8ways and Quality Teaching

Follow the steps below and you will be using Quality Teaching, while also taking a step towards embedding Aboriginal perspectives through your two most important Aboriginal knowledge resources - community connections and student background knowledge.

Tell your stories about the topic or related topics.
Get students to tell theirs and discuss that knowledge in depth.
Show a model of the work students will produce for this topic.
Ask: How can this help/relate to local community?
Pull the model apart, question the meaning.
Map out the structures, explain the patterns and codes.
Work with these visually and kinaesthetically.
Support students to recreate their own versions individually.
Ensure these are returned to community for local benefit.

By sharing stories at the start, teachers are using the Quality Teaching (QT) pedagogies of Narrative, Background Knowledge, Cultural Knowledge and Substantive Communication. In showing a model text and linking it to a useful purpose in the local community, they are using the QT pedagogy of Connectedness. Problematic Knowledge emerges in early readings of the text that question the writer’s intent and cultural orientation.

As the text is broken down further, students are gaining Deep Knowledge of the topic and being provided with Social Support to enjoy successful learning before being asked to produce independent work. Explicit instruction then of the basic elements and Metalanguage of the topic or task ensures Inclusivity for all learners, regardless of socio-economic status.

Then, as they are supported to reconstruct their own texts independently, they are using Self-direction and are demonstrating Deep Understanding. Their work is then returned to the community, ensuring Connectedness. Transparency in their work in the community helps to generate High Expectations from family, not just teachers. They have anticipated this throughout their work, with Explicit Criteria explained from the start, with additional criteria provided by the community, who now judge the work.

Such real-life, community-oriented tasks usually require an overlap of subject areas and knowledge domains, which ensures Knowledge Integration. The expectation that this work will be visible in, or impacting on the real world, provides a focus for Engagement throughout the task.