As I closed the book after reading the final chapter, chapter 10, I began to reflect on what connected with me throughout reading the book. I feel like my education in my younger years could have been so much better in order to make me more informed as I grew up. I have learned through his book (and through my classmates wonderful interactive activities), Indigenous pedagogies are easily integrated into everyday actions. One does not need to be Indigenous in order to benefit from these activities/pedagogies. My learning journey could have been much more inclusive to all in the classroom had my teachers read a book like this. It is important for us moving forward to making these changes in our own practices, so they next generation wont be thinking the same thing I am.
Chapter 10 communicated clearly to me that learning does not have to occur using only Indigenous pedagogies, but rather a combination of teaching tools. Tying back to research I uncovered while working on my action project, Albert Marshal coined the term two eyed seeing, to describe teaching with broth Indigenous and European pedagogies. This inclusive approach to education benefits all learners, connecting with students in different ways, and pulls from the strengths of different teaching methods. As a educator, remembering to get out of my comfort zone and integrate different methods of teaching than what I grew up with will be important to always keep in mind.
“Two-Eyed Seeing refers to learning to see from one eye with the strengths of Indigenous knowledges and ways of knowing, and from the other eye with the strengths of Western knowledges and ways of knowing … and learning to use both these eyes together, for the benefit of all.”
Elder Shelly Belhumeur’s visit to our class this week tied this together nicely. Shelly talked to our class about the many ways to use the medicine wheel to grow, and the many different things that it can represent. My main takeaway from this session was that the medicine wheel can be whatever an individual needs it to be in order to have themselves grow. When Shelly described the wheel. They mentioned that if one section is off balance, the wheel cannot turn until that person develops that area. Upon reflection, I looked at myself as an educator and formed a wheel, I found that the area I need to develop mine is spiritual. I reflected that I learn myself, and teach in a very objective evidence based way, not thinking much about the way I, or learners can connect to the content in ways with higher meaning. This course has been a great start in getting me to think differently about this, and helping me develop this area.
Educators have a responsibility to connect with our students in ways that make sense to them. Every night we have class I am learning more ways to be inclusive of Indigenous pedagogies, in ways I hadn’t considered or experienced in my past. Many of these activities do not even explicitly describe the Indigenous way of knowing that it is connected to, they are just activities that simply support learning. If we can incorporate these ways of knowing into our classroom to compliment our European practices, we will be creating fuller, more inclusive classrooms for all to succeed within!