Tag Archives: community

Module 2: Post 5 – Goodness in academia

This article is entitled “They Won’t Do It the Way I Can”: Haudenosaunee relationality and goodness in Native American postsecondary student support.

What a title!

It caught my attention because 1) I’m focussing – as much as possible – on Haudenosaunee people for my final research paper and 2) Goodness is a value and I’m looking at how values inform Indigenous teaching and learning.

The paper turned out to be interesting in two main ways:

1. It relates 5 Indigenous professionals experiences with providing support to Indigenous students in post-secondary institutions….

Waterman writes, “In an earlier qualitative study with 47 Haudenosaunee college graduates about their educational experiences, I asked the participants to identify any personnel who were instrumental to their degree completion. Five Indigenous participants were identified in that study (names are pseudonyms) and agreed to be interviewed.” She then shares information from these interviews; most interviewees discuss going above and beyond to support students and being undervalued by their universities. One line provides a good nutshell summary: “Behavior that might, on the surface, appear as social programming or as lacking in formal academic advising, through an Indigenous values lens is nation building” (Waterman, 2021).

2. Woven throughout the paper are bits of wisdom about how to conduct Indigenous academic research, and the tension between academia and Indigenous knowledge…

“The significance of this article lies in exposing the foundational role of IKS [INdigenous knowledge systems], goodness, and relationality in the work of these Haudenosaunee administrators. Settler colonial domination strives to make IKS invisible[…]” Waterman (2021) notes that she must balance her role as a researcher with her responsibility to her community: “I am responsible to both the academic community and my community. In other words, I make sure to conduct my academic work in such a way that I remain welcome at home.”

 

Reference

Waterman, S. J. (2021, October 7). “They Won’t Do It the Way I Can”: Haudenosaunee relationality and goodness in Native American postsecondary student support. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/dhe0000352

Kapapamahchakwew – Wandering Spirit School

Module 1 – Post 3

I would like to showcase the Wandering Spirit School located in Toronto, Ontario. When searching for Indigenous education made for and by Indigenous communities, I was surprised to see the Indigenous-led school my nieces currently attend and love.

Wandering Spirit School, which started in the late 1970’s, has a very beginning. The Toronto District School Board was resistant to recognizing the institution as a legitimate school, and the urban Indigenous community had complex responses as they saw potential conflict in acknowledging their dual identities in a time when it wasn’t safe (and you could argue, still isn’t safe).

Today the school is a vibrant place my nieces love. They learn the Ojibway language, eat traditional foods and learn to prepare them, practice horticulture, and learn other subjects that support their dual life in an urban center. In reading more about their school, especially in Berg’s 2016 article below, I’ve come to realize they are a pioneer in uplifting and implementing Indigenous Knowledge in an urban setting.

Further academic reading on the school:

Berg, S. (2017). The Name Unspoken: Wandering Spirit Survival School. In: Bascia, N., Fine, E., Levin, M. (eds) Alternative Schooling and Student Engagement. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-54259-1_15

The school’s description on the Toronto District Schoolboard’s webpage.

Module 1: Post 3 – wisdom of belonging

For a previous MET course, I watched this video about the Circle of Courage:

If you haven’t seen it, it’s worth watching. The speaker describes Indigenous ways of teaching as involving: Generosity, Belonging, Independence, and Mastery. It’s a really beautiful talk and related to, but a bit different from, the First People’s Principles of Learning.

This video really stuck with me, so I looked up the speaker, Martin Brokenleg, and read the articles on his website.

I especially liked the article “Native American Wisdom on Belonging.” In it, Brokenleg writes, “Belonging is the organizing principle in Partnership cultures. Significance is assured by belonging, whereas in Dominator cultures one gains significance by stand ing out from the others, as seen in the hyperindividualism of U.S. society today.”

I really think I want to focus on individualism vs collective for my research project, but I may need to narrow down that huge topic a tiny bit… We’ll see. 🙂

Indigenous Ways of Knowing Course Design

Module 1 – Blog Post 1

In my search for digital artifacts around Indigenous Instructional Design, I travelled to the University of Calgary’s Taylor Institute for Teaching and Learning, where Dr. Gabrielle Lindstrom, Ph.D., and Lorelei Anselmo have authored the guide: Indigenous Ways of Knowing Course Design.

The site addresses WHAT Indigenous ways of knowing are, PRINCIPLES to consider when integrating these practices with your course design, along with the WHYS and HOWS of using them. The webpage has a user-friendly design, featuring drop-down menus to explore specific areas of interest, and a list of further resources to explore.

Of special interest are these sections that focus on our accountability in sharing and integrating Indigenous Ways of Knowing:

  • Checking back with the community
  • Giving back to the community
  • Assessing the quality of Indigenous print and web-based design sources

Though I wish there was a reference to the technology aspect of course design, this resource is a great start in understanding what you can and should do.