This description is derived from a participant observation conducted in Tutorial 1 on the 29th October 2015.
It is Thursday morning, 8.45am. I arrive early for class today, eager to do my participant observation. The tutor’s bag is already in the room and I am not the first student to arrive. The tutor (L2) comes back to the room at shortly before 9am and begins to chat with the students about the upcoming exam until it is time to start the tutorial. At the beginning of the class L2 gives a brief overview of today’s class structure. Then we hear the first student presentation. When the presenter says “Good morning” in an Aboriginal language, L2 answers in the same way. Half way through the presentation, L2 interrupts the presenting student to clarify that Aboriginal people had the right to vote before the date mentioned on the slides. She underlines her statement by saying: “My grandmother voted” and then gives the student the advice: It’s always good to read more than one source.
After the first presentation is over, L2 asks the students in the class whether anyone had any comments or questions. As no one answers she turns back to the presenter saying: “L2 does”. She praises the presenter’s definition of reconciliation and then picks up a quote from the slides. This quote is often used for assignment tasks, she says, and explains it further. She then goes on talking about another aspect that came up during the presentation, adding a “like you said” to her remarks. When she reaches the topic of the Reconciliation Action Plans (RAP), she tells the class that a few years ago she was asked to work with an organisation of its RAP and uses this as a starting point to explain what a RAP can look like and what has to be done to put one together.
As we are about to start the next presentation, a student enters the room. She is greeted with a friendly: “Oh, hi! How are you?” by the tutor.
During the second presentation L2 also comments on aspects. When the presenter explains what an auto-biography is, she remarks that there has just recently been another unauthorised biography about a famous person. Furthermore, she explains the significance of autobiographies, written by the person himself or herself, by saying that when it is raining she often tells her colleagues what a lovely day it is while in their opinion, the weather is horrible. Thus, L2 concludes, there can be different perspectives on the same thing. After the presentation is over, she asks again whether there are any comments or questions. Again, none of the students answers. She goes ahead telling the presenter that she “enjoyed it” and that “it was good to have a definition” of ‘autobiography’. Then, she tells the class that she is a “heavy reader” as she reads about three novels a week, including an auto-biography every now and then. In one specific autobiography she read it was interesting to see how the representation in the media differed from the person’s own account. She also made an interesting experience while teaching a class in 1993 where the students perceived something that was normal to her as “history”. It was the fact that she did not do any sports as a child while her brother did because “that was what boys did”, she adds.
Afterwards, L2 gives more details about a person which has been presented by the student and shows the class on the map on the wall where this person’s project is located. Walking back over to the whiteboard she asks the presenter which autobiographies he read for his presentation and creates a list on the board of all good autobiographies she can think off from the top of her head. The first is the first autobiography she ever read. After naming the titles, she always gives some information about the author. She also asks the class for more ideas. When talking about one autobiography she admits that she “sat up all night with tissues”. In another one, her name is mentioned, she says. She finishes up by telling the class that she has a big bookshelf with autobiographies at home and that “there are many out there” if we want to read them. Sometimes, she adds, it is easier to read those then an academic article “with all those disgusting words in it”.
Meanwhile, one of students has received an email from the lecturer (L1) answering a question about the exam which has come up before the class. L2 takes the students phone and reads out the email for everyone. Then she hands out paper for an exercise she has explained briefly earlier. We are to draw our hand on a sheet of paper, cut it out and write on the one side what we learned in the class and on the other what we personally could do for reconciliation. {Click here for analysis} “I don’t know whether you want white or ochre”, L2 says while putting a few sheet of each colour on the group tables. Already aware of the task most of the class starts drawing their hands on the paper while L2 is talking to some students. After a few minutes she goes up to the board and draws around her own hand. “I have a fat hand”, she remarks and everyone laughs. Then she scolds herself for also drawing a big part of her arm because that would mean that she would be an elder. “You don’t have that much knowledge, L2”, she says more to herself than to the class. Looking at her hand again, she adds: “Those fat hands can play the piano. Unbelievable, isn’t it?”
While everyone is working on the task, some students are joking around with a pair of scissors. When L2 hears it, she asks: “what’s up?” and then suggests with a laugh to take “the naughty student” outside and punish him. A few minutes later she asks whether the class remembers an aspect of last week’s episode of the TV series Ready for This we watched in class. She then shows a music video which is related to this episode while commenting on how much the actress changed and singing and dancing along. After the video is over L2 tells the class that her mother called her the other day to tell her that the actress is in town as she is an acquaintance of the family.
Then, L2 asks how the class is doing with the task and whether someone wants to share his or her answer to the reconciliation question. As someone does, L2 talks about a tutorial last year in which students came up with an interesting idea of how a school could work on Aboriginal issues. She then tells the story of her sister’s practical training at a school and the way she worked with her pupils on Aboriginal topics. Going back to what the student’s ideas about reconciliation were, L2 states that it is very important to speak out loud. “I guess that’s why I didn’t get a job at X, I was too black and too loud”, she says laughing. Then she gives the class the advice to experience a different culture in another way than just from a book. What one can learn from everyday situations is incredible, she says. Once, her son, for example, played at the beach with other children from a different culture background and learned so much from it.
As a student says something about the class being very enjoyable, L2 remembers her own history class in school in which the teacher spoke with a very British accent and which she always enjoyed very much. She tells us about a specific comment she made and the teacher’s reaction to it.
As it is the last tutorial, L2 promises that she will finish marking all assignments soon and offers that we can talk to her if we are not happy with the result. “I also make mistakes”, she says, correcting herself immediately: “I also have learning experiences”. {Click here for analysis} She then asks whether anyone already watched this week’s episode of Ready for This and whether we want to watch it right now. While we are watching, the first students leave already.
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