June 23rd to June 28th, 2014
My last week in Haida Gwaii flew by! Because of Job Action, we did not return to Sk’aadgaa Naay to continue the original CFE placement. However, the community was very welcoming and I still learned a lot, perhaps even more than if I had stayed in the classroom the whole time.
Monday morning, Shylah, Krystel, Evan, and I went to the daycare (where Shylah had been working the week before MMAC) and Shylah made her clan’s fried bread recipe for the children at the daycare. I met the children and they were very young and very cute! The daycare centre is huge and I am grateful to have been able to spend a bit of time in there.
Making fried bread
Traditional fried bread ready for the little children to eat
Angus, the superintendent, took us up to Masset and Tow Hill on Monday, after the daycare. I enjoyed exploring and hiking in the North coast of Haida Gwaii. It was pouring rain and foggy so it was hard to see, but it was still great to be there. It was very kind of him to take us up there! For dinner we went to one of the hosts’ homes for a potluck. The community has been so incredibly welcoming.
Tow Hill
Different ways of knowing
Tuesday morning we went to Jags (the famous and delicious coffee shop). The Haida Museum director was kind enough to let us do some work with the artifacts for our last week. We spent the morning reading and looking at the entire exhibit. It was fascinating and really well done. I learned so much about Haida history pre- and post- contact with the Europeans. We were given a lot of flexibility in what we could do for the museum. We ended up choosing to create activities that teachers, parents and children could use when going through the museum. As there was no educator on site, the Haida Museum did not have any activities of that type.
We spent the following day continuing to work at the museum with the exhibit. I found it slightly challenging to think of relevant and engaging activities for the students. With some brainstorming and collaboration, we were able to create a document packaged that will hopefully be useful and enjoyable!
Haida Museum
The Kay
Totem pole outside of the museum
Amazing hosts making amazing food
On our way home to Vancouver
My Community Field Experience was a very positive learning experience for me. Living in a rural community in Haida Gwaii was quite different from the urban setting where I did my Extended Practicum (in Richmond). Although I was only in the traditional classroom setting for 3 days, I did notice many differences between my Richmond class and my Skidegate class. Having 3 grades in 1 classroom is challenging and I was able to see how organized teachers have to be to teach subjects such as math when there is such a wide range of learners. In addition, the amount of Aboriginal education that occurs at Sk’aadgaa Naay compared to Mitchell Elementary in Richmond is enormous. One of my students in Richmond had once asked me in the middle of a lesson on oral traditions whether Aboriginal people still existed today…In contrast, Haida culture is integrated in all areas of the curriculum at the school in Skidegate and it is very much alive.
After spending a week watching students learn at Mount Moresby Adventure Camp, I truly saw the importance of hands-on learning. Students who did not seem very engaged in the classroom became engaged at camp when they had the chance to interact with real objects. Although it will probably not be possible for me to take my future classes to MMAC, I will definitely incorporate what I observed and experienced at MMAC into my teaching. Instead of teaching abstract topics, I will try my best to find relevant hands-on material that students can use to learn. Also, I will try to take my students outside as much as possible.
Overall, my CFE was an experience I will never forget. I was welcomed into a very warm and special community. There is no doubt that I will come back.
…but until then, I will miss this beautiful place.
