Resources & Teaching Strategies

Circles:
Talking Circles or Circle Talks are a First Nations approach that encourages dialogue, respect, the co-creation of learning content, and social discourse.
https://www.learnalberta.ca/content/aswt/talkingtogether/facilitated_talking_circle_fact_sheet.html


Seasonal Round:
Seasonal Round is a way of structuring your school year around the changing seasons and following how the First Nations groups would travel and find resources according to the different times of the year. This idea could be adapted to integrate your local Indigenous groups through field trips, hands-on harvesting and connecting with the local community. 
http://www.openschool.bc.ca/elementary/my_seasonal_round/lesson_1.html


Stories:
If you are looking for authentic material to add to your classroom or library, this Canadian store offers great Indigenous books for all ages - kids, teens and adults. Educator resources are also available. Inviting an Elder into the classroom to tell stories is also a great option for students of all ages.
https://www.strongnations.com/

Cultural use of Technology:
Teaching for Indigenous Education is a website that offers digital learning resources with aboriginal content for teachers and students. Many of the games come with lesson plans and include key game concepts such as: cultural practice skills, historical facts, and language skills of indigenous cultures.
http://www.indigenouseducation.educ.ubc.ca/
https://www.pathoftheelders.com/game

Aboriginal Worldviews and Perspectives in the Classroom: Moving Forward

The following is taken from:
Aboriginal Worldviews and Perspectives in the Classroom: Moving Forward, Government of British    Columbia, 2015. <http://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/education/administration/kindergarten-to-grade-12/aboriginal-education/awp_moving_forward.pdf>


Connectedness and Relationship

→Look for ways to relate learning to students’ selves, to their families and communities, and to the other aspects of Aboriginal Worldviews and Perspectives described in this document.


Awareness of History

→Ensure that any focus on the history of Canada and Canadians or on Canadian social studies include reference to the experience, situation, and actions/perspectives of Aboriginal peoples, in all periods studied (including and up to the present).
→Avoid reliance on colonial-era secondary sources (i.e., 20th century and earlier texts and resources) for accounts or explanations of topics, events, trends involving Aboriginal peoples. Where possible, use contemporary sources created by or with the involvement of Aboriginal contributors.
→When referencing Aboriginal content, give learners a chance to work with locally developed resources (including local knowledge keepers) wherever possible.
→Use accurate, specific historical facts and explanations to counter racist and stereotypical generalizations about Aboriginal peoples in Canada.
→When correcting inaccurate half-truths and generalizations, focus the correction on the ideas, not on the students who may have been misled into believing and expressing them.


Local Focus

→Look for opportunities to incorporate place-based learning into your practice (a focus on local Aboriginal history, experience, stories, imagery, ecology).
→When referencing Aboriginal content, give learners a chance to work with locally developed resources (including local knowledge keepers) wherever possible.
→Look to the school’s Aboriginal support worker(s) and/or trusted local contacts for guidance and help accessing good local content.


Engagement with Land, Nature, and the Outdoors

→Look for opportunities to get students interested and engaged with the natural world immediately available (place-based education in the area near your school). Illustrations using locally observable examples and phenomena, physical education activities, homework assignments, and student projects are examples of opportunities to promote this type of engagement.
→Plan and organize to take instruction and learning outdoors where possible, organizing instructional planning to facilitate this.
→Explore team leadership and the use of resources such as skilled Aboriginal community members and third-party outdoor education specialists to facilitate and help deal with the challenges associated with leaving the confines of the school (e.g., the need for equipment, expertise in outdoor environments, risk management, transportation).

Emphasis on Identity
→Embrace learner-centred teaching practice.
→Encourage student self-awareness grounded in knowledge of family origins, cultural background, place of origin, allegiance and affiliation, citizenship, and other identity “markers.” Student self-expression via writing, speaking, and representation is an opportunity to address and revisit this theme at various stages during their K-12 schooling.
→Acknowledge and celebrate the cultural identities of all students represented in your learning cohorts.


Community Involvement Process and Protocols
→Make it a priority to connect with the local Aboriginal community.
→Look to the school’s Aboriginal support worker(s) and/or trusted local contacts for guidance and help doing this.
→With your Aboriginal students, take deliberate steps to help the family feel involved and respected. Value the family and the family will value the education system. Home visits can yield huge dividends.
→Recognize and embrace the important role that you as educator can play in addressing the need for reconciliation and overcoming the legacy of colonialist/assimilationist schooling.
→Expect criticism from time to time. Having your own network of knowledgeable and supportive community and professional contacts will give you somewhere to turn for advice.

The Power of Story
→Learn some of the traditional stories told within the local Aboriginal community. Then use them as a touchstone for your students when applicable “teachable moments” arise.
→Give students opportunities to apply and demonstrate the skills associated with oral storytelling: memorize, internalize, and present (re-tell exactly). At higher grade levels, students benefit from opportunities to tell their own experiential stories and listen and respond to those of peers.
→Metaphor, analogy, example, allusion, humour, surprise, formulaic phrasing, etc. are storytelling devices that can be applied when explaining almost any non-fiction concept. Make an effort to use devices of this sort in all subject areas and to draw upon stories of the local Aboriginal community.

Traditional Teaching
→Recognize the traditional teachings of First Nations students. In particular, Aboriginal students who are disengaged may benefit from learning traditional teachings.
→The involvement of Elders, either in school or via mentorship-type arrangements will likely be needed to pursue traditional teaching. Look to the school’s Aboriginal support worker(s), Aboriginal district principal, and/or trusted local contacts for guidance and help with this.

Language and Culture
→Expect use of the language to be part of any educational experiences with an Aboriginal aspect that involves outdoor trips or field studies in the local Aboriginal community.
→Demonstrate respectful support for efforts within the local Aboriginal community to revitalize language and culture by ¾ incorporating into your practice simple words and phrases for greetings, interactions, place references, etc.
→visibly acknowledging the local First Nation’s culture through the use of images, artifacts such as a talking stick, or circle sharing sessions ¾ Be alert and sympathetic to ways the school can be involved in language instruction programs (i.e., for the local Aboriginal language).
→Base your actions and expectations on recognition of where the local community sits with respect to the current state of their language and culture revitalization/preservation efforts. Look to the school’s Aboriginal support worker(s) and/or trusted local contacts for guidance on this.
→Embrace the need for inclusion of esteemed Aboriginal language speakers as essential and respected participants in language teaching and learning.

Experiential Learning
→Look for ways to incorporate hands-on learning experiences for students into your practice. →Embrace learner-centred practice and interact with students to ascertain their strengths and preferences when it comes to learning experiences.
→Emphasize possible practical applications (e.g., “real-world”) when introducing abstract or theoretical concepts.

Challenging Coercive Power Relations

In the Multilingual Education for Social Justice video,  Jim Cummins presents the idea of how "coercive power relations" have contributed to the frequent education failures of our Indigenous students.  I found Cummins' sociological perspective really digs deep into the heart of questioning our educational framework and its relationship to historical patterns of British Colonial power relations. While I hope at this point, we are all well aware of the link between this type of coercive power and the destruction of First Nations language and identities that manifested through the residential school systems, but what I found deeply engaging, was Cummins' take on how our present-day systems are still involved in navigating these residual power dynamics.

Cummins challenges us to look at the fact that power is infused through all aspects of our schools - from how the curriculum is developed to how learning is organized and implemented. And while we may not overtly be denying students access to their first languages and cultures, our system is still involved in a type of subversive denial. Cummins refers to the term: "benign neglect" and speaks to how coercive power relations can present themselves through what we ignore or don't teach our students. While the curriculum is changing, the British colonial context of teaching is still dominant. For our First Nations students, we are often filling their day with contexts and histories that are not relevant to them, and this is the quiet way in which education continues to subtly devalue our Indigenous students and set them up for failure in a system with which they are disempowered.

As educators, we must be critical of this ever continuing colonial discourse and its effects on our students. At times it can be hard to identify because it has been a type of stakeholder in our culture for so many years. But if we hope to engage our First Nations students with a type of learning that is collaborative in power, according to Cummins, we must activate our students' prior knowledge and allow them to participate in an education that strengthens their cultural identity.  For me, this means teaching content which is relevant to their lives and cultures, and teaching it in a way that allows them to meaningfully access the content.