Author Archives: SarahStephenson

Module 2, Post 5

This resource addresses both the Indigenous holistic approach to learning and how to make a classroom environment welcoming for students, where all voices are recognized as integral to the construction of activity knowledge. Dr. Pamela Toulouse explores how classrooms can be turned into quality learning environments for Indigenous students where authentic learning can take place. She also addresses issues that are preventing Indigenous students and families from learning and gives suggestions of how to create a culture of respect and acceptance. I feel that this resource culminates some major themes of my research; the holistic and emotional competency as well as helping teachers create inviting learning environments.

Module 2, Post 4

Using Inquiry in the classroom to help boost teacher confidence

Trevor Mackenzie’s Books on Inquiry in the Classroom

Trevor Mackenzie is a leader when it comes to using Inquiry-based learning in the classroom. His books have strategies and lessons that can be applied to any classroom setting. An area of research for my project is to create confidence in teachers to implement Indigenous ways of knowing and learning. Several peers commented at the beginning of this course that they don’t feel confident teaching Indigenous material. I believe that Mackenzie’s approach to teaching through inquiry will help teachers feel like they are on the learning journey with their students and not feel the pressure to know everything beforehand.

Module 2, Post 3

First Nations Perspective on Health and Wellness

This website was developed by the First Nations Health Authority (FNHA) to work with Indigenous families and individuals on their health and wellness journey. The website works to honour traditions and cultures of Indigenous peoples while championing health and wellness from an Indigenous perspective. It aims to teach health and wellness from a holistic point of view. One of the images on the website is a circle depicting the vision of wellness.

The intention of the circles bleeding into one another is to represent wellness as a fluid concept. Wellness can change and is not confined to remain the same. The FNHA describes different types of health and wellness. They explore personal wellness, environmental wellness, mental wellness, traditional wellness, and cultural wellness. I think this will be a very beneficial resource for my final project of looking to add an emotional competency to BCs core competencies.

Module 2, Post 2

Lessons from the Medicine Wheel

This resource builds off my first post for Module 2. This website offers lessons which connect the medicine wheel to British Columbia’s curriculum, specifically the core competencies. It provides examples of how to have students use their discussion and critical thinking skills to explore how the medicine wheel can be used as a model for teaching Personal and Social core competencies.

Module 2, Post 1

Learning about the Medicine Wheel

As I explore different resources for my project, I feel it is important to begin with learning about the medicine wheel which is a part of the foundation of Indigenous culture. It demonstrates a holistic approach to learning. This blog outlines the teachings of the medicine wheel. I also find it very useful that within the article there are links to other Indigenous teachings; like interconnectivity and the natural world. It seems that there is a plethora of information beyond the home page which makes this blog valuable for me as I begin my research.

Module 1, Post 5

APTN YouTube Channel

“Our stories, told our way.”

After reading Ginsburg’s article “Screen Memories: Resignifying the Traditional in Indigenous Media,” I was intrigued to see if some of the networks she mentioned were still operating. I found the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN) has a current YouTube channel that you can subscribe to. This publicly supported and indigenously controlled national aboriginal television network, the first of its kind in the world, shares stories from an Indigenous perspective and has current news stories uploaded. They seem to have several main segments, ‘National News, Face-to-Face, APTNKids, and InFocus.’ I think that having a YouTube channel is an important step in keeping stories accessible to younger generations and available at any time.

Reference:

Ginsburg, Faye D., “Screen Memories: Resignifying the Traditional in Indigenous Media” in Media Worlds: Anthropology on a New Terrain, eds. Faye D. Ginsburg, Lila Abu-Lughod, and Brian Larkin, Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002, 39-57.

Module 1, Post 4

Explore Languages

I think this website represents the potential for how technology, specifically computers, can benefit Indigenous culture! It is interactive, hands on, and relevant. It includes recordings of several Indigenous languages and specific high frequency words from each. When you click a certain language, you have the option of learning more words from that Nation, playing games, or seeing pictures of their territory.

When technology is used correctly, I feel like this is the positive power it has. Language is an aspect of Indigenous culture that is dying and it is important to preserve it. It can take a long time to truly learn another language, this way there is always an opportunity to learn.

Module 1, Post 3

Native Land

This website is run by a non profit organization and strives to map Indigenous lands. They work to “map Indigenous territories, treaties, and languages across the world in a way that goes beyond colonial ways of thinking in order to better represent how Indigenous people want to see themselves.”

This map amplifies the voice of Indigenous communities and is a visual representation of their fight for land which was taken from them. You can focus on locally, national, or global communities and narrow your search by territories, language, or treaties.

I think that this resource is a great provocation for discussion about land, ownership, borders, and the right anyone has to any of those.

Module 1, Post 2

Learning First Peoples Classroom Resources

http://www.fnesc.ca/learningfirstpeoples/

This website is rich in resources that can be used in the classroom immediately. The First Nations Education Steering Committee and the First Nations Schools Association, in collaboration with teachers and partners, have developed the following Learning First Peoples series of teacher resources to support English Language Arts, Science Social Studies and Mathematics courses. All of the resources reflect the First Peoples Principles of Learning and strive to integrate indigenous knowledge and way of learning into the classroom. Each book has a PDF version which is downloadable and includes lessons taught from an indigenous perspective and with cultural content. As a teacher, I find this website to be a strong jumping off point and gives me confidence to try.

This is a screen shot of the table of contents for the math teacher guide.

Module 1, Post 1

After listening to Lee Brown’s interview on emotional health, I have been diving deeper into his six teachings on how to recover emotional health, both in and out of the classroom. I found this study, Aboriginal Perspectives on Social-Emotional Competence in Early Childhood, conducted through the University of Alberta. It looked at identifying the most important elements of healthy development for Aboriginal children, with a focus on social-emotional development. It mirrors some of Lee Brown’s points about how interconnected cultural wellness, emotional wellness, mental wellness, and social wellness are and how they make up the foundation of one’s identity. The study supports Brown’s claim that emotional skills are vital to success. Granted there are some critiques I would have regarding the study. For example, there were only 37 participants and I’d like to know more about the people conducting the study, are they Indigenous? Does the fact that they are women influence anything? Nevertheless, this study is jumping off point for diving deeper into exploring emotional competency.

-Sarah Stephenson