Beliefs about learning and the learning environment'

1
Jillian Dodd has a Year1/2 class. Her interest is
in values education through story response.
Jills focus is on children constructing their
own meaning from dreaming stories by examining
the story elements the spiritual world, rules
for living and the environment. Children were
read stories The Rainbow Serpent, How the birds
got their colours and Rainbow Bird. The class
also visited the art gallery and museum.
Childrens own art work reflected what they had
learnt about Aboriginal symbolism and the
messages of the stories. The themes journeying
of the creator spirits, the environmental context
and lifestyle of traditional Aboriginal people
are reflected in the childrens own narratives.
narratives
2
Values
Diversity- world views, heritage,
environment Cooperation- rules for living, social
skills
Dreaming stories
Essential learnings

• Identity Dreaming stories shared by group
• Interdependence sustainability
• Futures messages for living
• Thinking critical literacy skills
• Communication expression through story and art.

3
Children identify what can be learnt from
particular stories

that explain rules for
living
diversity of environments
spiritual worlds.



Key idea
In the dreaming time there was a kangaroo. He
jumped through the desert. When he stopped he
made a water hole and a tree. He hopped along
some mountains and hills. He made plants. He made
people. The people followed the kangaroo. The
kangaroo taught them how to speak and paint.
This story used The Rainbow Serpent as a text
model. Kangaroo is a creator spirit who formed
the landscape and taught the people their
language and rituals.
4
Once upon a time a woman was sitting at the
campfire and one man was throwing his boomerang.
Two more women were sitting and talking to each
other. Then a possum came running past them. The
man with the boomerang saw the possum running so
he started chasing after it. The possum led him
to a water hole so beautiful he couldnt go away
from it. Back at the camp the others were worried
about him so they followed the possums foot
prints. It took a thousand days. When they got
there they couldnt go away either so they
decided to camp there for ever.
This journeying story is modelled on the quest
for the creator spirits precious home territory
and its own people.
5
Once upon a time there was a snake. It travelled
across the land looking for something he had
never seen in his life. So he went past the
desert to the beach. He went swimming deep down
into the coral. He just found something. It was a
lovely star shaped diamond but inside it there
were worms and witchetty grubs. So he went back
to find something else, but then a swimming
kangaroo was running around it to protect it and
the snake looked back and thought it things are
trying to protect it it must be pretty good for
something. So when the snake scared the swimming
kangaroo it got the diamond and took it away.
This story reflects the spiritual symbolism of
seeking the pearl beyond price where the
creator spirit is seeking the perfect totem in
its travels across the landscape.
6
Comparing stories
Three stories about how the lorikeets got their
colours.
Rainbow Serpent The parrots got their colours
when they flew out of the rainbow snake after he
was cut open.
We
thought the message was about creation of the
land and how the people should dance.
Rainbow Bird The plain bird woman became a
lorikeet after she stole the firesticks from the
greedy crocodile and put them in her tail.
We thought the story message was about how people
first got fire and the message for living was not
to be greedy.
How the birds got their colours. The blood from
the dove splashed colours on the birds who
helped, but the uncaring crow stayed black.
We though the story message was that it is
good to help others.
Our class liked the story message about helping
others best.