Treaty education is important for every student to be aware of and for every teacher to address in their classrooms. The problem with teachers not incorporating treaty education into the classroom because “There are no indigenous children in the classroom” is that just because they do not look Indigenous doesn’t mean that they are not Indigenous. I really enjoyed Dwayne Donald’s point that the way teacher’s address Indigenous perspectives in the classroom is a directly connected to their relationship with First Nations perspectives. Following this he said that teachers need to be aware of the dynamic of this relationship. I think this is a great point because we all know that the more positive relationship you have with something the more positive light you address it in. This is the same with First Nations culture and perspectives, the more positive relationship the you have with it the more likely you are to address it positively and teach on the topic in your classroom, wether you are aware you have Indigenous student for not.
My understanding of the phrase “We are all treaty people” comes from learning about treaties all throughout my schooling. My understanding is that we are all treaty people because the land we call home is treaty land, therefore to properly understand our past we must understand how the treaties effected the land we live on today.
3 Comments
M Boyd
Solid Post. In relation to Dwayne Donald, I believe Clair also says that we, subtly or not so subtly impact students understanding and I think that there is a very good connection you could have made there. Your post does feel a little brief but appears to cover everything. \
Jaelyn Prediger
Hey Paige,
You have provided some great points in this post! I am just curious, from the videos and readings assigned for this week, are there any of them or other resources that you would share with this educator for them to use with their Coop teacher and students? I would love to hear some of your suggestions.
pjm778
Thanks for commenting Jaelyn!
One resource I have found really helpful was the book we all received while taking our ECS 100 class. It’s called Truth and Reconciliation. It is mostly about residential schools but teachers could defiantly use it as a resource for opening the discussion on why it is so important for us to recognize that we are treaty people. It contains great resources for every age group and is very interesting because as you read through it you can see how other students around the same age group as your own, see residential schools. This is very helpful so you have sort of a basis when discussing it with your classrooms. Education had a big role in the treaties and the whole reason there were residential schools was because of the treaties, so I think this would be a great resource for teachers who may be new or struggling.