Courtney Pickering

Season 13- Coaching for a New Year

Posted on by Courtney Pickering

Part of why I love the Cohort Community is it allows for space for Professional Growth Planning and what we need the most, time. 

For the last 2 years, I have focused my How Might We questions towards expanding whole school approaches to Indigenous Learning. This year, I will be working with a sub-group of teachers to look at the different resources we use at different levels and how we can identify and incorporate further connections to Indigenous ways of learning and leading. 

Heading into our second face-2-face, I am coming off of a 2 weeks learning block with our Grade 10 students where I curated local experiences through the lens of indigeneity, identity, and connection. 

The 2 week block started with a day on campus which included:

  • Reading and workshop on One Drum by Richard Wagamese
  • Workshop on creating their own Identity Flower
  • Visit to the Truth Project 
  • VR installation
  • Workshop with the Indigenous Peoples Atlas of Canada (thank you Havergal for lending us the resource)

The other days were spent off campus with the following experiences:

  • heading to Toronto to explore the Spirit Garden at Nathan Phillips Square and visit to the Native Canadian Centre of Toronto
  • an Escape Room that allowed students to work together and test their collaboration and problem-solving skills
  • book talk with Tanya Talaga to hear about her new book “The Knowing”
  • an overnight to Canterbury Hills with AdventureWorks with a focus on leadership and high ropes
  • a day Downtown Oakville to experience a high tea and pottery workshop
 
We finished the block with a final day on campus where students spent time reflecting on their experience and how they wished to share their knowledge with their peers in December. We also were fortunate to have a visit from former Chief of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation Stacey Laforme. He shared some of his poetry and advised our students as they continue their allyship journey.
 
I am looking forward to coming together as a Cohort once again to share new ideas and resources as we collectively work towards new ideas and approaches in our respective school communities.
 
 

3 thoughts on “Season 13- Coaching for a New Year”

  1. @cpickering , WOW!!! This is obviously a deep and powerful journey into Indigenous Learning. I am completely astounded by the extent and variety of experience you provided and facilitated, and the level of thought, care and bold initiative you took in your design and planning.

    I can’t wait to hear more about the opportunity of a two week learning block: the concept at large, its roots, the design process behind it, and the early (and no-doubt lasting) impact on the students. I can’t wait to catch up on the 30th!

    Again… Amazing Courtney!

    @jgravel, @acaplan, @iliu, @bhayes

  2. I loved learning about your 2-week learning block. What an amazing learning opportunity for you as an educator and for your grade 10 students. I’m curious about the VR experience and was wondering if you could share more about it in the next face-to-face.

    Thank you again for sharing Courtney 🙂

  3. Courtney, I’m thrilled you’re back at Cohort this year! This learning block sounds phenomenal and filled with rich, meaningful experiences for the students. I’d love to connect about ways of connecting and incorporating Indigenous ways of learning and being into experiential learning programs for younger students.

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