aboriginal_education

=Aboriginal Content and Perspectives=

1.) Voice in Education
(based on a passage from "If This is Social Studies, Why Isn’t It Boring?", by Stephanie Steffey and Wendy Hood. Stenhouse, 1994.)

What do we as Social Studies teachers do to ensure that the voices of Aboriginal Peoples are present in our classrooms? What is voice?

If voice is knowledge, we need to ask ourselves what Aboriginal children in our classrooms know from their homes, communities, and life experiences. We also need to ask how they have learned what they know. We need to think about how we incorporate these insights into our classrooms. Are their experiences and their knowledge acknowledged helping them to also consider them as important? Are their lives mirrored in the classroom, hallways and other shared spaces of school? How can anyone have voice until he or she first values what he or she knows? Aboriginal people have traditionally been silenced by society through schools, and as teachers we need to find ways to help students find their voice. How can we do that?

If voice is ethics, we need to ask ourselves what ethics and processes of ethical decision making we favour in our classrooms. Nel Noddings (1988) points out that “minorities have found their voices and are beginning to suggest alternatives among moral priorities” (9p.218). What values and processes for valuing do children from Aboriginal cultures bring to school? How do we encourage multiple perspectives of valuing in our classrooms?

If voice is power, we need to think about what is empowering in our classrooms. Friere (1972) proposes that education for liberation starts with the learner. If education is to have any value and effect it must start with real issues for the learner. How do we bring real issues in the lives of children from Aboriginal cultures into our classrooms?

2.) Supporting First Nation, Inuit and Metis Content and Perspectives
- a checklist adapted from p.28 ELA Curriculum Gr. 6 - 9, June 2009

[[file:Sample Teacher Checklist for Supporting First Nation.doc]]
**Added for November 17**

3.) **//The Learning Circle: Classroom Activities on First Nations in Canada//** **//. Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, 2000.//**
- “Non-Aboriginal people often recorded First Nations legends as fairy tales or myths, adding convenient morals to sum up the story. However the stories of Elders and accomplished storytellers often have no such ready explanation. The listener was expected to take time to think about the story and its meaning. Students need to made familiar with this format...” - “Repetition is an important element of First Nations storytelling. Stories need to be told and “felt” over and over again.” - “Colours are significant to many First Nations. For example, red, black, yellow and white are the colours of the Medicine Wheel, a vital teaching tool among many First Nations. The interpretations of the colours vary from community to community. For some, white is associated with the North, clack wit the West, red with the South and yellow with the east.” - “Many First Nations decorated their clothing, hunting implements and other objects with natural colours through embroidery using dyed moose or caribou hair, beads made from coloured shells or porcupine quills.” - “In most First Nations societies, “family” signifies not only parents and their children but a broad network of grandparents, uncles and aunts, and cousins. In some First nations societies, members of the same clan are considered family.”

**4.) Integrating Aboriginal Culture and Perspectives**
- It is important to share stories that reflect contemporary Aboriginal culture rather than just historical culture. - If you are unsure of something, ask for guidance (your teacher librarian, a parent, a grandparent, or an elder) o George Flavel – Regina Public Schools o Sarah Longman – Equity Consultant, Regina Public Schools o Phyllis Lerat – FNUC librarian – go and ask! o Gabrielle Dumont – 2nd floor College West Building – go and ask; get a card and borrow o Send home a book to a parent or grandparent and say, “I am thinking of using this…what do you think?”

- Creation or legend stories are not told until after the snow arrives (January). Traditionally, Aboriginal people did not have time to relax and chat until the winter months as they were too busy.

- Prepare for teaching Aboriginal content and perspectives as any conscientious professional would prepare – read many books on the topic; take a class; talk to people who can provide guidance; collaborate with peers and ask for guidance from your school division.

- It is better to try something and learn from the experience, than not try anything at all. To avoid is negligent.

 **Added November 21** - to view complete page click here

5.) Hear Our Words
Last winter I taught an online graduate level class to educators in northern Saskatchewan. Prior to a presentation to teachers in my own division on Promoting Aboriginal Content and Perspectives, I asked these educators what words of wisdom they would share on this topic:

My students have indicated to me a few times that it bothers them when they hear someone talk about First Nations people as though we all belong to the same cultural group. For example, it ticks them off when they see films/books that state that the Natives lived in tipis in Canada. One of my students compared it to the incorrect belief that some Americans have about thinking that all 'Indians live in igloos." They would prefer the speaker/book to state the name of the specific cultural group that is being referred to. Ex. If the topic is the Cree people of Saskatchewan, it should be pointed out that the Woodland Cree in N.E. Saskatchewan have a very different lifestyle and traditional skills than the Willow Cree of Duck Lake or the Plains Cree near Regina.
 * Teacher 1:**

I think for stories to be relevant and successful in my community, the students need to see themselves in the illustrations and the storylines. Our Nursery reading buddies preferred our homemade books about them rather than some child riding on a city bus. Bottom Line: I guess we should become authors.

There is no substitute for our own development of curriculum. When my son was beginning his education journey we found books that were relevant to us that were created by people in Quebec. Even for myself as an adult these simple children's stories such as Rosie's Visit made me feel better as I saw my culture in print and through my own eyes.
 * Teacher 2:**

My advice is to make sure all children see their culture reflected in the stories you read, the pictures and videos you show and in the topics you discuss.

I believe the students need to know relevance of education in order for success. Culturally directed curriculum will provide meaning. Especially if the community is involved in its conception. As I have learned in my three years of teaching at a band school, each community is unique due its family ties. Recording and documenting family stories would help preserve the history of the community.
 * Teacher 3:**