Category Archives: MODULE 2

M2 Entry 4: Ideas from Indigenous Peoples Literature

Stories related to place and nature are a significant part of Indigenous cultures and traditions so I thought, is there a way to bring in Indigenous literature, stories, or languages into STEAM-related topics? Is there a way to bring in current events related to Indigenous peoples to promote Citizen Science? Here are some websites l’ve found that could be useful:

I have also noticed on my App Store, there was a story dedicated to learning an Indigenous language. Here are some screenshots of iOS apps related to Indigenous languages. I have to say, I was surprised to see so many of them! I think these apps are not limited to STEM/STEAM content but something that could be applied in all subject fields.

M2-P2 “Achieving Indigenous Student Success: A Guide for Secondary Classrooms”

Hello everyone,

Dr. Pamela Rose Toulouse in an Indigenous educator who has formulated lesson plans, assessments, and theory within this resource guide. It is one of the only resources I have come across that directly links Indigenous student ‘success’ with actual lesson guides. This is also a great resource for those who are apprehensive about covering certain Indigenous content for fear of appropriation. Toulouse includes two sections, the first dedicated to “culturally relevant pedagogical practices” with a focus on Indigenous world view. The sections has detailed lessons for every discipline: math, science, languages, etc. The lesson plans are easy to connect to curricular goals and the First Peoples’ Principles of Learning.

M2-P1 21 Things You May Not Know About The Indian Act: Helping Canadians… Bob Joseph

Hello everyone,

Bob Joseph’s “21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act” is a resource I recently purchased and have found myself referencing time and time again. Easy to read and poignant, Joseph outlines the 21 restrictions outlined by the Indian Act in a clear and concise way. I use this reference in my Social Justice class to illustrate and simplify the Indian Act and to connect current and relevant issues. Joseph includes stories that accompany these 21 points which humanize the effects of the Indian Act and how Reconciliation, as we know it, does not fit with what this Act has outlined. Before indigenizing can occur in my own pedagogy, it is imperative to  understand WHY this needs to happen. If you are looking for something for a senior class to contextualize Reconciliation, this would be a great source.

Joseph, B, (2018). 21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act: Helping Canadians Make Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples a Reality. Indian Relations Press. 

Module 2: Post 1 – Carolyn Roberts – Reconciliation

In this TED talk, Carolyn Roberts talks about some of the Indigenous history, culture, and how to move forward in Reconciliation.

Roberts discusses the history of her family and how her three sisters and her mom went to residential schools. Her mom is unable to speak any of the languages from where she is from as she was unable to practice her language. Her mother became so shut down that she has never hugged anyone in her life. This made me extremely sad because the residential school robbed her from everything and anything. Even though residential schools are not in session today, Roberts talks about how Indigenous children are still being taken from their families. I did not want to believe it to be true but it is happening TODAY. Indigenous children are being taken from their families and put into the FOSTER CARE system and being placed into non-Indigenous homes. Roberts was put into foster care once she was born. She states that “60% of the children in foster care are Indigenous children” (TED, 2018, 6:52). Wow. Indigenous children are STILL being taken from their families. Roberts also states that “50% of Indigenous people living on reserves live in poverty [and that] 60 reservations across Canada live in boil water advisory, some have been for over 20 years” (TED, 2018, 7:54).

Roberts tells us a story about a coyote searching for his bone needle. An owl comes down to help the coyote. Owl goes in the sky to see if he can find this bone needle but can’t. Owl asks coyote, who was searching near the fire, where he had it last and he points to the bushes which was away from where he was searching. Coyote was searching by the fire because that is the only place that the fire was providing him light to see. Roberts then says, “as Canadians, what we see by the fire are the effects of our colonial system and the effects we see are the alcoholism, the drug abuse, and all that the colonial system has done to our people. We are starting to see a little more language come back but that is the easy thing that we can see by the fire. What’s going to take courage and time is to look over by the bone needle by the bushes there is a thousand piece puzzle that is made up of all that has happened in order to get to where we are today, of what we see the effects of. If I were to go over to this puzzle and take just one piece of the puzzle out. That one small piece would be the residential school system. There are 999 other pieces to this puzzle that we still need to learn about, and that we still need to educate about in order to be able to move forward in Reconciliation” (TED, 2018, 10:30). This made so much sense and it makes me want to discover what else am I unaware of. It is time to get more educated about the other 999 pieces of this puzzle.

Reference

TED. (2018, March 20). Reconciliation in your community [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5x0gIYhnCPA

MODULE 2 – Entry 3: Revising Teaching Practices in Canada with Respect to Indigenous Youth and History

In this presentation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbQGhP4xQkw, Anne Tenning tackles the issues faced by her own experiences and those of the Indigenous youth in the education system. She discusses approaches that educators can take to improve representations of and engagement with Indigenous peoples and their histories in the classroom.

This presentation by Anne Tenning is part of the “Teaching and Communicating Indigenous History” Panel at the 9th Canada’s History Forum, Engaging Authentic Indigenous Histories that was held on November 27, 2016 in Ottawa. This event was organized by Canada’s National History Society and the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation. Anne speaks of educators who continue to commit themselves to seeing the reconciliation of Indigenous students and how she was given more opportunities to succeed because she knew one teacher who made a life-changing difference in her life.

Quote by Anne Tenning, found in the same link below.

Reference:

Canada’s History. (January 13, 2017). Revising Teaching Practices in Canada with Respect to Indigenous Youth and History. [Video].YouTube. Retrieved May 24, 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbQGhP4xQkw

 

M2 Entry 3: imagineNATIVE

imagineNATIVE is an organization that is recognized locally, nationally and internationally for providing programming and creation of indigenous media arts. Their goal is to create “a greater understanding of Indigenous peoples and cultures through the presentation of contemporary Indigenous-made media art including film, video, audio and digital media.”

Here is an example of an event hosted by imagineNATIVE called, Night of the Indigenous Devs, which is “a celebration and showcase of international Indigenous video game talent.”

imagineNATIVE also started an iNdigital Youth Collective, focusing on “supporting Indigenous youth in learning digital creation and building engagement as creatives” which I think would provide opportunities for indigenous students to self-represent, engaging with STEAM knowledge that is relevant to their experiences and identities.

 

M2 Entry 1: Storytelling as a Pedagogical Tool

In thinking about my research question, I encountered a book titled “The Importance of Storytelling as a Pedagogical Tool for Indigenous Children” by Georgina Barton and Rob Barton. I found Chapter 4 to be particularly useful, as well as, a good place to start.

This chapter explains that stories are a crucial part of cultural community and heritage for Indigenous communities (Barton & Barton, 2017). It is argued that storytelling should be incorporated into pedagogical practices. The authors reveal how planning learning and teaching around stories can benefit young children, especially young Indigenous children.

Mohd Roslan (2008) provides a number of reasons as to why stories and storytelling should be used in classrooms:

  1. To illustrate a principle
  2. To inspire other learning and activity
  3. To engage in creative and imaginative learning
  4. To help develop a positive attitude towards teachers and schools
  5. To help explain abstract ideas or concepts

This chapter features a story which sheds light on the ways that story can spark positive learning outcomes. The story is called “My Mother’s Country” by Robert Barton. It is based on a traditional story handed down over hundreds of generations.

“In these lands Emu and Kangaroo wandered as friends in peace. They helped each other find food and protected each other from danger particularly the Dingo. They were always cautious of Dingo. How did he become the women’s most favoured pet? One day, Kangaroo and Emu were out looking around for food. They went to all the usual spots and there wasn’t much new grass. As their hunger grew, Kangaroo and Emu decided to try looking by the river. The river always had good grass but Kangaroo and Emu had to be mindful of crossing paths with the Dingo whose country was beside the river on the way. As they were travelling Kangaroo got separated from Emu. You see Kangaroo wasn’t paying attention to stick with Emu but on finding that feed. He got distracted by a patch of fresh green grass just off the usual path to the river. Overcome with hunger, Kangaroo went straight to that grass. The grass looked really good just sitting there. It looked like no one had ever eaten that before. Having lost his bearings and overcome with desire for the beautiful sweet grass, Kangaroo had strayed into Dingo’s country. In the meantime, Emu had continued on to the river and was nowhere in sight. While Kangaroo ate unaware of his surroundings . . .Dingo came along and saw Kangaroo on his country alone without Emu. Dingo knew this was his chance to finally get Kangaroo. Dingo pounced on Kangaroo while he wasn’t looking. It was a fierce fight and Kangaroo wasn’t ready – it was too late to run now. Kangaroo got hurt badly and blood was spilt on his fur all over. Emu could hear Kangaroo crying out from down by the river and ran as fast as she could to save Kangaroo. Dingo seeing Emu coming – took off into the bush. The women also came and helped Kangaroo but they couldn’t get the blood off his coat. Forever stained red to remind Kangaroo to stay on his country and stick with his mob. This was how the red kangaroo got his red coat and when Emu and Kangaroo got old they became the sun and the brightest evening star and have shone down on the lands of the Kalkadungu ever since” (Barton & Barton, 2017, p.48)

Barton (2017) suggests that this story offers a rational for how an Australian animal like the kangaroo got its red-colored coat and also a deeper moral understanding about relationships and values like obligation to the group, strength, trust, and the importance of land, identity and respect for etiquette when dealing with others and their country.

Barton, G., & Barton, R. (2017). The importance of storytelling as a pedagogical tool for indigenous children. In S. Garvis, & N. Pramling (Eds.), (1st ed., pp. 45-58). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315640549-4

M2: P1: “Why Every Organization Needs an Augmented Reality Strategy”, by Michael E. Porter and James E. Heppelmann

“While the physical world is three-dimensional, most data is trapped on two-dimensional pages and screens” (Porter & Heppelmann, 2017, p. 47). This passage in the introduction of this article sold me because my research project focuses on looking into the place-based understanding of Indigenous knowledge through AR. Being place-based, there is a three-dimensional aspect to Indigenous knowledge; unfortunately, much of what we think of as digital technology right now is stored in two-dimensions on a screen. This article focuses on how organizations from universities to social enterprises can leverage AR technology to help members of their communities unlock underdeveloped and mostly unchartered territories in human potential (Porter & Heppelmann, 2017). Regardless, this is a good start to understand how Indigenous groups can use AR to maintain the land as a storage device of their knowledge. 

References

Porter, M. E., & Heppelmann, J. E. (2017). Why every organization needs an augmented reality strategy. HBR’S 10 MUST, 85.

MODULE 2 – Entry 2:  Seeds of Promise: Grandview/?Uuqinak’uuh* School in Vancouver

 

Public Domain photo taken by Amanda Mills

This site is linked to my final assignment as are the entries I will continue to share in our UBC Blogs. It is a community story regarding the issue of poverty and how teachers in a local school are still to this day very committed to advocate for better conditions for the Indigenous children and their families in the city of Vancouver east end. This is an area that tends to be avoided for decades, due to the area being synonymous with crime, poverty and despair. In one corner of the district, however to this day, there are determined group of educators, children, parents and volunteers who continue to create a garden oasis for play and learning in what has always been a gathering place for people in the drug, crime and sex trades. The children of Grandview/ ?Uuqinak’uuh Elementary School now have access to a playground complete with food, flower and butterfly gardens, stands of maple trees and a Coast Salish longhouse.  Since the 1970s to today, some good changes, like having committed advocates for Indigenous children and their families continue.  After almost 50 years of observations from my own mother, who was a teacher in this exact area, and almost 40 years myself, we can still see that the inequity issues, like poverty, are affecting the Indigenous peoples in our local community. The key question is whether Canadians are willing to understand and address the issues of poverty?

 

Reference:

Caledon Institute of Social Policy. (January 25, 2000). Seeds of Promise: Grandview/?Uuqinak’uuh* School in Vancouver. [Site]. Retrieved May 18, 2021,  https://maytree.com/wp-content/uploads/223ENG.pdf