Focus Question Responses

#1 Teachers, Knowledge, Building Relationships: Invitation and Hospitality

Throughout being in school, my teachers always managed to build inviting and hospitable environments within every classroom whether that be them awarding the students on their good behavior, giving certain discussions that allow us to become closer with one another, or even just mixing up groups to form different friendships around the classrooms. I have been in school for about thirteen years and every year is a new classroom with all new teachers and fellow classmates but my teachers always manage to build that sense of “community” around the classroom. In elementary school, my grade four teacher assigned jobs to every child and at the end of the day, if everyone completed their jobs to the best of their ability, we would get a block put into a jar. Once the jar became full our teacher would award our class with a pizza party or field trip of our choice. I think that this helped grow the community aspect around the classroom because it made every child pitch in and help out around the classroom, it wasn’t one child doing all the jobs, it was a group effort. Teachers are responsible for building a hospitable and inviting environment within the classroom and throughout the years I have seen many teachers do that in multiple different ways, depending on their own teaching style. For example, in high school my food studies teacher was inviting and hospitable by being that “motherly” role to her students, we trusted her, and she trusted us, and the students really felt connected with her and the class. In Fatima’s lecture, she says that our teacher identity is developed over time, but it is likely to have a strong core set of beliefs when entering your first teaching job. I think I have already started to see my form, from experiences within my own classrooms and Fatima’s lecture on building inviting and hospitable relationships with your students. I learned that one way you can be inviting is by simply focusing on the interaction between you and your students, and to make sure the teacher has some form of power present within the classroom.

#2 Students and Learning Environment: Focus on places, spaces, and boundaries

My classroom spaces changed throughout the years as I got older, I felt as though the classrooms matured alongside with me. For example, from kindergarten till about grade four we had a carpet at the front of the room which we used for stories and other things but once I started getting older and moved to the “older end” of the school those carpets weren’t there anymore, and we always had to sit in desks. We discussed what powerful relationships looked like within the classroom, and one way my teachers reflected this through school was the placement of some of their desks. Majority of my teachers throughout elementary school had their desks at the front of the room which would reflect them as being “head” of the classroom. I always thought this demonstrated the power a teacher had within a teacher-student relationship. The classroom spaces I had throughout the years always made me feel safe and connected and the spaces also allowed me to meet some great kids and form some amazing friendships. I think a huge way my teachers made everyone feel safe and connected was by having us sit in groups of 4-5. The groups of 4-5 helped students meet new people, and every few months the teacher would switch up groups allowing the students to trust and create even more new friendships. In Fatima’s lecture she said for Anishinaabe people the words “my” and “our” do not mean possession like they do in English or some other languages. In English, these words are even identified as being possessive pronouns, which indicates how our culture views possession differently than other cultures like the Anishinaabe people. After hearing this it really opened my eyes to see how some teachers talk to their students as being “their” students. Which indicates possession, so this allowed me to look into the things I want to do around my classroom and changing the way I use possessive pronouns I think could really help me as a future teacher and my future students as well.

#3 Indigenization Core Questions

Throughout my time spent in Kindergarten through grade 12 the stuff we were taught about Indigenous history in Canada varied depending on the grade and school. In elementary school we learned the basic history information most children were taught; we never went into much detail about Indigenous history within Canada. Then in high school we had native studies classes and then also had social studies classes that focused a lot on Indigenous history in Canada. I think once I got into high school was when I started to learn the more complex aspect of Indigenous history in Canada. For example: the darker side to Residential Schools. In elementary school I was taught about Residential schools but never to the full extent I had in University or high school. In the course I learned as an educator, we have the honor and the opportunity to shape the views of children during their time spent at school which I think is a pretty powerful opportunity to have. We as educators can help shape a child’s mindset and values within the span of a year of teaching them in the classroom. I found this bit of information important because now that I’m taking the step forward to becoming a teacher, I can use these lessons within my own classroom, and can take my past experiences and use them to help me succeed as a teacher.  Overall, I learned that taking simple steps like learning basic information about Indigenous history, or simply acknowledging your on-treaty land is taking steps toward reconciliation. Moving forward to when I have my own classroom, I will attempt to incorporate as much as I possibly can about Indigenous history within Canada and help my students be informed as possible about Reconciliation and the truth about Indigenous history.