Written by One Conversation At A Time
One of the many things I like about Cohort 21 is that it acts as an impetus to think about ones practice, openly reflect, and thus learn. This act of open reflection also connects us to a wider audience to share learning and receive feedback and support. The process is integral to continued cycles of innovation and learning for all who contribute to it, and participation provides much of my fuel as an educator.
My action plan this cycle was to integrate a school community focused Truth and Reconciliation journey into our programming for grades 7-12. I will articulate the positive steps we have made to begin this journey in my action plan but I was definitely naive, and even a bit arrogant and ignorant to think that this could be completed in a year. I now know that Reconciliation is a process, and from the perspective of some, a process that has not yet begun.
Part of my early learning was realized during my quest to plan a grade wide year-long-project focused on Truth and Reconciliation. I was transparently clear with students about my role as a co-learner, and non-indigenous teacher, “leading” learning around Reconciliation. I knew little about how to pedagogically approach or design teaching and learning in this area of inquiry – particularly with no assessment/evaluation involved. However, this absence of evaluation became our best asset. We took time to co-construct norms, visualize and create our desired learning environment, and developed a guiding question for the year: “Who am I? What does Reconciliation mean to me?” To conclude our learning this year, this question will be answered in the form of a letter that will be given to a new grade 7 student next year as we begin this project anew. This letter is meant to serve as a reflection of student learning on our year long project experience (see action plan). It will also hopefully provide an authentic student perspective on Reconciliation.
Many Cohort members have been supportive both in terms of sharing resources, and also in discussing openly learning experiences thus far in the area of decolonizing education and Truth and Reconciliation. @edaigle was kind enough to share an article on Reshaping Canadian History Education in Support of Reconciliation. I bumped into @tjagdeo and @mhamilton at an OISE event on the Roles and Responsibilities of Teachers in Truth and Reconciliation, and we were able to do a mini-debrief of our learning thus far. A student of @mhamilton even invited our school community to join a Student Conference on Decolonization: “A Place to Exist and Resist”. I am really looking forward to learning alongside students at the conference!
Overall, as I continue to listen, learn, and build relationship with Indigenous and non-indigenous Canadians, I hope that Reconciliation processes will positively evolve one conversation at a time. That has been our learning process this year, and our student letters will tell us what that means to them.