Jillian Dodd has a Year1/2 class. Her interest is in
values education through story response. Jill’s 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. Children’s
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 children’s own
narratives.
Diversity- world views, heritage, environment
Cooperation- rules for living, social skills
•Identity
•Interdependence
•Futures
•Thinking
•Communication
Dreaming stories shared by group
sustainability
messages for living
critical literacy skills
expression through story and art.
Children identify what can be learnt from
particular stories
that explain: * rules for living
* diversity of environments
* spiritual worlds.
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.
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 couldn’t 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 couldn’t go
away either so they decided to camp there
for ever.
This journeying story is modelled on the quest for the creator
spirit’s precious home territory and its own people.
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.
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.