Module 2

Site#2

In the spirit of placed based knowledge, I am gathering resources from my own geographic community. This website http://www.squamish.net/aboutus/ offers a clear, user-friendly reference about the Squamish Nation. It includes the history, direction and structure of leadership of the Nation. The website also describes the treaty negotiation timeline and its educational services and affiliations. The structure of the Squamish Nation leadership; hereditary and elected, is also covered.

Module #2

Source #1

“OUR WORDS OUR WAYS Teaching First Nations, Inuit and Metis Learners” is an Alberta based comprehensive education package for elementary learners. The document can be found at https://education.alberta.ca/media/307199/words.pdf .The program links cooperative learning and community, with sharing of traditional values. It includes a helpful section on things to consider when selecting of aboriginal content for your class. Infused throughout the document are stories, which act as illustrations and examples of concepts taught and “shared wisdom” of traditional teaching that underlines the concepts.

Site #1

Nancy Turner is an ethnobotanist from University of Victoria who has written two books on the ethnobotany of plants and peoples in this coastal region. This is a commentary by her which addresses the direction of the people-place-plant connection of ethnobotany. It is succinct and has a list of pertinent resources at the end.

Site #2

Although it is over 10 years old this document provides a comprehensive  set of strategies for  teachers to consider that will “assist the learning and success of aboriginal students”. It includes a review of inclusiveness for native children and employment equity for native teachers. Also a history of important dates to indigenous people in BC since European contact and a list of relevant resources.

Site #3

The author of this weblog, Tom Henley, has been involved with outdoor education and native youth in Haida Gwaii, Skeena and in many other parts of the world. He has some activities that connect students to the outdoors in a hands-on exploratory manner.

I have always been a student of the outdoors. That is how I came to be a teacher. I took a course at Bamfield Marine Station on intertidal ecology in 1988 and was hooked with the desire to learn about the creatures that lived around and in the ocean. I then took a job as a kayak guide on the  inland waters of the Pacific coast. Working in that area I was compelled to educate myself and then my clients about the land and the people that used to live there. I spent a whole summer in Haida Gwaii and was privileged to hear stories and teachings from some of the native watchmen who looked after village sites. It was when I was taking young people out into these waters that I could see the how they opened up to the world around them and became curious about nature. When starting to read, in this course, about the sacred connection indigenous people have to the land, I find my interest turning to education in the outdoors and native ecology. I am curious about stories behind the ecology and like the idea of having students begin to explore and learn outside, in their own communities and neighbourhoods.

Site #4

Vancouver Island University along with Coast Salish community groups are implementing a digital storytelling project . It  is advertised as a way to revitalize the native language of the Hul’q’umi’num; people from southeastern Vancouver Island, the Gulf Islands and the lower Fraser River.  They will have native elders tell traditional stories in their own language and offer the opportunity to ask questions about the values and the meanings of the stories. This is a new project and is being implemented and driven by input from indigenous community. The completed project will be available in a wide variety of technologies for any educational group.

Site #5

The program Rediscovery is something I used as a resource when involved with outdoor education for youth. Rediscovery integrates outdoor education for youth within an indigenous model. Wilderness activities in remote settings are tied with cultural teachings and traditions.  I could see this program being used in the school system as part of an outdoor/cultural education program.