My Reconciliation Teaching Philosophy
“Education is for improving the lives of others and for leaving your community and world better than you found it.” This is a quote from American activist Marian Wright Edelman. Edelman dedicated her life to fighting for civil rights and the rights of children. While this quote is not directly about reconciliation, I think that the spirit of the quote is similar to the spirit of teaching for reconciliation. Incorporating reconciliation into the classroom ensures that Indigenous students are given greater opportunities for success and non-Indigenous students are given the tools to better understand Indigenous culture and communities. Ensuring that reconciliation is a critical part of education will strengthen Indigenous communities and the bonds between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities.
I think one of the most important parts of reconciliation is a commitment to teaching about Indigenous history. In the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action, all of the points under Education for Reconciliation are about teaching Indigenous history, perspectives and ways of knowing and making it mandatory. An example is call number 62.i which calls on governments and educators to “make age-appropriate curriculum on residential schools, Treaties, and Aboriginal peoples’ historical and contemporary contributions to Canada a mandatory education requirement for Kindergarten to Grade Twelve students” (TR, 7). As we learned in our Curriculum Connections assignment, incorporating Indigenous knowledge is a requirement in the curriculum, but they are also very easy to overlook. Throughout this course we discussed how important it is that Indigenous knowledge and ways of knowing are taught both for Indigenous and non-Indigenous students. Elder Norman Fleury also discussed this in his lecture, he highlighted the importance of making Indigeneity visible in the classroom. To do so encourages students to celebrate their culture and share it with their classmates. It is important for Indigenous students to hear about their own history and perspective on history as being of equal value and relevance to a European approach. Likewise, non-Indigenous students should be exposed to these other worldviews to better understand and respect Indigenous culture. Teaching different perspectives exposes students to the idea that there is not only one right way to understand an event or concept. It is easy to sound othering when discussing Indigenous perspectives and ways of knowing. When I was in high school, Indigenous perspectives were often taught with the underlying implication that “this is what Indigenous people used to believe but don’t anymore,” or “here is the Indigenous perspective, now let's talk about what is actually true.” To avoid perpetuating these biases, I will have to learn more about modern Indigenous communities and perspectives, as well as how to teach about it and make it feel relevant both to Indigenous and non-Indigenous students.
It is particularly important to teach about Indigenous perspectives on history, as the European narrative is often the only one presented as being true and Indigenous peoples involvement in history is frequently overlooked. For example, we discussed Indigenous veteran’s experiences with an article by Lucy Scholey. The article discusses the poor support Indigenous veterans received after World War II and still continue to receive today. Emile Highway was featured in the article, and said that for twenty years he wanted nothing to do with his uniform or the veteran culture and community because of the poor treatment of Indigenous veterans. Recently the government has been doing more work to acknowledge and fix these problems and Highway says that he has hope for the future. I found this discussion particularly important because to me it highlights a major failing in Saskatchewan schooling. Both Indigenous and non-Indigenous students should be learning about Indigenous involvement in Canadian history, and to ignore the legacy of Indigenous veterans when discussing important events like WWII means that there is a major gap in student’s education. Teaching this history in schools will better communities by bringing more awareness to issues with our governance system.
One teaching strategy that we focused on in our course and that I would like to learn more about is land based learning. Both Dr. Jeff Baker’s lecture and the article by Valerie Zink and Philip Brass discuss the relationship between Indigenous people and the land. Zink and Brass highlight the importance of land to maintaining Indigenous culture:
Our languages are intrinsically tied to this land. All of our values, creation stories, linguistic metaphors and references are based in these landscapes, these plant medicines, these animals, and our relationships with them. When we lose access to our land, and that relationship, the language has very little functionality for our youth. It won’t survive in a classroom. (Zink and Brass).
Dr. Baker discussed how forming a connection to the land is something that all students will be able to understand, and so it is a good strategy to teaching non-Indigenous students about the relevance and effectiveness of Indigenous teaching methods. Land based learning is an easy and effective way to include Indigenous perspectives and ways of knowing in both the content that you are teaching and your teaching strategies. In the future, I would like to learn more about how to practically incorporate land based learning and other Indigenous teaching strategies into my classroom.
It is very important as a teacher to be aware of modern issues that Indigenous students face and the unconscious biases that I have. In class we talked about white privilege and anti-racist education; from my privileged position it would be very easy for me to ignore or dismiss race-based problems that my non-white students will inevitably face. Gebhard’s article acknowledges that the school system is not structured for Indigenous students to succeed and that educators generally do not want to admit that the problems their students are having are race based: “educators are hesitant to admit that there is a race problem but can identify problems such as over-discipline and low expectations for Indigenous students” (Gebhard, 12). In class we discussed the racist believes that anyone growing up in Canada will inevitably have, as a teacher it is important for me to remember that having these biases does not make me racist but that acknowledging them and the race-based problems unique to Indigenous students is important to helping them confront them and succeed.
Another issue to be aware of as a teacher is the problems within the modern foster care system. We talked at length about the residential school system and the 60’s Scoop and how they have affected the modern foster care system. The report “Uncovering Colonial Legacies: Voices of Indigenous Youth on Child Welfare (Dis)Placements” highlights problems in the system such as the overrepresentation of Indigenous children and the racial bias that leads to Indigenous parents being more likely to be declared unfit then non-Indigenous parents. We had numerous guest lecturers that were victims of the 60’s Scoop and discussed the effects that being removed from their home had on them, as well as some of the trauma they faced in their foster homes. These presentations highlighted the importance for teachers to be aware of these student and the challenges they may face, as well as to provide support without further othering them from other students because of their different family life. Providing support to these students both academically and emotionally is critical to their success in the school system, and creating a safe and stable school life becomes even more important when this is possibly not the case for their home life.
Another topic that struck me in the course was our recent discussion about Indigenous activism and incorporating it into the classroom. The activist I focused on was Rebecca Benson, who is a two-spirit person that, among her other causes, works towards greater visibility and inclusion of Indigenous LGBT and two-spirit people in Pride events and LGBT communities. I thought that it was very interesting and inspiring to see how activists are bringing Indigenous issues and perspectives into these other social movements and cultural spaces. I think that it is very important to make students aware of people like Benson who are doing important work in creating spaces for Indigenous people and Indigenous voices. Doing so provides role models for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous students, and it counters the narrative of Indigenous people as perpetual victims. It could also serve as inspiration for students to get involved in their own community. As a teacher I would like to become more knowledgeable about the long history of Indigenous activism so that I can provide this information to my future students.
In summary, my teaching philosophy for teaching towards reconciliation is about implementing teaching strategies and Indigenous content to create a space where Indigenous students feel comfortable sharing and engaging with their culture. In class we talked about how many Indigenous students do not feel comfortable acknowledging their heritage in school, it is my job as a teacher to create an environment where students are able to proudly declare their Indigenous background. It is also my responsibility to incorporate Indigenous perspectives, history and ways of knowing into the classroom and to remain informed on current Indigenous work and issues. As Marian Edelman says, to do so is to create a better community for my students.
Another issue to be aware of as a teacher is the problems within the modern foster care system. We talked at length about the residential school system and the 60’s Scoop and how they have affected the modern foster care system. The report “Uncovering Colonial Legacies: Voices of Indigenous Youth on Child Welfare (Dis)Placements” highlights problems in the system such as the overrepresentation of Indigenous children and the racial bias that leads to Indigenous parents being more likely to be declared unfit then non-Indigenous parents. We had numerous guest lecturers that were victims of the 60’s Scoop and discussed the effects that being removed from their home had on them, as well as some of the trauma they faced in their foster homes. These presentations highlighted the importance for teachers to be aware of these student and the challenges they may face, as well as to provide support without further othering them from other students because of their different family life. Providing support to these students both academically and emotionally is critical to their success in the school system, and creating a safe and stable school life becomes even more important when this is possibly not the case for their home life.
Another topic that struck me in the course was our recent discussion about Indigenous activism and incorporating it into the classroom. The activist I focused on was Rebecca Benson, who is a two-spirit person that, among her other causes, works towards greater visibility and inclusion of Indigenous LGBT and two-spirit people in Pride events and LGBT communities. I thought that it was very interesting and inspiring to see how activists are bringing Indigenous issues and perspectives into these other social movements and cultural spaces. I think that it is very important to make students aware of people like Benson who are doing important work in creating spaces for Indigenous people and Indigenous voices. Doing so provides role models for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous students, and it counters the narrative of Indigenous people as perpetual victims. It could also serve as inspiration for students to get involved in their own community. As a teacher I would like to become more knowledgeable about the long history of Indigenous activism so that I can provide this information to my future students.
In summary, my teaching philosophy for teaching towards reconciliation is about implementing teaching strategies and Indigenous content to create a space where Indigenous students feel comfortable sharing and engaging with their culture. In class we talked about how many Indigenous students do not feel comfortable acknowledging their heritage in school, it is my job as a teacher to create an environment where students are able to proudly declare their Indigenous background. It is also my responsibility to incorporate Indigenous perspectives, history and ways of knowing into the classroom and to remain informed on current Indigenous work and issues. As Marian Edelman says, to do so is to create a better community for my students.
References
Gebhard, A. (2017). Reconciliation or racialization: Contemporary discourses about residential
schools in the Canadian prairies. Canadian Journal of Education, 40(1), 1-30.
Navia, D., Henderson, R., Charger, L. (2018). Uncovering colonial legacies: Voices of Indigenous
youth on child welfare (dis)placement. Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 49(2), 146–164.
Scholey, L. (2018, May 8). Years after federal government apology, Indigenous veterans still falling
through the cracks. Retrieved from: https://aptnnews.ca/2018/05/08/years-after-federal-
Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. (2015). Truth and Reconciliation Commission
http://www.trc.ca/websites/trcinstitution/File/2015/Findings/Calls_to_Action_English2.pdf. Zink, V., Brass, P. (2017, October 19). Land and Reconciliation: What Happens to Our Treaty
Relationship When Public Land is Privatized? Retrieved from:
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