Indigenous Perspectives

 First of all to set the context of my responses to these articles, while I am Ontario trained and did my practicums and internship in Ontario, the entirety of my teaching career has been overseas, and to the best of my knowledge I have never taught a Canadian First Nations student, to date. That being said I am currently at an Alberta Tier 4 school, which requires that we teach to all of the province of Alberta standards. These articles have, however, still given me some insight on my evolving definitions of teaching and learning.

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What is the context/argument being explored? 

The article “Integrating Aboriginal Teaching and Values into the Classroom” from the Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat opens with stating that Aboriginal students’ self-esteem is a key factor in being successful at school, and goes on to state that self-esteem at school is often rooted in respect of culture. The article then explores the “ seven living principles” of the Ojibwe people, and strategies that work with these students.

How do the ideas/arguments relate to your understanding of innovation in teaching and learning?

The fact that students with higher self-esteem are more likely to succeed at school, and that students are more likely to have higher self-esteem if their culture is respected, is a commonly held belief by international school teachers, myself included. Teaching needs to include a consideration of the students that we are teaching and the methods that work best for them, in a way that is reflective, flexible and honours who they are as human beings. 

This article mentions the importance of community partnership, which is necessary in order to build bridges and co-construct learning. 

What questions do you have of the authors after having read the article?

Honestly many of the strategies outlined as suiting “aboriginal students” specifically, are recognized as good teaching practices in general. I’m wondering if more progress would be made in assisting aboriginal students if the strategies were mentioned as being helpful to aboriginal students, while there was also research provided showing how these strategies are beneficial to all students. 

While school teachers can absolutely make connections with First Nations communities, I’m wondering, in Canada, what are school administrators doing to create these strong connections between their school and the First Nations community?

What are the implications for your own practice? 

Given that I have always taught overseas, and about 98% of my students across 13 years have been students who speak English as an additional language, I’ve always been very aware of the importance of understanding and respecting culture in the classroom. Throughout my 10 years in the PYP I’ve also grown very aware of creating connections within the community that can lead to learning engagements and enhanced understandings of cultural perspectives.

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What is the context/argument being explored? 

The article “As if Indigenous Knowledge and Communities Mattered” explores a community-based education partnership between the First Nations and postsecondary institutions in Canada. This partnership brings western ideas about Early Childhood Education together with indigenous knowledge, such as through elders. In this partnership there is an attempt made to find a middle ground that best serves the community. 

How do the ideas/arguments relate to your understanding of innovation in teaching and learning?

Honestly understanding the community you serve, the cultures within it and the context is incredibly useful to crafting the best and most impactful program. Currently I am working at a school in Macao that expects us to fully utilize all of the standards of the Alberta curriculum, while also using the much more global curriculum of the PYP. 

At other PYP international schools I’ve worked at, it has been my experience that most of the time in primary, Literacy and Numeracy standards exist, and otherwise there is not a major focus on hitting specific standards, and instead the IB Scope and sequence and program of inquiry are used to hit big ideas and conceptual understandings through inquiry based teaching models and the building of skills. It’s not that knowledge is not important at all, there is just less stress placed upon hitting a long list of specific standards. 

Educational programs and approaches suiting the community that they serve and being able to evolve over time through something like the generative model, is something that I personally believe is best in teaching and learning.

What questions do you have of the authors after having read the article?

Is there some way this approach could be more widely adopted (generative curriculum model) to more schools so schools could better tailor their curriculums? 

How can we continue to challenge dominant, Eurocentric narratives and consider other perspectives? 

What are the implications for your own practice? 

Given that I teach overseas populations and have been at 6 different PYP schools to date, I think a lot about how the communities that I teach overseas can best be served. I do think that a framework that promotes a holistic approach and global-mindedness (as with the PYP) with a consideration towards the school culture, culture of the country and school community is a better approach over transplanting specific state or provincial standards. After all the learning needs to be made relevant to the children / students who are attending the school in question.

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Ball, J. (2004). As if Indigenous knowledge and communities mattered: transformative education in First Nations communities in Canada. The American Indian Quarterly, 28(3-4), 454+. https://link-gale-com.proxy.queensu.ca/apps/doc/A132163754/AONE?u=queensulaw&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=eafe24bf

Integrating Aboriginal teaching and values into the classroom. (2008). Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat, Toulouse, Pamela Rose