Cross Curricular Reflexive Writing #3

The last piece of the semester was incredible.  Two professional development days and one observation stood out. One intriguing pro-d day explored the Land as Teacher: Changing Engagement for Indigenous Learners and the other was Ally and Active Bystander Training combined with a workshop on becoming an Ally Trainer.  While in the Ally lecture and workshops I was exposed to intersectionality.  Immediately I formed a curiosity about how it exists in a classroom.  Specifically, how educators could integrate solutions to intersectional effects during class through curriculum delivery and assignment variation.  The observation I mentioned was from my time spent at Shas Ti Kelly Road Secondary School (KRSS) in a grade nine Science class.

Addressing engagement for all learners in an environment is crucial.  Without it, deeper learning cannot exist and therefore the necessary competencies we are looking for may be overlooked.  Considering Indigenous Learners, an active effort is required to first elevate our awareness of what unearned disadvantages they face, and secondly to begin to dig deeper into the things that will shift disengaged learners, who may feel outside of content and curriculum delivery, into exemplary inquisitive learners.  Interestingly, the beginning of this journey doesn’t necessarily begin in the classroom.  It begin with an educators responsibility to go out and learn about the local Indigenous population, Canadian history, the story of the Indigenous people in that history and a strong emphasis on how these cultures derive significance from their connection to land.

Territory acknowledgements are one way to begin decolonizing and indigenizing a classroom, however, as I keep learning, the territory acknowledgement is much more complicated than it seems.  Through the pro-d lecture series presented by, Guy Francois,  Leyton Schnellert, and Pam Spooner, I discovered that land acknowledgements go deeper than  a recognition of, and in responsibility to, Truth and Reconciliation.  Taking things deeper we can start asking questions around the history of the land, our relationship to it and how it is that we came to be here.  Through this Leyton pointed out the depth that place based learning must also have “place consciousness” and not just be about the place we are in.  It should include our connection to the land as well.  As Guy Francois pointed out, “hodul’eh” meanings teaching and learning, while breaking “hodul’eh” up into its roots shows us that, h = happens, o = around,

dul = area, eh = being made.  So not only are we teaching and learning, but there is reference to “what is being made in the area.”  This demonstrated for me the importance of involving language during recognition of land because the language is connected to the land as well as the culture.  In fact, Guy Francois recommended beginning with the language and working through it one word at a time.  And if nothing else, a major step in the right direction is affirming identity and diversity in the classroom by understanding that teaching and learning come from the same word which acknowledges the value of the learner, not just the teacher for education.

The second pro-d I attended was for Ally and Active Bystander Training facilitated by Adlen Habacon,  The Good Neighbors Committee of Vanderhoof, with grant funding from Resilience BC.  First, we learned what an Active Bystander is and what tools and awareness are required to be an active witness.  I was impressed by Alden’s use of “Prezi” and “Menti” for his presentation and polling.  During the session we confronted different examples of hurtful behavior through micro or macro aggressiveness.  With a “first aid” approach in mind, to assess situations for safety, we learned strategies to engage damaging behaviors directly or indirectly to disrupt patterns of hatred, racism, oppression, exclusion etcetera.  We discussed the differences between earned and unearned advantages and disadvantages to promote the deep internal work of dissociating fairness and sameness, equity and equality.  Notably, we discussed the idea of intersectionality to address how we as active bystanders can begin to implement changes in either our lives or teaching practices to overcome earned advantages or disadvantages.  Personally, I plan to learn more about Universal Design for Learning and Differentiated Instruction because I wish to investigate how these techniques may be used to overcome intersectionality and encourage intercultural dialogue, unity and identity flexibility.

The workshop piece of this lecture covered the same information.  More depth was added while we discussed personal examples or concerns about becoming an Ally and Active Bystander Trainer.  At the time I wasn’t aware that the second piece would grant me access to the information that Alden shared with us, and as such I’m excited that I can add this piece of training to my portfolio.  During both sessions we worked through examples as a group to practice our skills and even worked through some personal examples to gain closure or prepare for common situations in our communities.

The Science nine class where the instructor was dealing with multiple students with either behavioral difficulties or specific IEPs.  I noted his legendary patience as he walked through the curriculum with students.  Behaviorally, I was impressed at how he varied the way he responded to students.  Some he engaged, some he disengaged from, others one on one time worked best, so he made sure to have class time set aside.  For a few individuals, unusual freedoms were given like moving around, leaving the classroom, being loud, or making irrelevant comments.  Interestingly, the instructor was able to bring the students back to the lecture despite these freedoms.  Personally, I appreciated witnessing in a classroom what I experience with my own children at home.  That being, sometimes youngsters just need time to talk and get out all the sillies and wiggles before they can be engaged again to continue a lesson.  This was a stark contrast to what I remember during high school, especially given my learning about pedagogical philosophies through the history of Canadian education.

Finally, I noticed he would consistently mention “priming facts” during a lecture attempting to engage those students with ascending learning outcomes.  Perhaps these students didn’t notice, but I did, and hoped he would talk further about his comment.  Moreover, I feel its valuable that he integrated comparisons to Indigenous Knowledge when discussing the water and carbon cycles as pertaining to the biosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, and atmosphere.