Author Archives: Alana Giesbrecht

Teachers as allies?

Champagne, L. D. (2006). Physical education teachers as allies to aboriginal students: Dimensions of social consciousness. Retrieved from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses.

The title of this study grabbed my attention immediately, because I have noticed that the most positive times of relationship-building with my indigenous students have happened outside of the classroom, in times of physical activity (such as charitable runs, PE classes, or even unloading classroom supplies from the car). I wondered about this, and was told by the Aboriginal Education teacher at my school that it might have to do with reduced eye contact, less pressure for immediate verbal responses, and the experiential nature of activity. I wanted to read research that explained this further.

Champagne conducted a qualitative study encouraging eight PE teachers to reflect on their positive experiences with Aboriginal students. What worked well? What didn’t? She then presented the teachers’ narratives with theoretical explanations based in a framework of critical pedagogy, culturally relevant teaching, and anti-racist education. She found that, like many other non-indigenous educators, her subjects felt unprepared to properly engage indigenous students. The PE teachers were aware that they were uniquely positioned to incorporate teaching practices more closely aligned with indigenous educational philosophy, because of their ability to discuss holistic health, to encourage teamwork rather than independence, and to have experiential lessons. Champagne ends her study with the recommendation that all pre- and in-service teachers receive more direct education on teaching indigenous students, so that all teachers can become “allies” of those students and cease practices that create harm.

What do you do when your culture is a mismatch with your students’?

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Fryberg, S. A., Troop-Gordon, W., D’Arrisso, A., Flores, H., Poniszovskiy, V., Ranney, … Burack, J.A. (2013). Cultural mismatch and the education of Aboriginal youths: The interplay of cultural identities and teacher ratings. Developmental Psychology, 49, (1), 72-79. DOI 10.1037/a0029056

This peer-reviewed study was co-authored by a team of eleven people, both indigenous and non-indigenous. They began their study out of a concern that existing literature focuses more on identifying what the deficits in Aboriginal education are, rather than on positive ways to improve it. They hypothesize that a lack of educational attainment in Aboriginal students springs from a mismatch in the cultures of teachers and their students – Aboriginal students’ cultures emphasize “interconnectedness and interdependence”, whereas mainstream education tends to value “independence and assertiveness”. This divide leads to Aboriginal students feeling alienated from the educational setting. The study included 115 secondary students in a Naskapi community, and looked at the correlations between students’ identification with their culture, students’ assertiveness levels, and students’ grades. They found that students who identified strongly with their own culture tended to score higher on measures of assertiveness and achievement than students with lower self-reported cultural identity. Additionally, higher levels of self-reported cultural identity correlated positively with their teacher ratings. From this, the authors concluded that one way to increase Aboriginal students’ school achievement and to foster positive relationships between non-Aboriginal teachers and their Aboriginal students was to support the growth of Aboriginal students’ cultural identity. This support requires the inclusion of Aboriginal philosophy and cultural experiences within the school setting. For my project, I believe that this offers concrete guidance into improving my own practice and the experience of my students. The conclusions also demand further research into the best ways to sensitively and appropriately include Aboriginal philosophy and cultural experiences.

Purposeful cultural exposure, to create positive relationships and remove stereotypes

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http://www.autochtones.gouv.qc.ca/publications_documentation/publications/mythes-realites-autochtones-en.pdf

This link leads to “Aboriginal Peoples: Fact and Fiction”, a short book by Pierre Lepage. I couldn’t find out if Lepage is Aboriginal or not, but the book is sponsored by the indigenous Institut Culturel et Educatif Montagnais (ICEM).

I found this book particularly interesting in light of this week’s discussions around protecting culture – the book is meant to be informative about culture, to remove negative stereotypes. It was published as an educational material for teachers to use in conjunction with an initiative between several Nations and Quebecois public schools. Denis Vallant, Director General of the ICEM, writes that “a negative image of the First Nations spread across Quebec. We the Innu nation could not remain silent in the face of all the generalizations that were circulating. The time to take action had come: we had to make ourselves, our culture, and our way of life better known” (iii). To achieve this, they created a shaputuan, a traditional Innu camp, and brought it to schools to give children of all ethnicities the opportunity to experience Innu culture. In Vallant’s opinion, it was a positive step towards ensuring that there is a place for Innu and other indigenous cultures in Quebec.

The book itself is intended to give teachers and students factual rather than generalized information about First Nations cultures. It shares First Nations’ perspectives on colonization, various government treaties, rights, lands, etc, as well as some information on cultural practices. Specifically, it discusses the practices and histories of several groups belonging to the Eskaleut family, the Kanlen’kahaka, the Iroquoian, and the Algonquin. If it is an accurate source, it will be valuable towards my purpose of researching ways for teachers to foster more informed and healthy relationships with their indigenous students.

Statement Connecting Blog to Research

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In our ETEC 521 discussions, I (and some others) expressed a desire not to teach ‘straight line theory’, not to inadvertently act in ways that alienate or culturally harm indigenous students. This desire ties into my overall goal for this course, to learn better ways to teach and retain my indigenous students. I believe that the key to all of this will be to foster more effective relationships.

Looking for some support in this, I approached the Aboriginal Education teacher at my school. She provided me with a chart contrasting cultural behaviors on fifteen different points. I’ve included the first four below, as an example:

	Traditional Aboriginal	Non-Aboriginal
Eye contact during conversation	Very little eye contact – most conversation conducted looking away from each other.	Eye contact is continuous or nearly continuous during conversation.
Answers to a question	Reply is delayed until facts are sifted through. Thus a period of silence before a reply is made.	Reply is immediate although the first few words may contribute little to the answer – talks while formulating the answer.
Speaking voice	Tends to pitch lower. Speech is slower, softer.	Tends to speak with a higher pitched voice. Speech is louder, faster.
Body Language	Nodding of the head and exclamations indicate understanding of what is being said, not necessarily agreement.	Nodding of the head and exclamations indicate agreement and / or acceptance.

What this chart emphasized to me is that treating all students equally is not sufficient. My research focus, as a result, will be on learning ways to enhance my relationships with indigenous students, through culturally sensitive behaviors that lead to more effective teaching and higher student retention.

This is a broad topic and I expect to narrow my focus. I’ll start by looking for current and local research to help create that focus. So far, dissertations and the www.ccl-cca.ca/aboriginallearning/website have provided some direction.

Alana

Module 1 – Post 5 – Will Tribal Knowledge Survive the Millenium?

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http://www.learningshark.com/WebDocs/Web%20PDF/TribalKnowledgeSurviving.pdf

This essay is written by Paul Cox, an ethnobotanist (one who studies the plants and medicinal knowledge of indigenous cultures). I scanned the first page, thinking in disappointment that it was not relevant to this coursework, but I was wrong. If you read this, read it all the way through. The author affirms the value of tribal knowledge, giving concrete, firsthand, fascinating examples from a variety of indigenous cultures. He describes the threat that technology has had to these cultures’ knowledge, languages, independence, and even their land. This is a brief and relevant read for anyone interested in learning more about the preservation of language and other tribal knowledge.

Alana

Module 1 – Post 4 – An Opinionated Article

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http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=3225&page=2

This site is an Australian ejournal that does not appear to be scholarly, so is not useful as an official source for research, but is still worth a read. The writer of the article is familiar with the history of government approaches to Aboriginal culture in Australia, and takes a vehement stance that although the government’s language is couched in political correctness, it is actually blatantly racist in the form of assimilation. He uses words that have strong connotations, such as ‘apartheid’, to incite readers to adopt his viewpoint but this excited tone does not make his viewpoint any less accurate. The article has a different feeling than many of the more cautious texts that I have come across and is quite an interesting read. In terms of usefulness for research, the article names many documents, decisions, and events that students could independently research.

Module 1 – Post 3 – Indigenous Cultures and Globalization

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http://etec.ctlt.ubc.ca/510wiki/Indigenous_Cultures_and_Globalization

This wiki article is from UBC’s own ETEC510 wiki. It has been contributed to by five students since 2008, and provides up-to-date information in an easily accessible style on colonization, residential schools, self-determination, preservation of language and culture, effects of technology and globalization, and more. I found the writing balanced and well-informed. Visitors to this article can use it in two ways – as a source in itself, and as a signpost leading to other sources. Dr. Marker and Heather McGregor are quoted, and the reference list also includes twenty other scholarly sources related to the issues in module 1. In addition, there are hyperlinks to other articles on related topics such as indigenous knowledge, Aboriginal schools, government publications, etc. This is an excellent starting point for research in this course, regardless of your specific focus.

Alana

Module 1 – Post 2 – Aboriginal Culture in a Digital Age

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http://www.kta.on.ca/pdf/AboriginalCultureinaDigitalAge.pdf

This fifteen page document is a balanced and informed discussion of many of the issues raised in Module 1. It examines the dual possibilities for technology and indigenous culture: does technology offer a protection of language and culture, and a way to unite and strengthen different Aboriginal cultures, or does it offer a potential threat to cultural knowledge and traditions? The paper is organized around three broad points. The first is a recognition of the “renaissance” of distinct Aboriginal cultural identities. The second is a look at the pervasive nature of technology in contemporary life, and its effect on “economic, social, and cultural fabrics”. The third point is an acknowledgment of the crucial need to “mitigate the potential risks” of technology on Aboriginal “languages, ecology, and heritage”. The discussion is informed by voices from Aboriginal communities, the government, education, and the private sector.

Alana