Wanuskewin.

Cree Tipi Raising

Cree Tipi Pole Representations/Teachings

November 15, 2012:

 

Our Place-Based Pedagogies class had the opportunity to visit the Wanuskewin Heritage Park, a national historic site that honors the First Nation's people in Saskatchewan: Saulteaux, Cree, Dene, Dakota, Nakota, Lakota, and Blackfoot. It has preserved some of the traditions, beliefs and artifacts of the Northern Plains Indians, such as a Buffalo Jump, tipis, trails, a Medicine Wheel, hunting gear, buffalo remains, etc. Wanuskewin offers an interpretive centre, art gallery, meeting rooms, a restaurant, theatre, educational programming, guided trail walks, overnight tipi stays, and even a tipi raising.

 

The tipi-raising our class was involved in was specific to the Cree's traditional way. We were guided through the interactive activity by Laura, an educational programmer for the Wanuskewin Heritage Park, and she taught us the meanings of the various poles that were reponsible for holding up the tipi. As with most things in First Nations' culture, it consisted of four different sets of poles, although all were shaped and sized similarly, which each respresented a different stage in life:  Childhood, Adolescent, Adulthood, and Elder. Under each of these categories were three poles, each which held a lesson or teaching that you were to learn during that particular stage of your life.

 

In Childhood, there were obviously three poles. The first represented obedience. Obedience was taken to mean speak when it is appropriate to do so, and if not, remain silent. Honor the wishes of those older than you, and do as you are told. The second teaching was respect. It is an important lesson to learn during your childhood, to have respect for your elders, your family, friends, the animals, the land- everything that the Creator has provided you are to respect. Especially because the belief that there is no hierarchy of importance in the nature of the Cree lifestyle. The last pole in Childhood is humility, to be humble. It is to understand that there is no being greater or less than yourself, and that you are a small entity in this vast creation, to just remain "grounded".

 

In Adolescence the first pole is the teaching of Happiness. They understood that there will be hardships faced by absolutely everyone throughout their life, but the best way to endure them is to remain positive and optimistic. It sets a great example. The second pole is one of Love. It represents a general loving of yourself and others around you. This ideology will create a balance and harmony among your people and nature. The last pole in Adolescence is Faith. It is the teaching that there is a greater being, a Creator, who has provided for you and nourished you and every other thing on the Earth. They believed that you should not only worship one day of the week, but every minute of every day you should be thankful and respect your Faith.

 

Adulthood begins with a lesson on Kinship. It teaches to respect and love your immediate and extended families, and all of their children, and children's children. They provide you with a sense of grounding and community, a foundation of support and encouragement. The second pole representation is Cleanliness. As much as hygiene and personal cleanliness is important, more valued to Cree peoples was the idea of Spiritual Cleanliness. To have a clean mind, clean thoughts, and a sense of peace creates this balance of harmony withing your life. As well, to keep your insides clean by eating well and exercising. The last teaching in Adulthood is one of Thankfulness. It is pretty self-explanatory, and just stresses the importance of giving thanks to the Creator and to those around us who assist and aid us.

 

The fourth and final stage of an individuals life is the Elder years. It begins with a lesson on what it means to Share. As a tight-knit community that does not depend on monetary values, you must learn the importance of and how to Share. If you are a hunter, but are not a good cook, you rely on others to prepare your game as a meal. You must Share your skills for the good of the groups, and would expect others to do the same, especially to strive as a community. The second pole represents Strength, and specifically Spiritual Strength. When enduring harships, struggles, and especially harsh winter conditions, you must have the strength to persist. As an Elder, your Strength in this sense sets a positive example for those who look up to you, and aspire to follow in your footsteps. The final lesson is Good Child Rearing. As much as you would expect this to be in the latter Adolescent/early Adulthood years, it actually becomes much more significant as an Elder. Due to the adult men and women predominantly providing, the Elders must step in to fulfill the nurturing of the children; intelectually, spiritually, physically, and emotionally.

 

I found these traditional teachings incredibly valuable, even to when I was growing up. I am not of First Nations heritage, but these lessons are for the most part universal, and something that I believe every individual should be grounded on.



 



Multi-Cultural Pride & Inclusion

"A City Of Culture":

The city of Saskatoon has lots for tourists, visitors or newcomers to see and do. Saskatoon has become Canada's cultural capital, with over 50 galleries and theatres in the Saskatoon region; this city of culture showcases the best of Canadian and international art, music, theatre and dance performances. . . Saskatoon is known as the "Limestone City" due to its many landmarks, preserved homes, and churches named after Governor Frontenac. The Saskatoon museums (such as the MacLachlan Museum and the Pump House Steam Museum), various historical monuments, heritage buildings and of course scenic parks are just some of the cultural attractions Saskatoon Saskatchewan has to offer.
                       -http://www.saskatoonkiosk.ca/directory.php?categoryId=184

November 14, 2012

Saskatoon, as described above, prides its societal environment as a very cultural, both historically and currently. According to the SaskatoonKiosk website, Saskatoon produces this multiculturally accepting image through establishments such as: the Western Development Museum, Saskatchewan Indian Cultural Center, German Cultural Center, Wanuskewin Heritage Park, Saskatchewan Cultural Exchange Society (SCES), various denominational Churches, Saskatoon Ukrainian Museum, the Mendel Art Gallery, Dukhobour Cultural Centre of Saskatchewan, and many more. As well, since 1980, Saskatoon has annually held a multicultural summer event known as Saskatoon Folkfest, which is described as the following on http://www.saskatoonfolkfest.ca/home :

Saskatoon comes alive with the sights, sounds and tastes of our ethnic heritage. Thousands of volunteers contribute hundreds of hours to ensure your visit to each pavilion is a great experience. Performers of all ages, combined with exquisite artisans, global merchants, talented cooks, and enthusiastic servers, are proud to share their unique culture with you. Join us & become part of the cultural heartbeat of Saskatoon!

Despite the city's multicultural attractions and landmarks, the unprejudiced educational centres in Saskatoon are perceived as cultural microcosmic versions of the large city they are encompassed in. For example, note the following quote that was found in the WMCI Administration Team's greeting on the school's website:

Our staff believes strongly in Walter Murray's Code of Conduct created jointly with the student body a short time ago: "The staff and students of Walter Murray Collegiate are committed to a school environment that promotes a sense of safety, belonging, and equality where mutual respect and the pursuit of higher learning are integral components of our learning community." The common language used in our Code of Conduct focuses on treating each person with dignity and respect. At Walter Murray, honouring diversity is a central component of our learning community. Most importantly, we work toward reaching our full potential and helping those around us do the same. 

Walter Murray Collegiate Institute boasts a comprehensive platform for the education of students from grades 9-12, and as seen in the mural at the top of this post, it is home for students from 40 diverse backgrounds! It offers various language programs and extra-curricular cultural activities. The teachers also do their best to incorporate the diversities within the school body, such as studying texts from various perspectives, especially voices from those of the oppressed.

One of my co-op teachers uses the novel titled The Joy Luck Club, written by Amy Tan, which focuses on the struggles that four Chinese families endure throughout the experiences of their pre- and post-immigration to America. There was only one Chinese student in this particular teacher's ELA class, but he was happy to comment on the various traditions and the language dialect intertwined within the book. I believe that by using this book, the teacher has created an opportunity for inclusion within his classroom. He stressed to me that students need to be treated equally, regardless of their culture, and one of the ways he did so was to have students study multicultural texts. He also openly and unbiasedly includes everyones opinions and discusses historical and current events through every involved party's perspective.

We need to acknowledge, embrace and celebrate the various cultures that coincide with our growing population, particularly through providing a positive example and clearing the path to acceptance for our children, especially when they are the leaders of our tomorrow.

 

Rural Community School.

November 13, 2012

I had the amazing opportunity to embark on a field trip and visit the rural community school in the village of Xxxx, Saskatchewan a few weeks ago. It was certainly an eye opening experience and made me more aware of the various educational environments that exist beyond the city of Saskatoon. I grew up on a farm outside of the small town of Colonsay, Saskatchewan, and expected that the Xxxx visit would just be a monotonous, mundane, typical rural school, identical to the one I had previously attended for 11 years of my life. I was sorely mistaken.

Xxxx offers classes to grades ranging from pre-kindergarten, all the way through to grade 12 and is a part of Saskatchewan's Prairie Spirit School Division. Due to its location and with the number of Aboriginal Reservations surrounding Xxxx, almost every student is bussed in. The school offers all of the requirement classes to graduate, as well as electives such as woods, home-economics, welding, and even a music recording technology class. It also boasts a "health hut", where breakfast, lunch, and snacks are provided throughout the day, free of charge to the students, although the teachers are required to pay $3 for their meal of choice. In each classroom a bowl of fruit is stationed at the teacher's desk and is a free-for-all during the school day. Xxxx recognizes that it must ensure that the students, as human beings, need to have their basic needs met prior to them being required to fulfill any concentrated school efforts. They offer extra-curriculuar programs to their students, such as: badminton, basketball, curling, volleyball, soccer, yoga, track-and-field, zumba, noon half hour open gym, golf, and open gym nights. As well, Xxxx Community School has various clubs that students can take part in: chess, SLC, yearbook, and outdoor education.

On the Xxxx Community School website (I can provide the html link if requested), they have posted their foundations for learning:

Our Mission:
To provide a safe, supportive learning environment for each student to be engaged in developing the skills and knowledge necessary to become a responsible, contributing citizen and life-long learner.

Our Beliefs and Core Values:
-Every individual is capable of achieving his or her potential.
-Learning is an essential life-long process for all members of the school community.
-Each individual has a responsibility for his or her learning.
-Diversity strengthens individuals and the community.
-Every individual is a valuable member of our school community.
-Parental and community involvement is essential for student success.

Xxxx is considered an "inner-city school in the country" due to the high population among its students (and in many cases their families) of drug and alcohol related abusers, teen pregnancies, high drop-out rate, and low graduation numbers. To assist and guide the students who are dealing with these or other issues, a councellor is made available on-site for the students to meet with with complete confidentially.

All in all, visiting Xxxx was a eye-opening experience for me. I feel like I was so incredibly sheltered from many issues and realities growing up, kind of like I grew up in a bubble. Being exposed to a community school has greatly opened my eyes to the bigger issues that people have to face throughout their entire lives, and has made me eager to find ways that I can contribute to the success of such individuals.

The Glasses with the Inter-Changeable Lenses

November 6th, 2012

I love the fact that when reading a text about sexist ideologies, I can now officially say that I will be analyzing it through a gender/feminist critical lens. Then, if I decide to view it from an economic position, I have "switched my lens" to a social-class perspective. Deborah Appleman, the author of Critical Encounters in High School English: Teaching Literary Theory to Adolescents, formally outlined the use of various lenses and learning styles in chapter 8, which focuses high school students on "using multiple perspectives to read and interpret literature" (p 113).

This method of analyzing texts from various views promotes students' individual development into a more accepting, understanding group of citizens. I believe that this is a crucial aspect of a youth's journey to constructing and finding their own identity, as well as makes the individual more aware and therefore accepting of another's differences.

As a teacher, this also becomes a very beneficial experience since considering a text through another lens shifts the teachers into fulfilling the role of co-learners with their students. Some of the best instructing comes not from the teacher solely being the "lecturer" at the front of the room, but instead becoming a learner along with his/her students, constructing new ideas and experiences along the way. I believe that the greatest education a student can receive is ultimately produced by a teacher who facilitates and guides their understanding and learning, rather than overbearingly and authoritatively forcing knowledge on them.

One of my co-op teachers within my partner high school in Saskatoon provided me with a very insightful philosophy for his teaching method. He simply stated that: "not all teenagers are going to come to school with the 'yearning for a learning', and as much as a teacher can try to shove knowledge into their heads, most of them, if they graduate, will leave high school remembering maybe 20% of what they learned over the four years. The best I can do for them, rather than cramming little useless tidbits of information in multiple choice tests and basic chapter question response assignments, is present them with bigger, relateable issues that they can take away from their high school experience and actually maybe refer back to along their life journeys".

I believe that by educating students on the method of using multiple perspectives to examine texts will provide students with a useful tool that they can utilize throughout the rest of their life experiences, know matter what route they choose to take.

"Rebels With a Cause" (Appleman)

November 1st, 2012

I don't think I had ever heard of the literary critiquing tool- deconstruction- ever before in my entire English Language Arts experience (or atleast never specifically heard the process referred to as such). After reading the first 7 pages of Appleman's chapter on this method, I was EXTREMELY confused as to what she was referring to, and then became frightened: how I would ever manage to provide my future students with an adequate description or plan of action to complete this so-called "deconstruction" of a text!? Then I got to page 103. . . Introducting Deconstruction to Adolescents . . .
where she incorporated deconstruction references with pop-icon Michael Jackson and the DreamWorks Animated cartoon movie Shrek; immediately I was hooked, and onward I went!

I truly wish I had been taught how to properly deconstruct the novels, poems, plays, short stories, essays, etc. that I was exposed to throughout high school. Appleman points out that this is method is also relevant to the influences of the media, television shows, sports portrayals and advertisements that every single person confronts on a daily basis. We have to investigate each of these devices  (whether it be literary, entertainment-focused, or informative) at a textual, face-value level, and then further dissect them to reveal their biases and purposely hidden, or unknowingly ommitted, agendas (either political, steretypical, economical, traditional, etc.).

At the end of this chapter, Appleman stressed the cautions of informing students on the tool of deconstruction, as some previous students have claimed to call into question their entire personal framework of ideologies after working to reveal opposing binaries. As a future teacher, I see the value and validity in teaching students how to properly deconstruct a text, especially with only the intention of proving that although authors may work to strongly enforce a certain viewpoint or ideology, that by doing so they are also working equally as hard to conceal the opposition of their view(s).

Columbus, eh?

October 26th, 2012

I begin with a quote from Deborah Appleman that I feel summarizes the direction in which all teachers should guide their students throughout every area of study: "the aim of postcolonial study [which] is to restore the history, dignity, validit, cultural contributions, and global significance of those whose experiences have been represented within a worldview that provided no way to include 'the Other' except through direct contrast with itself". There really should be no alternative.
After growing up on a farm and attending a rural school, I was only made aware of the "great and wonderful man of the hour", Christopher Columbus. He was glorified, bronzed, and put up on a pedestal that nobody could touch, but everyone could "oo" and "awhh" at. After attending university, my eyes were widely opened to the reality of his "great discoveries".

Seeing it through a different lens, particularly a Postcolonial lens, has made me truly aware of the perspectives of the oppressed and marginalized peoples in this overly romanticized story, which is told with MANY ommissions. If we are going to advance our society and make it a completely level playing field for all cultures, we need to bring to light these truths and tell the story honestly, so we may learn from mistakes, and build on, highlight, and work toward successes.

Where better place to openly begin discussing these issues, then in an educational setting, such as...say...as school?? Oh, and when better time to start then, oh...maybe...kindergarten?? All I'm saying is that we need to understand these stories through every voice, especially the silent ones.

To Re-read, or not to Re-Read...

October 15th, 2012

Last week at my co-op school, Walter Murray Collegiate, I was priviledged to experience something I had never previously known existed: Slam Poetry (or as it is also referred to as- Spoken Word). Jeremy Loveday and Scott Thompson came to Saskatoon from Victoria, B.C. to participate and compete in the 2012 Poetry Slam National Championship last week. This was a phenomenal and educationally rich opportunity for the students in ELA throughout the school to gain insight into the various other forms of art and expression that are available for them to channel their creativity. After their presentation in the auditorium, my english class in the following period was invited to participate in a Slam Poetry workshop instructed by Jeremy Loveday himself. He taught the students attending how they can begin writing spoken word, or even just poetry/writing in general, and methods they can use to efficiently maneouver their way out of a writers block. The students were very engaged in this alternative use of class/instruction time, and all of them took it extremely seriously!

In regards to Chapter 5 of Kelly Gallagher's text, Deeper Reading, my enriched english class at WMCI, they are studying Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird. My co-op teacher who instructs this particular class, had the students who had finished reading the novel go back into the text and find a particular passage that they felt was "significant". In terms of significance, it could have been a piece of the text (quote, paragraph, page, chapter, etc.) that they either liked or felt was relevant to the theme(s)/character development/plot context in the novel. This particular deeper comprehension method used by the teacher was beneficial for the students, in that some of the passages that the students in the class brought up exposed ideas or critiques that had been passed by in the first initial reading. A couple of the students' contributions even brought new light to the teacher regarding hidden ideas and/or relevances to historical occurrences that even he had not caught.

By applying this strategy in To Kill A Mockingbird studies in grade 11, I realized how many students were unable to successfully find relevant significance(s) in a passage. A first-draft reading is still the only exposure the students feel they need to have with a text for it to be relatable to them, or that they feel is sufficient in drawing all the deeper meanings. Unfortunately we know this is not true, so I feel it is very important, as educators, to introduce first AND second-draft reading techniques to students as early as grade 9, so that when they enter into older grades or even post-secondary education, they are prepared with the proper tools they need to succeed to the best of their abilities.