Drawing of the Kabool by Oodgeroo Noonuccal, from Historic North Stradbroke Island (1994, p11).
Topic: Exploring Ballad of the Totems by Oodgeroo Noonuccal; an enhanced poetry e-book
Platform: CANVA
Rationale: The intended purpose of this task is to create an enhanced poetry e-book, to support the Years 5-6 English curriculum topic of Poetry, while also embedding the cross-curriculum priority of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures. While Oodgeroo Noonuccal’s humorous poem isn’t currently included as an example of poetry to be explored in curriculum documents, I hope that educators and schools could be persuaded to share this great example of a local ballad. The latest version of the English curriculum (v9), emphasizes texts written by First Nations Australians, and literature which explores characters and concepts in ballads from different times, by a variety of Australian authors (ACARA, 2022).
I intend to create an enhanced poetry e-book, which would include an audio recording of the poem (narrated alongside the text), information about the text structure of ballads, poetry analysis, and hyperlinks to information about Oodgeroo and her Quandamooka culture and country (Minjerribah/Stradbroke Island). I’d like to include Jandai language, as well as information/links about Indigenous Australian totems – specifically the carpet snake/Kabool. The use of hyperlinks for poetry analysis, definitions and vocab building, would be embedded on pages separate to the poem, so as not to interfere with the comprehension of the ballad, nor overload students’ cognitive resources (Furenes et al., 2021, p.507). The Quandamooka region (Stradbroke & Moreton Islands) is a familiar holiday location for many Brisbane families, so Oodgeroo’s work, life, and culture has local relevance for my school community.
Canva is free for educators, is user friendly, and has a range of relevant features for multimodal presentations. As well as quality images and graphics, multiple audio tracks can now be inserted into one presentation. I’d like to include a comments tab to encourage online student discussion about the poem, but I’m not sure if this is something I can do with Canva.
References
Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority. (2022). English. Australian Curriculum. https://v9.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/learning-areas/english/year-5_year-6?view=quick&detailed-content-descriptions=0&hide-ccp=0&hide-gc=0&side-by-side=1&strands-start-index=0&subjects-start-index=0
Furenes, M. I., Kucirkova, N., & Bus, A. G. (2021). A Comparison of Children’s Reading on Paper Versus Screen: A Meta-Analysis. Review of Educational Research, 91(4), 483–517. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654321998074
Carter, P., Durbidge, E., Cooke-Bramley, J. (Eds.). (1994). Historic North Stradbroke Island. North Stradbroke Island Historical Museum Association Inc.
Hi,
I like that you’re finding ways to include more indigenous perspectives in the curriculum. I noticed you’ll be providing this resource to years 5-6 for the poetry unit. I’d like to mention that in high school both year 8 and 9 also do Australian poetry units which require the analysis of poems. The assessments they complete are analytical essays which would highly benefit from this kind of resource. Would you consider also providing this resource in an upper school setting or at a college (P-10/P-12) for example? I work at a college close to Brisbane and we quiet like reusing primary school resources at high school in added depth, it really helps with the comprehension of difficult concepts when students are already thoroughly familiar with the text.
Looks like a great resource. Best of luck 😊
Hi Rebecca. I actually first considered Oodgeroo’s work as my daughter is in Year 7 and she had to analyse one of her other poems. If high school teachers were interested, then I’d happily provide this as a digital resource. I’ll include that it would be appropriate for various year levels as poetry is studied right across primary and secondary. Thanks!
Alyssa, I like your incorporation of poetry as it is often an overlooked component. The link with indigenous perspectives is great and the consideration of selecting a poem that has significance for the students in your setting will also be a great way to engage your students. I think once they begin to analyse the poem, they will discover the humour in it too.
How will you be sharing your enhanced ebook with your students? Have you considered the Canva Classes or Google Classroom options to share your work with your students? Comments can be turned on in Google Classroom if you wanted to keep responses amongst a select group.
Best of luck, I look forward to seeing your finished ebook.
I have been wondering about the best way to share with my students – I’ll look into your suggestions as both platforms are new territory for me. Have you used these? Thanks Louise!
I like your incorporation of poetry as it is often an overlooked component of the syllabus. The link with indigenous perspectives is great and the consideration of selecting a poem that has significance for the students in your setting will also be a great way to engage your students. I think once they begin to analyse the poem, they will discover the humour in it too.
Having the audio of the poem will empower children who require additional support to access your resource and establish confidence with the enhanced text format (Rhodes, J.A. and Milby, T. M., 2007).
I am wondering how will you be sharing your enhanced ebook with your students. Have you considered the Canva Classes or Google Classroom options to share your work with your students? Comments can be turned on in Google Classroom if you wanted to keep responses amongst a select group.
Best of luck with your project and I look forward to seeing your finished poetry ebook.
Reference
Rhodes, J. A. and Milby, T. M. (2007). Teacher-created electronic books: Integrating technology to support readers with disabilities. The Reading teacher, 61(3), 255-259. https://doi.org/10.1598/RT.61.3.6
Hi Alyssa,
I really am happy to see colleagues working to reinforce and ensure the delivery of the cross curricular priority of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and and cultures. I believe it is such a rich wealth of narrative and diversity, that as educators, we would be would remiss to not put at the center of Australian literature.
A few years ago I used the ABC Education site, Dust Echoes, to help my students and myself access some of the narrative and storytelling heritage of twelve Dreamtime stories from Central Arnhem Land. The study guide like the one I have included a link for, by Robert Lewis, really helped me to reflect on the way I was interpreting the stories and the way we culturally access meaning.
https://www.abc.net.au/cm/lb/13581748/data/dust-echoes%3A-chapter-1—whirlpool-song-study-guide-%28pdf%29-data.pdf
Best of luck and I hope I get a chance to learn more about the cultural totems and unique groups your students and you will explore!
Lewis, R. (2007). Dust echoes: whirlpool. [Study guide]. https://www.abc.net.au/cm/lb/13581748/data/dust-echoes%3A-chapter-1—whirlpool-song-study-guide-%28pdf%29-data.pdf