For the previous professional development day, I attended an Aboriginal Education Conference titled “Walking Forward Together” at Yale Secondary School.  One of the reasons why I decided to attend this conference because I believe I have a fear of saying the wrong words or not bringing justice when it comes to implementing ABED into the classroom.  Therefore, getting as much exposure to ABED learning as possible and as educators we must develop a clear commitment to lifelong and life wide learning (PDP goal 2). 

 

            The day started off with an acknowledgment of the territory and acknowledgment of the elders.  What I liked about the beginning part of the ceremony is that they focused on the value of respecting your elders because they teach us through their experience and stories.  Through their stories, we learn and walk forward together through education.  Many times, especially in the society we live on today, elders or the act of growing is seen in a negative point of view.  There are even times where we neglect elders and don’t think of them as individuals who we can go to for knowledge.  They are often perceived as individuals who lack in knowledge or only know knowledge that is not relevant to today’s society.  Therefore, I appreciate the recognition of elders and the contribution that they had and continue to have on the younger generation. 

 

            The first key note speaker of the day was Dr. Lee Brown, and he focused on the idea of emotional intelligence in the curriculum.  The main points I took away from his speech was the traditional teachings only focus on the mental or the mind, and how we teach students as if they have no emotion.  However, how a person feels is more important than what they know because how one feels is what controls their behavior not what they know.  I can’t help but reflect how little I have looked at and taught the importance of emotional intelligence and emotional awareness to my students.  I can see the potential of high emotional intelligence and how this can eliminate a lot of the unwanted behavior that goes on in schools, or may increase students’ intrinsic motivation and participation.  If students are aware of what they are feeling about a subject or content it can also help gain a deeper understanding of the topic because of that attachment of an emotional aspect.  As the speaker stated, emotions are the foundation of which we learn, and I believe that too often educators do not recognize this and how emotions are an essential tool to classroom management, development, and learning.  Dr. Lee Brown continues and states the consequences for not focusing on emotional development and understanding because emotional development teaches students the power and actions and words.  Some of the consequences we pay for not focusing on emotional intelligence includes bullying, racism, suicide, violence, and addiction which are very much relevant in schools and today’s society.  Lastly, I also like the statement that emotion is something that you can choose.  We are driven by our emotions with everything that we do.  The ability to recognize that we have that choice and have an awareness of those choices and our present emotion is important.  Especially as teachers who are perceived as role models to students it is as equally important that we recognize this and model that our emotions are something that we should control and be responsible for.  At the end of presentation, the key note speaker asked how often we ask ourselves how are you feeling about what we are feeling.  This is a question that I would like to bring into the classroom and ask students as a step to be aware of their emotional state and a step towards learning and gaining emotional intelligence.  

 

            Last but not the least attendees were able to choose a workshop that they were interest in during the break out session, and I decided to go to the Voice of Drum led by Darren Charlie.  The main reason why I was interested in going to this session was due to its focus on “making” which is one of the key strategies that I would like to implement in my classroom as part of experiential learning, and I saw its potential to create teaching in cross curricular areas.  On top of enjoying the making of the drum, I learned how with anything we make or create it’s good to reflect on our emotional state at that moment.  For example, if we have a negative emotional state such as feeling anxious, afraid, agitated, it will reflect on our work or in the drum making.  The facilitator talked about having knots and tangles in the thread that holds the face of the drum.  Therefore, everything that we do we should recognize the emotional state of mind and throughout the making of the drum I really felt the therapy of the mind body and heart because of this awareness. This was something that I would apply in my own classroom regardless if they are making a drum or simply writing a test.  Getting students to recognize their emotional state of mind and teaching tools such as breathing relaxation techniques to calm and provide peace and calmness.  Lastly, we learned how we can use the drum in the classroom as a tool to show emotions.  One of the facilitators shared how she always has a drum in her classroom and when a student is in a negative emotional state she asks them to first feel their heart and ask them what is their heart doing.  She then asks the student to imitate how their heart is by playing the drum, followed by slowing the beat down and practicing calming down and returning to a peaceful state of mind.  This is a strategy that I would apply in my own class, and I am glad that I was able to attend this session and not only take this instrument home, but to use it as a teaching tool in the future.