6)+Our+Experiences

= **OUR EXPERIENCES** =

Teaching Experiences Past and Present: I have been teaching for 15 years. My internship placement was grade 4 in a PreK to grade 8 Community school in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan where the Aboriginal population was a minimum of 80%. I was then hired as a middle teacher in the same school where I taught grade 6/7 for six years before moving to the library as Teacher-Librarian. I then moved to become the lead Teacher-Librarian for the school division, working out of a centralized Teachers' Resource Centre. Upon my move to the TRC, I no longer worked with students but assisted teachers in all grades with their planning and teaching by providing them with relevant resources to support the curriculum. I am currently on education leave from my position.

Influences on Our Own Practice: My teacher education was taking through University of Saskatchewan - Saskatchewan Urban Native Teacher Education Program (SUNTEP) in Prince Albert. Being an Aboriginal culture based program, my studies were grounded in the beliefs, customs, knowledge and traditions of First Nations and Metis people and I developed a sense of belonging in the Metis community. I understand through experience the importance of validating and valuing the lives, experiences and cultures of First Nations and Metis people and attempted to ensure the students in my classroom and school also felt their culture was validated and valued. This was accomplished through creating an atmosphere of trust and sharing, providing opportunities to share stories, collaborate with classmates, nature based field trips, participation in Pow-wow dance and traditional drumming groups, experiential learning opportunities, and teaching the history of local Aboriginal cultures.

One particularly engaging and meaningful lesson I remember was in grade 4 Social Studies. It was a lesson on the Metis living along the shores of a river. We discussed why they chose this place to settle and its significance. In small groups, I had the students draw their own Metis settlement on large pieces of long narrow paper, just like a river lot. Then I introduced the "new" way of dividing land, brought in by the government and disguised myself as the land agent. I physically took their newly created river lots and cut them into nice, uniformly sized squares, just like the government representatives did with the Metis land and gave them each one and told them this was their new property. This created some high emotions in the students, and they developed a true understanding (albeit on a much smaller level, but very similar) of how the Metis people felt when the government cut-up their land. Respect for land and its people; Cooperative and collaborative learning; and Storytelling all demonstrated.

Influences on the Field of Curriculum Development: In Saskatchewan, First Nations, Metis and Inuit (FNM&I) perspectives have been interwoven throughout many curriculum goals, outcomes and indicators. This is particularly the case in ELA, SoSt, and Science, but is reflected in all area including the Arts, Health, and Phys Ed. As well, Treaty Education is expected to be taught in all grades K-12. This is important to ensure students feel their history and culture is valued and their lives and experiences are validated throughout their schooling experience. It also creates an understanding in non-Aboriginal students.

 Teaching Experiences Past and Present: For 6 years as a classroom teacher, I had taught a variety of subjects over grades 4-8. I have to say that my Aboriginal content knowledge was limited and I required a lot of learning before I'd feel prepared to incorporate content into my teaching. I had a Saskatchewan Urban Native Teacher Education Program (SUNTEP) pre-intern in my classroom as well as a First Nations University intern spend 4 months in my classroom. After becoming a teacher-librarian, I took training through my school division to become a school treaty catalyst teacher. I feel more prepared now to incorporate Aboriginal perspectives into my teaching at every grade level and in a variety of subject areas.

Influences on Our Own Practice: We are lucky in our school division to have resident elders that work in our schools one day in our 5-day cycle. They take on various responsibilities, ranging from individual counseling to small group interactions even into full classroom settings. They may focus on topics assigned by teacher or perhaps they have an area of expertise such as storytelling, jigging, etc. I have utilized the resident elders often through the library as storytellers, relaying stories of the past and teaching student’s lessons about life. One of my schools has the pleasure of having an Aboriginal resource classroom and full-time corresponding teacher. As well, we can rely on the expertise of our coordinator of Aboriginal Education at our division office.

Influences on the Field of Curriculum Development: The Ministry has made quite an effort to promote Aboriginal education in Saskatchewan. We administer treaty assessments in our division as pre- and post tests. We have working committees creating Aboriginal outcomes to add to current curricular documents. I am always looking to add curriculum resources into our school libraries. If your current document doesn't include much Aboriginal content, try to make connections wherever possible. It will not only benefit the Aboriginal students, but students of all cultural backgrounds.



Teaching Experiences Past and Present: I have been teaching for 5 years and have taught grades K-8 in the Saanich School District, just north of Victoria, BC. Our district has a high proportion of Aboriginal students, the majority living in reserve communities. Saanich has worked hard to improve the achievement of its Aboriginal students through hiring teachers and support workers of Aboriginal decent, having specifically trained Aboriginal support teachers working at schools with a high proportion of Aboriginal students, as well as offering courses in SENCOTEN, the local Aboriginal language.

Influences on Our Own Practice: Admittedly, I do not know as much as I should about the Aboriginal communities and cultures in my area. Throughout my teaching career I have leaned heavily on the Aboriginal support teachers in my schools for expertise, resources and insight into Aboriginal culture. I hope to begin to make personal connections with Aboriginal community members and elders so that I can learn from them as well in the future.

Influences on the Field of Curriculum Development: The four key themes we identified in this wiki (Connections to Life and Experiences/Storytelling /Collaborative and Cooperative Learning/Respect for the Land and Its People) should be addressed in all curricular documents as they are valuable learning strategies for all learners. To best meet the needs of our Aboriginal students teachers must seek out Aboriginal content and resources so that their Aboriginal students can make the connections to curriculum necessary for deep learning. In recognizing the diversity of Aboriginal groups across Canada, developing curriculum locally is an effective way to better meet the needs of Aboriginal students.

Teaching Experiences Past and Present: I have been teaching for 6 years in Victoria BC, and have had contracts in 8 different schools over the last 4 years. The first school I had a contract at was an elementary school where 78% of the population were Aboriginal (my job there was English as a Second Dialect teacher). In that job, my eyes were opened to many issues that face Aboriginal students and their families in the school system. Thanks to that experience, I think I have been much more prepared to teach First Nations curriculum in other schools, as I learned a lot about local Aboriginal culture when I worked there.

Influences on Our Own Practice: My grade 9 French teacher always used stories of her experiences in France and Quebec to teach about language and culture, and I always remembered her stories better than the direct lessons she taught. I have tried to employ this method of using stories to teach and to help students make connections to their own experiences as much as possible in my own career. I believe that storytelling, collaborative learning, and connectings to personal experiences are strategies that help all, not just Aboriginal students to succeed.

Influences on the Field of Curriculum Development: In BC, we have an Aboriginal Enhancement Agreement that works aboriginal content into the curriculum of each grade. While the content is there, I think there needs to be much more consideration given to how this content is taught. Traditional ways of learning, including storytelling, collaboration and and connecting learning to one's experiences are as much a part of Aboriginal curriculum as the content itself.

**__DISCUSSION QUESTION__ - After exploring this wiki, please share an experience of when you have incorporated an aspect of one of the four themes. What can you do to further include these themes into your teaching for the benefit of all students?**