A teacher develops and applies foundational knowledge about First Nations, Metis, and Inuit for the benefit of all students.
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Understanding
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Strength and Diversity
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Student Development
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understanding the historical, social, economic, and political implications of: treaties and agreements with First Nations; legislation and agreements negotiated with Métis; and residential schools and their legacy
Philosophy of Education Professional Project
This resource was created to incorporate social reconstructivist and constructionist educational philosophies alongside incorporating indigenous epistemologies through the use of agonistic dialogue in the classroom. As part of my undergraduate degree in Canadian Studies I had taken a fourth year Political Science course (Reconciliation and the State) in which I analyzed methods of reconciliation in settler-colonial societies and proposed the use of agonistic dialogue as part of curriculum. This professional project used this foundation of knowledge in accordance with educational philosophies to produce a teacher resource including lesson plans to implement this information in a meaningful way.
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supporting the learning experiences of all students by using resources that accurately reflect and demonstrate the strength and diversity of First Nations, Métis and Inuit
As part of my ELA and Social Studies unit for the students at Napi's Playground Elementary on Piikani Nation, one of the performance tasks was to create a class book. Using storytelling as the unit theme, students researched and collected information about Piikani from family and community members, elders, indigenous books, and traditional stories. Students then analyzed the book "If you're not from the prairie..." to understand the connection between land/ place and identity. My students were really engaged by this story, but they really lit up when asked what elements of Piikani we could write about for our class book. Some of the suggestions were the Blackfoot language, dancing and drumming, food, the buffalo, the history and traditional clothes. Students used the curated "Piikani Research Center" to choose a topic and then began free writing to gather more information. Eventually students followed the literary pattern from the original text to write about their own culture, supporting the resiliency and strength of the community, and allowing students to feel a sense of pride about where they come from.
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Using the program of study to provide opportunities for all students to develop a knowledge and understanding of, and respect for, the histories, cultures, languages, contributions, perspectives, experiences and contemporary contexts of FNMI
One of the most simple and effective applications for critical, place-based literacy is to ask who's land you make your home on and to acknowledge that. As an educator, it is important to me to first educate myself and to reflect. In addition to university classes I found the following resources to be helpful. Native Land is a mapping website that challenges the way we see borders, territories, and ownership. By typing in your address you can see the Indigenous lands which you reside on. For my school this is
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Treaty Seven land, including the Blackfoot Confederacy, Iyaxe Nakoda, Tsutina Nation, and Metis Region 3. More specifically the location of the school is on Niitsìpiis- stahkoii (Blackfoot Confederacy) land.
Native Land seeks to "provide educational resources to correct the way that people speak about colonialism and indigeneity, and to encourage territory awareness in everyday speech and action." (Native-Land.ca)
Native Land seeks to "provide educational resources to correct the way that people speak about colonialism and indigeneity, and to encourage territory awareness in everyday speech and action." (Native-Land.ca)
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In order to implement this information into a grade one and two class, I found a poem created by Indigenous Services at the Calgary Public Library with actions and child-friendly language to integrate into our classroom morning routine. Everyday we would practice and recite this poem and talk about a different element each day. Some discussions included physical features of the land such as the confluence of the Bow and Elbow river as part of physical geography. We also researched the similarities and differences between different the Indigenous groups we
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acknowledged. Having the Treaty Seven Land Acknowledgement as a starting point for the social studies community unit as well as the starting point for each lesson, set a foundation for critical literacy. Students began to engage in critical literacy by asking questions and wondering about "where the Blackfoot people went?" One student responded "Wait! I'm Blackfoot!" Some students in the class began to share about their own Blackfoot heritage and describe traditions, pow wows, and parts of the Blackfoot language. Our class was corrected on the pronunciation of Oki (hello or welcome) so we thought about why it is important to say names and Blackfoot words correctly. In response, on Arabic speaking student explained that we had been pronouncing her name wrong, opening up discussion about speaking up and correcting people as well as apologizing to this student and committing to doing better. The land acknowledgement was used in our class as a lens to look at our community through, to ask questions, and to discuss environmental issues as well as residential schools.
A key focus in our class was learning from Blackfoot stories and Indigenous resources about balance in giving and taking from the earth. Students began noticing the seasonal changes from summer to fall as we sat in the school naturalization area, so we talked about the circular rotation of seasons. This theme of circles appeared again as we played a game about the length of time different materials take to decompose. We read about taking care of the earth from an Indigenous perspective and talked about the challenges of recycling and the cost of buying materials that last versus disposables. Students offered a poem and a promise to the land in return for taking sticks and leaves for an art project inspired by Indigenous dolls.
Indigenous inquiry inspired a focus on oral storytelling and allowing students to express their learning orally, as well as critical literacy in asking questions and place-based learning by focussing on the land we reside on and learning from the land itself. |