My personal journey towards reconciliation includes a new perspective towards First Nations culture and the indigenous way of life, and has provided me with a new perspective to incorporate in to my teaching practices in the future. Throughout this class I have gained a lot of new information about First Nations people and the traumas they endured throughout history that I was unaware of until this class. We have been introduced to many new topics that have more significance and are more critical to learn as young students because it explains more about the traumas they experienced and how we can incorporate those into our own journeys of reconciliation. I believe that learning more about the history and the truths behind the Indigenous way of life will help me better understand and project what I have learnt into my teachings in the future. For my aesthetic piece I decided to create a recreation of an indigenous painting incorporating some of the quotes that I found inspiring throughout the class and have helped me along on my journey of reconciliation.
For my aesthetic piece I have decided to pull some of the quotes from the various videos we have watched throughout the semester and incorporate them into a piece of indigenous artwork. I choose the quotes that have stood out to me the most throughout the semester and that have helped me along on my journey of reconciliation. The picture I decided to make is a recreation of many different art pieces that I found and tied together, my aesthetic piece covers ideas that I thought represented the truth and reconciliation movement and that have had the most meaning to me. The turtle represents truth and healing; I thought the turtle was a very significant symbol to add because in the truth and reconciliation movement finding the truth in all the past traumas and healing the scars that were left by residential schools is a huge part in Canada’s journey to reconciliation. The flowers that I incorporated in my piece represent how with residential schools they tried to wipe out First Nations culture and people, but in the process the indigenous people came out even stronger than before. The blooming flowers represent the many first nations children that have died and that have been affected by residential schools. The videos that I took quotes from included ‘Truth- act one’ and ‘Reconciliation- act two’ these videos stood out to me and encouraged me on my own journey and have shown me different perspectives of how indigenous people across Canada are dealing with the traumas from the past.
Understanding the importance of representing First Nations culture and the truth about Canada’s past is the most important aspect on my journey to reconciliation. As a future educator I need to be able to lead students on their own journeys of reconciliation that many school systems have failed to do in the past. Thinking about my own past experiences, the information I was taught in my middle school- high school years was limited and lacking of the really important issues. In the future I want my students to have a structured and truthful understanding of Canadian history, so they can properly start their own journeys. I want my students to know and understand the truth about indigenous people’s culture and their past so they can all have proper structured opinions about it. One of my priority’s that I’m going to do as a teacher is taking the time to know each student’s ethnic backgrounds so I can be sure to make every student feel welcomed and to also show my students the importance of not judging other individuals based on their ethnic backgrounds and the stereotypes that are portrayed in the media. I think knowing each students’ ethnicities will not only improve our teacher student relationships but will also help educate other students about other ethnicities. Through participating in this class has helped me realize the amount of racism, oppression, and privilege that has been reflected into the classroom environment, and its my job as a teacher to make sure that all of my students feel included and important no matter their skin colour or ethnic background.
The truth and reconciliation movement was created to help those directly and indirectly affected by residential schools with an opportunity to share their experiences and stories providing them with a chance to heal. Through learning the truth of Canadas past and individuals telling their stories has helped me along on my journey and guided me in the direction that I want to teach in my future classroom. Through this class I have been introduced to many new ideas and learnt new information that I was never told in high school. Through this class has made me reflect on my past experiences which made me realize that the information I was taught in school was white washed and misinformed information. The truth is being completely honest and not leaving out any important details that might affect our own opinions. As teachers it is our job to ensure that our students receive the proper knowledge about Canadas past and teach them about all the distressing truths that were involved so we can properly teach our students. As a future educator I will continue to learn new information not only to improve my own knowledge but so I can apply it to my student’s education.
During my journey towards reconciliation, I have finally discovered the path I am on and what I want to learn along the way. After watching all the videos from class, I have finally realized I have started my journey and that I’m going in the right direction towards reconciliation. Each person that spoke about their stories or their own experiences resonated with me in different ways and made me realize the indigenous people’s feelings and what each of us have to do to as educators to improve the future of teaching. When I become a teacher, I want to ensure that every student feels important and welcomed in my school and never signal a student out for what color their skin is or for being themselves.
Resources
National Center for Truth and Reconciliation. “Every Child Matters: Reconciliation- Act Two,” YouTube, YouTube, 29 Sept. 2020, Every Child Matters: Reconciliation – Act Two – YouTube
I found quotes that resonated with me from this video
National Center for Truth and Reconciliation. “Every Child Matters: Truth- Act One.” YouTube, YouTube, 29 Sept. 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFTHHtRy8Do
I found quotes that resonated with me from this video
NCTR. “Education.” NCTR, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, 2021, https://nctr.ca/education/.