Teaching sequence

10 minutes - Tune in: What is Indigemoji?
10 minutes - Find out: Emojis can mean serious business
30 minutes - Take action: Creating emojis
10 minutes - Reflection: Gallery walk

Tune in: What is Indigemoji?

Step 1. Ask students to guess which emojis are most popularly used throughout the world. Go to emojitracker to find out the results. (Note: if emojitracker is not reflecting live usage, the data will be historical).

Step 2. Visit the Indigemoji website with the students. Read and discover the background of the program. It began with a tweet and turned into a 90 Indigenous character emoji platform.

Step 3.Undertake an interactive game with the emoji set provided - see Student Worksheet. Share the Indigemojis one by one and invite the students to share their ideas on what the Indigemoji represents and in which context you might use it.

Alternatively, display a selection of the Indigemojis on tables around the room. Leave a pile of sticky notes next to each one. Invite the students to undertake a gallery walk and post their interpretation of what the Indigemoji represents and how it may be used next to it.

Step 4. Facilitate conversation about their responses

Find out: Emojis can mean serious business

Step 1. Explain that Indigemojis are being used by various organisations to communicate serious messages to communities. View this public health announcement clip by the Central Australian Women’s Legal Service to see how Indigenous communities are using the app symbols in different ways. Find out what health message is conveyed.

Step 2. Watch these public health announcement clips in sequence. First in Walpiri language to see if the students can identify the health message:

(Warlpiri) Travel Restrictions in Central Australia | A message from PAW Media and Communications - Central Australian Women's Legal Service (youtu.be/ou7ernqGpYk)

Step 3. Ask students:

What is the health message that is being shared using the emojis?

Invite the students to share their ideas in a classroom discussion. Keep the discussion open-ended and gather thoughts and ideas from the students to see what they are thinking, without leading them.

Step 4. Watch the clip in English.

(English) Travel Restrictions in Central Australia | A message from PAW Media and Communications - Central Australian Women's Legal Service (youtube.com/shorts/sFwB2E2PTko?feature=share)

Step 5. Facilitate a discussion about how accurate were the students in determining the health message that was communicated using the emojis. Reflect on the use of the emojis: Was the class on the right track? Did the symbols of the emojis translate into a recognisable health message or did the emojis send them in a different direction?

Take action: Create an emoji character.

Step 1. Investigate the Indigemoji digital symbols on the Indigemoji website: Indigemoji | Emoji-ampinye (indigemoji.com.au/emojis)

Encourage the students to look at the designs, listen to language and view the digital language symbols.

Step 2. Explain to students that Indigemojis largely communicate something about culture (cultural symbols), places (flora and fauna), people, stories, and things (troopies) that are part of Aboriginal culture and lives.

Ask students to think about their own local community or their culture. Have students brainstorm ideas on the Student Worksheet. Thinking in terms of the following categories might be helpful. Let’s say you’re non-Indigenous and from Naarm (Melbourne) -

Imagery for…	Your local community
Iconic places	Luna Park, Federation Square, Birrarung (Yarra River), terrace houses etc
Cultural symbols/icons	Street art/murals, Keith Haring mural etc.
Iconic people	Jack Charles, Dame Edna (Barry Humphries) etc
Plants & Animals	Yellow box trees, echidnas etc

Step 3.Students pick one of their ideas and get started drawing and drafting their design. Encourage simple designs - all elements should be clear. Using block colours is a good idea.

Note: Students can either hand draw their designs or use digital tools. If your school allows students to use apps, you might like to try the free versions of bitmoji or emojily.

Step 4. Discuss with the students the emoji image they created. Ask if the emoji has been developed with an emotional or environmental focus (plant, animal, bird or landscape). Ask them: What message are you trying to share or say?

Reflection: Gallery walk

Step 1. Students should save and share their work. Options include:

Add drawings to the class gallery to be viewed by other students (if completed as a paper artwork version). Or alternatively, the paper artwork emoji can be
Photograph or scan artwork to make them digital. Put them in a shared folder.
iPads or computers the students worked on can be placed around the room to show their work in the ‘gallery walk’.
Digital emojis can also be shared via screen mirroring or Bluetooth to a central tablet or computer to show the designs on the shared classroom screen for a more high-tech approach.

Step 2. Invite students to review each other’s work. Encourage conversation and positive feedback between students on their creations.

Differentiated Learning

We trust that teachers are the best equipped to know how to cater to the diversity in their classes. At Cool.org, we incorporate a variety of differentiation strategies into each lesson. Firstly, each lesson in this unit appeals to an array of different learning preferences. Learning activities can be completed in a number of different ways - if a student feels more comfortable speaking rather than writing, there are opportunities to accommodate this. In lessons that feature group work or learning stations, we trust that teachers will use their discretion in knowing how to best organise their students in accordance with positive working relationships and ability. Graphic organisers and scaffolds are often included so students can ‘visually think’ and keep a record of their work. While our lessons are designed to be 55 - 60 minutes long, we trust that teachers will manipulate lesson and segment times according to the needs of their students.

Telling Your Story with Digital Art

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