5 ideas for celebrating NAIDOC Week 2018

The theme for this year's NAIDOC Week is 'Because of her, we can!' and what a fantastic idea for this year's theme! Aboriginal women are the key to a smooth running community. They are elders, leaders, sisters, mothers, aunts and grandmothers. They are doctors, nurses, teachers and community liaison personnel. They have marched and protested and have instigated many key changes to Australian indigenous policy. What better way to acknowledge all they have done, than to dedicate NAIDOC Week to their achievements? 

If you're unsure what NAIDOC Week is all about click here to visit their website. Essentially NAIDOC Week is an opportunity to acknowledge and celebrate the achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. 

This year NAIDOC Week will be held from 8 - 15 July and there will be lots of celebrations happening across Australia. 

How can you bring this fantastic celebration into your classroom?

The Australian curriculum suggests we explore community celebrations (HASS) and explore their links to our own. NAIDOC Week is the perfect way to look at celebrations students are familiar with and create those early links with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture.

Here are my five suggestions for ways to integrate NAIDOC Week 2018 into your classroom.

1 Explore the celebration and join in!

Explore the ways that NAIDOC Week is a celebration by creating a class Venn Diagram showing celebrations such as Australia Day and how NAIDOC Week is celebrated. Then, as a class, brainstorm ways that the class could celebrate NAIDOC Week. It is interesting to see what suggestions students come up with and what their understanding is about Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander culture. 

2. Create some art

Explore Aboriginal art, their use of colours and styles. Give students some templates and they can create their own stunning art works. 

Here is a dot painting my students did one year. 

3. Research some inspiring Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women

Let students research an inspiring role model within the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community. SBS has a fantastic starting point here and students could select one woman and then create a fantastic wall display with their research.

4. Review a timeline of Aboriginal history

Review the obstacles that Aboriginal women have had to face from First Contact till the present day. What is Sorry Day and how did it impact on Aboriginal communities?

5. Invite an Elder to your school

Your school is already affiliated with your local Elder but if not, then contact your local tribe and see who the local school liaison officer is. I've always found Elders to be fantastic fun and they have so much knowledge to impart to the children about their local community.

Get students to pose questions in advance (it's a good idea to field questions before Elders arrive) and make sure students understand how to address their local Elder as Uncle or Aunty. If you're unsure what to ask the Elder to do, just ask them to come and talk. They have so many interesting stories. Our local Elder comes every year and give each student their Dreaming Spirit Animal and the students just love this!