Author: mtodorovska (Page 2 of 2)

After an incredibly long day of classes, our cohort made the decision to go to the first sighting of an incredible documentary by the Tsay Keh Dene nation. This documentary is called The Scattering of Man, and boy, was it a powerful experience. This documentary was about the W.A.C. Bennett dam and the flooding that was brought on by BC Hydro. The land that the Bennett dam was situated on was the land of the Tsey Keh Dene peoples. They have inhabited this land for centuries, and the reoccurring floods eventually veered them off this land.

This film was an eye-opening piece of art that showed me the horrors that the Tsey Keh Dene nation had to endure. As a local resident of the area, I knew all about the Bennett dam. However, I never heard about what it did to the people that lived on that land and how horrific their relocation was.

At the end of the film, there was an hour of Q & A with the director of the documentary. During this Q & A, questions were asked about whether BC Hydro was held liable for the horrors that were caused. Stories were told about people not having enough time to pack up their things before the floods and losing all their belongings. We were told about Tsey Keh Dene people that had to climb trees to save themselves from the rapidly rising water.

The spotlight moment of this documentary experience was when a local elder shared his stories with us. The one thing he said that will forever stay with me is that he is tired of the word reconciliation. He wants to see more action.

So what’s next for me after watching this documentary and listening to the Q & A…?

I plan to incorporate more action toward reconciliation into my classroom. I want to be an ally to change in regards to Indigenous issues.

If you are situated in Canada, you know that September 30th is known as Orange Shirt day. As of June 2021, September 30th has become National Truth and Reconciliation day.

Orange Shirt Day was created to show support, acknowledgment, and honour toward residential school survivors. Before starting the Bachelors of Education program, my participation in Orange Shirt Day only consisted of wearing an orange shirt. However, this year, being a part of Education 394, allowed me to experience a more empowering way of honouring residential school survivors. We attended a fire circle with special guests from the UHNBC drumming group.

During this empowering experience, we learned so many things. Having the drummers there allowed us to learn about the importance of community. It taught us that in order to overcome traumatic experiences, we need to allow ourselves to fall into the arms of our community and allow ourselves to get healed by others. Many people that were a part of the circle shared their personal stories and through those stories, we learned that having drumming and fire circles provide an insight into the healing that can be welcomed through an experience like this.

This experience was incredibly moving and emotional to most of the participants and especially me. It allowed me to participate in something that was empowering and informative. Connecting with local Indigenous peoples and hearing their stories really resonated with me and helped me realize the impact colonialism has had on the Indigenous communities. These stories and connections made the experience more personal and eye-opening to the reconciliation that needs to occur in order to honour the survivors of residential schools. The experience solidified the sense of community that is present in the education program and allowed me to realize the support group that is behind us all through this program.

After participating in this intimate activity, I am excited to incorporate the power behind holding fire circles and establishing a sense of community within the classroom. I feel that experiencing such a powerful fire circle and establishing a better understanding of truth and reconciliation will help me in the future to incorporate Indigenous concepts within the classroom and encourage my students to practice reconciliation in their daily lives.

References

• Canada, Government of Canada; Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs. “Understanding the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.” Www.rcaanc-Cirnac.gc.ca, 8 Sept. 2021, www.rcaanc-cirnac.gc.ca/eng/1631130192216/1631130220404.

• “Truth and Reconciliation in Canada.” Toronto Metropolitan University, www.torontomu.ca/equity/resources/discourse-docs/truth-and-reconciliation-in-canada/#:~:text=What%20is%20Truth%20and%20Reconciliation%3F%20Truth%20and%20Reconciliation. Accessed 26 Oct. 2022.

Robots and colours and Ozobots, oh my…

These little friends were not only fun to play with but they were also a perfect learning tool to help us understand the 7 Principles of Learning and how they are incorporated into any lesson that goes on in the classroom. This coding experience was very new to me. Working in classrooms as an Educational Assistant, introduced me to the world of coding but I have never done it myself or really understood how it works. Spending a couple of classes playing with these adorable little robots and being introduced to coding did me a world of good. I feel that although I am not an expert on coding by any means, I can begin to introduce it into my classroom and lesson plans.

Having two lectures that incorporated coding helped me as a learner and as a teacher understand the basics and the importance of knowing how to code. It helps students begin to understand how technology works as well as me as a future educator understand the importance of incorporating it into the classroom. Anywho, enough about me…

Here’s how the 7 Principles of Learning are incorporated into the coding of Ozobots…

1. Learners at the Centre — one of the most important principles (which probably explains why it’s first) is understanding that each lesson should focus around the students. How it will benefit them? What will they learn? Etc… Using the Ozobots, it was very clear that we (as the learners) were the centre of the lesson. We were encouraged to explore and try different things to learn how the Ozobots work. There were basic codes that we were given that we could alter and merge together with others to make the Ozobot do whatever we wanted.
2. The Social Nature of Learning — learning requires many social interactions because we as people learn from others. In accordance with the Ozobots, this principle was incorporated because we were encouraged to work together, in partners, to associate ourselves with these little robots. Although we were working in pairs, everyone ended up working together to get a rounded understanding.
3. Emotions are Integral to Learning — Through learning, we feel many emotions. No matter what age we are, learning causes us to become happy, frustrated, etc. Man did we get emotional using these Ozobots. Personally, I felt an abundance of emotions through the process of coding for the Ozobot. I felt happy when it would complete the action I wanted it to do. I felt frustrated when it would only spin in circles.
4. Recognizing Individual Differences — Each learner has a different way of learning and being in their daily lives. We got to explore our individuality with the Ozobots because we got to learn in our own way and the way we felt comfortable learning. Some of us worked using trial and error, and others mapped out our plan before even turning the robots on. Each person in the class approached the idea in a completely different way.
5. Stretching all students — In the learning environment, each student is encouraged to stretch their learning and expand their thoughts when approaching a new subject. The Ozobots allowed us to put our expanding hats on and expand the basics we were given to get them to do the tricks we wanted.
6. Assessment for Learning — With every lesson taught, there is always an assessment that follows. It’s the why to the what. Why did we learn this? Why is it important? etc. Although we weren’t giving a summative form of assessment when working with the Ozobots, we were assessing ourselves on what we learned. We thought about two words we felt associated with our feelings toward Ozobots. We assessed our own learning and came to our own personal conclusion on how we thought that lesson went for us.
7. Building Horizontal Connections — Being introduced to the Ozobots and coding as a whole acted as a shadow for the wider world of technology that will be used in the classroom and what we will be encouraged to teach our students. Coding opens such a wide introduction to other things that our students can study.

References

Dumont, Hanna, et al. How Can the Learning Sciences Inform the Design of 21 St Century Learning Environments? The Nature of Learning Using Research to Inspire Practice Edited by Practitioner Guide from The. 2012.

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On September 21st, 2022, my Education 394 class got to engage in a powerful and eye-opening experience called The Blanket Exercise. And no this isn’t an activity where you just get to sit around on blankets and have a picnic, it is a raw and emotional experience that everyone should get to be a part of in their life.

This exercise demonstrated the benefits of experiential learning. This is a term that most people, aside from the education career, have not come across. To put it in layman’s terms; experiential learning is learning by doing. It is the process of learning from experience. Instead of studying the effects of colonization and listening to a boring lecture, The Blanket Exercise allows students to experience the effects of colonialism in a powerful way. Kairos Canada gives a great explanation to the purpose of this exercise.

“The goal is to build understanding about our shared history as Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in Canada by walking through pre-contact, treaty making, colonization, and resistance.”

Kairos Canada.org

As a non-Indigenous person who did not grow up learning about Indigenous struggles until my high school years, I never fully understood the impact of colonialism on Indigenous communities. This exercise fully immersed me in the impact it had. I felt very emotional through it all. It opened by eyes on the trauma that was caused and impacted me as a learner and as an educator.

Knowing that this exercise can be adapted for all ages creates a comfort in me because it means that I can incorporate it into my future classroom. This is definitely something that I am excited about taking advantage of and it has opened my mind up to multiple other activities that I can use to incorporate Indigenous knowledge and experience in the lessons that I will be teaching.

References

• “Blanket Exercise Workshop.” KAIROS Canada, www.kairoscanada.org/what-we-do/indigenous-rights/blanket-exercise.
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