My Journey to Aboriginal Education
At the beginning of the September semester, we were given a rubric about our own Aboriginal understands learning progression. With this rubric, I identified my own progression as developing where I am aware of my current knowledge and willingness to enhance my knowledge and understanding, and have started to begin to explore topics such as local Aboriginal peoples and territories, Aboriginal languages and cultures, history and present day, and the impact of the Indian Act. Through this timeline, I wish to demonstrate my journey of Aboriginal education, how I began and how I have continued to develop my knowledge regarding Aboriginal education throughout the professional development program.
Braiding Histories by Susan Dion
When it comes to Aboriginal education, I had little to no knowledge or experience. Even during secondary schooling, I don’t recall any event or time where Aboriginal education was imbedded into the curriculum. What I do remember is learning about First Nations and their ways of hunting, gathering buffalos and guiding them towards a cliff as a strategy, and how First Nations used buffalos for meat, clothing, and shelter. Therefore, my first learning moment was reading this book. What resonated with me most was a quote by an interviewee who stated “, “[her] education experiences instilled stereotypic images of Aboriginal life, within [her]” (185). I started to question how much of the knowledge I’ve learned was taught through a Eurocentric lens. How accurate are the information provided to me? How can I develop as a growing profession to make sure that I can apply Aboriginal education in my own practice in an authentic way where it is accurate and non-stereotypical? This book along with the Inconvenient Indian by Thomas King for me were those first steps of awareness, awareness that that there is a need of recognition that my knowledge needs to be enhanced, awareness of the issues that exist in todays’ society around Aboriginal peoples and awareness of Indigenous knowledge and their impact on Canadian History. Therefore, this event has informed me to develop a lifelong and life wide learning, a call of action to continue to start putting on the lens on Aboriginal knowledge, increase my awareness, and learn more about the history, events that occurred and how the past has impacted Aboriginal peoples then and now. As educators, we need “to take a critical look at how the image of First Nations people…is reproduced in schools and consider strategies to challenge it” (Dion, 2009)
© 2016 by MONIQUE BANTOK PORTFOLIO. Proudly created with Wix.com
William Lidsay
This learning moment has shaped my understanding and knowledge of Aboriginal Education by learning about the past such as the Indian Act, the development of reserves, and residential school on First Nations Peoples, their families, and the impact these events had and continue to have on the next generations that followed and is still to come. This provided me with the call of action that we the society, though were not the main people responsible for the events, that we still have the responsibility as people coming into their land and using what was theirs to begin with for reconciliation. Stories that William Lindsay shared who was the speaker at the time, and watching a documentary We Were Children about experiences in residential schools triggered an emotional response for me which led me into the developing stages of my understanding and learning. I believe that we as educators have the power to mold the next generation into citizens who needs to be aware
Mamele’awt Aboriginal Education Center
This next learning moment provided me with how I can act upon the “call to action” and implement it into the classroom. One of the key quotes that resonated with my that the presenter stated was, “if you don’t know where to start, start with the facts and stories”. At this point I have now started to progress into the acquiring phases where I have collected and gained ideas, experiences, and knowledge on how I can implement Aboriginal knowledge into my own practice and classroom alongside collaborating with fellow educators during my long-term practicum on how they have embedded and implemented Aboriginal education into their own classes. What I really like about this experience was that it demonstrated the First Peoples Principle of learning that “learning is embedded in memory history and story”. Even as a simple story and acting out the story of the history of the First Nations made such a huge impact on the all the individuals who were present in that room. We were able to experience their ways of building a government, building a community, connecting with others, and having it taken away. An experience that I want to be able to provide students in the future.
Cedar Bark Havesting
& Weaving
A different spin on how I can apply Aboriginal education into the classroom and apply it through cross curricular studies such as environmental education. This learning moment provided me with an alternative view on how to apply Aboriginal education into the class. On top of learning through stories and history, we can also teach Aboriginal education through making and provided me with ideas on how we can apply it into the classroom in a more authentic way. Along with the making and learning the history of cedar bark harvesting and how First Nations Peoples have used this up to this day as their traditions to make baskets, clothing, mats, and ropes we were also provided with the prompt of how do you know when enough is enough? This has made me recognize that Aboriginal education is not just learning about their history but we can also learn and develop curricular competencies such as respecting the earth, being thankful for what mother earth provides us with, our responsibility to take care of the earth, and our own negative effects of being in a society where we are encouraged to keep taking but never giving. On top of demonstrating enhancing knowledge on the history of events, we can also enhance our own knowledge on how Aboriginal people have contributed to contemporary society through their teachings and ways of doing. Current issues such as their continuing fight to protect the land and everything that comes from the land.
Voice Of Drum
This was an important learning moment because the idea of experiential learning and idea of making pedagogy can teach the audience about emotional intelligence. A speaker stated that emotions are the foundation of which we learn, and how a person feels is more important than what they know because how one feels is what controls their behavior not what they know. The voice of the drum taught me to become aware of my emotional state of mind. 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 and potentially create knots and tangles on the string. It also teaches us to be balanced and always to maintain centered, just like how the face of the drum should be kept in the middle. For students who have difficulty recognizing their emotional state can use the drum by playing it to recognize their own heartbeat, and learn to return to a calm and more peaceful state of mind by playing the drum with a slower beat. This experience has helped me see that Aboriginal education can be taught beyond just the history. Aboriginal ways of doing, learning, and understanding are woven into the BC curriculum, and achieve many of the learning targets both in content and competencies.
