Step 1: Vocabulary Word Cloud Collage

Begin the first activity by dividing students into small groups. Provide each small group with 1-2 vocabulary words from the list below. Students will need access to the internet so they can research the vocabulary words to write a definition and an illustration to represent the vocabulary word(s). After each group has finished writing and illustrating their vocabulary word(s), have them tape, glue, or paste on a poster board, butcher paper, or the wall so the entire class can see the Word Cloud Collage.

Vocabulary words:

• Aboriginal
• Indigenous
• Western schooling and knowledge
• Settler colonialism
• Land/territory
• Education (system)
• Medicine and healing
• Words in Arrernte
• Historical memory
• Ancestral homelands
• Sovereignty
• Storytelling and stories
• Settler and/or colonizer
• Intergenerational (include elders)
• Indigenous resurgence

Note to teacher: We ask that as you look up definitions of these words you look for definitions provided by Indigenous and Aboriginal peoples. The resources at the bottom of the curriculum are a good place to start (i.e. Teacher Guide in Native-Land.ca.).

Step 2: CRITICAL CARTOGRAPHY/MAPPING REFLECTION

Next, share a map of what is commonly known as Australia as well as a map of Aboriginal Australia.

After displaying both maps, ask the students to notice any differences between the two:

1. What do you notice about the maps?
2. Who do you think made these maps that you see?
3. How was the information that is presented in the maps gathered?
4. What connections can you make with other maps you have seen?

Then, identify a map that highlights the current location where your school is located or where most of the students reside. Additionally, find a map that is representative of current Indigenous territories of your current location.

After analyzing and reflecting with the maps you all find, ask the students to notice any differences between the two:

1. According to the first map, what is the name of the city or place where you are?
2. What Indigenous territory are you on according to the map of Indigenous territories?
3. What do you know about the territory that you live on? Or, what do you want to learn?

Next provide students with a piece of blank paper to creatively respond by drawing or mapping the answers to the following questions:

1. How did you get to this territory?
2. What is your relationship with this Land/territory?

Finally, have students share in small groups, partners, or the entire class. In a chart paper you can create a web of themes that emerge from this learning activity.

Step 3: FILM INTRODUCTION, YOUTH VOICE, AND HISTORICAL MEMORY

Note to teachers: Make sure to review and define any vocabulary words that students may need more clarification about. Remind students that as they watch the film, to keep in mind the map activity about Aboriginal and Indigenous territories and how they critically analyzed the information that is often presented in school curriculum as ultimate truths. The film in My Blood it Runs, as Dujuan states, “[has] some messages for you” and to take this learning opportunity to learn about Aboriginal peoples, their territories, experiences, and knowledges.

Introduce students to Dujuan, a child healer, who’s story is narrated in the film In My Blood it Runs:

Share with students that in 2019, Dujuan at the age of 12, addressed the United Nations Human Rights council as part of an impact campaign. Show the video of Dujuan’s speech and provide a copy of the speech to each student.

This is what Dujuan said:

“Werte. My name is Dujuan, I am 12 years old. I am from Arrernte and Garrwa Country and I have travelled here from Australia. Adults never listen to kids - especially kids like me. But we have important things to say. I came here to speak with you all because our government is not listening. I am in a new documentary, In My Blood It Runs. In this film there are some messages for you. There are some things I want to see changed: I want my school to be run by Aboriginal people who are like me and understand me. I want the adults to stop locking up 10 year old kids in prison. I want my future to be out on land with family, strong in culture and language. I hope you can find a way to make things much more better. Thank you – I hope you enjoy my film.”

After Viewing clip ask students:

• What words or phrases in Dujuan’s speech stand out to you? Why?
• Are there any words that are new to you?

Note to teacher: We suggest that you all show the entire documentary before moving on to the next sections of the lesson.

Step 4: INTRODUCING “SETTLER COLONIALISM”

With your students, review all the new learnings this lesson has covered.

Tell them you are going to continue thinking about the map activity about Aboriginal and Indigenous land. In order to do so, tell them you are going to introduce the topic about settler colonialism. More specifically, in this step you will engage your learning community in discussions about how schools and the education system are involved in the ongoing processes of settler colonialism.

Before Viewing Clips: Ask students to consider this question for a couple of minutes:

• How do you think students learned or were “educated” before schools were made? Before there was an “education system”?

Teacher moment for reflection:

Did students draw their community for learning and education? The land? Their ancestors? Their home? Ask students why they drew what they did for each, or a few of the squares.

Preparing for group discussions and video clip analysis:

Divide the students into groups of 3-4. Give them chart paper and writing utensils. Encourage students to not only use words but also illustrations, abstract representations, and colors to respond to the following questions once they watch the designated clip.

Optional Activity: This activity is to allow students to begin to question common notions of schooling and education, and who dictates what is considered “learning”.

1. Have the students take out a piece of paper and divide the paper into four sections using a pencil or writing utensil.
2. In the first square ask students to draw something that captures the following: “learning”, “education”, and “school”.
3. In the second square, ask students to draw a school and what goes on in a school.
4. In the third square, ask students to draw the “education system”.
5. Lastly, ask them to draw how learning and education looked like before “schools” were created.

Teacher Note before viewing clips: Depending on your classroom context, students can respond to following questions in small groups/large groups, reflect in a journal, or a combination of these.

Watch clip 1: Western Education as Settler Colonialism (clip 1)

• What are the similarities and differences between the schools in Australia and the schools in the U.S?
• Dujuan mentions in this clip that what he learns at home, from his community, is different from what he learns in school. In what ways do you see education being used for the purposes of assimilation and settler colonialism? How is what is learning at home a form of education?
• What has been your schooling (K-12th grade) experience with mainstream U.S./American history? Has it always been a positive experience? If not, why do you think that is?

Watch clip 2: Resurgence of Aboriginal Education Systems (clip 2)

• What kind of student comes to mind when you think of “bad”, “at-risk”, “troublemaker”, “delinquent”? What comes to mind when you think of a student who is “gifted”, “smart”, “good”?
• How is Dujuan seen in school, compared to how he is seen back at his ancestral homelands? Provide examples from the films where Dujuan is being told that he is not smart and threatening to separate Dujuan from his family. Also provide an example from the film where Dujuan’s family sees him as a healer, important person in his community, and as a student of his own language.
• In what ways is Dujuan’s community pushing back on mainstream or “western” education through their own cultural practices, language, spirituality, and relationship to the Land from which they are from? And how is this also a form of learning?

Watch clip 3: #LandBack (clip 3)

• How are maps used as colonial tools? Think about the maps that you see in your K-12 education. Do they always show the Indigenous people and their territories? If not, why do you think that is?

Step 5: (RE)STORYING OUR COLLABORATIONS WITH INDIGENOUS PEOPLES

Note to teachers: If possible, try to establish communication earlier on so when you are on step 5 there is already a relationship with the Indigenous people of your area.

After viewing and analyzing video clips:

Throughout the film Dujuan and his community remind us that the original people of Australia are the Aboriginal people; that Australia is Aboriginal territory. Inspired by this teaching, the teacher and educator should establish communication, and therefore a relationship, with a local Indigenous community leader, organization, and/or Elder for a learning collaboration. In establishing this communication, make sure you are being respectful and you are thinking about reciprocity. Meaning that this is not a transaction, but that in reaching out that you are acknowledging a continued relationship and respect for the Indigenous community. Share your intention with them on the curriculum you are implementing and ask them what they feel comfortable sharing, what resources they need, and how as a teacher, educator, learning community you can be of service to them and show gratitude. Highly suggest: Ask the Indigenous community member, keeping in mind different abilities, if they could lead the class in a walk of the landscape to learn with the Land and the plants, waterways, or even changes due to climate change and industrialization (this could be done in any setting, urban or rural, because all Land in the U.S. is Indigenous Land).

After the learning collaboration with the Indigenous community member or Elder:

Think back to the map activity that you created to represent your relationship to the territory or Land you are on and how you got there. Take a few minutes to ask the students and yourself to self-reflect on the following questions: What do you want to add to your illustration? How has your perspective evolved since learning with Dujuan, Indigenous community members, the Land that you’re living on, and your peers?

Optional Activity: Have the students be the ones to initiate a dialogue between a local Indigenous community organization or leader. This could look like having the students suggest Indigenous community members that they already know and/or researching the history of Indigenous people in their local area and then create a letter, email, or action plan to initiate communication between them as students and the respective Indigenous community member/organization.

Now watch the clip: Embodied Medicines & Sovereignty (clip 4)

Dujuan begins sharing his story by introducing us to the ways memory runs through his blood, the historical memory that is embodied, which disrupts settler colonialism and how it manifests in schools and education systems.

After watching clip 4:

In post-it notes write or draw lessons, advice, or memories you’ve learned from that you can always refer back to. Some examples of where these lessons, advice, or memories can be passed down from are:

• your dreams
• family member(s)
• community caretaker(s)
• Friend(s)
• the rain
• plant relatives
• the elements
• The food that nourishes your body.

Lastly, after short post it activity:

create a collective collage by asking everybody to put their post-its on a large piece of poster paper, wall, white-board, etc. Markers and other collage materials can be used to add to the collective collage. Once the collage is complete, have students write a short reflection, poem, or concluding thoughts about their learning experience.