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REDESIGNING EDUCATION

IN SEARCH OF THE VIRTUAL CLASS

MY FIRST NATURE BOOK

FOOTPRINTS ACROSS OUR LAND

JOURNALING FOR JOY

VO L U M E 3 I S S U E 1 0

Global Learning CommunitiesInternational Office:

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E-mail: globallearning@vision.net.auWWW site: http://www.vision.net.au/~globallearning/education/

Welcome to the third series of the Global Learning Communities Educational Leaders’Book Overviews. This continuing service is designed to assist educators to expand their profes-sional reading while acknowledging that finding the time to read books is difficult.

Feedback from subscribers indicates that the Overviews are providing:• opportunities to be selective about which books to read

• professional dialogue starters for staff meetings

• a basis for professional discussion groups

• opportunities for professional reflection and development

• expanded world views of education

The purpose of these Overviews is to expose educators to a broad range of excellent books.We do indicate to you that the books featured in the Overviews are not all available through ourClearing House. If you wish to obtain a particular book, however, we will assist you to theeasiest way to achieve this.

We continue our commitment to excellence in education, through providing services, andbuilding long-term working partnerships with educators and educational systems across theworld for the purpose of creating sustained growth and development. Global Learning Commu-nities, under the leadership of JULIE BOYD and CAROLE COOPER, is a leading Australian-based International Learning Facilitation organization. We are an organization created by educa-tors to serve educators. Our mission is to improve the professional profile of educators and toenable schools to become collaborative learning communities within a global/local context.  

Our services currently include:

* Extended and intensive University Accredited (to Masters Level) programs.

* Learning Facilitation and Professional Services to organizations, associations and schools, universities and systems.

* Planning and conducting conferences as Collaborative Learning Communities.

* Sustained School Improvement Programs

* GLC Clearing House and Publications.

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LEADERSHIP AND SCHOOL CHANGE

REDESIGNING EDUCATION,By Kenneth G. Wilson and Bennett Daviss, Teachers College Press,1995.

Technology and global competition have forced Westerncountries to begin to understand that national prosperity nolonger depends on raw materials and a vast pool of manuallabor; it depends on every worker�s ability to meet thediverging needs of increasingly sophisticated and demandingcustomers in services and in manufacturing. Meeting thoseneeds is no longer a matter of pulling levers on a mass-production machine or ringing a cash register. It nowdemands the thinking skills and judgment to make the bestcreative use of a range of technological and informationresources, often in competition with low-wage workers abroad. We are finallybeing forced to accept the idea that the future belongs to the trained mind.

The pressures forcing the creation of a new educational vision are precisely the same onesforcing our economy to reinvent itself�pressures that value mind over muscle, process beforeproduct, and quality above quantity. Because our economy�s strength grows directly out of theabilities of its workers, the same transforming pressures are reaching through to our schoolsand forcing us to redefine what it means to be educated. Yet, schooling in the Western worldstill conceives teaching and learning to be what they were ten decades ago, before computers,the global economy, or the information age added new dimensions to our concepts ofknowledge and education.

In most classrooms today, students� chairs still face the teacher, just as they havefor more than a century. The teacher delivers information; children receive itpassively. Teachers ask questions; children answer when called upon. For mostof the rest of their class time, far too many students work silently and alone attheir desks performing rote exercises. Their progress is measured in lettergrades, which children must win at one another�s expense. Most classrooms lacknot only computers and electronic mail systems, but even a simple telephonethat might connect teachers and students to experts and stores of knowledgebeyond the closed classroom door. Today�s typical school is one of the fewplaces in the modern world where citizens of George Washington�s Americawould feel right at home.

The key to reform is the understanding that educational transformation is not onlyunavoidable and irreversible, but also understanding that reform must involve an orderedprocess of strategic change�a process of detailed planning, design and construction. Thiseducational redesign process is the integration of research, development, dissemination, andrefinement. It starts with a compelling vision. The vision must be gripping enough to inspirepeople to commit themselves to work for its realization�to begin and sustain the arduousprocesses of change in pursuit of the goals that the vision holds out. Once the vision becomesclearer, an organization and structure coalesces around it. The organization�s purpose will beto study effective practices that advance the vision, test them, refine them, integrate them intoa comprehensive, integrated, coordinated, long-term structure of reform. Then one transfersthese best practices to the educator�s practice and supervises their implementation. Furtheradaptation and refinement and �model changes� will be called for along the way to a school�spursuit of their vision and educational excellence.

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The authors, Wilson and Daviss, cite five structures that should be considered for the�redesigned� school, because they each meet the following criteria for success:

� They improve the quality of life in school for teachers and for studentsby making school a more exciting, inviting place to be;

� They seem to make many kinds of learning more efficient and effectiveand thus raise student achievement;

� They thrive and grow, moving from school to school becauseeducators and students�not just regulators or academic theorists� champion them;

� They make it possible for teachers to handle larger classeswithout sacrificing their effectiveness.

The essential five areas to school reform are:

1. Total quality management and learning;

2. Teachers empowered to work collaboratively;

3. Cognitive science and understanding how children learn;

4. Cooperative learning;

5. Electronic technologies.

Reading Recovery is also listed as a demonstrated program that has used the principles of�design� because it has shaped its methods according to the results of its own and others�research. It has tested and honed its techniques through years of trials and refinements. Itequips its specialists with a common body of proven knowledge and skills that allowsinstructors to tailor each lesson to each child�s needs. It maintains rigorous systems of self-evaluation and offers on-going support to teachers and schools adopting the program. Theprocess of combining research, development (on-going teacher education), marketing, andtechnical support in an orchestrated system of change is the school design process.

There are three major areas that make it extremely difficult for schools to redesignthemselves:

1. The isolating structure of the teaching profession: Because the teaching professionlacks a �technical culture�, teachers see their work as intensely individualistic, subjective andexpressive. A technical culture cultivates the process of research and experimentation. Itembodies a process to transform research into solutions for practical problems. It includesways to gather, preserve, codify and disseminate the practical knowledge to others. Atechnical culture means communication and collaboration. However, teachers do notcommonly come together to study each other�s work and help each other to become betterteachers. Professional development is seen as a frill instead of as an integral part ofcontinuously improving the school and student learning.

Professional isolation stifles professional growth. Unless adultstalk with one another, observe one another, and help one another,very little will change. There can be no community of learnerswhen there is no community and when there are no learners.

Roland Barth

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2. The culture of the school and educational politics: Educational innovation is buffetedby the subjective agendas, desires and political manoeuvers of every individual and interestgroup. Change takes place only when teachers desire it and the culture of the school accepts it.Teachers rightly resist reforms that demand change from them but that don�t demandcorrespondingly deep changes in the inherent culture of the school. Different cultures of theworld have different assumptions about education. For instance, Australians don�t seeschooling as more important in a child�s life than any number of other activities. Asians wanttheir children to excel in school, where Australians want their children to be �well-rounded�.

Americans see academic success as a matter of inborn ability rather than diligent effort;Japanese think the opposite. American families reduce their involvement in their children�slearning once they are in school, where Japanese parents commit themselves to a concertedeffort to support their child�s academic success. In the USA, there is still an assumption that ateacher who is not teaching is not working. In China, teachers are in the classroom 60% of theday and refining their practice and developing lessons and units 40% of the day. In order for aschool to be redesigned, assumptions must be examined and the common six fallacies ofreform need to be changed:

1. Reform begins in the classroom.2. Reform has to show results right away.3. Reform can�t work unless we reduce class size.4. We can�t afford it.5. Continuing education for working teachers is too expensive.6. Scores on standardized tests offer the best gauge of effective reform.

3. Assessment and evaluation of schooling: In an effective redesign process, only chancesthat show measurable improvement over previous versions are embraced. This means that wemust be able to assess student learning and evaluate program implementation andeffectiveness. Assessment and evaluation are halves of one whole. Ironically, we are usingmore standardized tests, which are less meaningful and relevant to student�s understandingand use of knowledge each year. At the same time, we are not evaluating at all theimplementation of teaching and programs. While most educators admit the weaknesses ofstandardized tests, the test results continue to dominate decisions that are made. Mastery isshown through demonstrations and exhibitions of knowledge�through performances andportfolios. What we need to be putting our assessment and evaluation time and money in are:

a. New techniques to measure subtle difference in quality among varying classroomapproaches directed toward the same goal, such as ways of teaching reading ormathematics;

b. Evaluators need to develop ways to measure innovations� relative cost efficiencies;and

c. We need to refine the ability to conduct detailed, internally consistent evaluations ofsingle programs as work in diverse communities and classrooms.

Successful school restructuring programs do not offer pat solutions to problems, but newpatterns by which problems can be addressed�through local design. A framework for schoolchange can help administrators and teachers search out innovations that fit their unique needs.We first need to create a vision for education and then design how to achieve it. We mustmentor each other by collaborating to create, implement, and evaluate our efforts and results;then share those results with others. The power to change is the power of choice. We chooseour preferred educational vision. We choose our design strategies. We have a future that holdschange as the only constant; therefore, we must begin now the journey of redesigningeducation.

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CLASSROOM PRACTICE

IN SEARCH OF THE VIRTUAL CLASS:EDUCATION IN AN INFORMATION SOCIETY,by John Tiffin and Lalita Rajasingham,Routledge, London, 1995.

What kind of system is needed to prepare people for life in aninformation society? An industrial society depends on the physicalmovement of people and goods, so the critical technologicalinfrastructures are rail, road, sea and air transport networks. Thecritical technological infrastructure of an information society,however, is its telecommunications network. If you want to talk tosomeone who is not actually with you, today you either go and seethem or telephone, fax or email them�use a transport network or atelecommunications network. To prepare people for life in an information society, aneducational system is needed that is based on telecommunications rather than transport.

�Virtual� means in effect, but not in fact and �tele� means at a distance. Informationtechnology, the technology behind the information society, is the conjunction of computer andtelecommunications technologies. Computer-assisted instruction, computer-managedinstruction, and the use of computer simulations for training goes back to 1960s.Audioconferencing has been in use since the 1970s and instructional television has been triedaround the world since the 1950s. It is, however, the coming together of computer andtelecommunications technologies that could lead to the virtual class as the primary locus oflearning in society. The idea of a virtual class is that everybody can talk and be heard and beidentified and everybody can see the same words, diagrams, and pictures at the same time. Inthe 1990s, we are seeing the explosion of the use of telecommunication with the Internet andemail and there is an increased use of teleconferencing and adapting its use for educationalpurposes. In the virtual classroom of tomorrow, we will see an increased use of �virtual reality(VR)�, which creates the effect of actually being inside a simulated reality. Applications ofvirtual reality are currently being made in medicine, architecture and science. It is time to seehow it could be applied to education and the development of virtual classes in the fullest senseas wrap-around environments for learning where students as telepresences can see, hear, touchand perhaps one day smell and taste. VR offers us the possibility of a class meeting in theAmazon forest or on the top of Mount Everest or it could allow us to enter a fictional book orplay as a character or we could accompany a surgeon in an exploration of the human body.

THE VISIONShirley zips into her skin-tight school uniform which on the outside looks something like a ski suit.

The lining of the unit in fact contains cabling that makes the suit a communication system and there arepressure pads where the suit touches skin that give a sense of touch. Next, she sits astride somethingthat is a bit like a motorbike except that it has no wheels and is attached to the floor. Her feet fit on tosomething similar to a brake and accelerator and her gloved hands hold onto the handlebars. Shirleyis in the virtual world of her virtual school.

The moment the helmet closes over her head, Shirley finds herself looking at an information map ofher school and her own academic activities. There is her individual school diary of daily activities andappointments, class timetables and academic calendar. She can see for any particular class what willhappen at what time, for how long or when an assignment is due. Her overall progress in terms of herchosen career path is charted. As she turns her head there are notices about meetings and extra-curricular activities she is involved in. A couple of the notices have signs winking on and off to showsomeone wants to get in touch with her. She looks at the information map of school functions�library,

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registration, counselling, health services, research lab, computer room and classrooms are all clearlymarked. To go to any one of them, all she has to do is reach forward and touch them and she will bethere.

She considers going early to her virtual class, because the pre-class chats are fun with people fromso many cultures. She often wonders how many students there really are in the virtual school and howmany countries that represents. Today, however, she is leading her group�s presentation on glacialretreat as evidence of global warming and she is not sure of her grasp of the concept. Putting herselfon automatic, which means that when the class begins she will automatically find herself in the class,she hits the library function and asks for the Franz Josef glacier. Then, she selects the transforming andflight overview options. As the simulation forms around her, she gets the familiar feeling of butterfliesin the stomach as she finds herself hovering above the glacier. Kicking the accelerator with her rightfoot, she leans forward and zooms down to the front of the glacier. As she reaches the position shewants, she decelerates with the left foot. She touches the function key that gives her the �simulationscapability index� and selects �glacier movement� at a century per second starting at 2000 BC. Theterm �glacial� to her means something that moves so slowly that it hardly seems to move at all, so sheis startled by the size and speed of the glacier�s advances and retreats at this rate and quickly slows thesimulation down. Suddenly the glacier disappears and is replaced by three-dimensional images of herteachers and classmates sitting in a sun-dappled glade while deer graze among them in the forest theyhave designed for their virtual learning space. The virtual class is starting.

Everything that has been described in this vision is technically feasible within the nexteight years. If we really begin to see learners as customers in the information age, theneducation needs to be:

� more accessible than it is;

� less expensive than it is;

� up-to-date and relevant;

� tailored to fit the needs of individual learners.Telelearning makes it possible to offer a variety of courses that no conventional school can

match. There are no physical limits to the number and variety of courses that can be offered.Likewise, any number of students could be accommodated seven days a week at any time ofday or night. Education could become international as well. If the equipment and softwarewere mass produced for a global population of school goers it would also be cheaper than thebuses, roads, buildings and books that constitute the infrastructure of today�s conventionalclassroom education.

However, there is another side to the vision. In their research with virtual learningenvironments, the authors had to deal with problems caused by differences in time and culturearound the world, the way educators� felt threatened by the technology, and the fact thatstudents wanted real social contact with each other. Some unexpected difficulties wereproblems with the technology itself and working the �bugs� out of that, and the exaggeratedamount of communication across the airways, such as overcrowding email.

In looking at education in an information society, we need to see education as acommunication system. The interaction of four factors�the learner, teacher, knowledge andproblem in a particular context�constitutes the fundamental communication process that iseducation. Within this there are three fundamental communication functions�to transmitinformation over space, to store information over time and to process information so that it isregenerated. Conventional education systems are based on human transmission, humanmemories and above all, human processing�the thinking in education. That we can usetechnology for transmission, or as an auxiliary memory is something most people are

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accepting. They are also comfortable with low level processing systems for instruction, suchas computer-assisted instruction. However, what is controversial is the idea of a futureeducational system that includes the technological high-level communications processing thatpeople engage in when they think.

We are on the brink of having the power of creating anyexperience we desire. (Rheingold 1991: 386)

In the industrial age education systems that took place separately in the home, school andworkplace. In the information society these education centres will be combined as thefollowing table illustrates.

In telelearning, four basic levels of communication whereby learners can interact withteachers, knowledge and problems to learn. These levels are:

(a) the individual learner with PC and modem,(b) small group networks;(c) course networks; and(d) virtual learning institutions.

The first three levels form the virtual class. The virtual learning institution is concernedwith administration and support of telelearning systems, the design and development ofcourseware, the provision of telelibraries and databases, telecounselling services, andteleregistration. With the individual learner, PC and modem, the student can use multimediacomputer-assisted instruction, do a library search, upload an assignment, voice mail a teacher,and engage in learning projects and dialogues with a whole community of learners. With smallgroup telecentre networks, small groups of learners can teleconference; they can work withinformation technologies and at the same time, engage in face-to-face interaction on topics ofinterest. When a number of teleconferencing centres are networked together, they can becometelelearning networks. Different groups in different centres can address different parts of aproblem; people can easily shift from technology to small group mode and back again to thelarge group technological mode. The possibilities are endless, where learning is an alternatingprocess of analyzing and synthesizing skills at different fractal levels, as shown in the tableabove.

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What could be critical in education is for a learner to be able to shift between levels as theyseek the point where the learner/teacher and the knowledge/problem axes lock into place andthey understand. Even if they understand at one level, learners may seek verification that theyunderstand at other fractal levels. In this way they come to see the kind of problem they arestudying from different perspectives, their understanding is holistic, and there is feedback ateach level to reassure them that their problem-solving capability is culturally and sociallyacceptable. This view of education suggests that the greater the number of fractal levels, thegreater the potential of an effective educational system. If this is so, then the virtual class foreducation in the future information society will benefit to the extent that it retains the existingfractal levels in conventional educational systems and adds to them by providing a greaterdepth and breadth possible with technology and adds the global level as well.

She did not know then that imagination is the beginning of creation.You imagine what you desire; you will what you imagine; and at lastyou create what you will.

GB Shaw, Back to Methuselah

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ECOLEARNING

MY FIRST NATURE BOOK:LIFE-SIZE GUIDE TO DISCOVERINGTHE WORLD AROUND YOU,by Angela Wilkes, Alfred Knopf Publishers, NY, 1996.

My First Nature Book is full of interesting things to do athome and outdoors. Each activity, from making bird-feeders towatching a caterpillar grow into a butterfly, helps one find outmore about nature. Simple step-by-step instructions show exactlywhat to do and there are life-size photographs of each natureproject. The projects are beautifully designed and could be usedas gifts for friends or family. The book�s contents include:

Nature in Pictures Nature Spotter�s KitNature Museum and Showcases Collecting and Sprouting SeedsFeeding the Birds Tree PrintsFrom Bud to Leaf Creepy-Crawly PitBottle Garden Caterpillar HouseEverlasting Flowers Worm FarmPet Watching and Tracking Nature Diary

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The book ends with the following Country Code:

When you have finished a project, put everything away.

When collecting things, only take what you need and make sure youleave plenty of specimens behind.

Leave things in the wild as you found them.

Do not drop litter anywhere.

Never disturb nesting birds or steal birds� eggs.

Be gentle with any creatures that you catch. Set them free when youhave finished a project.

Only pick wild flowers if there are plenty growing, and just pick a few.Never pick rare plants. Never uproot any plant unless you have thelandowner�s permission.

Water your plants and take good care of your animals.

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INDIGENOUS LEARNING

FOOTPRINTS ACROSS OUR LANDCompiled by Jordan Crugnale. Magabala Books,Western Australia 1995

This inspiring collection of short stories was told by a groupof senior Kukatja, Wangkajunga and Ngarti women based atWirrimanu and Yaka Yaka communities. The women present theirperspective on living in the desert, Tjukurrpa (Dreaming) andtheir encounters with kartiya (white people) in the 1930s and1940s. The stories are presented in the women�s own words andare illustrated with photographs and paintings which add arichness to this collection.

The project was initiated by the women themselves who were concerned that their stories,knowledge and history would disappear with nothing written down for the future generationsof their community. It began in 1992 as part of the bi-lingual program in Wirrimanu, whereKukatja is the lingua franca. It was intended to compile and publish a bi-lingual book for thesecondary girls. All stories were recorded on tape and then translated into Aboriginal Englishover an eight-month period. Most of the storytelling and paintings were done on a trip awayfrom the community to sites nominated by the women. This allowed them to visit theircountry, hunt and gather food and collect wood for their families.

We want people to learn about our cultureWe got a lot of stories�secret one tooToo long people not listening to womenNot listening to Aboriginal people

We women got our own Law and CultureDifferent from menWe not stupidGiving you very important stories about our cultureSo you people understandWe wanna spread our stories down to Perth�and other sideOverseas too�right around

Our children wanna be learning our storiesKeep on hanging onto our cultureKeep it strongListen to what women sayingIt very important

We getting old nowWe worrying for mining companiesThey think we stupidTreat us with no respect for Culture and LawGovernment mob tooWe know how to look after our countryIt very special to usYou�ll seeYou�ll understand

Ngunytja Napanangka Mosquito

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Walking around with my mother

My mother and other women used to go hunting, getting their own food, and us mob went to get ourown too. This is when we were young girls and we get plenty of bushtucker. My sisters taught me to gohunting. My sisters taught me about Law and Culture.

When my mother come back from hunting they used to get lots of bushtucker and the bushtucker waswalku. They used to make a big fire and cook it. We used that plum to rub our hair to make itlong�make hair grow fast. We were waiting for our mothers and fathers to come home from hunting.we used to squeeze it and rub all over body.

For Culture, while we were waiting, we used to put tucker on our bodies. All the young girls used ourmothers� ochre when they went out hunting. We used to make big fire to cook that walku. We also usedto cook mangarta on the fire, and from the fire it would open when cooked. We used to rub thatquandong all over us�it was very greasy. When our mothers come back form hunt they bin ask:Look at these girls, what they bin doing? They bin using this one here, walku and mangarta.

Our mothers would go out to get karrulykura, wangki, nyurrariku. They used to get plenty, not farfrom camp. They get big mob. Get just tucker, no leaves, used to get plenty of tucker on that trees,biggest mob. That karrulykura is like a bag in the tree made by an insect. Our country had this kind oftucker, never go short of tucker, plenty there. I wouldn�t know which way to go to get tucker�it waseverywhere.

All the young girls, no boys, would stay at camp and their mothers would come back and say: Are youall right?And happy to see them that nothing happened. I would go out hunting with all the other girls andlearn to get our own food. Sometimes all the young girls would get leaves to make a shelter.

Mother would come back and we bin get up and stand in a line: What bin happening? What you bindoing?We tell her that we bin using this one here�that mangarta, same one. We all bin laughing. Mother binbring back lot of goanna, rabbit and meow. We used to get happy when we bin see them coming.

When mothers come back from hunting we used to sit down with big mob goannas, blue tongue, andpink one like that blue tongue. Our mothers would start painting themselves and when we see otherpeople with big goanna, we would go over and sit with them, so they would give us some. Thatbushtucker bin share with everyone.

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In the bush

I lived with my grandmother in the bush when I was little. My mother ran off with another husband. Ihad to stay with her. We started walking through Lake Gregory, Kilang Kilang, and turned left to go toLampu Well. That was the last water and so we had little and camped in the middle of the dry desert.We still had water in those big coolamon on our heads. We keep going, heading for Tangku.

During the middle of the day, we all sat down in the shade for a rest and wait for the sun to go down,wait for it to get little bit cooler. Then we start again. We camped just near Jgaranytjartu, then wearrive there. We tasted the water, it was a well, and it was very salty. So we keep going looking foranother water. We found a rockhole, little bit wet, no water in it so the people started digging thenclean it and wait for the water to come up. We filled our coolamons and kept going and camp halfwayon the road. Some sat in the shade and some kept going because they knew where the water was. Themen went in front with some kids and we stayed behind; grandmother and us were tired. The first mobfound water and had to dig for soakwater. They waited for the others and when we got there wecamped for two-three days.

We started walking again in the morning and saw some people in Tangku. People looking after sheepthere. For those who were looking after sheep, people would bring more load of food for them onhorse, no mutika then, in those days. When we arrived to the main camp, everyone was painted up sowe painted up, sorry meeting. Both groups of men threw boomerangs and everyone was crying.

Some people used to steal the sheep and eat it. No one knew. (I laugh because they used to do that atOld Mission, when I was a big girl, and the police used to come). Our mob stole kartiya food atTangku when we were passing through but they never catch us.

Then we went our own way. I went to Kupartiya (Bohemia), with my granny. Some went to ChristmasCreek, some to Fitzroy. We kept going from Kupartiya to Kurlkarrara and got there at night and madecamp. Some went to say hello to the people who lived there and they gave them food. It was the besttime at night to sneak to the house when the main camp was and let them know how many people aretravelling. they were afraid of white man.

In the morning we left early and as we walked along, some men and women went hunting and killedbig water goannas, quite different from the ones in the desert. We had been travelling all day along thebig river and we stopped in the afternoon to make camp.

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Morningtime we had breakfast and rolled the swags and started walking again. As we walked somepeople killed goannas and cooked them for everyone. We continued on and arrived at Margaret Riverafter travelling around Louisa Downs, Mary River. We don�t get tired like in the desert, lots of water,can swim, and we were happy. The people there greeted us and gave us rations�kartiya was good.We had Christmas and New Year there. After New Year we had to travel again and kartiya gave usfood to take with us.

We were travelling back the same way we came, same story, stopping halfway, camping out andwalking. We went straight to Kupartiya. My real father stayed at this place, and we went to ChristmasCreek. When we arrived people were down near the river, not at the house. Some started workinghere, those travelling nomad people. People worked in the bush making tanks, yards, fences and whenthey finished they come back to the station for Christmas.

We left Christmas Creek and headed for Cherrabun. We camped halfway and had lunch halfway. Thenext day we got to the station. We saw lot of Walmajarri people. We left and headed north to JubileeDowns. We stayed there for a while and then headed back to Cherrabun and got there at night-time,not too far. No mutika�long time ago.

We went back to get our grandmother at Cherrabun, she had to stay with some family. Then we all startedwalking back to Christmas Creek. When we were travelling to this creek, we saw stockmen on the way.

I saw my real father working in the stockyard. Then I went back to my mother and stepfather. I had totravel with them. Kartiya gave us rations at Christmas Creek and we left to go on holiday to a camp inthe bush. Kartiya used to bring us rations every week. We had three months and kartiya told us to gobush for that time.

It was time for us to go back to the station to start work. We made tanks, build yards, fences and somemen were working on the stockyards, mustering bullocks and horses. When people were working out inthe bush they had contract and each week someone from the group would go to the main camp to getrations.

Looking for parents

Me and my husband went back to Billiluna to look for his mother. When we were young we walked, wedidn�t have any children then. We left Old Balgo and we camped at Old Station. In the morning wekept on walking and came to a place called Palapiyarru (only a yard between Billiluna and Malarn).We killed goannas and got bushtucker.

When we got there, his parents were not there. They were out making fences working for kartiya onstock camps. People told us they were making new stockyards at Tjangalatjarra windmill. We stayeddown the river at the bushcamp with Jaru, Ngarti and Walmajarri people, waiting for his parents toreturn. they came in for the weekend to get more rations for everyone working on contract at theyards. This way they had a chance to meet the relations. The people on contract got more things thanpeople on the river. The workers got more food, got blankets, swags, hats. We stayed there for aholiday then started walking back. On the way back we had no donkeys or cars for carrying swagsand we never got sick, we were really healthy. The sun was going down�we got to Old Balgo, themission. It was near the river and there were humpies everywhere along the riverbed. We didn�t havehouses, we had to make our own tents, humpies, windbreaks, spinifex houses. No kartiyabuilding�nothing.

In the morning, we went to get our rations. Then we went out hunting for the day and some peoplelooking after sheeps and some after goats. In the afternoon we came home with goannas for the familyand for the two Napurruals, Nanyuma and Marri Yakuny. Big rain came and we didn�t have a humpy,we covered ourselves with our canvasses.

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Two snakes

Two snakes bin travelling from KanapilyirrBig mob people bin dancingIt ceremony timeThem two snakes bin watchingThey bin see all the womans dancingAnd the grabbing of the young boys.

KuniyaKurnatawurnThat name of them two snakesThey bin getting angry watching that dancingThey bin thinkWhat we gotta do, eat them?Some people bin come from another placeBin come for that ceremonyWarlpiri, Walmajarri, WangkajungaKuniyan and Warlyintjii people.

Two snakes bin eat all the peopleThey bin start runToo full and eating too much peopleThey bin go undergroundTwo fella still in the claypanKuniya on one sideKurnatawurn on otherIn Jgukanu Palkarr, other side Piparr.

I understand

When we grown up we understandeverything. We go walking around forbushtucker called pampilanytji. It greenbeans. All the mothers told us not tofight when we stay in camp, just to sitthere.

When we go hunting we go on top sanddune to look around for tucker, find treeand go and get him. This time it end ofwintertime, September, and we get plentypampilanytji, it ready. If they ripe wejust eat them. Today maybe that beanstill there around that sand dune area.You don�t eat the skin, just the inside, clean�clean� open it and eat inside. We used to run back tocamp and tell the old people who don�t go out hunting that there a lot of bushtucker.

When we used to finish hunting that bushtucker, go back home and play hide and seek.Kawarli�kawarli, that mean hurry up, run and hide. Turn around and look.You out, I can see youThese days when they play ball they sayKulila kulilaWhich mean look around.

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All the old woman sit in the windbreak, they look all dusty, ash all round and hair not comb, all theirhair curly. Use to get spinifex, not real one, it like a branch and they burn it and put through hair.Burn (charcoal) that hair and then grease him up.

Womans use to go hunting looking for bushtucker to bring back home. When I was little I lost mymother. My granny grew me up. Antbed Tjungurrayi mother bin grow me up. Next day we showed bigpeople where we find that bean bushtucker. We all help the old womans�true�no lies. Throw him infir and cook it. Some old womans follows us, we not go far and we carried her coolamon, stick, andhelped her get that bean. They finish in cold-time.

Those kids, when they three or four, no drink breast milk of mother, they used to eat bushtucker. Ourfaces and body used to be real dirty. Other mothers used to feed anyone, not just her kids. Whensmallest kids didn�t have teeth, other kids would bite the food and make it soft for them to eat. Even formy aunty we used to bite that food and give it to her�she had no teeth.

Mother and father come back from hunting and we were waiting for all the stuff. Grandmothers stay inwindbreak looking after us. We would play not far from them. We not only used to live at one livingwater but go to another one to fetch food. We went to different soakwater and joined another mob,family and all the kids happy.

My Country

This is a country one�walking aroundYurunguny rockhole, Tjaliwaya, Tjaalinu rockholeMy countryDeep rockhole thereDrink that water, then go hunting aroundCome back and drink more waterI was a young girlThen we went to TjunparntjaGot frogs, sand onesWhen we ran out of water, out huntingGo back to hole and get moreThen go out hunting againThen we travelled back to KuntupanguWhen we finish water, go to billabongPut leaves on the billycan to cool it downSun go downBack to billabong.

Out hunting always dryWe had kids tooAfter sun go downWent back to TjunparntjaThen to KurtuwaranguThe to KunyulurruCamped there and later went eastThen to TjanpirkuDreaming story thereWomen saw two snakes fighting, two Tjungurrayithem snakes coming from Tjukula way, going to Kulykurta

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From the sand dunes � real onesTook no notice of those snakesDrank water from the rockholeThen we moved to MinyurrStopped there and did some hunting.

Then to MantilatjarraNyaakarlpa, Nyila�big rockholeBetween Well 33 and Jupiter WellJust went to Nyila rockhole, kids and allGetting plenty lukararra, white seeds tooThe to Ngawuli rockhole�real bigStayed awhileTipiltju, moved thereYalanytjirri, the to Tjintarr rockholeGrandmother bin find me thereLot of walkingPlenty water in my country�That�s My Country.

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PERSONAL AND SOCIETAL GROWTH

JOURNALING FOR JOY: WRITING YOUR WAY TO

PERSONAL GROWTH AND FREEDOMby Joyce Chapman Newcastle, California 1991

The human heart has hidden treasures,In secret kept, in silence sealed.

�Charlotte Bronte

JOURNALING FOR JOY: offers a highly user friendly methodof journaling to encourage you, the journaler, to write from yourheart and soul with a single focus. This is a book for those whohave either tried writing a journal and not persisted, or thoughtabout it but not taken the next step. It enables you to take a close look at who you are andwhat you want through thinking and writing from your heart. The book itself is filled withover 200 techniques for accessing your own thoughts, wishes and needs in a way which bringspersonal strategies to a very useable level. As an educator, the author understands the power offeedback and learning from your thoughts and writing in a metacognitive way rather thansimply using journalling as a cathartic activity.

The aim of the book is to enable you to bring joy into your own life. The premise of truejoy is simple: what we need to be happy we already have. It will emerge from within wheninvited and given the chance. It�s not to be found outside. It�s found by following your heartand following your dream! You are the treasure. You are the joy! So, as Chapman implores,don�t lock up your joy in a box and throw away the key. Instead, open your journal and acceptthe invitation to return to your natural self. Discover the treasure inside you.

JOURNALING FOR JOY is written to be used as a tranformational tool with the potentialof enhancing personal growth and individual therapy. It provides an internal means for self-inquiry, self-discovery, and self-direction that is unmatched by any external informationavailable to us. It is based on the belief that we are all meant to experience peace, joy andhappiness as our natural birthright. Somewhere inside, we know that. But often many of usneed �permission� to find it within ourselves. We know everything we need to know in orderto find it. All it takes is to stop, pay attention and listen to our inner voice.

You can write most freely in your journal if you are clear that you are writing for yourselfso Chapman suggests that you set no performance standards on yourself as you write. Rather,give yourself permission to express your truth, and develop your very own style in doing it.

A good starting point for beginning to keep a daily record is to sit down at the end of yourday and picture the day�s events in the context of your life. Review your day. Close your eyes,letting the day pass before your attention on the movie screen of your mind. Go back to thetime when you were still in bed. Recall your first thought of the morning. Notice how yourbody felt. What was your first movement of the day? What was the first thing you did? Whatdid you look forward to or dread? What would an objective outside observer think, watchingyour movements? What might not appear obvious to an observer, being known only to you?What were your thoughts? What happened next? What were the feelings you felt? What didyou notice about your body?

When you have recorded the main ideas and details of your day�s experiences, stop andreread what you have written. What does it say to you? What conclusions can you draw?

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What action is suggested? Chapman shares an anecdote which illustrates how she learns fromher experiences in the following extract:

I once came home from one of the many never-ending, pointless meetings I wasrequired to attend and immediately sat down to record the day�s events. Afterwriting, I realized that I hated everything about the meetings I attended and thatI no longer fit in that organization. There was no further contribution I couldmake, and I definitely didn�t need to be sitting in meetings making judgmentsand hating it, if nothing could be done to change things. The next day, Iresigned.

Breakthroughs come when we record our experience in enough depth to become aware ofwhere we are and what changes we need to make. When we record our lives, we start to takeresponsibility for what happens in our lives. I don�t know how many more meetings I wouldhave sat through without realizing that the time for action was long overdue�if it weren�t forthat simple act of recording.

There are numerous techniques suggested throughout the book which may be adapted asyou experiment to find the method of daily recording that works best for you. Anothertechnique to try is to carry a small notebook with you throughout the day, and make notationsas you go along. Be sure to scan through your daily records at the end of the week�andmonth�and take advantage of the cumulative messages that are there for you. As a keeper ofa daily record in your journal, you will learn immensely from your writing over time. Anyunrest that comes up in the moment can be dealt with and learned from by writing in yourdaily record. It may be a simple reaction to a picture you see in a magazine or a deepresponse to something in the news. It may be an observation you make in the grocery store orwhile driving on the freeway. If you find yourself impassioned by a particular social orpolitical issue, or an event you encounter in your everyday life, use your journal to let thesefeelings pour out. Then later, follow up this work further: What issue of yours does thisspeak to?

Keeping a log, or simple list recording the details you�re interested in knowing more aboutis another simple technique. Think and/or write about issues and questions such as thosebelow. Then, when you choose to be more aware, follow through with a concrete action: setthe facts and figures down in black and white before you. What are you dissatisfied with?What do you feel unfulfilled about? What area would you like to assume more control over?What feeling or experience do you want to increase in your life? If I could take a souvenir ormemento from today, what would it be?� and �Is there something I would like to say to eachperson who entered my day in some form?� Wonderful learning can come from recording theactivities and thoughts and events of one single day:

* Want to become more positive? Log your negative thoughts and words for a day. Then write whatyour learning is from what you have observed.* Log your accomplishments for a week, and then write a Feedback Statement* Keep a log of your frustrations during a day at the office or at home. Then write what you can learnfrom what you have written.* Want to learn to communicate more effectively? Keep a log of your communications for a day, andthen write yourself a Feedback Statement .* What�s bugging you? Keep a log for a day, and then write your conclusions and recommendations toyourself.* Your body is acting up again? Keep a record of your symptoms for a day or a week, noting alongsideeach what else was going on in your life at that time. At the end, write what learning is available fromthis record. Then keep another log: of times your body feels wonderful!

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* Want to learn to be more assertive? Keep a log of your interactions for a day. Ask yourself, �Did Isay what I felt, wanted, needed? Or do I say, �What�s the use?� or �Who cares.� �What difference doesit make?��* Low self-esteem? Keep a log for a day of thoughts and interactions that raised and lowered yourself-esteem. What is the learning there?* Keep a log of your feelings for a day. What do you conclude? Write about your learning. If there isa feeling you want to increase in your life, keep a log of the times you experience this feeling. Is yourlife too bland? Keep a log of times you experience passion. Summarize your conclusions.

Consider the following possibilities of lists to create:� a short synopsis of books read and their important ideas� quotes to remember� memorable thoughts from a class or lecture� amusing anecdotes, jokes and cartoons� ideas on latest projects� inventions and creations� dreams� ideas for making money� ideas to use in presentations or papers you will write� ideas for books you may want to write� �Aha!� insights that strike you suddenly� log your thoughts over a period of time without any interference from radio or TV.

The most powerful concept in �Journaling for Joy� is using your writing as a learningexperience. It�s a small but very critical step to reread a journaling piece and draw out thelearning from it.

In journaling, when you become aware of the decisions you have made and are about tomake, there is a fascinating side-effect: you begin to act out of this new awareness.

Other journaling ideas include:* Snapshots of Your Life�An Album of Memories* Significant events of the past,* A present experience* New revelations* Writing about your own past experience in the third person.* Writing about the skeletons in your closet* Decisions have you made in your life?* Listing Your Life. Write as many ways of defining and explaining yourself as you can think of, thenWho Do I Want to Be?, with a Feedback Statement comparing the two lists and concluding whataction or changes they suggest.* A What I Want list without editing, ranking or prioritizing.* Milestones in your life: stages, progressions, learnings, decisions, inspirations, wishes & dreams,successes, failures* Blocks and Patterns* Fears* What I Like* Things I do well.* Times I�ve felt fulfilled.* Things I love.* What I like about myself.* Positive experiences I�ve had.* People I like being with.* Ways I am like my�mother, father, teacher, my parents� ideal.* Excuses I sometimes use.* Things I would do if I were the person I admire, left my misery behind and had no excuses.

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* Times I�ve want to quit/give up.* What I want to add to my life.* What I want to eliminate from my life.* Things I want to be remembered for.* Creative Conversations with yourself, your body, a person you admire, an idea, a conflict, to releaseanger, tension or stress, dispel depression

You can also write a long time on the following list of simple questions:

Am I happy?Do I love the people I associate with?Do I love the work I�m doing?Why am I sad, troubled, worried?What do I want?What do I have to do, to get what I want?What Can I Do to Have Intimacy?Where Am I with My Body?Is There Such a Thing as Pure Integrity?Where am I in my life right now?How do I get to the question I need to ask?Why don�t I have time to journal?Who am I today? Who was I yesterday? What do I want to be tomorrow?How do I feel?What is my body telling me?How do I give up resentment?What�s the best way to give up fear?How can I forgive myself or someone else?How can I know I am free?How do I know I am on the right track?How do I get where I want to go?What part of me do I want to express?What do I want someone to know about me?What is love?How can I experience more love?What does spirituality mean to me?What is wrong here?What do I need to communicate?What do I want out of today?What part of my life is working? What�s not working?What makes my heart sing?What is it going to take to love myself no matter what?What can I do to give back to those who have given to me?What can I do to make a difference in the world?

It is a rare individual who takes the time to record the joy. How many of us sit down toanalyze why good things happen? Have you ever had a glorious day, gone home andexamined why it was such a good day? How did you create it to be so good? Most peopleonly take the time to question, analyze, dissect and recreate over and over again in their mindswhy bad things happen. �How could this have happened? What did I do to deserve this?Where did I go wrong?� Just think how much more powerful and promising an accentuationof the positive is! What do you think would happen in your life if you spent twice as muchtime focusing on and writing about the good? Want to try? As Chapman asks, what do youhave to lose? As you find your truth and reclaim your dreams, your journal can empower youto take total responsibility for your life for deciding what and how you make a contribution toyour work place, family, community, or the planet.

Other Global Learning Communities Publications:

MOTIVATING SCHOOLS TO CHANGECarole Cooper and Nan Henderson (1995) $10.50

This useful little book paints a clear, simple picture- to be shared with school staff, students, parents, and othersconnected with the school community- of why schools need to change to better prepare students as major contributors to societyand the improvement of our world. It addresses the need to change from two complimentary points of view- change to increasestudents’ lifelong learning and change to increase student’s wellness.

LEARNING AND PLANNING JOURNAL FOR EDUCATORS (1997)Julie Boyd $26.50

This planner and journal is a NEW concept in professional learning, teacher appraisal, and record keeping. It is a reflectivejournal, provides a guided educational journey, is a professional development tool, a daily, weekly and yearly planner, a diary, and arecord of personal and professional achievements, information and assessment task results for students. Presented in a leatherette,gold embossed cover this is designed to enhance both the professional image and professionalism of teachers.

COLLABORATIVE APPROACHES TO PROFESSIONAL LEARNING AND REFLECTIONCarole Cooper and Julie Boyd (1996) $25

With growing interest in teacher professional learning, appraisal, peer coaching and conferencing, it is imperative thatschools model approaches that reflect what we know about how people learn. This book offers a menu of methods designed to assistindividuals, groups and whole school staffs to implement collaborative reflection which will enhance professionalism and improvethe practice of teachers.

MINDFUL LEARNINGCarole Cooper with Julie Boyd (1996) $18

Teaching is much more a matter of facilitating student learning than it is of covering content. Therefore, if we are goingto be serious about facilitating student learning, we need to be serious about developing learner thinking and mindful practicethrough creative experiences for students to refine their thinking, create meaning, use their knowledge and find the intrinsicvalue of learning.

LEARNING CONNECTIONS: INTEGRATED CURRICULUM FOR MINDFUL LEARNINGA new and innovative series of teaching units that align in a comprehensive and practical way the classroom environ-

ment, a conceptually-based curriculum, with meaningful, relevant, interactive teaching and learning strategies, and purposefulassessment. These units are written by Australian teachers and trialled in all Australian states and territories, several of theUnited States of America and New Zealand. They incorporate state, National and International Curriculum Frameworks andprofiles. $15/unit

THE GODS MUST BE CRAZY for Grades 5/6/7 - a Study of Societal ChangeTHE Y FILES for Grades 6/7/8 - a Study of InterDependenceTHE GREAT AUSSIE COOKBOOK For Grade 1/2/3 - a Study of Community

LEARNER CENTRED ASSESSMENTCarole Cooper (1997) $24

This book is a comprehensive guide to the guiding principles and practices of classroom-based assessment. Chaptersinclude practical ideas on performance-based assessment, observation and interviewing, portfolio development, student role inassessment, grading and reporting and much more.

EDUCATIONAL LEADERS’ BOOK OVERVIEWS:An annual Subscription Service designed to screen and select books which will enhance your knowledge and profes-

sional expertise in a fraction of the time it takes to read a complete book. Fifty carefully selected books per year summarised byleading International educator/practicioners. 10 issues contain one book from each of the following fields:

Leadership and School Change Ecolearning and Systems ThinkingIndigenous Wisdom Personal and Societal GrowthCommunity and Classroom Practice

Subscription $70 per individual subscription or $55 per individual for bulk subscriptions (5 or more from the sameworkplace)

*Volume 1 Collection (10 issues) : $60 (includes: The Fifth Discipline, What’s Worth Fighting For, Schools for the 21stCentury, Celestine Prophecy, Creating Community Anywhere)

*Volume 2 Collection (10 issues) : $65 (includes: The Exhausted School, Earth in the Balance, Chicken Soup for theSoul, Global Mind Change, The Leadership Paradox, Care of the Soul)

* Volume 3 Collection (10 issues over 12 months, 1997) $70

Copyright © Global Learning Communities, 1997, Vol. 3.To subscribe, call or fax. Credit card facilities available. Subscribers receive 50 overviews per year in 10 volumes.

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