Seeing as my partner and I are focusing on the teaching of the Syilx people, we are hoping to use local stories in our final project. This article describes the Indigenous perspective of the famous story of the Ogopogo that lives in Okanagan lake. It would be a great legend to share and have discussions on its origins and how (and why) it changed over time.
Constructing Indigeneity: Syilx Okanagan Oraliture and tmixʷcentrism
This is a research paper written by a member of the Syilx Okanagan People. Jeannette Armstrong’s objective is to share the history and culture of the Syilx People with the hope of revitalizing their language, knowledge, and traditions. For my project, my partner and I have decided to focus our curricular content on integrating Syilx peoples’ way of knowing and learning. We want to be intentional about not placing Indigenous peoples under one umbrella. We recognize and respect that all communities are different and want our lessons to reflect that.
This website describes the guidelines for traditional talking circles and how they can be incorporated into the classroom. It also links to the First Nations Education Steering Committee with more information and ideas for talking circles from a classroom governance perspective. I would like to address talking circles in my final project and connect them to the holistic approach to learning. They are a key activity that can be incorporated in classroom management and governance.
This provincial website explores the 3 competencies (thinking, communication, and personal & social) that all students need in order to engage in deep, lifelong learning. I’m interested in diving deeper into how these competencies relate to student learning. For my final project I will compare them to the Indigenous ways of knowing the learning and also see if a fourth competency (an emotional competency) can be either integrated or stand alone.
This resource from Alberta is specifically designed for teachers to help them incorporate a wide range of Indigenous ways of learning into their classrooms. This is certainly coming from a more holistic approach as opposed to specific content connections which, as we’ve been learning, is more authentic. I think, in terms of making teachers more comfortable trying some of these ways, this site does a great job. They have a lot of text based descriptions of different options for classrooms, as well as a wide range of videos or audio from different sources to help teachers feel more comfortable. A perfect example of this, which would certainly make me feel more confident trying this practice is the video of Judy Louis engaging a class in a circle story technique. Seeing the technique in action with an authentic group of kids is so much better for a nervous teacher than just reading about possibilities they might encounter. So overall, a great resource for what I’m trying to accomplish!
As a non-Indigenous teacher, this was a great interview to watch, to hear her speak about what indigenizing curriculum should mean, how it’s a verb, not a noun. How it’s a way to BE learning, as opposed to a specific thing to learn. I think this is a great, but challenging thing to hear for teachers who aren’t necessarily comfortable using Indigenous ways or content in their classes. Being told that there isn’t just a list to go through, but a way of thinking and approaching things can be scary, but it is also freeing, the idea that you can start anywhere and that you don’t have to be “right” or “correct” about everything. After all, how could I, as a non-Indigenous person, be an expert on a different culture without years of immersing myself into that culture. But Dr. Archibald calls us to take small steps to learn along side the kids, and show them that it’s ok to ask questions and not have the answers right away.
The stories that are often used in Indigenous teaching are often oral, so having a source when bringing in an elder or stroytelling isn’t possible is great. While always having the stories told in person by an elder or someone who understands the values and lessons involved is always best, but this source gives a good summary of some of the meaning behind different stories. It’s also arranged by general learning levels as well as by topic or theme. With a summary and context for each book, it becomes much easier for a non-Indigenous teacher to select which ones they think would be great for their classroom.
This is a great resource for any teacher in BC looking for land based connections. This could easily be connected to Outdoor Ed/PE if the students are going on walks to find the food items (maybe not moose, but hopefully some of the plants?), or connected to science/PHE/Nutrition when looking at the nutritional facts of each item. While this is a general list for all of BC, I’m sure you could connect them with any specific region of BC. This would be a very safe resource for a teacher just trying to start out as it has tons of great, easy to use information.
BC Traditional Food Fact sheet
I connected this to the Okanagan College Indigenous Garden, which would also be a great learning opportunity for leaners in the Okanagan.
In this post, I am weaving together three different resources. When teaching visual art education, sometimes it is useful to direct learners towards other artists as sources of inspiration or research. Sending students exclusively to sites like Behance, Instagram, or Pinterest runs the risks of overwhelmingly Western content. The following resources can help lead students to contemporary Indigenous Artists:
Digital Mural is a collection by Indigenous youth. The gallery includes visual images, audio, video, and digitally rendered work. A central theme to the collection is the creative responses to change, community, and resilience. You can focus the collection by selecting certain categories (ex: Figure, Indigenous Futurism, Land, etc.) or tags (ex: Digital, Illustration, Photography, etc.). Clicking on the individual works will provide information about the piece and/or artist.
The Indigenous Arts Collective of Canada seeks to empower Indigenous women and to create a safe and inclusive space to conserve and share cultural knowledge. In their purpose statement they say: “For Indigenous people, art is the very soul of our spirituality. It’s our every movement, dance and song – it is in every stroke of paint, every bead sewn, every feather placed.” The website has an Artist Directory, where you can browse by artist or by artform, and a Marketplace to support Indigenous artists.
The Secwepemc Artisan Catalogue (2013) showcases Indigenous artists in and near Kamloops, BC. Each artist has a bibliography and samples of their work, from beading to painted headphones.
References:
Community Futures Development Corporation of Central Interior First Nations. (2013, October 28). Secwepemc artisan catalogue. SlideShare. https://www.slideshare.net/npankewich/secwepemc-artisan-catalogue.
Digital Mural. (n.d.). https://digitalmural.ca/gallery.
Welcome. Indigenous Arts Collective of Canada. (2021, June 28). https://passthefeather.org/.
In my search to find ways of incorporate Indigenous ways of thinking and learning, it’s been hard to find resources that, in my opinion, would make a non-Indigenous teacher comfortable with implementing it in their class. I find that often it assumes a lot of previous knowledge, or assumes that you have a sense of where the students could take the learning. This source, which is more Ontario based, lays out different options that all revolve around a general essential question. The mix and match resources are easily laid out with suggestions and extensions as well as starting teachers off with a great explanation of how to use the resource and what challenges and mindset they might find helpful. Overall, having this would be a great balance between teachers who would appreciate a step-by-step approach and the openness of Indigenous ways of learning.
https://www.cbc.ca/radio/secretlifeofcanada/secret-life-of-water-1.5257931