Last week we were privileged to be joined by Kelly Daniels in our class who spoke to us about stories in relation to Indigenous ways of knowing and understanding the world. This session helped me gain an understanding of Indigenous worldviews, and provided me a new perspective. It reminded me that everybody has different interpretations of the world around us and I should be thoughtful of this and intentional in the way that I present information. It was an excellent presentation to pair with Goulet & Goulet’s chapter 7 which had a focus on the connection process.  Throughout this presentation I thought to myself that Kelly is an excellent resource for the university to have, and I found myself wishing that I had something similar available to me at my workplace. Luckily for me, and coincidently, I had a training session scheduled with the Indigenous Relations (IR) team this week, giving me the opportunity to explore these ideas.

During the training session, the facilitators went in depth about Indigenous knowledge and how it relates to our workspace. They spoke of the important histories, protocols for interactions, and messages we send through our actions. In this session, the learning felt reciprocal. The facilitators had us share our knowledge and stories, and would also share theirs. This practice made me reflect on our text when the authors talked about learning being a “shared endeavor”, and showed me how this can naturally fit into practice. At the end of the session, I asked this team if we could collaborate into the future (thinking back to my wish for a resource like Kelly) and they were more than happy to help! This made me extremely happy to know that I will have support and collaborators to work with in our mission to create a safe and effective learning space for all.

Reflecting on both sessions, I realized how important it is to approach every interaction with openness and respect. Storytelling, as Kelly demonstrated, is not just telling a story, it’s about knowing how to emphasise certain aspects so that the audience receives an intentional message. During the training by the IR team, I got to witness this in action as they would weave storytelling into their session with specific aspects emphasised for us to interpret key messages. Every opportunity I get to attend a session like these to improve my understanding about Indigenous pedagogies or practices, I get to takeaway something new that I can implement into practice, and notice in the world around me.

Learning not only happens through formal education, but also through opportunities to collaborate with those who are proficient in the subject. This week was a reminder to me to seek out and form these productive relationships in order to foster this collaboration.