Some difficulties and doubts arose in me about my role in writing an Education Program on the expression of identity in Northwest Coast art at the gallery: who am I to do this? I felt uncomfortable speaking for First Nations and writing a program from this position of (non-existent) authority. I have included Aboriginal Education in many of my lessons during my extended practicum, but didn’t feel this much pressure ‘to get it right’. Fortunately, while rereading my notes from EDUC 440, I found Brad Baker’s phrase and it really resonates with me: “Go forward with courage”. I decided that I will do my best to write this program and respect Aboriginal identities as best as I can. I am also very fortunate to have great Community Partners that encourage asking questions and exploring the subject.

I’m continuing to enjoy the luxury of time to explore and work with Understanding by Design, Making Thinking Visible, and Barrie Bennett (Beyond Monet & Graphic Intelligence) to create meaningful and engaging program. The goal of my Program is to allow the intermediate grades to explore the Bill Reid Gallery in alignment with the Big Ideas of the B.C. Arts Education curriculum.  I’d like to create a unit that allows students’ interests and questions to guide the learning activities while exploring the concept of identity in artwork. It allows for inclusion of some Core Competencies as well: Positive Personal and Cultural Identity, Communication, and Creative Thinking.

Ideally, I would have a unit with multiple entry points, depending on where the visit to the BRG takes place within the unit. The field trip could be the hook for the unit, it could take place in the middle after some scaffolding and before the culminating performance task, and it could even be a closing activity for the unit. The field trip as hook is the most likely, as this happens to be the case more than 50% of the time. Different activities will be planned to be presented during the visit, depending on the size and energy of the group and the preference of the teacher.

On Wednesday morning, I was able to help with a group of Grade 3 students visiting the BRG. Since there were 2 classes coming, we split the group in 2 and while one group toured the gallery, I read a story (The flight of the hummingbird by Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas) to the other group. I was able to read from my own copy in French because the group was from a francophone school. Teachers and students were (pleasantly) surprised. I couldn’t have asked for a better setting. The author’s work happens to be the temporary exhibit in the BRG, so it was great to read “Le vol du colibri” in the gallery while pointing at other works of the artist.

This school visit allowed me to work on my questioning before, during, and after reading and asking “What makes you say that?” to get students to elaborate and explain predictions and ideas. The tour of the first group ran a bit longer, so I used an improvised extension activity of drawing the ending/ resolution of the problem since students seemed a bit ruffled by the fact that the story wasn’t neatly wrapped-up and finished. There is some inherent difficulty in having school groups in at the same time as general audience, but it seemed to work this morning. I’m thinking of ways to include movement in my activities while being respectful of other visitors. In any case, I think it is important to go over expectations at the start of the visit: what can’t we do, but what can we do?; what does that look like, and what does that sound like?