Indigeneity, Technology and Education
I am not really sure what I think of this series. The Turtle Island Voices books, that are offered through Pearson publishing, have fans and enemies. Some proponents say, “Yay, look it is Aboriginal and there is a teacher’s guide.” Opponents complain the reading level is too low. It is, however, what many schools have in their collections to support First Nations content. You can check them out for yourself here.
The Indian Residential Schools and Reconciliation Teacher Resource Guides for Grade 5, 10, 11, and 12 were developed by the First Nations Educational steering committee and the First Nations School Association. There is a bit of a focus on BC.
A vimeo is available here.
http://ineducation.ca/ineducation/article/view/61/547
This document is written by a collection of teacher educators, including the perspective of a member of the Lil’Wat First Nation of Mount Currie. Their argument stems back to the teacher education programs and the lack of changes seen in traditional programs that are primarily based on Euro-American-centric values. Indigenous pedagogical principles such as,inclusivity, community building, recognition and celebration of individual uniqueness are not reflected or encouraged in Education programs. It is realized that to shift the mindset of preservice teachers it requires continuous effort and is met with various challenges along the way.
Module 2 post 4
http://www.native-languages.org/
This site is a catalog of various Aboriginal languages. The site provides linguistic and cultural links for those interested in researching the subjects. Their mission is “dedicat[ion] to the survival of Native American languages, particularly through the use of Internet technology.”
This site is very basic in design but contains an enormous amount of content. Those researching protection of Aboriginal culture through technology and specifically protection of languages will benefit from its use.
Module 2 – Post 4
Ryan Silverthorne
http://borneoproject.org/
This is a very well crafted website that aims to bring the concerns and culture of the indigenous people of Borneo. Their mission is to bring“… international attention and support to community-led efforts to defend forests, sustainable livelihoods, and human rights. We believe that protecting human rights and environmental integrity in Borneo is a critical component of the global movement for a just and peaceful world.” This site has a wealth of information about these issues and uses multimedia, in the form of web series and online documentaries, to express that these people have about the world they live in. They focus mainly on the preservation of the natural ecosystem of Borneo and indigenous education but also have, in the past, brought up the problem of human rights issues that their peoples have faced.
This website: http://www.fnesc.ca/ is a hub for issues, discussions, and resources in First Nations Education.
This committee came out of a 1992 Provincial First Nations Education Conference. It was there that they “determined the need for a First Nations-controlled collective organization focused on advancing quality education for all First Nations learners, and they set out FNESC’s commitment to supporting First Nations in their efforts to improve the success of all First Nations students in BC.”
Resources for teachers interested in integrating/incorporating Aboriginal content and ways of learning are available on this site.
For my research on comparing 21st Century Learning and Aboriginal Education systems this site provides valuable input on the latter.
Module 2, post 1
The Musqueam: A Living Culture web site provides information about the Musqueam people, their language, territory, history, and present information about educational tours and local events. The educational tours are a great idea for classrooms tours or groups of (12+) people.
The site also features some great educational videos from the Musqueam Nation’s YouTube channel. Here is the featured video which discusses some of the history and traditions of the Musqueam people.
Featured image by jamesabbott1963 (CC BY 2.0)
Recently released, the link is to an 40 page e-book which has resources/stories about the history of residential schools in British Columbia. There are videos, primary documents, and classroom activities. For those of you who like hardcopies, there is an internal email link to obtain your own recyclable paper copy. 🙂
photo taken from website http://www.bctf.ca/HiddenHistory/eBook.pdf 09 04 15
Image from the same site as cited retrieved 09.26.15
I have been around the block a few times and have never to my conscious knowledge seen this document Overview of the Collaborative Community Literacy Planning Process
I include this as a means of understanding what values my school district was driven by in the past, and where, if anywhere these intentions ended up.
This article from The Atlantic, gives a great overview of the tensions between Chinese Uighurs and the Han majority. Their mention of the minkaohan (Uighur students educated in Mandarin) and minkaomin (Uighur students educated in their native language) sheds light on an interesting divide within the students of Xinjiang as well as Uighur students studying outside of their home province.
Hong Kong University Press recently published a collection of essays on minority education in China, Minority Education in China: Balancing Unity and Diversity in an Era of Critical Pluralism. While I have been mostly exposed to Uighur culture through food and the local music scene, there are 55 officially recognized minority groups scattered around China. This book is an excellent resource on current trends, ideas and investigations into China’s education system.