COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

APPLIED CURRICULUM PROJECT REPORT

YEAR 4

Bachelor of Education P - 12 (ABED)

Preservice teachers are required to complete an Applied Curriculum Project Report (using this proforma) on completion of their project. This form
is to be completed by the preservice teacher(s). Reference should be made to the ACP Plan developed earlier in the year. A brief comment by
the School Partnership Coordinator (or nominee) is also required. This document must be word processed.
This Final Report must:

Describe the project and its outcomes

Provide evidence of how the aims of the project were met or not met and why with reference to the relevant educational theory and/or
literature or policy cited in the plan

Comment on the progress according to the action plan included in the Plan and advise of any changes to this plan and the reasons for any
amendments

Evaluate the success or otherwise of the expected measurable outcomes with reference to the evaluation methodology described in the
plan.

Describe how each of the five, or more, professional skills (planning, negotiating, project management, problem solving, team work, time
management, evaluating, communicating, reporting and researching) you nominated in your plan where used/applied during your ACP.
Preservice Teacher to complete
ACP Mentor Teacher to complete

Preservice Teacher submitting this report: Carisa Patman

ACP Title:

SWiRL - Story Writing in Remote Locations

School/Setting:

Manyallaluk School (Northern Territory)

Address:

P.O. Box 271 Katherine NT 0851

Phone:

08 8975 4438

Sections 1 - 5
Section A
Student ID: 3886660

Fax: 08 8975 4563

Partnerships Coordinator: Rosemary Sullivan

ACP Mentors:

Rosemary Sullivan
Stephanie Baker

Additional ACP Preservice Teacher (PST) team members (where applicable)

PST Name:

John Polizzi

Student ID: 3889183

Campus: Footscray Park

1. Brief description of the project and its outcomes:

SWiRL (Story Writing in Remote Locations) is a program at Victoria University that is based in Northern
Territory and works with Remote Indigenous Communities. Pre-Service Teachers work with students in these
remote communities to create and publish cultural appropriate picture books that they are able to relate to, to
able to understand as part of their way of life and what they experience as students living in a remote
community as they can not relate to reading books about the beach, the city or even visiting a shopping centre as
they do not have these places where they are situated. The SWiRL program was created and came about by
Lawry Mahon when he came to realize how culturally inaccurate most childrens literature texts were within
Aboriginal communities (Victoria University 2015), so with the creation of these books they will be available
and accessible in the schools, local libraries (if the community has one) and even in homes for others to not just
read and learn from but also grow from. SWiRL aims to engage Indigenous children in remote traditional and
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contemporary activities (Victoria University 2015) as well as to give children in these communities
opportunities to have positive experiences within education. This is due to children in these kinds of
communities not always having the benefit or chance to complete their education and one of the main reasons is
due to the remoteness of the community. This program also provides and gives children the opportunity outside
of their normal schooling the chance to share their life experiences with visitors that have come to their
communities, which can then relieve any boredom experienced when school is not on and keep them out of
trouble (Reece. L 2006).

2. Provide evidence of how the project aims were met or not met and why, with reference to relevant
educational theory/or literature or policy cited in the plan.
During my six-week placement the students were able to start their own picture books enjoying themselves in
the process and having fun while doing it. For me that was my main aim after arriving in the Northern Territory
and working with the students for a week or two. Even though the students have been unable to finish them by
the end of the six-weeks and it would have been nice for the students to own something they have created and
feel proud of, being my main goal coming into the six weeks in a remote aboriginal community, they were able to
start something great that they could share with numerous amounts of people and have something exciting to
look forward to at school. After getting to know the students and work with them for a bit my main aim changed
and never became my intention for the students to finish the books in the end, as my main goal out of this whole
experience became getting the students to have a go and having them write some simple sentences about a
recount in their life. As recounts are one of the main focuses in the students literacy time, in teaching students
how to order events from beginning to end, it seemed to fit my aim of the project. As I believe that every student
has the right to a fair education and be given many opportunities to improve, grow and succeed in order to live
the best life possible since Indigenous students experience poorer educational outcomes than their non-
Indigenous counterparts in terms of achievement, participation, attendance and experience of school (Krause,
Bochner & Duchesne 2006, p. 341). Giving the students an opportunity to look forward to something like writing
their own picture book, gives them motivation to learn something new and attend school in order for them to
participate in projects and activities that are engaging and exciting.

3. Comment on progress according to your Action Plan and advise of any changes to this plan and the
reasons for any changes.
The progress of the SWiRL books throughout the six weeks at Manyallaluk School in the Northern Territory is
that we were able to start them with students being able to come up with their story ideas and start writing
some sentences but we were unable to finish them. According to the action plan we would have been able to
complete them by the last week if we had been able to stick to it, but due to the nature of the students schooling
and how everything is constantly changing with lessons and other things that come up and unexpectedly occur
that I was unable to stick to the plan I had made. Due to my aims changing throughout the weeks of being at the
schools and working with the students, it never became my aim to finish as much as for the students to just have
fun and look forward to something they have an opportunity to do. Since we had started the books in the third
week instead of the first week, time was not exactly on our side, as the books would have taken some time to
complete due to needing to work with the students one on one in order to help and guide the students along and
help them understand what they needed to do. Due to these constraints and reasons we were unable to finish
the books but that was fine as long as the students had fun and enjoyed themselves while participating in the
project.

4. Evaluation
I am very privileged to be a part of the program this year as I believe every student has the right to a fair
education and be given many opportunities to improve, grow and succeed in order to live the best life possible
since Indigenous students educational outcomes as well as attendance and experiences have a more poorer
outcome than their non-Indigenous counterparts. Education inequality has and is becoming more prevalent in
our society as a childs school outcome does not arise from individual characteristics but are reflected through
family and environmental factors (Krause, Bochner & Duchesne 2006, p 339).

I believe that I could try and make a difference in these students lives and give students an overall more positive
experience in their education as schooling should be a fun, exciting and safe place for students to attend to
receive the best opportunities available in order to learn skills and great things that they can use in their
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everyday lives and future as I have seen happening numerous amounts of times during my stay at the school.
From what I was able to do and complete with the students I believe was successful in the sense that the
students were able to write a few sentences and recount what they had done previously or in the past, being able
to retell a story as ordering events in sequence is one of the important aspects of literacy here at the school and
being able to contribute that in some way and form is a good thing and most importantly the students had fun
while doing it.

5. Professional Skills Utilised

o Professional Skill #1 - Planning
Before I started creating the books with the students I sat down and wrote out a plan of when we will
complete certain parts of the story in the possibility that the students will have a finished product by the
end of the six weeks. Due to hectic schedules and planning always changing due to the unpredictability of
the students progression and whether they will understand and having to repeat things for students to
develop an understanding as well as having 6 hours of school a day not being enough up here, that plan
fell apart as we were unable to finish the books.

o Professional Skill #2 - Time Management

In starting the books in week three of the six weeks, I believed we had enough time to complete them but
as it turned out we needed much longer as we probably should have started within he first week. We
even probably would have needed longer than six weeks as the students have higher learning
importance over creating the books, which is highly reasonable as the students language and number
skills take longer to develop as English is their second language.

o Professional Skill #3 - Communication

Since English is the students second language, you need to very specific in what you would like to the
students to do in order for them to understand what you are saying. When giving instructions to the
students I tried to be quite clear and precise in giving instructions one at a time instead of a whole lot at
once, as they will not comprehend what you want them to do. As students do tend to talk in their own
language every now and then I had to concentrate quite hard to try and piece together what they were
saying to me on what they would have liked their story to be about, which then came down to
researching.

o Professional Skill #4 - Researching

When it came to students thinking of their books ideas/topics, some research was needed to know what
the students were talking about such as Pandanas making that is a plant used to weave baskets together,
as well as going fishing at Flying Fox, which is a creek not far from Manyallaluk that people love to go
fishing at. A little research was required in order to know and understand what the students were talking
about as well as having an Indigenous person around the school for help if I had needed to.

o Professional Skill #5 - Project Management

Managing the SWiRL project was not easy as there was quite a bit of time constraint, especially as the
books were to be done after lunchtime and only having around 45 minutes till school day finished to get
work done. Trying to get the students to complete some of the work for the books was a little
challenging, as it needed to be done mostly one on one as the students needed a little help and guidance
in creating sentences for their stories. I managed to focus mainly on two students, as they were the only
ones able to start writing their sentences being the only two students that were constantly at school the
days we managed to fit in some SWiRL for the whole duration of the six weeks. We managed to get their
sentences down and could have started putting it together and gather photos but time ran out. If I were
to do I again I would have definitely started the project earlier than when I had started this time round if
I had known how long it would have potentially taken to do.

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Section A

Professional skills displayed by the preservice teacher in the completion of the project
(ACP Mentor Teacher (or nominee) to complete)

Carisa took the opportunity to use afternoon sessions in the third week of the placement to begin with the
project. She planned her sessions with the children and used the time to communicate one on one with the
children. Time management proved a challenge, although over the project Carisa gradually began to try to
ensure an appropriate amount of time for packing up and organisation during and at the end of sessions.
The one on one time enabled Carisa to have practical experience of the display between the language and
lives of the children she has worked with and despite the actual books being unable to be completed, she has
been able to see and experience the complications in remote Indigenous communities and educational settings
generally that affect such projects, in articular attendance and mobility.
More focus on communicating with Indigenous adults in the community would have enabled Carisa to relate
places, people and animals of interest to the children. This is turn helps to provide content and understanding
for shared texts.

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