Learning from Place
In Restoule’s Learning from Place: A Return to Traditional Mushkegowuk Ways of Knowing, there are many way in which reinhabitation and decolonization take place throughout the narrative. Youth and Elders walked together and built up their intergenerational community, Youth learned to be connected to the land, Youth learned more about their cultural identity and traditional ways of knowing, Youth became more immersed in the Cree language by learning older terms, Elders contributed to a mapping project with traditional names and locations, and relationships were deepened between the people and the land.
These ideas can inspire my own ways of place-based teaching in my future career. I intend to immerse my students in nature, and to teach them about many ways of knowing about the life outside their back doors. I want to ensure a respect for the land in my students, and to build up a generation of environmental activists. I also intend to introduce students to Indigenous maps of the land they are living on, and help to increase their understanding of the place they are living by helping them to understand the past and present.
Source:
Restoule, Jean-Paul, et al. “Learning from Place: A Return to Traditional Mushkegowuk Ways of Knowing.” Canadian Journal of Education, vol. 36, no. 2, 2013, pp. 68-86.
Michaela- you have some great ideas about creating a place-based teaching environment. It is clearly important that we discuss the past and present. How will you be bringing this up in the classroom? Do you feel comfortable doing so?
Thank-you.
I agree that it is important to teach students about the place they live in. Do you think that place based education always has to be outside of the school and classroom? Is place based learning always noticed?
I agree that it is important to incorporate place-based learning in the classroom because depending on where you are from and where you are going to school can be influenced by the place. The way curriculum is interpreted in a certain place may be different from another place based on historical events, community influences and beliefs. Do you think that teaching students the indigenous map will offer the students a different perspective on place and where we come from? Does place affect the way we learn and not just what we learn?
I agree with you point about immersing students into nature. I believe it is so important as teachers to allow students to get outside of the classroom, and continue learning in different atmospheres. For example, in some of my classrooms the teachers allowed us to take our books and work on the playground, or sit by the trees in the grass. The little things like changing the atmosphere the child is learning in can be very beneficial to their learning, and well-being.
I really like the idea of taking the students out of the classroom and teaching more land based learning. I also appreciate the idea of environmentally conscious people. How would you intend to do this in a school setting and do you think you will face any challenges when you try to get students involved in the outdoors. I always worry about backlash from admin or parents when trying to take students outside of the classroom. Just something to start thinking about.