions on resources that are appropriate?
Thanks so much.
Tony
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Dear Tony,
I’m so happy to hear that you are thinking about ways to include culture in your classroom. Our philosophy at the Koori Curriculum is that we encourage educators to embed culture within topics of enquiry and interests instead of creating designated cultural corners.
The thinking behind this is that cultural knowledge and perspectives hold greater meaning when shared in context and add value to the curriculum, rather than teaching about Aboriginal people and our culture as a theme or interest.
Each week in the Koori Curriculum Educator Community facebook group we post the following statement as a provocation “ This week the children are interested in ____ and we embedded an Aboriginal perspective by ____”. A quick read of this thread will showcase lots of ways that educators are currently doing this in their practice.
Additionally, for more information about our approach I would suggest watching our webinar “Embedding Aboriginal Perspectives in Early Childhood” which you can register for here: https://kooricurriculum.com/collections/webinar
Kind Regard,
Jess and Team
