Educators respect and value the history of First Nations, Inuit, and MĂ©tis in Canada and the impact of the past on the present and the future. Educators contribute towards truth, reconciliation, and healing. Educators foster a deeper understanding of ways of knowing and being, histories, and cultures of First Nations, Inuit, and MĂ©tis.
In Prince George, many of the English classes have been changed to English First Peoples classes in order to include Indigenous content as a core part of the course and to help students complete mandatory credits in order to graduate.
My first practicum placement had been in an English First Peoples 11 course.
While I had been with my students, we had started on a book Medicine Walk. The first part of the book (the part I had been in charge of) is centred around the strained relationship between Franklin (the main character of this part) and his strained relationship with his dying father.
Franklin has a very strong relationship with the land and knows a lot about how to hunt and collect food from the land. A lot the of assignments and (attempted) conversations had been around trying to connect with Franklin and recognize the areas that he is strong in (because where he is strong isn’t areas that are considered “strong” in the classroom).
One of the things that my CT had wanted the students to do is connect with the book and with the characters in it, primarily Franklin. One thing that I had tried to stress is that there are a lot of different areas that people can do well in, and it isn’t all related to school. I think we stress school a lot, which is important, but it is also important to keep in mind the other areas that people do well that aren’t school.
The school that I had been in had a very high Indigenous population and one of the personal goals that I had kind of wanted to set for myself is making sure that students know that you don’t have to be academically inclined to be smart. At this level, many students are encouraged to look into college or university and are encouraged to go even if that isn’t what they necessarily want.
In Medicine Walk we do see a character that did not thrive within school, but had instead done very well out on the land, and this shows students that they do not have to be the best in school, but they can do well in other areas.
