Focus Questions

Teachers, Knowledge, Building Relationships: Invitation and Hospitality 

Within my education history, I have had various teachers with different perspectives, and views on education. To focus on more of the two divisions of schooling I was offered in Regina; elementary and high school, they were both very different experiences in terms of this first focus question. Starting off in elementary school, without a doubt being a young student all my teachers welcomed a new class as a friendly environment to help in building trust and having a safe space to learn. However, as they grew older certain teachers may not have been so welcoming where they cared about content more than the wellbeing of their students. Of course, it is unfortunate to hear that the warmful welcomes aren’t offered by all educators, but it is somewhat a reality when you have various generations of teachers in one school building. A sense of community was always something I found my schools in particular looked greatly on, certain teachers more than others. Where taking part in community events or fundraisers, or for example in high school where communities seemed to be more involved and a bigger deal and teachers would bring in a community elder to discuss with us. Building a sense of community in your classroom is important in order to build your class into a community. With that being said you would consider the idea of being there for one another, with support and comfort no matter the challenges set upon any students. Educators have the ability to build hospitable and invitational environments and relationships in various ways. For one, acknowledging to students the type of classroom you run, whether that be asking questions whenever, sharing ideas when you feel need be, or even collaborating with peers when need be. This idea allows every student to begin to feel trust and an invitation to expand their own learning in the classroom. I am not saying the way to go is to go buy students treats, but words can speak just as well as gifts. Therefore, speaking about accomplishments, or asking to follow-up questions about their life outside of school is a true way to start building meaningful relationships with the students. 

Students & Learning Environments: Focus on Places, Spaces, and Boundaries

Environments are extremely important regarding students’ ability to learn. Having specific places, ensuring there is space, and boundaries within your classroom is important to look upon when becoming an educator with your own class. As the world evolves so does the idea of education and the ideas as to what is beneficial for all students. Within my own experience in education, I had a wide variety of assortments in terms of learning environments. Alternating between combined desks/tables that allowed collaboration of multiple students to evolve off ideas and thoughts, to straight single rows of desks, that revolved around tests and the idea of the teacher as the holder of all power in the classroom. Meaning that the teacher stood in front of all the desks and taught, expecting each student to internally understand and evolve their knowledge on their own. When it comes to looking at the way a classroom is set up, it can give off a lot of information about the type of educator in the class, and the type of expectations or outcomes that will be held within it. For example, a more open space with group tables and not necessarily a specific teacher desk will give off the thought of a welcoming, open-minded classroom, where group work and collaboration are a big involvement. However, when there are rows of desks; a less modernized setup of a classroom. May come off to students as harsh, or test-oriented, and no collaboration between peers. Having this second setup of an environment allows the classroom to have one source of power rather than almost an equal amount, where students have the ability to elaborate on the teachings or have the ability to connect more with their teacher. When it comes to reflecting on your own learning experiences and hearing from your own peers it truly puts in perspective, what type of environment students thrive in. For example for me and from what I’ve heard being able to have a more modernized setup of a classroom allows for less authority to be held against a student, a teacher, and even their education. I definitely know for my own self I felt that way when going through my schooling. The classes where group tables were always the best, compared to the single rows of desks where I was unable to enjoy myself. Of course, there are exceptions where students may enjoy the idea of their internal thoughts and not share. But as an educator, having a classroom that allows movement, collaboration, and growth is beneficial to all students in terms of growth for the real world as well. 

Truth and Reconciliation 

Truth and Reconciliation were brought up to me around grade four from what I can remember. Indigenous people, the culture, and the history were something that I can remember discussing and reading about since I was probably in grade two. However, it was never deeply talked about due to the fact of us not remembering, and being able to understand a low minimum of how terrible history truly was. Which would lead to not understanding why truth and reconciliation is a process the world still is working at. Within growing up every year my knowledge, and understanding progressively grew deeper into everything revolving around the Indigenous people. It evolved from knowing the history of settlers coming to Canada, who made those voyages, to settlers forming treaties with the Indigenous people, to traumatic events happening such as the Indian Acts and residential schools between all of this, to hear stories from their own peoples’ experiences from then and now, to then discuss the idea around reconciliation to all that has happened between us. As students grow in age the more they understand how deeply horrific and traumatic their life has been and how much that history affects them to this day, even though various generations. Sometimes I get to thinking that I have learned all that I could from all my years in school, but every day through media, or through new courses I am taking in university I happen to learn more and hear more. This is why I believe that there is always another story, perspective, or piece of information that you might be missing that can help in the process of truth and reconciliation. The main idea of truth and reconciliation is something that was developed between the Indigenous people survivors, the federal government, and church bodies. The TRC was developed to inform the country on what is to be done, and what their plan is to help rebuild the relationship between our country and the Indigenous people for what we have done to them and their culture. It revolves around numerous acts to help in the healing, allowing the sharings of survivors’ stories to be released for the country to understand the truth behind the grounds of the country they live in. Within our booklet, the things that stuck out to me were what participating schools were putting into the booklet. Where drawings that looked as if they came from a student of a young age, had such a deeper understanding of truth and reconciliation than I probably do at my age. I truly take that away as an educator to strive for my students to have that understanding through my classroom and take away the “WE CAN” statements provided as they are small gestures to building a difference for change.

Sources:

Canadian Teachers Federation. (2016). TRC Booklet: Truth & Reconciliation: What is it about? PDF.