The University of Calgary has webpages that give basic information about First Nations history. This one has maps of Canada with different ways of dividing regions. It is interesting to see how the linguistic, regional, and First Nations maps differ and compare to one another.
http://www.ucalgary.ca/applied_history/tutor/firstnations/civilisations.html
This website is an interactive journey that gives information about five First Nations across Canada. The website says, “Four Directions Teachings celebrates Indigenous oral traditions by honoring the process of listening with intent as each elder or traditional teacher shares a teaching from their perspective on the richness and value of cultural traditions from their nation.” (http://www.fourdirectionsteachings.com/transcripts.html) The site is student friendly and engaging. It could easily be used in the classroom to share information about First Nations peoples.
The Office of the Treaty Commissioner is an agency in Saskatchewan that is committed to treaty education. As part of the Treaty Essential Learnings curriculum that was put out in 2007, videos were created for teachers to use in the classroom. These videos give students an overview of the treaties that cover the province of Saskatchewan. They are useful for any teacher wanting to incorporate treaty teachings in their classroom.
The Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation is the professional organization representing the teachers of Saskatchewan. This is the Classroom is blog created by the STF that discusses important issues that affect teachers in this province. First Nations and Metis issues are always at the forefront of our educational consciousness and this blog has put together some well written posts about the Treaty Essential Learnings and First Nations education. The posts are written by teachers, for teachers so they are easy to read and informative.
Max Fineday is the first indigenous president of the University of Saskatchewan’s Student Union. In an organization that is 106 years old and a province that has a 50% First Nations population, this has been a long time coming. The news is momentous enough to have landed in the New York Times.
In the article is a short discussion on Residential schools and colonization. Overall the article sets a positive tone and gives attention to the work that universities across Canada are doing to support Indigenous students.
Fatty Legs: A True Story is a chapter book geared at middle years students. It is about the experience of one girl at a northern residential school. This book has been used by teachers at my school and in my division to introduce the topic of residential schools. The students have all enjoyed the novel and come out with good discussions.
In grade four, students across Canada learn about their home province. Saskstories.ca is a website geared towards grade four students in Saskatchewan. It is about the history of Saskatchewan and it has excellent information about First Nations peoples and settlers of this province. The information is well balanced and user friendly. I have used this website with students for the past five years and it is always well-liked by the kids. We always have good discussions about the stories they read on the website. My only potential complaint is the lack of information of First Nations people today on the website however it is not meant to be comprehensive and the information it has is excellent.
The Gift of Language and Culture Project website was created in collaboration by four Bands in Saskatchewan. In 2005 a language curriculum was created for students from PreK to grade 9. There is a core curriculum and an immersion curriculum as well as resources for teaching First Nations languages.
The curriculum is well laid out and easy to follow. It would be beneficial for any teacher of Cree students however it could also serve as a starting point for teachers whose students speak a different language.
I am more and more interested in language preservation. I know there are things going on in Saskatchewan to aid in language preservation but I had no idea that there were opportunities to learn FN languages online.
The website below is the Saskatchewan First Nation Speaking Project. It has free material for teachers on FN languages and it has more than 800 audio files so people can listen and learn online.
http://www.allanadam.com/Saskatchewan%20First%20Nation%20Speaking%20Project%20overview.pdf
http://montreal.mediacoop.ca/story/elsipogtog-clashes-300-years-making/19357
This picture is not from the article however they are about the same thing. I was impressed to see this picture make the rounds on Facebook especially since it was posted by friends who I wouldn’t have guessed would be interested. I think that the more that social media shares things about First Nations causes, the more awareness there will be. I found this article posted on Facebook as well and I think they complement each other well.