Sr. FNMI ABQ: Module 3 "Learning Portfolio"

 Learning Portfolio:

Learning to Exist

This module has been an inspiring module for the reason that once, an educator observes what professionals in the field are doing and how they are modelling the differences they hope to see other educators make, without over glorifying what they are doing it doesn’t seem so far away to be the anticipated difference that beginning educators want to strive for.

To begin, a former professor of Lakehead University, Gregory Lowan Trudeau is one that resonates for me because of the fact that I was enrolled and learned in his classes through my first quadmester at Lakehead University in 2010. His work and studies in the field of Outdoor Recreation are well known and appreciated, this is the kind of teacher who certainly is capable of hitting all the markers of the medicine wheel framework. Professor Lowan-Trudeau has much experience and engaging ways to bring it all back to the learner. A resonating article from that time speaking much to the themes of “Teaching the Tensions” was by Drew Myers “The Depth of Knowledge” published in The Green Teacher (2009) as the article is describing how students feel rejuvenated and positive in their experience within the transformed classroom, the catch being that the classroom has taken a more traditional approach to learn from an Indigenous Perspective. Lowan-Trudeau was educating us to understand that in the initial learning and experiencing portion of a youth’s experience it is the time that a student should be willing to ask questions and listen to the guidance of their teacher. If this practice is carried out regularly, classrooms can be healthy discussion areas in the public space.

The reading by Bell can leave an educator feeling more confident in their understanding of FNMI perspectives as she uses language of the Anishnaabe People, yet a reader (first time or there other), can understand the sentiments and importance of the teachings that allow educators to derive when learning to relate as educators themselves. In further research of Indigenous teachings, it is reassuring to see the learning full circle back into itself as one finds themselves reading back into the Seven Teachings of the Grandfather.

Resources shared in this module that allow one to learn how to do include Empowering the Spirit website, the NCCIE website and The Ontario Curriculum Grades 9-12 First Nations, Metis and Inuit as they provide educators with an opportunity to explore and adapt resources, ideas and questions into their classrooms that inspire and promote a culturally appropriate learning environment (2019). An added resource that has been helpful has been the FINAL REPORT The First Nations, Metis, and Inuit Learning Project as produced by Lalonde, S. as it gives a very applicable understanding of the medicine wheel framework and pedagogy. Teachers are provided with tools to evaluate how well they implement and embody the teachings of First Nations, Metis and Inuit Perspectives.