The Winifred Fisher Indigenous Knowledge Centre

The Indigenous Knowledge Centre, (IKC) has been in great demand recently by children reading and doing Accelerated Reading quizzes on the computers. Children are arriving at school by 8 am ready and wanting to read. The IKC is open for them to read Accelerated Reader books and then do the accompanying comprehension quiz on a computer. While children may only achieve 0.5 points each for many of the books they read, there is a prize for each child when they reach 20 points. One child almost reached halfway today. Accelerated Reader is a computer program which accumulates a list of books a child has read, and the points nominated for each title. It is very exciting to see children sitting and reading, listening to a story, waiting for a computer, or helping other children achieve better reading outcomes. It has been very exciting to watch.

The old saying, “A leader is a reader” can become a reality for these children as they press in and improve their skills in reading first, then in other areas.

Homework Club runs Monday and Tuesday afternoons. Sharon from Murgon High School and some teachers and helpers bus a number of students to Cherbourg so they can work on assignments, thus providing students with a computer lab and support to assist their learning.

Microsoft Unlimited Potential computer classes, run Wednesday and Thursday evenings. These are open to the community as group and individual learning support classes with a view to upskilling students towards employment, while allowing them to learn at their own pace or simply for the enjoyment of it. Classes have worked on Word Processing, Spreadsheet, Excel, Tables, Emailing, and Internet use. Regular students are becoming quite competent in many of these areas.

On Wednesday nights, simultaneously with Unlimited Potential classes, the IKC is used by women for Beadin’ and Yarnin’. Women sit and thread beads into beautiful pieces of art jewellery, earrings, necklaces, and anklets while sharing around the table. On Valentine’s Day, girls sewed and embroidered Valentine’s pillows. This is a great opportunity for older women to mentor younger women, and it is wonderful to see the girls enjoying each other’s company.

The IKC has collections of DVDs, videos, CDs, Indigenous history, stories, and knowledge at the same time as good resources for teaching and learning in many areas. It has computers, and a variety of equipment to facilitate looking, learning and listening.

School classes are using the IKC on a regular basis. Students borrow books out and return them the following week, and the level of respect for people and property in the IKC is growing. This is a very good outcome in addition to the improvements in reading.

Film making has had a very positive benefit to students and the community as children have won awards for their own films. Robyn and Tanya have been teaching film making to children and community members. Last year, two outstanding films made by young film makers won recognition for Cherbourg’s school and community. The films were shown in the IKC and at the end of year awards morning. These films are a valuable way of storing important local cultural knowledge, teaching values and sharing opinions.

Community members are invited and encouraged to participate in IKC activities.