Last week's lesson was very informative, in many ways. I shamefully admit that I know a very limited amount about Aboriginal communities, especially the ones surrounding Kingston. However, after the surprising statistic that over 70% of Aboriginal students don't live on reserves, I truly believe that it is becoming more and more important for teachers AND students to be educated about this fascinating cultural group.
The extent of my knowledge in terms of Aboriginal communities is limited to 1) what I've picked up during my few short visits to the Tyendinaga Reserve and 2) the musical celebrations of the Aboriginal communities (thanks to one of my first year music classes!). I actually had the opportunity to attend a Powwow last summer on a reserve close to my cottage in a community north of Kingston, and it was really neat to see such culture alive in our area. I was luckily able to understand some of what was going on from what I learned in my Music in Societies class, which was really neat. But what was even cooler about the powwow was that I saw a girl there I knew from my high school, who was participating in the event! Samantha was a friend of a friend. We had talked a few times, but I just had never made the connection that she was Aboriginal. She was dressed in a traditional costume, with feathers in her hair and bells on her heels, and it was so beautiful! That just goes to show that Aboriginal people are more common in our schools than we might originally think. Because Samantha didn't necessarily 'look' Aboriginal, it brings up the point that we can't always judge others by their appearance. It's important to be socially, culturally, and religiously aware of all denominations, not just the ones that we see (or are likely to see) in our communities.
Long story short, I am looking forward to learning more about Aboriginal communities in the future. Hopefully by being aware of what helps these students to learn more easily, I will be able to incorporate new teaching methods into my classroom, whether or not I have Aboriginal students there.
The movie we watched in class today, For Angela, was very powerful. I couldn't fathom how Angela and her mother must have felt. I was so shocked that they were treated so badly, and it made me feel so guilty for being oblivious that these things could have been happening during my time in elementary or high school. I felt a knot in the pit of my stomach when her mother found Angela's chopped off hair in the bathroom -- the fact that bullying and racism can lead a person to doubt who they are and to be ashamed of their family, their culture, their religion, gender or any other identifying factor...it just tears me apart. That scene gave me shivers down my spine, and especially knowing that it was based on a true story, my heart went out to both of them -- to Angela for ever having to feel ashamed to be native, and to her mother, for having to see her daughter struggle with her identity. If nothing else, I will be sure to educate my students about the importance of acceptance and tolerance. In my opinion, it is the single most important life lesson, and should definitely be addressed in all schools. Furthermore, if racial tolerance is not a lesson that is being taught at home, I believe that it is an even greater issue and therefore of greater importance to learn in the classroom.
I also think it was interesting how we talked about using familiar means to teach students concepts. Keeping in mind that many Aboriginal students learn best by relating class concepts to the medicine wheel, we should be aware that any student in our classrooms might need different tools to learn some concepts easier. I believe it is very important to be aware of the cultural and social groups in our classroom to attend to these needs and provide the best possible learning environment for our students.
In addition, by incorporating practices that Aboriginal students prefer in the classroom, we might be helping non-Aboriginal students, too! For example, by having more hands-on and student-lead learning in our classrooms, (both of these being learning strategies that work well for Aboriginal students), other non-Aboriginal kinesthetic learners may excel as well, and all students can experiment with learning more independently.
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