3 Things I Learned:
1) In previous classes, I have learned that the Indigenous people are very spiritual beings. Something interesting I learned from the reading Marie Battiste’s Nourishing the Learning Spirit is that there is a spirit for everything – including a learning spirit. I learned that this spirit is in charge of offering us guidance, inspiration, and potential. I also learned that the learning spirit is hungry and thirsty to learn, but due to tragedies such as residential schools, learning has lost its meaningfulness. When learning loses its meaning, it creates a soul wound, which cause people to stop learning and therefore to stop searching for guidance, inspiration, potential.
2) In the Reconceptualists in Early Childhood Education: An International Encyclopedia, I learned that the role of contemporary reconceptualists is to question certain beliefs, structures, and to challenge narratives to reveal certain powers or privileges that people may have while others are disadvantaged. In addition, I understood that the word conceptualize means to form an idea and therefore I believe to reconceptualize means to rethink an idea.
3) While completing my early childhood education diploma, I have done a lot of work with the National Association for the Education of Young Children’s Guidelines for Developmentally Appropriate Practice, but I never took into consideration that the perspective within it is monocultural and ethnocentric. After the Reconceptualists reading, I realized that the NAEYC’s DAP follows linear and ethnocentric thoughts (does not take into consideration the child’s background) and also makes it seem that adults are superior to children.
2 Connections:
1) Marie Battiste’s article encouraged me to reflect and make connections on what I have learned in my Indigenous Studies 100 class. The article discusses how Indigenous people around the world still continue to feel tensions created by Eurocentric educational systems, such as teaching them not to trust the Indigenous ways of knowing. With that, I believe when teaching the truth behind Canada’s history and Indigenous studies, it is important to pass on the Indigenous knowledge by raising awareness, participating in cultural/spiritual ceremonies, and even inviting Elders to come speak and share their knowledge with the students. The article also discusses the importance of unlearning, which is something my INDG professor emphasized a lot – unlearning the Eurocentric ways of thinking can help eliminate injustices within both humans and the Earth.
2) Marie Battiste discusses in her article that Aboriginal peoples’ experiences with education has caused there to be few safe places for Aboriginal languages and cultures to thrive. A connection I made to this is an experience I had with one of my past classmates who is Indigenous and grew up on a reserve. I remember sharing the languages we knew and when it came to her, she did not want to speak her language. Later, she opened up and shared her language and also shared the story of her mom who is a residential school survivor and her experience with her language and culture. With that, I believe as future educators it is so important for us to celebrate not only cultures and languages from other places of the world, but as well as the culture and languages that the Indigenous people of Canada have.
1 Question:
I understand that it took a long time for the true stories of the Indigenous peoples of Canada to be shared and is still in progress. With that, a question I have is that how come it took so long for Indigenous education and knowledge to be shared? And I am also curious to know if schools in other parts of the world teach their students on the topic of colonization or the Indigenous peoples of their own countries?