Storytelling "The dreaming“ Yr 4 Unit

Storytelling "The dreaming“ Yr 4 Unit Objectives: To provide opportunities for students to learn about Aboriginal people’s use of story, dance and language, to depict and describe their relationship with nature and to show journeys and deeds of  creator ancestors from the Dreaming. To provide the opportunity for children to value and respect another language and culture within this community. To enjoy learning words from another language and to use this knowledge to produce simple stories the same way.

https://sielearning.tafensw.edu.au/toolboxes/toolbox907/swf/ Click here for website. This website covers Traditional perspectives that the students need to know before embarking on unit.

Write Dreamtime on the board? What does this mean? These are the stories that belong to the Indigenous people And they teach us a lesson or they explain something about Creation, or how things came to be. Share some of the Dreamtime stories you know. What lessons do they teach us? What might they teach us about the beginning (creation) of something?

Aboriginal Stories The art, stories, songs and dances, became well known as part of the Dreaming, but it is still little understood. The Dreamtime is part of the oral tradition, and is only one aspect of a very complex spiritual belief system – the Dreaming. The Dreamtime stories, are the oral form of the spiritual Dreaming, which comprises: Art  – the visual form, Dance – the physical form, Customs – the practical form, Music – the  acoustic form, Totems – the spiritual forms, Lore – the cultural form, Lands – the physical  forms. The Stories of the Dreaming are more than myths, legends, fables, parables or quaint tales. They  are definitely not fairytales for amusement of children. Down through generations, the Aboriginal people’s stories, were told orally, but were never written down. They were the oral textbooks, of their accumulated knowledge, spirituality, and wisdom, from when time began. The structure and form of a traditional Dreamtime story is quite unique and cannot easily be  copied. An oral Dreamtime story of ten minutes’ length, can cover several topics and subject  matters, and be suitable for all age groups. They are structured with valuable lessons for children,  or for bringing a renewed understanding to older people. For instance: twenty or more lessons can be found in one story, teaching such topics as: The  spiritual belief system, Customs, Animal behaviour, Animal psychology, Land map of the region,  Hunting and gathering skills, Cultural norms, Moral behaviours, Survival skills, Food resources.

Dreamtime Story Synopsis: In this story a young man believes he is a disappointment to his farther as he is a terrible hunter. He is taken by the friendly creatures who teach him to be happy and he realizes that his father loves him. Discuss main messages upon completion of the video. What was the purpose of the Dreamtime story? http://www.abc.net.au/dustechoes/

Rock Art Rock art throughout Australia is highly valued by communities for it's spiritual significance. They include images of creation and dreaming, along with ancestral beings, such as Mimi spirits. Different styles of rock art include X-ray art, petroglyphs (carving into rock) and sprayed hand prints from coloured  ochre. Rock art was a way that many Aboriginal tribes recorded history, dreaming legends and hand prints of tribe members. https://www.aboriginalartonline.com/art/rock2.php

Create your own rock art either with natural charcoal or chalk crayons. Spray with hairspray to stop rubbing and display on wall as a group rock art.

Oral Story telling Invite elders in to tell stories to students. Utilise Yarning circle at school. Discuss purpose of Yarning Circles. In the Yarning circle process all participants are provided with an opportunity to have their say in a safe space without judgment. Each participant speaks, one at a time, is heard and not interrupted. This is a process that involves and develops deep listening, sharing of knowledge and development of higher order thinking skills and establishing rules of respect. See pdf on Yarning circles for more details on how to manage a Yarning Circle.

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/legacy/features/sharingourstories/

Creating a Story http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sle62XV0BO0 Choose one of the following to do: • Create a story map of events. • Change the ending of the story. • Write a conversation between characters. • Write a review of the story. • Draw the most important scene from the story. Why do you think it is important?

Writing a Dreamtime Story Using the images below write your own Dreamtime story about a koala. Think about the koala’s features, where they live, what they eat, who would they meet etc. Illustrate story and then share with class or group by telling story. Francis Firebrace Image: Koala

Summary of Lesson Plans: This series of lesson plans will allow students to explore and analyse traditional Aboriginal Dreamtime Stories. Upon completion of  the program, students will write their own Dreamtime story. Australian Curriculum Outcomes: Year 3: The role that people of diverse backgrounds have played in the development and character of the local community  ((ACHHK062) Year 3: Understand that languages have different written and visual communication systems, different oral traditions and different  ways of constructing meaning (ACELA1475) Year 3: Discuss texts in which characters, events and settings are portrayed in different ways, and speculate on the authors’  reasons (ACELT1594) Year 3: Draw connections between personal experiences and the worlds of texts, and share responses with others  ((ACELT1596) Year 3: Create imaginative texts based on characters, settings and events from students’ own and other cultures using visual  features, for example perspective, distance and angle (ACELT1601) Year 4: The diversity and longevity of Australia’s first peoples and the ways Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples are  connected to Country and Place (land, sea, waterways and skies) and the implications for their daily lives. (ACHHK077) Year 4: Make connections between the ways different authors may represent similar storylines, ideas and relationships  ((ACELT1602) Year 4: Plan, rehearse and deliver presentations incorporating learned content and taking into account the particular purposes and  audiences (ACELY1689) Year 4: Create literary texts that explore students’ own experiences and imagining (ACELT1607)

Lesson 1 Slide 2: Discuss Aboriginal stories and their purpose. Using avatar ‘Diane’ from Sielearning explain to students the importance of storytelling in traditional Aboriginal cultures. https://sielearning.tafensw.edu.au/toolboxes/toolbox907/swf Slide 3: Write Dreamtime on the board. What does this mean? These are the stories that belong to the Indigenous people and they teach us a lesson or they explain something about creation. Have students share some Dreamtime stories that they know. What do they teach us about creation or the beginning of something?

Lesson 2 Slide 4: Read Aboriginal Stories and explanation of them from the slide. What lessons might Dreamtime stories teach us about? What might they teach us about creation? Slide 5: Play the Mimi’s. http://www.abc.net.au/dustechoes/dustEchoesFlash.htm. Have students predict what the story might be about, share with a partner and discuss. Does the title give us any clues about the story? Story Synopsis: In this story a young man believes he is a disappointment to his farther as he is a terrible hunter. He is taken by the friendly creatures who teach him to be happy and he realizes that his father loves him. Discuss main messages upon completion of the video. What was the purpose of the Dreamtime story? Complete the quiz attached to the video. Optional Activity ideas: Students create their own Mimi. Discuss what a Mimi is. Play the Mimi's mash it up. Students create their own version of the story. Create quiz questions for the video. Illustrate favourite part of the story. Write a summary of the story. Invent a new way for the father to retrieve his son instead of using his hair.

Lesson 3 Slides 6/7: Read information on Rock art and view website. Art activity: Create your own rock art by using brown paper, charcoal (available from art stores) or earth coloured chalk crayons. When finished spray with hairspray to avoid rubbing. Create a rock wall with artwork joined together.

Lesson 4- Slide 8 •Oral Storytelling lesson •Read some local Dreaming stories to your students and discuss what they ‘teach’ (see resources). •Ask your AEW, Aboriginal staff members and/or the Aboriginal Education team at the AECG to help organise a visit to your class by a local  Aboriginal community member who is happy to use oral storytelling to tell your students stories. •Discuss with your visitor how your lessons will run and the input you’d like from them, asking for their ideas, and whether they would be  happy to explain things like how storytelling is used in their culture, and also to answer students’ questions. •Discuss with students how to behave and show respect to your visitor. •Organise students to welcome and thank your visitor. •Organise an area large enough for all students to be a part of the storytelling process. At GPS the Yarning Circle or Frog Pond are perfect  venues. Prior to visit – in classroom Whole class •Discuss storytelling generally – across all cultures. What are children’s experiences of storytelling? How does it differ between  countries/cultures? What are similarities? •Discuss differences between storytelling and reading, bringing children to understand that as storytelling doesn’t rely on books it is more  portable and was used long before the advent of books … •Discuss local Aboriginal people’s traditional use of storytelling and its importance in their culture. During storyteller’s visit – outside at storytelling area • Ask student to welcome visitor as planned. • Ask visitor to talk to children about storytelling in their culture. • Conduct storytelling session as planned. • Ask students to retell the story • Repeat the process with different stories as many times as desired. • Ask student to thank visitor.

After the visit – outside Working in small groups (4 or 5 students per group) •Ask students to take turns to tell a simple short story. Use box of dreamtime stories from GPS library to find a story. Read it and then retell story using oral storytelling, including facial expression and body language •Ask groups to discuss each other’s stories and offer positive feedback and/or suggestions for improvement, but no negative feedback. •Ask students to devise a short oral story to present co-operatively to the class. Stories should be set in a familiar context – at least until  students are thoroughly comfortable with the oral storytelling. Whole class After group presentations and feedback session: •Discuss how facial expression and body language can make storytelling more effective or meaningful. •Discuss similarities/differences to other methods of storytelling. ASSESSMENT Keep anecdotal records, about students’: •contributions to class and group discussions; •attitudes shown through interactions with peers and visitor; •ability to tell a story using oral storytelling techniques; and •contribution to group storytelling presentation

Lesson 5 Slide 9: Awaye! presents six Aboriginal dreaming stories. These stories are told to children to teach them about their ancestors, the spirit world and  their place in that world. These six stories from Northern Australia tell of creatures such as mermaids, devil-devils, whistle ducks and blue- tongue lizards. Each story is both sung in a song cycle and spoken by traditional storytellers and in some stories associated song cycles are  shared. Listen to the stories in the audio versions and see photos of the communities and the children’s illustrations in the on-line features. Discuss  and recall information about dreaming. http://www.abc.net.au/rn/legacy/features/sharingourstories/ Other Activity Ideas • Students investigate where certain Dreamtime stories have originated from. They can plot these on a map of Australia. • Students to illustrate a Dreamtime story through the use of Aboriginal art symbols. • Role play Dreamtime Stories. • Dreamtime story reader’s theatre. • Students to create a diorama of the setting of a Dreamtime story. How do characters engage with the setting in a story? How does the  setting enhance a story? How detailed should a setting be? How can you describe the setting you have created? • Learn some Indigenous words that can be incorporated into your Dreamtime story.

Lesson 6 • Slide 10: • Creating a Story. • This lesson will provide students with more opportunities to listen to and discuss Dreamtime Stories. Any Dreamtime story can be used for this activity. • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sle62XV0BO0 • What might this story be about? What characters do you expect to see in the story? Where might the story take place? What could the  problem be? What might the conclusion be? • If you were writing a story about why the Emu can’t fly, for example, have a think about what you might write about. Discuss with a partner and share. • Listen to the story. Students to choose from the following activities. • Create a story map of events. • Change the ending of the story. • Write a conversation between characters. • Write a review of the story. • Draw the most important scene from the story. Why do you think it is important?

Lesson 7 Slide 11 What are some examples of Dreamtime stories that explain the creation of something? Discuss some Australian animals. Focus on the Koala. What are some unique features that a Koala has? How could we explain the creation of  these features? Students recall purpose of Dreamtime Stories. If we were to write a Dreamtime story about a koala what would we write it about? Brainstorm topics on the board. Using the images of koalas students write a Dreamtime story about a koala. Think about the koala’s features, where they live, what they eat, who would they meet etc. Illustrate story and then share with class or group by telling story. Recall methods and techniques of Oral Story telling.

Storytelling "The dreaming“ Yr 4 Unit