Cultural Competency Statement/Commitment
As a teacher candidate and ally in training, I am committed to having a classroom that honors and integrates indigenous education, knowledge, perspectives, and culture. I’m committed to including indigenous perspectives in my lesson plans, daily activities, and my philosophy of teaching. I’m committed to incorporating and using authentic indigenous resources as well as continued authentic learning and growing on my part. I will aim to respect the indigenous heritage, and diversity, and support my students to engage with me thoughtfully.
 Reflections
People, place, and land are the core of indigenous people’s ways of learning. Over this semester, we have looked at each of these through our readings, assignments, and discussions. We have learned how they connect us to how we situate ourselves, how we can connect ourselves to reconciliation, and how we plan to move forward as an ally in indigenous education. This paper will look at these in more detail.
How I situate myself
I am a single mother 2, my son Jaydin is 12, and my daughter Lexi is 10. I am originally from Midland Ontario. I now know this land to be the homeland of the Huron-Wendat Nation and Anishinabek people. The land and area are the traditional territories of the Chippewa Tri-Council. It is important to me to have learned the land acknowledgments because I recognize that I’m a visitor, just as Chrona states in her book (Chrona, 2022) I grew up here, went to post-secondary, and have lots of family still there. My family on both sides are immigrants and came to Canada between 1887-1902. My family came from Poland, Ireland, Scotland and England. Both my parents were born in Ontario and grew up just outside Toronto. I love going back to Ontario to visit and show my kids where I came from.
Now I live in Terrace BC, which is situated on the unceded traditional Ts’msyen (Tsimshian) territory of the Kitsumkalum and Kitselas First Nation. I raise my kids here and I work here. I currently work at Suwilaawks Community School as an EA in a grade 6 classroom. Working, going to UNBC, and living in this area has opened my eyes and mind to more of the culture and beauty this area has to offer myself and my children. This will be a benefit to me as I move forward as an educator and visitor in this area.
We are active in the community of Terrace in various ways. I have 3 jobs, play soccer, and part take in clubs and organizations to keep myself busy. My kids are also involved in sports such as soccer, basketball, and dance. As a family, we enjoy the ski hill, beach, and camping sites around our area. Over the years as I have learned more about the culture and history of Terrace, we are now getting a better sense of what more it has to offer and we enjoy learning and exploring the Indigenous culture. This too is an important asset to my future as an educator. Jo Chrona said that it is up to us to do the work and make experiences as educators to be better and do better in our classrooms (Chrona, 2022)
How can I connect myself to Reconciliation?
I went to the Truth and Reconciliation NID day that School District 82 put on for all teaching and support staff in School District 82. It was a very informative day of learning, witnessing, and experiencing change. In one of the sessions the women said, “You now can’t UN-know what you now know, and you must make an effort to do the work and research to be the change as educators” This was impactful to me. It was that day I knew I needed to put in my work, learning, and commitment to make a change. Jo Chrona writes that she wrote this book to “help non-indigenous educators who are seeking to continue to learn about indigenous pedagogies, reconciliation through education, or creating indigenous-specific anti-racist education environments” (Chrona, 2022, p. 9) I plan to do this by finding authentic indigenous resources to use in my classroom and my lesson planning. Jo Chrona has a whole section on authentic indigenous resources and I plan to continue to go through these and use them as I need. I have already found a few websites to be useful, including the First Nation’s education steering committee, the BC curriculum government website, and Indigenous education the national center for collaboration.
I plan to continue to do my research for authentic indigenous resources to use in my classroom and lesson planning. I also plan to continue to add to my collection of books, websites, articles, and art pieces that will be of useful to me as an educator. As for reconciliation, I plan to continue to do the hard work, for example, listening to residential school survivors talk, going to cultural events, doing land acknowledgments, asking questions, sitting in the discomfort of learning, and participating in awareness events such as orange shirt day, the secret path week, Indigenous peoples day and more. I have made some new contacts this semester by going to events, asking questions, and participating in my learning. Some of these contacts include the Kermode Friendship Society, teachers/coworkers at my school, and collaborating with my classmates. I believe that learning is continuous and there truly is no end, only continuous work.
How I plan to move forward as an ally in Indigenous education
I loved the video on Two-Eyed Seeing, I have it saved and will continue to refer to it as I need to. I plan to incorporate indigenous education into all my lessons as a teacher. In the video Two-eyed seeing it states “the concept takes the strengths of both an indigenous world and a colonized world and asks the user to see through both views simultaneously to find success” (Thomas,2016) and this is a concept I will strive for. I have learned this semester that it is my job as a teacher and ally to do the work I need to do to make this happen. I will continue to use authentic indigenous resources and continue to look for authentic resources. I am just in the beginning stages of looking for resources I know there are a lot out there, and find that I will be able to incorporate Indigenous education into most lessons with just a little extra effort on my part.
The First Nations Principles of Learning (FPPL) has been a great tool so far in referring to it for lesson plans, reflecting on course work, and even when I’m in the schools observing and looking for indigenous education in all classrooms and activities. This will be a great tool and reference to continue to use over my time at UNBC and beyond.
Conclusion
In conclusion, this semester has been very beneficial to me as a teacher candidate. I have learned the importance of people, place, and land as the core of indigenous education. I have learned how they connect us to how we situate ourselves, how I can connect myself to reconciliation, and how I plan to move forward as an ally in indigenous education. I now look forward to putting what I have learned into practice and to continue to work on my learning as a future teacher.
References
Chrona, J. (2022a). Wayi Wah!: Indigenous pedagogies: An act for reconciliation and anti-racist education. Portage & Main Press.
ETUAPTMUMK: Two-eyed seeing: Rebecca Thomas: Tedxnsccwaterfront. YouTube. (2016, June 13). https://youtu.be/bA9EwcFbVfg