Focus Question 1: Teachers, Knowledge, Building Relationships: Invitation and Hospitality

My personal experiences are around all different settings with teachers knowing and doing in the classroom, I got all different views between all the schools I transferred to and from in my elementary years. From my kindergarten to grade 3 grades I went to the south of Regina elementary school and it was my first time really learning English since the language at home is Russian, my teachers were always on top of helping me out with my parents and language barrier and always making sure I was always understanding and got the help I needed and I just will always remember the positive attitude all the teachers had and brought into the classroom, always being on top with every child and getting them the help they needed. For grade 4 my parents moved to the other side of the city so I went to the north end of Regina school where everything changed, the attitude of the teachers was completely different from the school its self not everyone was as kind, different vibes I had gone to school every day. I went to this school for 2 years for grades 4 and 5 and I did not see the care and the time that the teachers gave the students at my first school being given here, I also noticed teachers not putting in the same effort kind of with marking and improving us learners. My last elementary school was back in the south end but a different one than for grades 3 and 4 this was Dr.AE. Perry school and out of all my elementary schools I went through this school was the most positive most helpful most active with the kids always in touch with kids and families. In all 3 different schools, I saw the different ways the teachers were building relationships with the students, what teachers did to keep a nice sense of community in the classroom, and in some cases, it was how teachers decorated their classroom especially in the younger grades something welcoming to come into every day, and in some cases, it was how the teachers forwarded the kids. 

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

The learning environment was scattered all over the place through the different schools I went through, my younger years the room was all colorful with posters decorated all over very nice and welcoming. In the yonder elementary years, the seating plans were mostly all desks on their own and I didn’t enjoy that as a grade 1 and 2 because I just wanted to be with my friends but it made sense on why that was that way, one thing I do remember very clearly is in elementary years there was a teachers desk and you did not want to be called up sit there with the educator you always stayed away from the teacher’s desk As I got to the middle years of elementary fewer colors on the wall-less decorations more quotes and seating plans were also different, if the classroom contained desks it would be put into quadrants “pods” or doubles with a partner, or if it was a classroom that included tables we would be in rows with 2 or 3 people at the same table. In high school, we were all back to our own desks but some classes were grouped together like the desks were together but it was maxed 2 desks. In the younger years of elementary, the teacher always wanted the learners to interact with each other since we were all new to learning so get more outgoing in the class and we would start off the year with choosing our own spots but it would turn to the teacher giving us a seating plan. In middle-age years, we would walk in on our first day and have a seating plan all set some teachers were more lenient and let us sit with our friends but then teachers would make a seating plan according to behavior, grades, and separate the big talkers, and usually the teacher would put the non-listeners close to the teacher’s desk and separate who talk a lot from each other. In high school first-year, most teachers were nice about not having seating plans but as the teachers got to know us more eating plans would occur. In high school, there was nothing really welcoming just life and inspirational quotes in most classrooms maybe some pictures but not as interesting as they were in the younger years. The engagement was a big opportunity and show in the younger years where seating options were up to students. Teachers could have a little secret box and every seating plan students would put who they would like to sit with and who they don’t feel comfortable seating with and teachers would take that to recognition. 

Focus Question 3 Truth & Reconciliation.

In my elementary years, we did not learn anything about Indigenous people or anything to do with their situations, it was only brought up a couple of times in grade 8 with a case study a classmate was working on, other than it was never taught, even though schools I went too are in Regina and one in the north end, where the school I went to population was more Indigenous. Even when I started high school nothing was talked about in grade 9 social, In grade 10 It was kind of brought up in history class but it wasn’t a whole unit on the subject, and in grade 12 I did not take history. I only started majorly learning about this topic in my first year of university where I started learning all the events all history and I was shocked and frustrated to hear and listen to some of the things that were happening and still happen in the Indigenous culture. As an adult being in some courses that really focus on the Indigenous topic and history made me realize the living life Ingenious people are living and have to go through, all the racism, comments, jokes, all over social media just made me so emotionally upset with our community and how they are getting treated now and back then was so unfair. The TRC booklet-Truth & Reconciliation is a gathered book of stories of residential school survivors over a span of 6 years, which includes thousands of documents and countless gestures of reconciliation, and organized 7 national events to inform and show Canadians of the history of the Indigenous residential schools. The main messages that really resonated with me were, the survivors of the residential school speaking, and one of the messages was that people can make up what they want, but they have been through it. I would love to learn more about how residential schools worked, I personally would start teaching kids much earlier about the situation than the grade I learned it in, I already started taking this action into the hand, at the daycare I work at, with my group of kids which are ages 5 and 6 I started doing little projects with them about the Indigenous history and read the books, my personal thought is we can make the next generation growing up have a better looking at this, if we start teaching them young.