Dreaming stories

A year 4 classroom teacher uses an Aboriginal dreaming story to engage Indigenous and non-Indigenous students in her class. She connects parts of the story through questioning to the students’ world and experiences, and uses the activity as a springboard for an imaginative writing task. The teacher encourages students to share their stories orally in small groups before drafting, writing, rereading and illustrating their final texts. The teacher is supported by a colleague in enabling a group of Aboriginal students to record and play back their stories on USB microphones.

The school is located on the Innawonga and East Guruma Lands in the mining town of Tom Price, around 1600km from Perth. Twenty per cent of the school’s 330 students are Aboriginal and the school has a diverse student population due to the town’s mining industry. The teacher has worked at the school for four years. She has previously undertaken professional learning to enable her to better meet the needs of Aboriginal students in her class. She believes that the literacy and learning approaches used with Aboriginal students are equally valid for non-Indigenous students.