Day Thirteen

Day 13 - University of Saskatchewan with Jim Taylor, meetings with Irene Oakes and Jeff Baker

I was able to observe Jim's SUNTEP Mathematics methods class today. Similar to the Science methods class content is delivered with an Aboriginal perspective and/or with best teaching and learning methods for Aboriginal students in mind. The lesson began with division of fractions, a concept that many teachers can find difficult delivering... especially providing reason behind the methods used to solve equations. Following this Jim led students into open-ended inquiry using "Smarties". He asked students to brainstorm as many concepts and activities that they could teach using the Smarties (and the Smarties box) as possible. What resulted was great discussion among groups and students recalling terms, concepts, definitions, methods and algorithms that may have forgotten or not used for a considerable time. Hands-on concrete learning has also been shown to be more engaging for Aboriginal students and thus more successful in delivering new concepts.

I thought this was a great learning activity for pre-service teachers and the tasks they came up with would be fantastic for engaging students. Some examples.... volume, surface area, area, nets (box), bar graphs, statistics including calculating mean, median, mode, range, fractions, percentage, drawing pie charts, ratio, simple addition and multiplication and patterns for young children. I really enjoyed observing these lessons. Jim also reminded his students about the need to have high expectation in students recorded work, whether this be book work or a binder of work. It did make me think about my own teaching and how I will approach collection of work in my classroom this year.

I spoke to Irene Oakes following this lesson, she oversees the internship program in ITEP. Her philosophy is that students who are becoming teachers must be role models and of the highest standard. Irene has very high expectations of her students and explained to me that she explains to them that Metis people there will be members of the community who will be waiting for them to fail or not be good enough and that they must rise above this prejudice. She expects them to always be well dressed, on time for school and classes and ensures that they understand school etiquette. Irene is an amazing role model for her students, as all teachers and educators should be.

She told be about a program that runs out of the University Saskatchewan, a Masters program, that immerses teachers in cultural knowledge. The program is run out of the Educational Foundations Office called the Land-based Indigenous Cohort. An amazing opportunity and rich and authentic way to study culture. Masters students/teachers are immersed in cultural knowledge in Canada and in Hawaii for periods of 2 weeks at a time http://www.usask.ca/education/efdt/m-ed-program/land-based-indigenous-cohort/

Irene became principal of an elementary school that had started after parents removed their children from the local elementary school, following poor inclusion and education of First Nations and Metis students. The first thing she did in that school was to communicate with the community and parents to find out what they wanted her to do. She always made sure that she was in contact with parents and made her school into a community. She believes this is what makes schools successful.

Later in the day I had the opportunity to speak to Jeff Baker, a graduate of SUNTEP and now a lecturer himself who has been trying to find ways to bring Aboriginal ways of knowing into the curriculum. His advice to teachers trying to increase the cultural knowledge they deliver in their classrooms and make a difference is to begin at a point where they are comfortable. Whether this be in elementary school, secondary school, adult education, providing professional development, beginning communication with local Aboriginal communities and Elders and/or small changes in the curriculum in their own classrooms. Making a start is the beginning of making a difference.

I am beginning to feel like there will be ways that I can make a difference through gradual small changes and that I might be able to encourage others to do the same.