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Exploring: Ballad of the Totems by Oodgeroo Noonuccal
An enhanced poetry e-book
https://1drv.ms/p/s!AhVielyavm3UgTjQCZmq7v7aadiO?e=RLdmx6
The purpose of this enhanced poetry ebook is to support the updated Australian Curriculum Version 9.0 (ACv9), specifically the Years 5-6 English Learning area topic of poetry, while integrating the Digital Literacy general capability. The third purpose of this digital text is to celebrate and provide access to a literary work by a significant, Indigenous female author, while embedding the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures cross-curriculum priority. Students and teachers of upper primary, particularly those in state Education Queensland (EQ) schools in and around Brisbane, are the intended audience. PowerPoint has been selected as a familiar, free to use tool which works across operating systems and devices, including iPads and laptops. EQ students and teachers are already familiar with Microsoft systems and PowerPoint, which is easily shared across school and home contexts, including for home learning situations if required.
The strand of Literature, from the ACv9 English Learning area, includes content descriptions that emphasize literary texts written by First Nations Australians (ACARA, 2022-a). Oodgeroo’s amusing and thought-provoking Ballad of the Totems (1970/2008) was selected for the enhanced ebook, as a poem with rich language and local relevance for South-East Queensland schools, and to address the lack of texts by Indigenous authors in primary school settings. With respect for Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property Rights, (National Copyright Unit, n.d.), this enhanced ebook is awaiting permission to be shared for educational purposes. An advisory note regarding culturally sensitive material has been included on the homepage.
Oodgeroo’s ballad has the potential to support the Literature sub-strands, which involve examining, engaging with and responding to literature (ACARA, 2022-a). Exploring: Ballad of the Totems is designed for classroom and/or school library learning experiences, to be implemented across multiple lessons, including whole class, small group, buddy and individual reading tasks. The original poem has been enhanced with multimodal features, to create a digital text which supports minds-on active learning, student engagement, meaningful content, and a socially interactive experience. These components are described as the four pillars of learning and are considered key for digital texts to enhance educational outcomes (Hirsh-Pasek et al., 2015; Hassinger-Das et al., 2020).
Minds-on active learning
Exploring: Ballad of the Totems includes interactive features that foster user control, exploration and meaning making, such as navigational and discussion hotspot hyperlinks, and click to reveal sections. Hotspots on the poem pages reveal questions that align with one of four Question-Answer Relationship (QAR) strategies: Right There, Think and Search, Author and You, and On My Own (Fisher et al., 2017, p.111). This feature aims to promote dialogic reading – conversations about texts – which should be central to any shared reading experience (Hassinger-Das et al., 2020, p.74; Kucirkova, 2018, p.54). To support accessibility for diverse learners, including those with dyslexia, the poem has been sectioned into smaller parts (two stanzas per page), with a read-to-me audio option on each page.
Student engagement
Student engagement involves gaining and maintaining student interest and participation in a topic or text (Kucirkova, 2018, p.53). Multimodal features to enhance student engagement include colour photographs of animals featured in the poem, including the close-up of a carpet snake on the homepage, and a bright Slidesgo template with simple, earthy graphics, selected for visual appeal and to ‘hook’ students in. Interactive content is related to the text, to avoid the potential for distraction, and to increase comprehension (Furenes et al., 2021, p. 507; Hassinger-Das et al., 2020, p.76). For example, the ebook embeds discussion hotspots about the text, hyperlinks to define target words from the poem, text narration, and click to reveal features to encourage student participation. Hyperlinks to external websites occur on pages separate to the poem, to avoid distraction from the ballad.
Meaningful content
Content can be made meaningful by connecting information to prior knowledge, and by learning about new topics that are personally relevant (Fisher et al. 2017; Hassinger-Das et al. 2020; Kucirkova 2018). Exploring: Ballad of the Totems includes interactive features that enhance the poem’s meaning, with discussion hotspots designed for student exploration and reflection, as well as to prompt teachers to engage in the personalising process. The discussion hotspot on the homepage includes questions to activate students’ prior knowledge, and on pages about cultural information, students are asked about their personal experiences.
Socially interactive
Exploring: Ballad of the Totems supports the concept of social contingency, which is the importance of learning from and with others (Fisher et al., 2017; Hassinger-Das et al., 2020). A link to a discussion Padlet is included, which provides students with the opportunity to share their ideas while practising their online communication skills in a safe and monitored space. The Padlet includes the discussion questions from the ebook, and asks students to comment on a classmate’s post, and to create their own QAR question. Teachers could create a link to their own class Padlet, to embed aspects of the Digital Literacy general capability, specifically in relation to digital communication tools and formats (ACARA, 2022-b).
References
Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority. (2022-a). 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
Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority. (2022-b). Digital Literacy. Australian Curriculum. https://v9.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/general-capabilities/digital-literacy?element=2&sub-element=0
Fisher, D., Frey, N., & Hattie, J. (2017). Teaching literacy in the visible learning classroom, grades k-5. Corwin Press.
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
Hassinger-Das, B., Brennan, S., Dore, R.A., Golinkoff, R.M., & Hirsh-Pasek, K. (2020). Children and Screens. Annual Review of Developmental Psychology, 2(1), 69-92.
Hirsh-Pasek, K., Zosh, J.M., Golinkoff, R.M., Gray, J.H., Robb, M.B., & Kaufman, J. (2015). Putting education in ‘educational’ apps: Lessons from the science of learning. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 16(1), 3–34.
Kucirkova, N. (2018). How and Why to Read and Create Children’s Digital Books: A Guide for Primary Practitioners. UCL Press.
National Copyright Unit. (n.d.). Copyright basics. SmartCopying. https://smartcopying.edu.au/guidelines/copyright-basics/indigenous-cultural-and-intellectual-property-rights/
Oodgeroo, N. (2008). My People (4th ed.). John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd. (Original work published 1970)
