Fire in the Classroom

Proudly Australian

Campfire welcomes members, filmmakers, teachers and students from all around the world, but we are undeniably Australian. From a marketing point of view, I probably shouldn’t be drawing special attention to this, but there’s something about this weekend that makes me feel extremely patriotic. While certainly not my “top 3 reasons” I love being an Australian, the following are 3 things currently on my radar that are uniquely Australian. It’s time to feature them.

Yesterday was the AFL Grand Final - Hawks v Swans. I’m not hugely into sport, but it has to be said, that was a nail-biting game. Today is the NRL grand final. It is a BIG weekend for footy, especially on the East coast.

Aussie Rules #AFLGF, as seen by Problogger Darren Rowse

More relevant to us at Campfire, our friends at ATOM are coming up to their annual event, celebrating quality film and the importance of educating teachers and students about media. This year, the ATOM Awards are being run as two events - the awards for tertiary-level media and industry on Wed 21 Nov, and the awards for schools on Wed 28 Nov. This seems to me a great (and logical) split in the excellent and ongoing work they do in this space.

The ATOM Awards 2012

As the new Australian Curriculum starts to get rolled out around the country (I’ve already spoken quite patriotically about this), there is a new initiative funded by the Constitution Education Fund Australia called Yaba.

This is a site aimed at Year 7 - 9 students, and aims to generate some enthusiasm about what it means to be a citizen of Australia, and the world actually. “Civics and Citizenship” is an important area for Campfire because it looks like being the home of that thorny issue of religion, spirituality and wholeness in the new Australian Curriculum. Getting young people thinking seriously about who they are, and where they fit into a civil society is absolutely what we are about — using short film as the way to do that constructively. While less about the ‘wholeness’ stuff, and more about the ‘political’ stuff, it seems Yaba is the one to watch.

So, for inspiring political engagement in young people, I’d highly recommend Yaba as a place to get started. Keep an eye on this one.

Yaba

Yep, it’s a good weekend to feel proud about being Australian.