Reflection on "From Gumnuts to Buttons"

Today in class we discussed the characteristics of a reflection as a written text. Students were also given an example of one  which was written about the same experience our upper primary students had with the role play "Gumnuts to Buttons." We read through it as a class, decoding any difficult vocabulary. Then students were requested to read through it again individually.  We also discussed our experiences at our recent role play which was undertaken in the other Friday in the hall with all of the grade 5 and 6 students for a double lesson. We talked about the symbolism and we discussed the devastating effects of colonisation on the Aboriginal people in Tasmania. This introduction took about forty minutes. Students were then given forty-five minutes to an hour to write up their draft. Some students actually had  a little longer than this because we had a small amount of time in the afternoon after all the photographs had been done. Tonight's homework is the type up, or hand write up the top copy. Students who were word-processing the text were given lines and white A4 paper to use. The illustrations can be done Friday afternoon when we do art-based activities. This will make up one of the chapeters in the students' "Horrible Histories" books they are currently writing.

The role play was aimed at helping students' understanding of an empathy for Aboriginal peoples' history. It was to promote a new knowledge and awareness of the important events and occurrences in Tasmanian history. Here are a few photos taken on the day. The gumnuts symbolised the Aboriginal people (nature) and the buttons symbolised the European invasion (manufactured).