WestCAST 2020 is a conference that brings together educators, students and administrators from BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba to share their experiences and knowledge in the teaching field. I submitted my proposal, derived from my Inquiry question I explored in one of my courses. I didn’t think it was going to be accepted, and I didn’t think that as a teacher candidate, I would have something to valuable to share because of my inexperience.
It doesn’t hurt to try. So on a whim, I submitted a brief of a workshop I wanted to lead and called it ” “Utilizing Discomfort in the Classroom Through an Interdisciplinary Lens (Social Studies, English, and Art).” I wasn’t sure if I could do it on my own, so I reached out to an amazing friend who had a similar topic of inquiry on chaos, boredom and play. I was so thankful she was just as excited to jump on board. She has fantastic energy, sincerity and intelligence as a teacher and a friend.
When the schedule released, we had the 8:30 am time slot. GREAT. We though no one was going to come! Who gets up early on the last day of the conference for a workshop? Well a group came through, and suddenly I felt pretty nervous. Uncomfortable you could say, haha. We started the session by introducing ourselves by name accompanied by a wild gesture. With a bit of silliness and giggling, it broke the ice.
Two activities that our workshop was based on was Redacted Poetry (also known as black-out or erasure) and Sense Poems (adapted from Johnny Macrae from Vancouver Poetry House). No poem was the same. Readings elicited serious head-nods, laughter, and of course, *snaps*. I was blown away with the pieces strangers came together to create and share.
For one participant’s poem, she described a topic of personal discomfort through our Sense Poem activity (using the 5 senses). At the end we had a guess…And had no idea her gruesome and detailed lines were about wearing high-heeled shoes.
I really liked speaking in a small-group setting, and having participants from a variety of places and contexts. Shea and finished the workshop feeling fantastic.
WestCAST ended their conference with an incredible speaker, probably the best I’ve heard because of the power and relevance of his words. Chris Scribe shared personal stories and indigenous knowledge with a room full of strangers. I feel not just motivated but it being my responsibility to educate myself on Indigenous culture. He had a great analogy for why Indigenous knowledge needs to be taught in schools. For example, I am Chinese Canadian but I feel out of touch with my Chinese background. Where would I go to learn more about my culture? Probably China, where I can learn about traditional practices, beliefs, and even modern culture. In Canada, it is not the same. We’ve buried and tried to erase Indigenous culture with unsettling stories of colonialism that still remain in students’ textbooks today.
That’s just a fragment of the knowledge that I left with that day. I felt heavy, on the verge of tears, and lost in thought after Scribe’s speech. I wish everyone could’ve heard it.
When we did this presentation I never would have thought of all that was yet to come. The entire world is suffering and grieving in the same way right now and I often find myself reflecting back upon the practices that we discussed in this workshop. How can we deepen our creative practices and gain clarity through the unknowns and uncertainties of our current global climate?