Well, here we are at the last full week of school here in NSW and the final challenge chatter email. I hope you’ve had a great week and an even better term despite the craziness that always is Term 4.

It’s hard to believe that we’ve come to the end of our #PlanningWithWingaruAndMrJChallenge already, it feels like just yesterday I sat down with my Wingaru Planner and looked at how I was going to embed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives each week. 

Despite, the name I’ve actually found this journey to be anything but a challenge. For me personally, it’s hasn’t been hard to find ways to embed this important cross curriculum priority, it’s been more about changing the way I think, being more mindful and forming new habits when it comes to planning my lessons and units of work. 

Thanks to the amazing resources from Wingaru and this incredible online community I’ve never been short of great lesson ideas, activities and resources that I can use throughout my week across a range of KLAs. My eyes have been opened to new perspectives, ideas and insights that I wasn’t aware of before and I’m so excited to take all of this with me into a new year.

For me, this was never about doing a “one off” thing for a term, but it was about changing the way I’ve done things for the last 12 and a half years as an educator and leader in schools. The way I look at it, this isn’t the end of our challenge but simply the start of a new journey and I’m really looking forward to taking this Challenge further and sharing many of the insights, resources and approaches that I’ve seen from others over the past 10 weeks with my colleagues and students. 

I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for being a part of our Challenge this term. I hope it’s been a positive experience for you as an educator and you’ve come away with something new that you can continue to use beyond this Challenge.

As a non-Aboriginal educator, 2020 has been a wake up call both personally and professionally and I’ve continually challenged myself to do better when it comes to embedding First Nations perspectives and content into my classroom because I had been ignorant up until now. For that I am deeply sorry and I am committed to doing better moving forward. 

Thank you again for those who followed along on this journey, for those who gave it a go and for those who shared their weekly intentions with us along with a snapshot into their classrooms. You’ve continued to inspire me and so many others.

Have a wonderful Christmas and New Year season friends!
Mr J