Fiona Nicholl has adopted a different approach to teaching race relations or indigenous studies in the classroom. She calls it critical whiteness theory and the focus here is on “exploring whiteness as a problematic, critical whiteness theory reverses the tendency of white academics of every political persuasion in Australia to focus investigation on Aboriginal ‘issues’ or ‘problems.” (Nicholl, 2004). This seems to fits a ‘culturally responsive form of teaching where the focus is not on the other but includes a study of white culture and values in the context of humanity and places all subjects on an equal footing where they look at one another to gain a greater understanding of one another.
Series of films on culturally responsive teaching as part of a five minute film festival. Perspectives from number of different scholars, educators and indigenous perspectives.
The more I learn about the history of First Nations in Canada and the continuing inequality of present day education, the more I realize the responsibility we all have as educators in breaking the cycle. I am amazed by the number of ignorant people who don’t seem to understand or care about the reasons why so many First nations students are struggling in today’s system. However, it is heartening to learn about the people who do care and the programs that are in place in order to make a difference to future generations.
Here are some resources that I have recently come across that I think are useful to learn more about Canadian History and it’s continuing effects on First Nations Peoples today.
The following video that looks like it was published by a student at Nicola Valley Institute of Technology (The Home of Aboriginal Post- Secondary Education in BC) provides statistics about the differences in education rates and employment between Aboriginals and Non- Aboriginals.
It’s Not an Opinion, It’s a Fact: Aboriginal Education in Canada
In the article found in University of Regina’s Degrees Magazine. James Daschuk talks about the book he has written titled, Clearing the Plains about the damage done by the Canadian Government during the time of John A Macdonald’s national dream.
Many of the discussions in Module 3 have focused on the importance for students to learn about and through Indigenous pedagogical beliefs. It is exciting to hear about the research being done and the collaborative planning between researchers, educators, elders and other community members. Culturally responsive education and allowing students different ways to share their learning needs to take place not just in the Elementary years but continue through high school and university through the First Nations values of respect, relevance, reciprocity, and responsibility. One example that I just read about in my nephew’s Queen’s Faculty of Education Convocation Program is the Aboriginal Blanket Ceremony, a tradition established of presenting Aboriginal graduates with The Creation Turtle Pendleton Blanket in recognition of the barriers and challenges faced at post secondary institutions and to acknowledge their potential in being role models for the Aboriginal youth of their communities.
Here are some resources as a starting point to use in elementary classrooms in the development of a culturally responsive curriculum through a transdisciplinary approach across subject areas.
This website-http://www.ahsabc.com/images/other_resources/aboriginal-childrens-books_janhare.pdfincludes a link to is an extensive list of books for and about young Aboriginal children. This list was compiled by Dr. Jan Hare PhD, Associate Professor of Indigenous Education in the Department of Language and Literacy Education (UBC). Canadian First Nations, Métis and Inuit cultures are represented. Early literacy and numeracy titles are also listed.
Dr. Marker suggested the Alaska Native Knowledge Network as a valuable place to find educational resources. Here are some links from their website (http://www.ankn.uaf.edu/)
InTime is a website that is designed to help educators of all grade levels integrate technology and multicultural education into the classroom. They provide models, videos, case studies, and questions that educators can incorporate into the classroom to improve learning in all areas. While this site does not focus solely on Indigenous learners, the models and methods could be applied to any cultural aspects. Also included in this website is a section on culturally responsive education.
I have seen the project in a couple of different videos or spots around the web, and here is the website for the project! I deeply wish I had taken advantage of this last term, when I was teaching Grade 10 Canadian History here in Ontario. The website introduce the project as:
“Project of Heart” is an inquiry based, hands-on, collaborative, inter-generational, artistic journey of seeking truth about the history of Aboriginal people in Canada. Its purpose is to:
Examine the history and legacy of Indian Residential Schools in Canada and to seek the truth about that history, leading to the acknowledgement of the extent of loss to former students, their families and communities
Commemorate the lives of the thousands of Indigenous children who died as a result of the residential school experience.
Call Canadians to action, through social justice endeavors, to change our present and future history collectively”
The site also includes teaching resources, blog posts showcasing work done by schools nation-wide, and social justice actions that can be taken (although it appears some of those haven’t been updated in a while). I definitely plan on returning to this project and including it in my course resources in the future.
Affirmative Action is a buzzword in the United States. US Universities and Colleges frequently use applicant demographics to select students for admission, including increasing the percentages of ethnicity diverse students admitted, sometimes with slightly lower scores than other applicants. The intent of such a program is to increase minority representation at institutions of higher learning and to, ideally, decrease negative outcomes experienced more frequently by minority groups, primarily underemployment and poverty.
McGill University’s medical school is an example of such a policy put in place in Canada. I know that at UBC we have created a distributed medical program which puts our students into clerkships in smaller communities across the province in the hopes that they pull put down roots in these more disparate regions and thus help to resolve a doctor shortage. I’d hope that in addition to admitting more Indigenous students that universities are making more efforts to have, for example, Inuit doctors train in Inuit communities with the resources that are available there.
I have chosen to focus my research on the use or lack of Aboriginal pedagogies in higher education (specifically undergraduate medical education) in Canada, but I am interested in examining the landscape for use of Aboriginal pedagogies in education, full stop. My first graduate degree focused on health information provided to Manitoba First Nation communities, and to Inuit communities in the Circumpolar Health Region (which is served by Manitoba Health and the University of Manitoba) and I used to work with Manitoba Health to support Northern Medical Officers of Health, so I have a more substantial familiarity with the Manitoban landscape.
I was interested to learn of the Manitoba First Nations Education Resource Centre which provides “second and third level education services” to first nation schools. I think this site and the resources shared there could be a great resource for any teacher hoping to integrate more content on First Nation, Aboriginal, Metis, Inuit or other Indigenous content into their courses, because it was created by FN instructors in conjunction with FN groups. This resource fills a gap that many of us recognize in the education sector.
Intercontinental Cry is a magazine/web journal that serves to “amplify the voices and strengthen the efforts of Indigenous Peoples around the world” due to the significant lack of representation of Indigenous people in news media.
What I was particularly interested in at this point was the fact that this website is very focused on using Indigenous writers to speak on their own experiences. Much of the academic literature on Canadian First Nations, Aboriginal, Inuit, and Metis populations is written by white researchers, probably due to their familiarity with the publication cycle and their access to services that help them to gain publication. Fortunately a resource like IC helps authors with potentially less access to traditional streams of publication to have their voices heard, amplified, and shared with the world via the internet.
I think this could be a useful resource particularly at the high school level, for students to read and reflect on the impact of Indigenous voices on the Web.
‘In the 19th century, Métis leader Louis Riel predicted: “My people will sleep for one hundred years. When they awaken, it will be the artists who give them back their spirit.” Most Aboriginal groups in Canada have relied on the oral tradition to convey an idea, message or value.’
– n.a. Media Smarts
Discusses FN successes with tv, film and theatre, music and radio neworks and the Internet. Although not specific to youth, the article gives a good overview of media, but also points to a game – Path of the Elders (http://www.pathoftheelders.com/index.php) by FN people and for FN children.