Aboriginal Education Reflection

Amrit Gill
Reflection #6

This week we have spent some time considering Aboriginal Education. How has your thinking about your role in reconciliation as a teacher developed since you entered PDP? What PDP goals do Aboriginal Principles of Learning and Aboriginal content address? What excites you about this challenge? What struggles are you having? What are your next steps? After the visit to the Aboriginal center I feel empowered and like I would be able to "authentically, transparently, and honestly" ( Goal 4) teach my students about what took place in the past and continues to take place in the lives of Aboriginal peoples. Because prior to this fieldtrip I felt like I would have to bring an Aboriginal speaker into my classroom in
order for my students to have an authentic teaching of Aboriginal history. I understood that as a teacher I had a responsibility in the reconciliation process, but I did not know exactly what I could to do my part. I feel like I am getting a much better understanding for how to do my part of the reconciliation process. I think sharing my knowledge of Aboriginal history and culture will help my students be more "sensitive to issues of social quality and cultural diversity" ( Goal 8) not just for Aboriginal peoples but people of all backgrounds. I think teaching my students about Aboriginal history will help create an atmosphere in my classroom that "celebrates diversity in our classroom, school, and communities (Goal 6). Learned more about the government system that came into play when the British arrived, as well as about the suffering that Residential schools caused. Learning about this will help me realize the powerful, and sometimes negative, impact that our Euro-centric education system has had, and continues to have, upon students (Goal 1); when I teach Aboriginal students I will be better to connect with them and understand why they might do things a certain way. I think overall learning about Aboriginal history helps me become aware of the reconciliation process as well as making me even more empathetic to the situation, I think this awareness will help me teach my students about Aboriginal History and Culture. I think it is important for the students in my class to have a good understanding of the "historical and contemporary legacies of imperialism and colonization on the education system and in general in B.C (Goal 1). For example I might use a text book for parts of my lesson but I would make sure to use more current and Aboriginal based resources as well and make sure my students understand that history has been for the most part painted by a Euro-centric paintbrush.
I think it is my job as an educator that my students see ideas and history from different perspectives and not just from the Euro-centric views, because I must be "sensitive to the position of privilege, power, and trust which is placed in a teacher" ( Goal 3). As an educator I think it is important that I do my best to show my students how-to look at history or an issue from all views before having an opinion on something. The Aboriginal Principles of Learning address many of the PDP goals. One of the principles of the Aboriginal Principles of Learning is that "Learning is holistic, reflexive, reflective, experiential, and relational" this connects with the idea of "lifelong and life-wide learning that is rooted in the development of reflective capacities (Goal 2).Overall, the Aboriginal Principles of Learning helped me to see how "Indigenous epistemologies and pedagogies create opportunities to meet the needs of all learners" (Goal 6). Another principle is that "Learning involves recognizing the consequences of one's actions. I connect this idea with the PDP goal which states "place students at the center of
decision-making" (Goal 7), because I think it is important to teach students how to make valuable decisions and also help them realize that there are consequences for some negatively made decisions, but that even those decisions help you grow and learn as a person. After doing the activities at the Aboriginal center I feel like I will be better able to help my students see Aboriginal history "through Canadian, Indigenous, and global lenses (Goal 5). I think the tips we got while we were doing the activities and the activities we did will help me get my students to put themselves in the shoes of Aboriginal people, because it definitely helped me. In terms of working with content, I think the consensus circle activity will help me teach my students the importance of "communicating openness to other worldviews, belief systems, and points of views (Goal 4)." I myself personally do not think it is a good idea or an idea that would work in today's day an age because I do not think that teenagers or woman had much of a say in these consensus circles in the past, but I think the idea of letting someone speak without interrupting them can teach the students to listen to each other and have patience. I think the consensus circle will help my students in the future to be more respectful of each other during class discussions; I think this activity will help "encourage interpersonally sound working relationships amount students ( Goal 9). This activity I really connected with because I always feel like as a women I sometimes have to fight to speak up in a group of men, I even feel like this at times in our module, with something like a consensus circle at least I would have a chance to speak up. Although I did not like the fact that a woman could not become a Sian I think it was called but as part of learning, I could teach my students that it is important to respect others traditions. I am not having to many struggles with this topic anymore. After leaving the assembly I was struggling with the last principle of the Aboriginal Principles of Learning which states "Learning involves recognizing that some knowledge is sacred and only shared with permission and/or in certain situations." I understand what it means and totally respect that.
I love to share things about my own culture and always grew up with the mentality that others cultures were free to learn from and enjoy without restriction, but this really helped me to see that not all things of a personas cultures are free to anyone. I was to Thomas about it and told him that I think students in my class would love to question why they could not know about certain things, and I think we both came to a good conclusion after our conversation. I think we both decided that we could teach the students in our classroom to respect others personal and cultural boundaries and be appreciative of what is being shared with us. Thomas made a good point of how we could also tell our students that because the Aboriginals had suffered so much in the past that possibly they are weary of completely exposing themselves and their cultures to the whole world. Overall I am feeling pretty happy with what we are learning in terms of Aboriginal Education. I think for me personally my goal is to learn more about Aboriginal History so I become more comfortable about sharing Aboriginal History to non-Aboriginal
students but Aboriginal students as well. I would not want to offend an Aboriginal student by incorrectly saying something about their people. Additionally, I want to make a difference through my education of students towards the reconciliation process in British Columbia. Also I just want to continue to be more aware of others and their cultures in order to teach my students how to live in a culturally mosaic society respectfully and gain from it as much as they can.