Indigenous Elders in the Classroom – M4 P2

Upon researching for the Meaningful and respectful implementation portion of my final project, I came across this video from the Province of British Columbia. It’s a short video but it had a few really powerful messages that I was able to reflect on. One of my goals as an educator is to build a meaningful relationship with an Elder in my community. I think it would be an incredible experience for all the students in my school to be able to learn and listen about Indigenous perspectives surrounding topics they are learning about in their classes.

One of the pieces of advice that was shared in this video about Indigenous perspectives and world views in the classroom was, “when you put your arms out and open them to the community, the community open their arms to you.” There are many excuses as to why I have not begun to make a connection with an Elder in our community. But my takeaway from this message is that now that I know more about the topic, I need to take the plunge! Another thought shared in this video was “if it’s not you, who else is it going to be?” Though my school is filled with fantastic educators, I am the one who needs to get organized in order to make this happen for students, especially for Indigenous students in our community. For them to see themselves and be able to share in their culture and stories with their classroom community.