Author Archives: learle

The Tyee

Leave a reply

Module #4, Post #5

http://thetyee.ca/Series/2011/09/07/Successful-First-Nations-Education/

This website is an independent daily online newspaper about BC news, culture, and solutions. This page specifically is about Successful Practices in First Nations Education. It contains a series of news articles by reporter Katie Hyslop who takes a look at inspiring models of education done differently.

The series includes these articles:

As there are many articles to read, I will focus on one to give an idea of the success of doing things differently for aboriginal education. I read the article Amidst the Big City, an Aboriginal Public School?  This article is about how Vancouver’s school board sees potential in a school designed to appeal to urban First Nations youth. Their school involves aboriginal and aboriginal-aware teachers, parents, elders, and the community. This school proposal seems to be controversial because some see it as segregation. This article leads to another site, ALIVE (Aboriginal Life in Vancouver Enhancement), which is a non-profit organization working to improve the lives of urban aborginals.

I think that the series provided by The Tyee provides information on various educational opportunities that are out there for aboriginal youth and ideas about what can be done to improve and sustain aboriginal culture amongst the aboriginal youth.

Gateway to Aboriginal Heritage

Leave a reply

Module #4, Post #4

http://www.civilization.ca/cmc/exhibitions/tresors/ethno/index_e.shtml

This website, provided by the Canadian Museum of Civilization, is a resource that documents the histories and cultures of aboriginal peoples in Canada. The objects page allows you to click on part of the map to find out information for that area and about different ‘objects’ that were used. The photos and papers page takes you to various researchers photo archive of indigenous life.

I found the ‘kids and teachers’ page to be most useful and interesting. There are many games and various learning activities to choose from to learn about aboriginal heritage.

Links:

http://www.civilization.ca/cmc/exhibitions/tresors/ethno/ety090we.shtml (webquest)

http://www.civilization.ca/cmc/exhibitions/tresors/ethno/ety0105e.shtml (game)

 

The Story of the Masks

Leave a reply

Module #4, Post #3

http://www.umista.ca/masks_story/en/ht/index.html

This website is about the “story of families with a passion that will not allow their culture to be extinguished.” The website contains information about the potlatch and explains its major role in Kwakwaka’waku society. This page even has a video that you can download and watch in Irene Cook’s native tongue and in English. This is a great example of the language and about the potlatch. The masks page has links to various types of masks as well as an overview of the collection. I believe that this website provide further research into aboriginal culture and their community reality.

 

The 8th Fire

Leave a reply

Module #4, Post #2

http://www.cbc.ca/doczone/8thfire//2011/11/indigenious-in-the-city.html

The 8th Fire is a 4 episode video series about Indigenous peoples. The first episode is about the indigenous who live in the city. I found it very interesting how they spoke about stereotypes about aboriginal people. I have heard all of the stereotypes and feel that they need to stop. I think that this video series will help to curb many of the stereotypes.

One of the things that were said in the video that really made me sad was the fact that it’s not that aboriginal students drop out of school, it’s more that they are being pushed out because of the stereotypes.

According to the series, connection to the land is very important for aboriginal peoples… to go back home and leave the cities. Connecting with the land allows you to become humble and appreciate what is out there.

I found the first episode of this series very powerful and believe that it contributes greatly to research on Indigenous knowledge, media, and community reality.

Links:

http://www.cbc.ca/doczone/8thfire/2011/11/winnipegs-most.html

http://www.cbc.ca/doczone/8thfire/2011/11/its-time.html (episode 2)

http://www.cbc.ca/doczone/8thfire/2011/11/whose-land-is-it-anyway.html (episode 3)

http://www.cbc.ca/doczone/8thfire/2011/11/at-the-crossroads.html (episode 4)

 

A Journey into Time Immemorial

Leave a reply

Module #4, Post #1

http://www.sfu.museum/time/en/enter/

Upon clicking on the “FLASH – High Bandwidth” (or HTML version – but the flash is better as it’s much more interactive and everything is embedded) you are led to the coolest virtual museum I have ever found. Once you are in the virtual museum you can scroll your mouse over the people, the items, the buildings, etc. and it brings up information boxes about them. This website also has mini interviews throughout talking about the various items. It really gives you slight glimpse of what aboriginal life was like – an insight to their culture.  I think that this website is definite gold mine and think that it greatly contributes to the research of indigenous cultures and gives an idea for viewers as to what their community was like.

Links:

http://www.sfu.museum/time/en/educatorresources/

http://www.sfu.museum/time/en/games/

http://www.sfu.museum/time/en/videos/

 

Amnesty International

Leave a reply

Module #3, Post #5

http://www.amnesty.ca/our-work/issues/indigenous-peoples/indigenous-peoples-in-canada

For my last post this module, I came across the amnesty international website, which has a section specifically about Indigenous People in Canada. The write-up on this site briefly summarized much of what has been done to the indigenous peoples in Canada and how they have been wronged.

It also lead to a couple of other internal links about

  1. Idle No More Movement that has brought many people out to demand respect for the rights of Indigenous peoples.
  2. No More Stolen Sisters that outlines what has happened to the missing and murdered Indigenous women of Canada, which also leads to other links as well!
  3. Get Involved! that suggests you write a letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

I think that this site has the ability to get outsiders and aboriginal peoples involved to contribute to further research on Indigenous knowledge, media, and community reality. I believe that in order for these contributions to happen, you have to get people involved!

 

Wade Davis: Dreams from endangered cultures

Leave a reply

Module #3, Post #4

http://www.ted.com/talks/wade_davis_on_endangered_cultures.html

I was going through some TED talks when I came across this particular one about the diversity of the world’s indigenous cultures and how they are rapidly disappearing. I found this video to be exceptionally positive and interesting. Wade Davis not only gave an inspiring speech about the endangered cultures of the world, but provide snippets of information to provoke curiosity and hopefully acceptance of other cultures.

He also talked about how when we were born there were over 6000 languages spoken in the world and that only half exist today. He spoke about language as being a crucial part of a culture. He said that “language is not just a body of vocabulary or a set of grammatical rules. A language is a flash of the human spirit. It’s a vehicle through which the soul of each particular culture that comes into the material world. Every language is an old growth forest of the mind…”

In his speech, he also referred to ethnocide… a word I had never heard of before, but understand completely and believe to be sad. One part that really stuck out for me was the fact that he said that change and technology do not threaten a culture; it’s the political power of those that want a monolithic culture as opposed to a pluralistic one.

He states that story telling can change the world and I truly believe that if we continue to tell the stories of our elders, then these endangered cultures will survive.

He concludes his speech by stating that the world deserves to exist in a diverse way and that all the wisdom of all people can contribute to the well-being of the human race. I think that this TED talk can definitely contribute to research on Indigenous knowledge, media, and community reality.

This TED talk led to two others that I thought might be of interest as well:

http://www.ted.com/talks/wade_davis_on_the_worldwide_web_of_belief_and_ritual.html

http://www.ted.com/talks/phil_borges_on_endangered_cultures.html

Language Nests

Leave a reply

Module #3, Post #3

http://www.ece.gov.nt.ca/early-childhood-and-school-services/early-childhood/language-nests

This website link is from the Northwest Territoritories Education, Cutlure and Employment website. I came across it looking for more information about the language nest immersion approach used in New Zealand. This page gives a nice explanation as to what a language nest is and how they have been operating the NWT.

This website also gives information of official languages, healthy children initiatives, income security, etc.

Martin Aboriginal Education Initiative (MAEI)

Leave a reply

Module #3, Post #2

http://www.maei-ieam.ca/

After checking out the Free the Children Aboriginal Programming site, I was lead to this site, which I felt needed to have its own post due to the amount of information it contains!

The Martin Aboriginal Education Initiative (MAEI) is a charitable organization that supports education for Aboriginal students in Canada. Under their Current Initiatives button, there are links to

I was surprised and happy to see that there were so many programs and opportunities offered for our aboriginal students. I just wonder how many students know of these resources and are using them.

 

Free the Children Aboriginal Programming

Leave a reply

Module # 3, post #1

http://www.freethechildren.com/domestic-programming/school-and-educational-programming/aboriginal-programming/

This week’s readings and discussions really made me think about what is being done to celebrate indigenous/aboriginal culture in our society and schools. As a leadership teacher at the high school where I work, I remembered from attending We Day 2012 that Free the Children has started a new concept called We Stand Together. So, I decided to head back to their website and see what kinds of programming that they had for aboriginal education.

Free the Children is known for its global initiatives and helping out in “third-world” countries. However, they also do support and promote local programs. According to their site, “with the support of Martin Aboriginal Education Initiative, Free The Children is delivering programming that will educate non-Aboriginal Canadian youth and help make Aboriginal issues a priority in Canada.”

Some of the programs that they provide are:

I think that these campaigns and programs are great ways to raise awareness and create positive atmosphere in our schools with tomorrow’s leaders. I think if I had not had so much going on this year, I would have worked with my aboriginal support teachers to make these campaigns/programs a reality. Something to consider when I go back to work!