Running head: STUDYING MY OWN TEACHING 1

Studying My Own Teaching: My Experience Teaching a Difficult History to Urban Indigenous

Youths

Jessica Garbutt

PROF 411

Michael Pitblado
STUDYING MY OWN TEACHING 2

April 21, 2017

I am in the Aboriginal Teacher Education Program so for my winter placement I had the

opportunity to experience a different teaching environment because. I was placed in an

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aboriginal school in an urban environment, all the students at the time of their placement in the

school lived off-reserve. Some of the students had previously lived on reservations and gone to

the reservations school. In the same classroom were other students who simply were not

successful in a traditional classroom environment and were considered for enrollment in the

aforementioned aboriginal school. These students come from various Indigenous backgrounds

and the aboriginal school tries to incorporate various First Nations and Metis cultural elements

into all areas of teaching. The Associate Teachers brought in an Elder from the community to

teach drumming and his wife taught beading, the Elder was also a residential school survivor so

there was another level to his teachings as well. The students also participated in a smudge

(burning sacred medicines) ceremony everyday and took turns responding to the question of the

day. It created a strong sense of family and community among the associate teachers and

students.

There were many considerations made to meet the individual needs of each student.

There were several students with very limited literacy skills and they were given one-on-one

instruction whenever possible. Many of the students had behavioural issues when in a

mainstream school. When they were moved to the aboriginal school there was an emphasis on

working with them one-on-one to determine what prompted such behaviour whether it was

skipping class or drastic mood changes.

The role of the teacher in this kind of environment was very close to the role of a parent.

Teachers were told to try and dress more casually and all the teachers and administration staff

were called by their first names only. These things were done to break down some of the barriers

between students and teachers. Many of the Indigenous students had been looked down on
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before, either based on their race or their socio-economic background. There was also a lot of

emphasis on behaviour in the rest of the building as well. There were two other programs

running in the same building as the aboriginal school and they were both focused on credit

recovery and acquiring practical life skills. These students would occasionally act out regardless

of who was near them, therefore the closest teacher needed to be able to respond. My usual

method of behaviour management is to build rapport with the students so I was able to learn

some methods that would work with students I did not know.

There was one student living in a group home, this student also had to have a social

worker with them at all times. The students ranged in age from 14 to 17 and were in varying

grade levels, some students were doing work for other grade levels to make up credits. I enjoy

working with students from lower socio-economic backgrounds so it was a good experience

overall, it was a different classroom environment but I enjoyed it greatly.

From the initial question of How can I help my students improve the quality of their

learning? I tried to narrow my focus to what I was told I would be teaching. One of my

Associate Teachers told me that some of the students would be needing literacy support for the

Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test in March. My question then was how to teach early

literacy skills to students at low literacy levels. Unfortunately, the student I was supposed to be

working with had inconsistent attendance and I saw him very infrequently. I then changed my

question when a different Associate Teacher asked me about teaching a set of lessons on

residential schools and reconciliation. My new question stemmed from my interest in teaching

history in a way that everyone feels well represented. My interest in this subject was first sparked

when my ideas about simulations in the history classroom were challenged. I and a fellow
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Teacher Candidate researched the topic with the aid of a faculty member and presented out

material in our curriculum class. Cultural sensitivity is fundamental in the classroom, regardless

of subject and regardless of the cultural diversity of the classroom. If teachers practice cultural

sensitivity in their classroom then their students will only benefit from it. This is especially true

of Indigenous students because of the history of Indigenous youths in western educational

institutions.

There are many resources teaching residential schools and reconciliation, however I feel

like a lot of these resources are more catered towards non-Indigenous students. Lots of

Indigenous students especially those from a lower socio-economic background have had direct

struggles with the lasting effects of residential schools. For these students having a history lesson

in the traditional sense can be very upsetting, so I want to focus more on teaching the history in a

more hopeful way. These students know the history because they are living in it, so a focus on

reconciliation and the healing process will help me reach my goal of recognizing the past while

looking towards the future.

When teaching residential school history to non-Indigenous students there is a larger

focus on cause and consequence. With the Indigenous students it can be very hard to get them to

understand why anyone would want to commit such atrocities. Furthermore, they are living in

the consequences, the intergenerational trauma and racism is something that many Indigenous

people deal with on a daily basis. In addition to this, teaching Indigenous students about their

own history can be redundant for many of them who likely have relatives who experienced the

violence of residential schools. It can also be upsetting to bring up the things done to Indigenous
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people in the schools, since many of these students have experienced emotional trauma and

turbulent home lives.

For these reasons my Associate Teacher and I decided to take a different approach to

teaching residential school history. We decided to focus on reconciliation and healing, how the

students can heal themselves, their communities and society. I still made connections to history

in terms of linking cause and consequence, however I did this while omitting some of the more

graphic details that could be upsetting to the students.

Due to the nature of the work I had students do I was unable to collect any student work.

Most of the work students contributed was in the form of oral communication, this was done for

various reasons. One reason is that quite a few of the students required scribes and they may not

be able to dictate their feelings in a way that translated well to the written word. Another reason

was that it would be easier to handle the emotional stress the lessons might cause by sharing

thoughts in discussion because the classroom community was so strong. The final reason was

that part of the approach I took when discussing healing was going back to traditional Indigenous

ways of learning and sharing knowledge, one of the most important of which is oral tradition and

talking circles.

The evidence I gathered was observations of students, self-reflection, discussion with my

Associate Teachers and conversation with students. Through my observations, I could see that

the students were engaged when we discussed cultural healing practices. They responded well to

the idea of spending time in nature, participating in ceremony and traditional music. However,

they were a difficult group to have a popcorn style discussion with, I asked the students what

they thought after one such discussion. They replied that they liked talking circles better because
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then everyone had to say something. For the majority of our discussions after this I tried to make

sure we followed the style of a talking circle. I also led a very modified version of KAIROS

Blanket Exercise with the students, the modifications we made were simplifying the language

and removing some of the more graphic sections to avoid triggering any students. During this

exercise some students seemed disengaged and blatantly said they were not paying attention

while others were in a low mood for a while afterwards. The students who claimed disinterest

appeared to be concerned with seeming aloof but then when other students asked them about the

exercise they seemed angry about the history we went over. I cannot assume that they were

hiding their feelings through aloofness and anger but given the chance to speak with them one-

on-one I would not have been surprised if that were the case.

The other students who were in a low mood, one was in foster care and the other had

previously told me she wanted to be a lawyer who helped fight for Indigenous rights. It seemed

clear why these students were so affected, one having been removed from her family home and

the other being so passionate about the rights of her people. I offered to debrief with them, as

well as offering to let them chat to the guidance counsellor, this did not seem to interest them.

The students were friends and had spent time together outside of school so I asked them if they

would rather take some time away from the class to speak to each other about what they felt.

This seemed to help and after around twenty minutes they came back and seemed more like

themselves.

When finalizing the next lesson I considered how the students reacted to the larger

amount of history being told during the Blanket Exercise. The next activity I wanted them to do

involved some history but it was in a more hopeful context. I chose different aspects of life, such
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as clothing, relationships, community and health. We would then look at how Indigenous people

approached these subjects pre-contact and compared it to the present. For example, we would

look at the way Indigenous people used to wear handmade clothing and traditional regalia, then

present day they wear mass produced moccasins from non-Indigenous companies at best. Next

the whole class would brainstorm ways for the area in question to be improved in the future, so

for clothing this would be buying from Aboriginal owned clothing brands and maybe

incorporating some regalia into casual urban clothing. The students responded well to this; they

were still more quiet when discussing the past but the future engaged them.

Through researching the subject I have come to the understanding that one reason it is

difficult to teach residential school history in a culturally sensitive way is the power imbalance

that still exists between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in Canada. This power imbalance

can be seen as symbolic violence which persists to the detriment of reconciliation (Tupper,

2014, p. 475). The lack of clean drinking water and safe, clean homes and schools in Indigenous

communities can be interpreted as symbolic violence. The students I taught experienced this

violence when they lived on reservations as well as in an urban environment where they are

taken from their families and face racism every day. The students are still living in the effects of

this symbolic violence and therefore find it difficult to learn about how it started.

Even outside of teaching residential school history there are dominant historical

narratives [that] have failed to make visible the importance of Aboriginal peoples to the

foundation of the country (Tupper, 2014, p. 475). The students understand that Indigenous

people lived and thrived in Canada long before contact. Why would they choose to dwell on

something long before they were born when it did not even cause anything positive in their lives?
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Students from lower socio-economic backgrounds are also more concerned with their present

and immediate future. When teaching the healing portion of the lessons I tried to relate the

healing to activities I know they already engage in so that they can acknowledge their role in the

future of their respective nations.

Although the focus of my research was history I will implement cultural sensitivity into

any other subjects I may teach. Being culturally sensitive while teaching requires shifting the

focus from teaching and learning about ones cultural beliefs to teaching and learning through

local culture (Burm, 2016, p. 18). I find this especially important when incorporating

Indigenous content into various subjects because it can often become tokenized. The way

Indigenous people in Canada have learned and taught is different to western ways and simply

teaching using the Indigenous ways of knowing can accomplish a culturally sensitive

environment. Furthermore, Indigenous students do not necessarily need to be taught about their

own culture, but they do need to experience education through a culturally relevant lens.

If it were possible the next time I am teaching residential schools I would like to have a

survivor of residential schools or an Elder come and speak to the students (Joseph, 2015). This

would make the students feel closer to their community and involve more of a story in history.

After all of the lessons I debriefed with my Associate Teacher and we had come to similar

conclusions about how it went. I believe that although some of the history caused discomfort to

some students it was a necessary reminder. As an Indigenous person, myself I often try to ignore

the intergenerational trauma in my own family but one of the most important purposes of history

is to examine the tragedy so it will never happen again. I do not believe that the activity in which

we looked to the future would have been as effective had they not had a reminder of history. I do
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however think that something other than the Blanket Exercise would have been more effective.

The Blanket Exercise is great for non-Indigenous students but it was too immersive for these

students.

I plan to integrate this research into my future teaching practices, I think it is important as

a teacher to adapt because all learners are different. I believe that if I were faced with this

situation again or a similar one involving a different culture I would focus on teaching the

difficult history using the appropriate cultural ways of knowing. Although this would not stop

students from being upset by graphic material it may help them feel as though their culture has a

firm place in education.

I would like to remember that it is expected to make mistakes, that I am not only a

teacher but also a learner. I want to make sure I never forget that I do not know every detail about

my students and I do not know what kind of day they have been having prior to stepping foot in

my classroom. I hope I remember that I can ask my students for feedback, they can see me as a

human who is still learning, and by asking for feedback I can only improve.
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References

Burm, S. (2016). Culturally-responsive Teaching. Our Schools / Our Selves, 25(2), 15-21.

Joseph, B. (2015). 15 Strategies for Teachers of Aboriginal Students. Retrieved from

Indigenous Corporate Training Inc. https://www.ictinc.ca/blog/15-strategies-for-teachers-

of-aboriginal-students

Tupper, J. A. (2014). The Possibilities for Reconciliation through Difficult Dialogues: Treaty

Education as Peacebuilding. Curriculum Inquiry, 44(4), 469-488