Author Archives: inscho

Module 2 – Post 5: Four Directions Teachings

The Four Directions Teachings website in an interactive, educational flash website that provides indigenous perspective from five First Nations across Canada: the Blackfoot, Cree, Ojibwe, Mohawk and Mi’kmaq. It was developed, with support of the Canadian Culture Online Program of the Department of Canadian Heritage, and produced by the National Indigenous Literacy Association and Invert Media and cites a respectable list of advisors on their about page.

This resource does not fit as well with my own research topic as my previous posts in this module; however, I do believe there is a great deal of educational value in this site as a teaching resource that I wanted to share it. Under each Nation are a number of narrated short stories based around elders’ teachings. Typically these stories focus on elements of the medicine wheel and sacred symbols, including the tipi, drum, bundles, song and dance that relate aboriginal identity to place and story. Suplemental to the narrated stories is a teachers’ resource guide that is divided into three levels (junior, intermediate and senior) to support the use of the website in the classroom.

Regrettably, the site only works with these five First Nations and seems incomplete without inclusion of the Metis, Inuit and Coast Salish peoples. None-the-less, the site has a great deal of information that can be brought into the classroom.

On a side note, this site is an interesting example of indigenous peoples embracing technology for the preservation and sharing of cultural teachings. It lacks a sense of protectionism described in the readings for this unit, and I originally had concerns about its authenticity, but I was (ironically) assured by the Government of Canada support behind the project. Still, it remains to be seen how teachers will implement such an obvious product of colonialism in classes that are likely searching to decolonize and reinhabitate the local environment.

Module 2 – Post 4: Place-Based Learning and knowing: critical pedagogies grounded in Indigeneity, Jay Johnson

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Johnson, J. (2012). Place-based learning and knowing: Critical pedagogies grounded in indigeneity. GeoJournal. 77(6). pp. 829-836

Subsequent to the Gruenewald article documented in Post 3, Johnson draws heavily on Gruenewald’s ideation of critical pedagogy of space and seeks to further develop the concepts space, place and placelessness before firmly linking indigeneity to critical place-based pedagogy. As far back as the enlightenment, Western traditions have sought to separate culture from nature, and as a result the ensuing culture and system of knowledge has had placelessness as a primary component. Arguably, this disconnection from place has also lead to Western science self-stated superiority over indigenous knowledge and science that is firmly rooted, and even stored, in the places, environment and landscapes in which it was developed. Furthermore, Johnson explains that modern (Western) society creates a “thin” layer of meaning making in places, as they are converted to resource spaces for capitalistic and colonial purposes. But for that thin meaning to exist, it is necessary to remove the meaning that is pre-existant and often significant cultural histories and moralities.

To reconcile this transformation of place to space, Johnson seeks to impart the decolonialization and rehabitation of critical place-based learning, be in a state of continual active engagement with the places, and rediscover their indigenous stories, histories, narratives and languages associated with them.

Module 2 – Post 3: The Best of Both Worlds: A Critical Pedagogy of Place, David Gruenewald

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Gruenewald, D. (2003). The best of both worlds: A critical pedagogy of place. Educational Researcher. (32)4 pp. 3-12. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3700002

In this thorough analysis of the sociological themes and call for revolutionary change from critical pedagogy, and the socio-ecological themes of place-based learning, Gruenewald draws on the research and writings of prominent theorists in each field to demonstrate that these discourses build on the concepts and strengthen the goals of the other in such a way that they can be seen as two sides to the same coin and can be reconceptualized into a critical pedagogy of place. A major goal of his paper is to “ground place-based education in a pedagogy that is socially and ecologically critical” and wrapped in a coherent theoretical framework.

The two fundamental objectives of a critical pedagogy of place are decolonization and reinhabitation, which are mutually supportive themes mirrored in critical pedagogy and place-based learning, respectively, for the purposes of “linking school and place-based experiences to the larger landscape of cultural and ecological politics”. As such, a critical pedagogy of place seeks to find, return to, or reclaim spaces that teach us how to live well in these local environments (reinhabitation), and identify and challenge practice and ways of thinking that exploit people and places (decolonization).

Module 2 – Post 2: SD42 at Forefront of Place-Based Learning, Maple Ridge – Pitt Meadows Times

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The Times, (2010 October 22). SD42 at forefront of place-based learning. Maple Ridge – Pitt Meadows Times. p. 7 Retrieved from: http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/docview/759710311?accountid=14656

This article is an introduction to Maple Ridge’s Environmental School Project, at that time just a proposal. Without providing significant detail, the article outlines the school’s vison for a primarily outdoors, place-based school focussed on an interdisciplinary study of the local environment. the article continues on to describe the school’s search for community partners to support the project’s financial and facilities concerns.

Landreville, T. (2012 January 12). Kids’ classroom moves outdoors. Maple Ridge – Pitt Meadows Times. Retrieved from: http://www.mrtimes.com/Kids+classroom+moves+outdoors/5983609/story.html

In a follow up to the previous article, The Times reporter, Troy Landreville follows the newly created Environmental School Project (a partnership between community groups, SD42 Maple Ridge & Pitt Meadows, and Simon Fraser University) students for part of a day and interviews the coordinator and administrator, Clayton Maitland. Maitland bemoans the lack of holistic primary experiences in traditional educational settings and touts the project’s flexibility to learn anywhere and put education into context in the article. A parent of two children in the school likens the choice to put her children in the school to choosing other alternative programs like French immersion. She also approves of the school’s inclusive policy (as it is a public school), though Maitland cautioned that students with Oppositional Defiance Disorder will be refused due to safety concerns.

These articles, in themselves, provide few details into the theory and practise of place-based learning. However, they do provide conclusive evidence that there is community, parental and pedagogical research support for it as to allow for a k-7 school of only 60 students to be approved, funded and staffed. Presumably, further detail can be found through Clayton Maitland or the school’s website which maintains FAQ and In The Media pages.

Module 2 – Post 1: Place-Based Education: Learning to Be Where We Are, Gregory Smith

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Smith, G. (2002). Place-based education: Learning to be where we are. Phi Delta Kappa International, 83(8). 584-594.
Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/stable/20440205

Framed by John Dewey’s observations at his Chicago Lab School in the late 19th century that there is a division between what students experience in the world and what they learn in school, and biologist Gary Nabhan’s comments about schools’s traditional deception of students to have them believe that their own experiences are less valuable than those preconceived, “pre-digested” and presented by others that they are likely to never even meet, Smith presents five thematic patterns distilled from his review of place-based learning efforts.

In each of the five thematic patterns (cultural studies, nature studies, real-world problem solving, internship and entrepreneurial opportunities, and induction into community processes), Smith provides concrete examples of successful models and, in some cases, describes the limitations and challenges faced. He concludes the article with a discussion of five common thread between the themes and another discussion on challenges expected by educators intending to implement a place-based model of education.

The article makes no mention of place-based identity or the incorporation of indigenous local knowledge. It is thus somewhat ethnocentric in it’s promotion of traditional aboriginal practice and a return to what was common before the proliferation of schools.

Module 1 Posts 4 & 5: Language Revitalization

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It’s come to my attention that I never posted my last two blog entries for Module 1, as intended. So I decided to post them together now, since they are are on the same topic and by the same author and hopefully helpful to anyone looking at language revitalization in their research.

Post 4

Language Revitalization in North America and the New Direction of Linguistics, Leanne Hinton.

This article discusses the changing relationships between linguistic communities and the communities which they study. In the past, linguistic studies were done for the benefit of academia and advancing the field. However, the focus with regard to language preservation and revitalization is now shifting in a more ethical and respectful direction to seek and provide benefit to the community whose language is being documented. Revitalization, rather than documentation, becomes the goal in this new ethical approach that encourages “(1) the preservation of indigenous languages, (2) the promotion of literacy, (3) the development of new speakers, (4) the actual use of the indigenous language, and (5) community control of the language.”

I found this article to be incredibly enlightening and as to the motivations of linguistic studies of endangered languages, both historical and modern, and a solid starting point for research into the field. Hinton’s references opened doors that I wouldn’t otherwise have known existed as I researched the topic for a paper in another course. Hinton also maintained and encouraged a culturally respectful and relevant approach that I value and try to maintain perspective of in my own work and research.

Hinton, L. (2010) Language revitalization in North America and the new directions of linguistics. Transforming Anthropology, 18(1), 35-41. doi: 10.1111/j.1548-7466.2010.01068.x

Post 5

Language Revitalization, Leanne Hinton

This article outlines the change in practice from language maintenance, to language revitalization over the past three decades for endangered and dying indigenous languages. As recently as 1990, much focus was placed on maintaining the status quo of these languages and did not address the insufficiency of such measures. Since then concerted efforts have been made to grow the languages. Hinton introduces many factors that are problematic to attempts at revitalization in the article and describes some successful programs. Some of these include: the adequacy of documentation of endangered and “extinct” languages, literacy and the lack of orthographies in primarily oral languages, policies of bilingual education as process toward dominant-language fluent speakers versus plural fluencies, indigenous “language nest” immersion programs, dilution of resources in regions with many indigenous languages, and cultural control of language as a cultural artifact.

Though not exhaustive, this article makes many of the difficulties and complexities facing language revitalization clear and provides a depth of perspective that is valuable to those researching the topic.

Hinton, L. (2003) Language revitalization. Annual review of applied linguistics. 23, 44-57. doi: 10.1017/S0267190503000187

Research topic: Place-based learning models for contemporary education

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Through the first few weeks of this course, it has become very clear to me that indigenous learning and identity is place-based. However, models of place-based education, though they exist, are not mainstream in contemporary educational settings. Upon initial review, those that do exist appear not to take an aboriginal perspective. These factors may be correlated with trends in many schools that see a disconnect between aboriginal students and their school—which may then contribute to low graduation rates in aboriginal student populations. At this time it is my intention to direct my research toward a clearer understanding of what place-based education and place-based identity are, what educational models exist and how they can be adapted to include a greater aboriginal perspective.

As an extension, I am also synthesizing my learning in this course with that of ETEC 531: Curriculum Issues in New Media Studies. What has come up for me there, is that many contemporary educational models ask students to learn through or demonstrate their learning through new media projects. It then begs the question, “can place-based learning; constructivist, project-based learning; and, new media be combined in such a way that honours each of the theories as well as aboriginal cultures?” I would think that a model that does this would then be an effective one for everyone’s learning and reconnecting aboriginal students.

Module 1 – Post 3: Tatul’ut tthu Hul’q’umi’num’

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Based out of UVic, Tatul’us tthu Hul’q’umi’num’ is a web-based introductory lesson series in the Cowichan dialect of the Hul’q’umi’num’ language. Included on the site, in addition to the expected written and oral record, are games to assist in the learning of the language. Among them are word searches, concentration, puzzles, flash cards and label makers.

Module 1 – Post 2: First Voices Language Archive

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For those interested in documenting or researching Aboriginal Languages, the First Voices website may be of value. The site is attempting document and archive world aboriginal languages, though its focus has primarily been North American languages, and is based in British Columbia. Currently over 60 communities are contributing to the project that includes written and oral examples of words, phrases, stories and songs.

Module 1 – Post 1: CBC’s 8th Fire Documentary

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The CBC recently produced a four-part documentary entitled 8th Fire that is intended to help the dominant white culture understand some of the basic tenets of aboriginal culture and why there is so much conflict, and how we might begin to go about restoring relationships in a positive way. The title refers to an Anishinabe prophesy of a time of peace and prosperity for all people where the destruction of the past will be healed if the white culture chooses a path of respect and spirituality. Anishinabe host, Wab Kinew, promises no guilt trips, and maybe even a few surprises in this informative and current series.

Here is a learning guide with to accompany the documentary.