Everyone has their own unique story and journey. Finding yours can be a bumpy path with lots of turns. As I journey down my path to find who I am I have faced roadblocks, turns, bumps, and mountains. As truth and reconciliation become a more prominent part of today’s society it is important to acknowledge them on your path; this is what I have been doing recently. Although we can not change the past events we can change the future relationship; that’s where my part comes in. Throughout my journey of truth and reconciliation, I have looked back on past events to understand them and how they can contribute to my future actions and future learning. Not only have my past events helped me with new learning, but ECS course content has helped guide that by giving me a new understanding of the importance and what is truth and reconciliation for both parties. My new learning has enabled me to be able to understand my privileges and understand that everyone is different. I believe this is critical as a future teacher in helping me be the best teacher I can be. Another important factor of being the best teacher I can be is understanding that everyone comes from a different background and having an open mind. My new learnings about my personal experiences and society’s past help me create a strong foundation of who I am and how I want to be as a teacher, so I can make a difference in the young minds that will surround me.
Many of my past events have involved many people from different cultures. For the first few years of my life, I grew up in northern Saskatchewan around Meadow Lake. I was surrounded by Aboriginal peoples; all filled with love and joy. Even at a young age, I was able to see their culture and how they treated others. Once I moved down to southern Saskatchewan I saw many more people from many other cultures. Many of our neighbours were people from different cultures; such as Cambodia. I am very grateful for these relationships and experiences because they allowed me to open my view from just my white Christian culture. It enabled me to be able to understand how others work, love, and act in society leaving me with an open mind. I am a strong believer in love and kindness; my more open mind allows me to show love and kindness through society more, allowing people to feel more valued. If I can carry this into my classroom I believe it can make an impact on how future generations of society view each other and allow them to have an open mind when interacting with people from different cultures. I may not be able to change everyone, but the impact I can have on one mind can lead to bigger things. Something I believe can help reconcile past pain.
Not only do my past experiences help me, but my current learning in ECS does. The course content is filled with an abundance of useful recourses and has given us first-hand conversations with people such as Joseph Naytowhow. The course has allowed me to not only open my views on the situation of truth and reconciliation but my emotions as well. The emotional connection to the mental connection is important to have a complete understanding. The courses information given has also allowed me to connect my own personal experiences to social experiences and educational experiences to further my thinking and learning. Before ECS I did not understand fully what truth and reconciliation meant. I thought it was a way for the aboriginal peoples to reconcile their losses and pain. After taking the course I now understand that my reconciliation also impacts theirs; both parties are important. Recently I have learned about the lost graves, the abuse and trauma children faced in residential schools, and what they all endured in these schools. I have been learning that their language and practice of culture were not the only things taken away, but their families. I have been learning that the loss of family meant some never returned home after or had no home to return to if they made it out of school. Going through my journey of truth and reconciliation I believe it is important to acknowledge that I may not have caused these traumatic events, but I am the future of positive change. Understanding my privileges and rights given to me as a part of the dominant white race and how I can change that so everyone can feel equal and loved.
As a part of the dominant white group, there are many unspoken privileges given to me. Looking at these privileges such as, not being discriminated against and having positive relationships with members of society, or learning about my white history in school. As I journey through understanding these privileges I can see how other races are not treated the same and do not have the same demographic. I believe understanding these things helps me as a future teacher to understand that everyone comes from a different background, and lets me learn how to make every student feel equal and avoid these issues.
growing up my mom was a strong influence in my life. She spent many years up north listening to people’s stories, struggles, and how they are reconciling. She has always believed that love and kindness are important. Her sharing these stories of her personal experiences has influenced my beliefs about love and kindness. For me, love and kindness do not just mean saying please and thank you or holding the door open for the person behind you. It means making everyone feel valued and important. It means allowing each individual to express themselves freely with no judgment, and giving people a safe space to venture down their journey of who they are and their truth and reconciliation. As a child, I was always afraid to express this aspect of myself thinking people would think I am weird. As I journey through my path I am understanding that expressing this part of myself is ok and may help someone else to feel they can express who they truly are. Something that has always stuck out to me on my journey was “be the change you want to see”.
Through my journey of understanding myself and understanding how I can be the change, I have changed my view on learners. I have learned that everyone has a different story and background, and it is important to acknowledge this. I have read many articles on how to truth and reconcile properly and most effectively. As I open my mind and become a future influence on young minds it is my role to put my best foot forward to make the change I can to leave the world in a better place than how I found it. My journey through truth and reconciliation is different from others and understanding what I can do to allow everyone to feel loved and valued is critical for future change.
References
Truth and reconciliation. Facing History and Ourselves. (n.d.). Retrieved March 28, 2022, from https://www.facinghistory.org/stolen-lives-indigenous-peoples-canada-and-indian-residential-schools/historical-background/truth-and-reconciliation
Truth and reconciliation resources. Project Learning Tree Canada. (2021, September 30). Retrieved March 28, 2022, from https://pltcanada.org/en/truth-and-reconciliation-resources/
Jones, M. (2016, October 19). 7 ways to be the change you want to see in the world. Inc.com. Retrieved March 28, 2022, from https://www.inc.com/matthew-jones/7-ways-to-be-the-change-you-want-to-see-in-the-world.html