One Website that I could use as an educator to implement these calls to actions is called; The Canadian Children’s Book Centre. There is a section in this website that focuses on orange shirt day and provides a list of books that are age appropriate for the classroom that will teach student about the residential school system. If I were to access these books for my class, I would not only use them for orange shirt day. Each of the books listed has a different moral and meaning. I could use these books in different lessons to indigenize my classroom and lessons.
I came across an interesting article called, “Indigenizing the Curriculum: The Importance of Story” by Helen Armstrong. In this article she mentions that she met a famous Canadian Aboriginal author named Richard Wagamese, who taught her the importance of story telling in indigenous communities. Helen then goes into detail about how story telling can be used in any classroom to help students learn from an indigenous perspective, (Armstrong, 1991). I will refer to this article when I am teaching mathematics in the classroom. I personally find mathematics a difficult subject to indigenize, however, I could teach my students mathematics using story and word problems. I could use local indigenous stories and create them into math word problems for any grade level.
I was shown a video in a past university class and it will forever resonate with me. This video is of Chief Dan George’s Speech on Canada’s 100th birthday. He speaks about how that day is not a celebration for him, but rather it makes him unhappy as he reflects on what Canadian history has done to him and his culture. However, there is one part of the speech that is very powerful, “Let me humbly accept this new culture and through it rise up and go on” (George, 1967). He wants to work together as a nation and create a positive change. I would show this video in my classroom to teach students that the past still matters, and it is crucial that we respect and work together with indigenous peoples.
References
Armstrong, H. (1991). Indigenizing the Curriculum: The Importance of Story. Brandon University. pp 37-64. http://events.ufv.ca/tlc/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2014/10/Indigenizing-the-Curriculum-The-Importance-of-Story-1.pdf
Gruwell, E. (2016). 1,001 Pearls of Teacher’s Wisdom: Quotations on Life and Learning. Skyhorse Publishing. (p.82).
(2020). The Canadian Children’s Book Centre: Orange Shirt Day Reading List. Design for Good. https://bookcentre.ca/news/orange-shirt-day-reading-list.
Teen Talk. (2017). Lament for Confederation Chief Dan George 1967 [Video]. Vimeo. https://vimeo.com/216569738.