Around The Table is a lovable podcast created and edited by Travis Semenok and Blake Scherle. We tackle tough questions from award winning listeners and dive deep into curriculum cultural and social practice. As always we make time for some laughs on this episode of Education Wednesday.
I grew up just outside of Regina in Emerald Park and went to elementary and high school in this area. During my elementary years of school I can remember that there was not much diversity found in my school and had a very high white population. Every year seemed to have the same First Nations topics and never seemed to dive very deep into the information that us students needed to understand. I remember my school having a very Eurocentric view when it came to different classes and the way teachers approached those classes.
Throughout my k-12 schooling experience I only ever had white Canadian teachers with classes that had very little diversity if any in them. I can not remember leaning to far away from non white perspectives inside these classroom as they were more focused on white settler ways of thinking.
During my schooling experience I do not remember learning much about citizenship throughout my k-12 years. Rather then learning about it the teachers would say this is how it should be or how they see citizenship but there was never a lesson or class discuss about citizenship. I can remember when teacher would talk about the ‘real’ world and how it is different outside the protected walls of the school. Going from a k-8 school to a high school did change how the school and teachers talked about having engaged citizens as there would be activities to get involved in but they were not heavily promoted. Nothing along the lines of the types that were talked about in the article. I found that the main types citizenship that I found in the article to be reflective to my schooling experience were personally responsible citizen and participatory citizen. At the start of every curriculum document is talks about building engaged citizens that relates to the certain subject goals.
Think back on your experiences of the teaching and learning of mathematics — were there aspects of it that were oppressive and/or discriminating for you or other students?
-I remember enjoying mathematics during my elementary school experience and slowly having a decrease in my enjoyment with each grade. I think this has to do with how the class were structured as they began to become more of a lecture setting with notes off the board and doing questions out the textbook. Throughout my mathematics journey I remember there being many word questions but never with an aboriginal perspective. That being said I do not remember having any aboriginal content present in any of my mathematics classes.
After reading Poirier’s article: Teaching mathematics and the Inuit Community, identify at least three ways in which Inuit mathematics challenge Eurocentric ideas about the purposes mathematics and the way we learn it.
-The one way that I noticed was how the Inuit calendar challenges Eurocentric ideas and ways of knowing as they base there calendar of natural events. For example a “month” may be based off what animal is born that month.
-Rather then using the normal Eurocentric way of measuring like a ruler or tape measure. Inuit people would use there hands, fingers and feet to measure.
-Lastly, Inuit people express there mathematics in a way that challenges Eurocentric ways of knowing as they express mathematics more orally rather then in a written form.
1. What is the purpose of teaching Treaty Ed (specifically) or First Nations, Metis, and Inuit (FNMI) Content and Perspectives (generally) where there are few or no First Nations, Metis, Inuit peoples?
The aboriginal population in your school should not effect how much treaty education is present inside your classroom. During my high school experience I remember hearing the same information about First Nations, Metis, and Inuit content and perspectives. It was not until being apart of the faculty of education where I started to learning new First Nations, Metis, and Inuit content and perspectives which helped me open my eyes to a new way of learning making it very important for students in high school to have these opportunities and not have to wait until university for these learnings.
2. What does it mean for your understanding of curriculum that “We are all treaty people”?
Saying we are all treaty people makes sense to me as we all live on treaty 4 land and it is sad that many people do not know this. This phrase is not a one sided statement as a treaty has to have two sides coming together for a common agreement.
1. List some of the ways that you see reinhabitation and decolonization happening throughout the narrative.
2. How might you adapt these ideas to considering place in your own subject areas and teaching?
As a physical education major I think it is important to incorporate indigenous games and sports to help promote an inclusive classroom which can lead to more engaged students as well as a better learning environment. We also have to branch off from just playing lacrosse as an indigenous sport just because its roots go back to indigenous people. We need to be able to try new things and adapt new games and ways of learning. There are so many different ways to adapt indigenous ways of learning and play in the classroom. I have been lucky enough to partake in the blanket exercise twice now and both times it was a major eye opener as I was able to develop a deeper understanding the second time. Giving students these types of experiences can be very beneficial in there learning journey as it helps give a different perspective that can be hard to understand. This article also showed the importance of place based learning as it helps student make a connection to what they are learning whether that means going on a nature walk or going and seeing a certain place.
Before reading:
I would like to believe that a group of individuals which would include teachers, administration, parents and students that would come together to create the school curriculum but I know that is not the case.
After Reading:
After reading this I learned that the school curriculum is developed by the government with little to no say from who will actually be using it in there classroom. Updated curriculum is based off of past curriculum which helps improve continue development. I found this article to be very political which made it hard for me to get into as I am not interested in politics at all. That being said I found it very strange that the ones who use the curriculum in there daily work lives are the ones with the least about of say in it.
Commonsense is unwritten cultural based knowledge that is understood to be known by everyone. Being a “good” student according to commonsense is someone who is quite and listens to the teacher, is on time for class, participates in class discussions and attends school regularly. A “good” student also can show a clear understanding of the curriculum. We would be blind to think that these typical “good” students do not come from privileged homes where these exceptions may be a required at home as well at school. As teachers if we go into our classrooms with expectations to have a room full of “good” students and have lessons prepared for those kind of learners we are shutting ourselves off to a whole other group of bright students. The definition of being a “good” student does not allow for multiply learning styles and diversity that will be found in every classroom. We need to start breaking these social norms that are thought to be “common sense” and ideal for the present classroom and learning environments. One of the most powerful aspects of school is the diversity of students and the different backgrounds and experiences they bring. If all students were the same and fell under the umbrella of being a “good” student it would cut the growth and development in every student.
“Learning is Doing”
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When I think about the learning process, the most important part is when we put what we have learned and do something with it. That is why I really like this quote as it is easy to come complacent and stop right after you think you have learned something. Rather then going deeper into it and actually doing what you have learned and making a use of the knowledge you have. To fully learn something means you might have to fail at first and be able to learn from your failures. Problem solving is a very important tool to have in and out of the classroom and you learn this skill from doing. The curriculum can mean nothing to a student if it doesn’t relate to there own life and how they go about doing things. The more we can connect what we are learning to actions outside of the classmates the better chance a student will buy in to what we are teaching.
Thinking about my own schooling back round, I can remember times when teachers used the traditionalist perspective approach in there classrooms. Teachers would have our seats set up in rows while listening to them read off power point slides. During that time we were given point form definitions and facts that we were to remember and be able to reiterate on the test next week. The traditionalist approach can hinder a students creativity as it has a stereotype of trying to shape all students into the same mold rather then developing outside the box learners and passionate adults. Trying to shape students can limit there future potential as it can negatively affect there ways of exploring new options and ways of learning.
