Educators respect and value the history of First Nations, Inuit and Metis in Canada and the impact of the past on present and the future. Educators contribute towards truth, reconciliation and healing. Educators foster a deeper understanding of ways of knowing and being, histories, and cultures of First Nations, Inuit and Metis.
Experiential Practicum (391) – Standard 9
March 23rd, 2021
Standard 9 is such an inherent part of our education system, especially up here in Northern B.C. where we are surrounded by many rich Indigenous cultures. It was very important for me to recognize and acknowledge the unceded traditional territory of the Lheidli T’enneh during my experiential practicum. I was honoured to be learning and teaching with the students on this beautiful land we all call home. With each of my lessons, I incorporated a First Peoples Principle of Learning (FPPL) and made the students aware of its incorporation within their learning intention. I was happy to see that all students were able to tell me what land they were living on and how important it is to learn about Indigenous values, perspectives and worldviews. There were multiple Indigenous students in my classroom who were very proud of their heritage and background. Within this post, I’ll outline three significant opportunities and experiences I had with standard 9 during my experiential practicum in 391.
For Pink Shirt Day, I taught a Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) lesson in the afternoon. We discussed the history of Pink Shirt Day and outlined the meaning of wearing pink to stand up to bullying. I allowed students the opportunity to share with myself and the rest of the class a time that they had been bullied or experienced someone else being bullied. The students were very honest with themselves and their stories really impacted me. I shared some of those same experiences in elementary school as an Indigenous person. Most of the bullying incidents included students being made fun of for their culture and identity. We had a very meaningful and productive classroom discussion about acceptance of others and respecting our diversities. For our activity, students created a kindness chain to hang up in their class. Students were asked to write something kind about themselves on a chain link and something kind about another student in the class on the other chain link. Students chose a popsicle stick to pick the other student they were writing about so everyone was included. In honour of Pink Shirt Day, the chain links were two different hues of pink. Once students finished, they came up to the front and read their chain link sentences before I stapled them into one big chain. The atmosphere of the class was a joy to be in. The chain link still remains up in their room.
I was able to co-teach a lesson with my CT in Social Studies and she presented me with the opportunity of discussing Indigenous involvement in the Cariboo/Barkerville Gold Rush. I was fortunate enough to find a really interesting article about Barkerville hiring their first Indigenous actor (for reenactments) in 2019 to represent Indigenous involvement. When I read the article to the students, we had a class discussion about displacement, dispossession and reconciliation. Students were able to imagine how the Indigenous people must have felt for being left out of this important part of our history in B.C. Students were also able to respect and appreciate Indigenous contributions from the past and make connections to their current contributions today. Being able to facilitate this discussion with the students was very significant because recognizing the value and practicing Indigenous worldview reflects standard 9.
Lastly, during one of my formal observations, I taught the class a lesson on Haikus. You’d think that incorporating standard 9 to Haikus sounds like a challenge; however, it was rather natural. Haikus are short poems that reflect nature. What better way to include a FPPL than to connect it to nature and the unceded traditional territory the students are living on and enjoying. Before the lesson began, I showed a few pictures of our surrounding area in Prince George that reflected nature. Students were able to connect the theme of the photos but were surprised some of them were from areas nearby their own school. The poems reflected the nature around Prince George that we must connect back to the Indigenous roots they grew from. The writing the students were able to come up with was astonishing, and I was so proud of the descriptive words they used for our beautiful little area here in the north.
Altogether, embodying and practicing standard 9 within my experiential practicum (391) came naturally to me and my students.
(Here is the link to the article I used for Social Studies and Indigenous Involvement in the Gold Rush)