This post doubles as my EDUC 446 post
Incorporating Indigenous knowledge and ways of thinking into the classroom is so important, and is something that the school I was posted at for my 491 practicum takes very seriously. On Wednesdays, the students get let out an hour early so that the teachers can have PLC time, and one week a month is dedicated to learning new ways and resources for further integrating Indigenous content into our classrooms.
Something that I did to incorporate Indigenous content into my classroom was introducing the Dakelh language to my students through collaboration with the school’s Indigenous education teacher. We began at the beginning of the school year by learning Dakelh greetings and I have continued our practice of those as a class by greeting each student in Dakelh during attendance and them greeting me back in the same. I have also done lessons, both on my own and in collaboration with the Indigenous education teacher, on other Dakelh vocabulary, including Dakelh colours, which are displayed in the classroom. We practice them regularly by referring back to them and playing games to practice.
I have also really incorporated Indigenous content into my social studies unit. We studied pre-colonial Indigenous culture. I had students pick a region and Indigenous group from that region, and they spent time researching that culture and practising their research skills. From there, we used the information they found to build a diorama reflecting their learning and then presented both their diorama and their learning to the class. These projects were supplemented with lessons on local Indigenous culture that I collaborated with the Indigenous education teacher on, as well as reading and discussing traditional Indigenous stories.
In my future work, I plan to continue to incorporate local Indigenous languages into my classroom and my teaching, as well as integrating Indigenous content into our learning as much as I can.