We are delighted to be able to share this workshop on how to teach culturally sensitive and challenging texts in classrooms. The presentation was recorded during the AATE/IFTE Conference in July 2020 – thank you to ETA NSW and the conference for giving us permission to share this video with our users.
The presenters are Cara Shipp, a Wiradjuri woman and teacher based in Queensland and a unit writer for Reading Australia, and Phil Page, the treasurer of AATE and the manager of Reading Australia’s secondary resources. Both Cara and Phil are experienced English and Literature teachers and highly respected within the education community.
Their workshop is intended for teachers who may feel culturally ill-equipped to teach Indigenous texts in a respectful and inclusive way or who struggle with texts that may contain confronting material, such as sexual or domestic violence. This workshop will provide guidance in engaging more fully and meaningfully with these texts, and show teachers how to continue developing culturally informed teaching strategies.
This video is one of the many recorded sessions from the AATE/IFTE Conference. All the recorded sessions are available until 12 October – a wonderful way to engage wth accredited and engaging professional development during the school holidays! Register for access here.
The Presenters
Cara Shipp is a Wiradjuri/Welsh woman (descending from the Lamb and Shipp families in Central Western NSW) and currently leads Years 7-12 at Silkwood School, Mount Nathan, in the Gold Coast Hinterland. She has previously run alternative educational programs for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students; held Head Teacher English/ HASS/Languages positions; and served as President, Vice President and Editor with the ACT Association for the Teaching of English (ACTATE). Cara has completed a Master of Education focusing on Aboriginal literacy and regularly presents cultural competence training at local and National conferences, particularly within the context of incorporating Indigenous perspectives into the English curriculum. In 2013, Cara was part of the ACARA working party on incorporating the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures cross-curriculum priority into the Civics and Citizenship curriculum.
Phil Page is the co-ordinating editor/project manager for the writing of the secondary teaching resources for Copyright Agency Cultural Fund’s Reading Australia program. He has been involved extensively in the initiative from its inception in 2013 through to the present. Additionally, he has co-ordinated a number of secondary English curriculum resourcing programs for AATE, including work for the AITSL teaching standards and ESA’s ‘English for the Australian Curriculum’ project. A retired English teacher and high school principal, he is the current AATE Treasurer.