South Western Sydney Region ECT
Welcome to South Western Sydney Region's Early Career Teacher support page.
Background information
Cultural Immersion- An initative of the NSWDET and Aboriginal Education Consultative Group (AECG), to provide cultural awareness training for teachers, administered by local Aboriginal communities.
The teachers we are showcasing on this page participated in a three day training course facilitated by the Campbelltown local AECG. Over the course of the three days teachers learnt about local Aboriginal culture, history and social experiences and gained valuable access to Aboriginal parents, community members and representatives from local Aboriginal community organisations.
These three days with community were followed by two days of professional learning with South Western Sydney Regional (SWSR) staff.
SWSR staff used the 8 ways to deliver their training and also introduced the teachers to the pedagogy.
On this page and in the discussion you can follow the teachers' experiences and follow their journey's in using the 8 ways.
Outline of training with SWSR staff
Session 1 Day 1- Reflection
Learning Maps
"With travel, our minds become more curious, our hearts more powerful and our spirits more joyous. And once the mind is stretched like that, it can never return to its original state."
Participants began the day by reflecting on what they learned during the three day Cultural Immersion training facilitated by Campbelltown AECG. Using the 8 Ways Learning Maps, teachers mapped their growth and development in understanding Aboriginal history, culture and identity, and the impact of this learning on their life and teaching practice. The participating teachers however had not heard of or been introduced to the 8Ways for this process.
Story Sharing
Teachers then spoke about their learning maps and shared their learning map with the group.
Session 2- Day 1 Introduction to the 8 Ways
Participating Early Career Teachers were then introduced to 8 Ways and spent considerable time exploring the 8 Ways wiki to get a real sense of the learning framework and see it in practice in a variety of contexts and settings.
Session 3- Day 1 8 Ways in Action
The 8 Ways process was then used to deliver a workshop on critical and creative uses of digital technologies to engage and challenge students. The workshop began with:
Story Sharing
Teachers shared how they use technology in the classroom and how technology SHOULD be used in the classroom. The group then spoke about Google earth on how they already use it and also how it could be used to support teaching and learning.
Symbols and Images
(a photo of a 17 month toddler using an iPad) to focus participants' thinking around the implications for teaching and learning in the 21st Century. Symbols found on Google Earth were explored. Other ICT symbols and images could have been used to support learning.
Deconstruct/Reconstruct
was used to explicitly demonstrate how to create virtual narrated tours using Google Earth 5 before participants created their own tours. An Aboriginal person spoke about their life and the team created a virtual tour using Google Earth 5. The team broke down the skills used to develop the narrated tour and then participants created their own.
Teachers creating virtual tours using Google Earth 5
Land Links
Throughout the narrated tour, links were made to the land and specifically the relationship that the Aboriginal person and his family had with local sites.