SD #71’s Index of Websites by, for and about Aboriginal Peoples (M2-1)

http://sd71.bc.ca/Sd71/Edulinks/firstnat/index.htm

This page, a subpage of the B.C. School District #70 (Comox Valley) website, outlines some online resources pertaining to aboriginal education, political and historical information, as well as sites for aboriginal youth.  The site is a good starting point for researching aboriginal issues in Canada, and all links are current and functional.

Perhaps one of the most useful points for educators might be the lesson plan section.  Here, I found a project created by a team of middle school teachers from all over Vancouver Island and the Sunshine Coast called “Social Justice through Literature Written by Aboriginal Authors”.  In the activities and lessons that are presented here, students are encouraged to think critically about aboriginal values and history through a social justice lens.  The literature that is used in the lessons is referenced for the most part, but teachers could likely adapt the lessons to use local stories and work.

The project is designed as an extension to a document published by the B.C. Ministry of Education in 2006 called Shared Learnings, a document created in order to help facilitate the incorporation of B.C. aboriginal knowledge into the K-10 classroom.  Lessons are also laid out with direct reference to the B.C. Prescribed Learning Outcomes for Language Arts and Social Studies 6-8.  Finding this project was timely for me, as our local union embarks on the creation of a Social Justice committee.  With the relatively recent creation of the Social Justice 12 course in B.C., I believe it is imperative that middle and elementary schools follow suit.