Focus Question #1:
From my past experiences teachers have honoured culture and traditions in different ways. Often, they would use different methods to teach us about the different unique cultures in our world. The map allowed children to view the world in which they live, and it also helped me better understand the world. This is honourable since it demonstrates what is vital as well as all the many sections of the planet. Students would often bring things from their culture like food to bring in a sense of culture that others in the classroom have not experienced. There are many days like orange shirt day, pink shirt day, or bell let’s talk day that schools including my own brought to students’ attention. Students would take part in these days because it was for a bigger purpose. These little things added up to honour knowing and doing and engulfed what is important in my brain. Just like the STF article guidelines include most of the teachers made us children feel safe within our classrooms and that is an important guideline to meet.
Most of my teachers would get me and my classmates involved in the community. One of the big things that I did growing up with my class and school is food hampers. Everyone in the school brought perishable food items, raised money, and some even donated toys for a family or a couple of families who were not as fortunate. I really appreciated this experience, and I think it is important for classrooms and schools to continue to do this type of work within the community. Bringing in the community formed a form of cohesion and almost a sense of community within the classroom. As well as talking about each of our own personal stories because all teachers encouraged us to share our experiences. Encouraging students to tell their stories and show them you are listening also shows them that you care and builds trust between student and teacher.
Indigenous and other advocates were invited into my classrooms to share their culture and experiences with us. These encounters were eye-opening and learning about their experience and understanding was beneficial. Having these experiences talked about helped myself and other students realize that we weren’t alone in some situations and helped us grow our minds to new knowledge. The teachers and speakers encouraged questions. Every educator has different answers which allowed for different perspectives. “Education is colonizing,” I jotted down in my notes, and bringing activists into the classroom was the first step in chipping away at those colonization walls.
Focus Question #2:
My classrooms were all diverse and unique. They were distinct in every way, whether it was the seating arrangement, the various items on the walls, or even the placement of my teacher’s desk. I believe I am fortunate to have so many diverse perspectives because it will help me bring in knowledge from past experiences hopefully into a classroom I one day teach in. My teachers all had their desks in different areas of the classroom. Some teachers chose to put their desks at the front, while others had them off to the back or the side. I believe each teacher did these different placements for specific reasons.
Seating designs and desk adjustments were frequently altered by the teachers. The seating arrangements did not preclude anyone from being chosen. I looked forward to these days since I would be able to sit next to a new friend. Unless they were sitting at their desk, my teacher would stand at the front of the classroom for the majority of the day, demonstrating power and authority. From my experience teachers usually sat kids who behaved better closer to where their desk was placed, and kids who behaved better had more freedom because the teacher would trust them. Often every class I was in was only squishy around the cubbies/lockers, especially in wintertime. Having space allowed everyone to form relationships because we had the ability to talk. I liked this because most of the friendships I formed started from being in the same class with them gave us the opportunity to engage with other students. If we compare this to society it shows the society is integrated rather than assimilated if we do not look at the differences and just look at everyone the same, and in the classroom, this is important as well.
Teachers should pose challenging topics to pupils and engage them in discussions so that they can reflect on them. Allow children to make their own decisions, as they will not always have an authoritative figure to make decisions for them once they have graduated from high school. Individuals must learn to take risks, and while they may succeed or fail, the experience is a learning opportunity.
Focus Question #3:
During K-12 I learned a lot about Residential Schools. While learning about these schools the teachers taught us about the purpose of these schools and what the people with authority would do to children in the schools. The Indigenous would get taken away from their family and lose their culture. These effects have had everlasting effects on Indigenous people within Canada. Some of the effects are alcoholism, drug addiction, or living within poverty. The knowledge shared to us included that the effects were passed down through generations, and only some families stopped the cycle but even today families are still dealing with the traumatic struggles.
When I initially arrived at university, I took KIN 105, which was a class about Indigenous peoples, and it was in this class that the reality of what Indigenous peoples have experienced in Canada and the racism they have encountered began to sink in. This course taught me a lot more about suicide rates and the repercussions of residential schools. I also learnt about their experiences with physical, mental, and sexual assault. My professor used videos to convey some of these crucial concepts, and the visual way of teaching helped me wrap my brain around the events rather than relying just on words to convey information.
The TRC book discusses transformation and the future, and how today’s future is youth. Today’s youth are the agents of change, and they are discussing difficult talks head-on, even when it is difficult. As teachers we need to encourage these conversations to make sure that the past does not repeat and use the power, we have to enforce change for the better. Something that resonates with me is the things in the past that happened to Indigenous survivors that will never be repeated. I am a very empathetic person so every time I hear the stories about what happened within residential schools and how children were stripped away from their families it hits my heart and makes me motivated to never let any student or person feel that unsafe within my classroom or even in life. So I would like to learn more about these survivors, and the long-lasting effects they go through. Joseph talked about the intergenerational trauma families or individuals had to go through to break the cycle. Joseph did say he is not stuck in the past because it is a waste of his life, so if I could help any individual student or someone, I come across to realize that I would because their life is so valuable.