Hands Back Hands Forward

In conducting my literature review, it became apparent that many terms related to culture are often defined, used differently, and/or conflated within the body of research. Terminology such as tolerance, culturally-sensitive, culturally-centered, and culturally-relevant may all be used to describe how Indigenous cultures could be included in the curricula, but clarification is needed in order to select the research that best supports what the community wants.  Based on my own understandings of these concepts, I began to distinguish between the two broad categories as they might apply to educational practices:

In reviewing the community feedback in the document titled “Reporting on the Vancouver School District, January 2011 Aboriginal Education Forums: Community Responses to Creating a School or Model with an Aboriginal Focus,” several priorities stand out. The feedback from the community suggests a specific understanding of the role of culture within the school and community, specifically, one in which the term Aboriginal-focus suggests “emerging from Aboriginal knowledge, and relevant to Aboriginal peoples.”  For our purposes, this understanding of the role of culture in the school aligns closely with the culturally-relevant and culturally-centered frameworks, and less so with the frameworks of sensitivity or tolerance. Thus, in collecting relevant tools, strategies, and research, the characteristics on the right column be helpful as criteria that ensure that the material is in alignment with community understandings.

In my own teaching practice, I observed master teachers, borrowed from their methods, and eventually developed a process that worked for me.  One of my major concerns was a habit of asking questions to the whole class, and calling on the first hand.  Inevitably, there are one or two students who will always be ready, and usually have the right answer.  However, this habit can marginalize students who are shy, not as fast, or passive by failing to involve more than the one or two students in the question.

To address this, I began using hand signals.  By reformulating my questioning technique, I could ask a question and have all of the students respond to multiple choice, true/false, agree/disagree, or point to the answer. For example,

“Show me on your fingers which paragraph contains the answer.”

“Thumbs up/thumbs down, do you agree or disagree with Charlie’s answer?”

“Show me on your fingers, is this (1) igneous, (2) metamorphic, or (3) sedimentary?”

“I’ll know that you are ready when you are pointing to the title.”

By incorporating non-verbal signals, students could respond freely, simultaneously, and demonstrate engagement without dominating the conversation or interrupting each other. Without singling anyone out, I could give positive feedback,

“I see the correct answer here, over there…

“I see all of Table 6 is ready.”

Even the most shy of my students participated in showing what they were thinking, and being recognized for their good ideas. Regardless of whether or not they had the right answers, they were engaged. No learners could hide out, or avoid participating by sitting quietly, not making eye contact.

Eventually, I also incorporated a system that ensured an equitable chance of being called on.  Each student was assigned a “roster number”, from 1 to 36, which were written on popsicle sticks and kept in a large, clear beaker. In the course of the lecture/discussion, I would ask an open-ended question, then draw a stick from the beaker, and hold it up for the class to see.  Students could answer, ask for think time, or pass.

If they answered correctly, their stick would go into a second cup, number down. If the student passed or answered incorrectly, their stick went into a pile on the table.  By the end of a fifty-minute period, I would usually have called on almost all of the students. At the end of each class, I’d draw one stick at random from those who answered correctly, and the student could choose a pencil, sticker, eraser, etc. from the goodies box.

This process dramatically increased their attention, participation, and engagement in class, ensuring that each student could have a turn. The same system could be used for each of the six class periods I taught, and the numbered sticks were an excellent way to assign random seats, partners, and groups with little fuss.

A mainstream school is often set up as a hierarchal pyramid structure, in which the many students form the foundation, above which teachers preside, above which fewer administrators monitor, above which a principal wields power over all.  The structure is fixed, and persons are often replaced with little change in the overall function of the school.

In approaching the Aboriginal-focused school as a community, it may be more useful to reimagine the structure of the school community in a holistic way, perhaps as a changing, interrelated living system, such as a cell or ecosystem. In doing so, we can recognize the learning spirit in all persons who spend time in the school community.

In this case, educators include teachers, administrators, and support staff as a team. Within any population, there is diversity, which must be recognized and incorporated, drawing out each person’s strengths.  In cultivating a holistic learning environment, just as the children are allowed the flexibility to learn and grow, so too can the educators be embraced in a supportive process of growth.  Rather than finding “the best” teachers and administrator, the Aboriginal-focused school could “grow” the right teachers and administrators for their particular community.

Aspect 4:  Educator as Co-Learner

• Reflective and Strength-Based learning opportunities for professional development
  • Examining personal bias
  • Examining our roles within inequitable systems
  • Facilitating student learners’ full potential, moving away from deficit models and language

• Evolves from “person in charge” to “co-learner”

• Incorporates organized mentorship amongst the teachers on staff (structured and allocated time)

• Utilizes time for reflection and relationship-building (for example, allowing first-year teachers additional planning/non-teaching time)

• Co-teaching with more experienced teachers

• In practice, allows teachers to develop their pedagogical practices to include:
  • Incorporating multiple learning modalities
  • Cooperative learning strategies
  • Inviting Elders and community members
  • Modeling behaviors that emphasize personal choices
  • Developing equitable systems of classroom participation

As a community, consider how to align the various realms of context in ways that are cooperative and reaffirming.  In doing so, learners will experience support from multiple levels within the learning environment.  Part of this process includes examining how unintentional biases may unconsciously impact the school community.

Aspect 3: Logistical Alignment

• Examine the school environment for inclusiveness, anti-bias representations. This includes:
  • All learning spaces, including the cafeteria, gymnasium, hallways, and auditorium
  • Pre-printed Materials/Wall decorations
  • Pre-printed or boxed curricula

• Schedule time to nurture relationships through field trips, community service, cultural celebrations

• Center the emotional, physical, mental, spiritual, and volitional development of all community members

Relationships are very much like a garden.  They need nurturance, patience, and attention to flourish.  So, too, do the relationships that support a  healthy learning environment.   As a community, dedicate time to learn and practice ways of communicating that are mutually supportive.

Aspect 2: Cultivating Relationships

• Bring together Students, Teachers, Parents, Administrators, Community members, in a social, informal setting with activities that include all ages and share a meal

• In an open forum, discuss and establish possible goals for the year:
  • transformation via collaboration
  • healthy, respectful communications
  • constructive problem solving

• Model relationships built upon respect, trust, inclusion, and community relations.  Be explicit with instruction and offer positive feedback.

• Seek help in facilitating and modelling healthy communications:
  • Model a consensus process
  • Practice conflict resolution
  • Model respectful disagreement
  • Strategies for emotional support during interpersonal communications

Essentially, classroom management is a social agreement entered into by the students, teachers, and families of the learning community.  There is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all plan, but there certainly are particular approaches that can help learning communities move toward creating a holistic, culturally-relevant management plan that works in their context.  The first aspect to consider is a practice of critical reflection, both as an individual, and as a group of engaged collaborators:

Aspect 1: Critical Reflection

• Collectively define:
  • Discipline
  • Management
  • Inclusive teaching practice
  • Behavior support

• Examine personal biases and assumptions that are the normal inclination of all people. Once we are aware of our own, we can learn how to work around them.

• Examine the roles of teachers in a historically and inherently inequitable schooling system

• In your classroom, consider:
  • Reparations instead of punishments
  • Preventative instead of reactive approaches
  • Collaborative instead of Us against Them
  • Strength-based instead of Diagnostic/Pathologizing language

The metaphors we use in our daily conversations are so powerful.  The convey imagery, suggest relationships, and in just a few words, tell entire stories.  Context and timing matter in their telling, as do how we incorporate them into speech or writing. Metaphors can enlighten, engage, confuse, or alienate audiences, depending on how and when we use them.

I have often reread Jeanette Armstrong’s article entitled “Let Us Begin With Courage” as a fantastic reference for understanding the Okanagan-specific term En’owkin as a framework and metaphor for education. En’owkin calls to mind the imagery of “liquid being absorbed drop by single drop through the head (mind)”, describing the integrative, gentle, nurturing process of learning. En’owkin is also the name given to the learning center by the community Elders, as well as the name of the process of collaborative community decision making. Within this one word is packed a metaphor for learning, a process of problem-solving, and culturally-centric framework for supporting the community.

Conversely, I remember how a poorly chosen school metaphor abruptly triggered my defenses. I was the new teacher at a district-wide professional development day, one of few visibly racialized teachers in the two hundred or so faculty. Most of the day was a blur of new names and faces, but I distinctly recall the superintendent saying one single sentence: “we’ll just circle up our wagons and wait it out.” I couldn’t hear anything after that except my own heartbeat in my ears. Was she assuming all these teachers would be in the wagon train with her? All I knew was that historically, my people were not wagon riders.  At that moment, I knew I was not in a community that was inclusive of me.

What are the metaphors we use when we talk about education?  What language do we use to describe schools, teaching, and our classrooms? What are the images we invoke when we talk about classrooms as battlegrounds or students as customers?  How do these metaphors impact our relationships?

Armstrong, J. (2004). Let us begin with courage. The Center for Ecoliteracy. Retrieved from http://www.ecoliteracy.org/essays/let-us-begin-courage