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Thinking about introducing Indigenous concepts and ways of knowing in how we teach, rather than what we teach, is a really neat thought. It seems more approachable and has the potential to be very impactful, I think.

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I really emphasized with what Robert said about incorporating Indigenous perspectives without even teaching content. There are so many other ways we can do this (i.e., using First Peoples Principles of Learning). We as educators need to be creative in how we approach this!

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I like what was said about trying to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. Sometimes learning happens when we take risks and step outside our comfort zone. I was thinking about the 5th question from the art inquiry exercise which asks "what can we learn to make sense of what we are seeing and our reaction to it," and I think that when we reflect upon our discomfort and think about why we react in certain ways, we can reach new understandings.

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What really resonated with me was the powerlessness us as TCs face when we're in the practicum. We are in the hands of our SAs, anything that we want to do that does not appeal to the SAs might put us in hot water. I personally don't feel comfortable teaching how I truly want to teach until I have my own classroom. Especially when it is a new concept that none of the teachers in that school has done before. If what we plan to do falls flat and students are unreceptive, our SAs will see that as an experience that deems us incompentent to be a teacher. However, if we had our own classroom and it falls flat, we can take that as a learning experience and adjust it accordingly.

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The idea of being comfortable with being uncomfortable is something that resonates with me. We shouldn't run from those types of situations and things that make us uncomfortable, instead we have to reflect on why it's making us feel that way and it can lead us to learning more about ourselves and the topic in front of us.

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In the talking circle leo brought up how we are in a system, it made me think of last year how other tcs mentioned that in our classes, we are taught  to be disrupters, but we don't always have the opportunity to practice that as we need to please our SAs. So there is dissonance between what we are being taught and what we can practice. Right now at least. We might have that opportunity once we have that power and protection.

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Important stuff said this class about the difficulties of disruption, particularly in our positions as teacher candidates. I'm often not the biggest fan of incrementalism but here I can recognize the snafu we find ourselves in with being some of the most powerful front-line tools of our colonial government (public educators) but also wanting to change and alter colonial systems of being. How do we do it? Is it through mentorship? Direct advocacy (union work, teacher activism)? Something else? All of it together?

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From the talking circle

I think that what we need to accept is that we may never be able to be the ones to change the system, but we can educate our students to do so,... we have a much greater impact. Thinking of it mathematically,... we are 800 teachers but each of us will influence thousands of students in the future,.. each one of them will have the capacity to change the system.

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I would agree with those feelings as well Graham and Sheila. It feel like there is all this work that is being asked for us to do as TCs and yet we are not able to do them fully, or authentically because of the fear of not getting licensed.

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Taking about the practicum, i'm in the IB DP art cohort and I keep thinking about how rigid and already packed the IB curriculum is. Students need to produce a final exhibition and several individual artworks over the 2 years. However, IB is so demanding on students, and having done the IB program myself, there was no time and space to make collaborative works. I remember hearing my teacher say that we don't have time for collaborative works and since we can't submit a group assignment to the IB board for our final grades, they see NO VALUE in collaborative art practices. I wondering in curriculums like IB where students are already spread so thin, how can we incorporate collaborative art assignments without adding more stress on the students while fulfilling all the IB requirements?

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Robert, I love this idea that we can Indigenize/decolonize our classrooms in the way that we teach, it doesn't always have to be the content we teach.

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I've really noticed a gap in Indigenous pedagogy and support for Indigenous and non-Indigenous teacher candidates in the secondary program.

Yes Robert! This is key. It's more a way of being, changing the way you teach as opposed to content. Its important to recognize that it is a forever learning journey, if its new to you, it won't come right away and that's ok. We are all learning how to bring these knowledges into a colonial education system that has been designed to resist/not include these ways of knowing.

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Just to build off what Robert is saying, pedagogy can be used to teach any subject in Social Studies (also my area of teaching) and probably others regardless of the content that is being taught.

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I strongly agree with Sheila's idea about showing vulnerability as a teacher. Making mistakes is also a great opportunity for learning.

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Sheila and Robert mentions a great point about vulnerability. We should encourage exploring subjects, topics, and ideas we don't know to foster curiosity and exploration of knowledge.

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I think the point Alan just brought up about needing to show resiliency of indigenous peoples as well as the hardships. Highlighting indigenous cultural successes is so important to show that indigenous culture is alive and strong and should be celebrated. If we only focus on the hardships, we may paint indigenous groups as helpless and deflated.

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Great points Alan and Robert about sharing resiliency in the classroom. In my experience as a student we focused more on viewing Indigenous peoples mainly as victims and now after I have taken some courses in university and conversations with Indigenous peoples I have come to realize that is problematic. It is super important to share acts of resistance, and "hidden histories".

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I really like how Robert is identifying that we do not need to be specialized in every subject matter in order to purposely, respectfully and resourcefully present subject matter that we may not know the insides and outs of. I like to think that we are all learning, including the teacher, and this is an opportunity to converse and take time to talk about uncomfortable topics. As long as we are sharing from the perspective of the knowledge keepers/ Indigenous perspectives, with authentic truth, there is learning and teaching to be done.

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I agree with you Graham. A lot of images relegate Indigenous Peoples to the past. It is a form of erasure by not recognizing Indigenous resistance and resilience.

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Yess! I think it's so important to not just focus on the negative things that have happened to the Indigenous People but to also celebrate and talk about their success!!
I really liked that art workshop that we did today, and I want to do that with my students.

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Re: Sheila's point on music is taught by notation, a Euro centric invention (PS what was the other way she mentioned? I want to look into that way of learning music!)
Music is one of the most innate human things. It's blowing my mind that something as old as humanity has been taught to me in only one culture's way of knowing/ teaching it. You don't realize how normalized eurocentric ideas are! Just like language, we understand music or dance via the neurons connected through the way it's taught. I would love to learn music through another means, and learn that new 'language' of music!

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Robert, thank you for bringing up the intersectionality of the Indigenous perspective and decolonizing our mindsets in regards to perfectionism.

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I agree with the idea of being co learners in the classroom. We can recognize that there are many experts in classroom aside from the teacher and everyone, teachers and students can bring a lot to the classroom.

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Just as a side note about the use of shared stories and other oral traditions as evidence, Delgamuukw just died about a week ago. It was his case for land against the government of BC which got oral histories allowed as evidence for land use and historical claims for land rights.

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Robert, this is something I struggle with in Secondary because we are already entering a system set up that creates division between the subjects. I would love to hear folks ideas of how to change this!

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What Shelia says about Eurocentric ways of knowing being elevated above other ways of knowing is so relevant to our growth as a society–especially in our contemporary era. We are so caught up with 'progress' in our day and time, but concepts like, 'science' and 'fact' have been defined under a Eurocentric lens, which closes the door for 'knowledge'. I like what Robert says about holism and interconnectivity–different ways knowing informing one another

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Thanks Graham,
I have a similar experience with respect to how I absorbed and accepted history as almost exclusively written. Oral history always seemed to carry less credibility in comparison to the written word. Comparisons to Greek mythology siggested that they were just fables trying to explain the natural world. Not much attention paid to it as true history. Very sad looking back on how I perceived things then but hopeful in how I proceed and develop my understanding moving forward

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I liked Sheila's point about the overlooked oral tradition in vocal performance.
We privilege Western classical music like we do the Western literary canon. I like how we are shifting towards legitimizing different types of music from different cultures.
Moreover, as Robert said, we can enrich our understanding of these "high art forms" through appreciating the contributions of other cultures.

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I found what Graham said about recognizing sources other than traditional written sources like oral sources for social studies and learning in general. Doing this opens up a whole world of sources with diverse voices.

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I really like the idea of being comfortable with being uncomfortable. There is a somewhat powerful way of learning that is involved in stepping outside of one's comfort zone.

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I really liked Robert's idea for the math lesson on social justice. If indigenous topics can be incorporated into a math class then indigenous concepts can be incorporated into all classrooms. It is the work of teachers from all subject areas to make classes relatable and meaningful. Incorporating indigenous ways of knowing or indigenous history is one way to do this.

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Really interesting idea connecting social justice with math!

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I also appreciate the idea of being comfortable with the uncomfortable. So hard to do! Constantly learning and trying to remember this.

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Thank you Robert for bring up the topic of math in social justice.

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Thanks for bringing up the idea of uncomfortableness and how to orient ourselves to sit with the dis/comfort. I relate  to Graham sharing about "if it's not written down..." I'm appreciative of decolonizing what is considered "fact" in the academic setting.

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That's such a cool math idea! I would love to see what those numbers look like!

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Oral stories are something I hadn't considered until recently in terms of recounting historical events (and oral stories were not taught in history class). This past September, I attended a commemoration event for the Day for Truth and Reconciliation in Squamish. Many stories were graciously shared, and it hit me how important these stories and histories are, and just because they aren't written down, doesn't mean they didn't happen. They happened. They are real. I have been so used to the idea that history is in textbooks, but it is so much more than that.

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I really appreciate the idea of being "comfortable with being uncomfortable". During the start of this ed program I felt uncomfortable during some conversations in classes. After accepting my uncomfortableness and trying to question it instead of run from it, I can see that being uncomfortable is necessary to grow and learn.

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I really like what Robert says in response to Sheila's comment about engaging in "uncomfortable awareness". The reality is that if we do not engage, we end up shirking responsibility. As Robert said, when we sit in fear and adopt a perfectionist ideal, we end up failing our responsibility as Canadians–as social citizens, as a whole. As TC's we're taught to present our students with opportunities to engage with inquiry, but we, ourselves, are not above the inquiry process!

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I agree with Sheila and Robert's points. We should be learning more and including Indigenous issues, cultures, histories, and worldviews in part of our lives.

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Alan and Robert, thank you for bringing up the tensions of growing up within a colonial system and the ways it upholds whiteness and Euro-centric ways of knowing. I love the invitation of creating a world that is more kind while recognizing and contending with my own role in holding colonialism and white supremacy in my body.

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I think Sheila and Robert both hit on important points that connect with Dion. There is a tremendous diversity of Indigenous communities and that can be used as an excuse to learn nothing or to find comfort in ignorance while at the same time reducing the diversity to a generic perfect stranger for the colonial worldview and the educational practice.

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I resonate with what Sheila said at the beginning about her parents holding prejudiced and stereotypes views of Indigenous Peoples, and the blatant disregard for their culture and history, and especially being okay with not considering the history of colonialism let alone learning more about it. I became very uncomfortable talking to my parents about Indigenous issues and their culture/history because it almost seemed as though they didn't want to hear me, or consider their own beliefs wrong/see the fault in their views/the views of the news/government. They are part of that older generation that held very strong views and I imagine trying to un-learn from such deep rooted beliefs is incredibly difficult for them.

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Sheila I really agree with what you said about the disconnect between activities and the meaning behind them. We have to make sure we are incorporating authentic representations of Indigenous culture.

Also I love the "comfortable with being uncomfortable".

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I do like how Dion addresses this excuse, head-on. She identifies that there is no excuse and that we need to take the time to know and notice. This is how we move forward, through noticing

Thank you Sheila for sharing.

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Like Sheila, Kat's story resonates with me as well. Especially when the article speaks about Kat recognizing her implications and the knowledge that she will sit with this "discomfort" and learn to rework the "politics of her relationship."

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I agree with Sheila in that I resonate with Kat too.

I really want to stop being that "perfect stranger".

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Thanks Sheila for being up the importance around this idea of leaning into feeling uncomfortable. The number of times I have had labour put onto me from folks who are not Indigenous (particularly around resources) is numerous and something that I often find tiring if I don't have a relationship or am in community with you in a meaningful way. I love the idea that we are all learning together. The importance of being in relationship with other Indigenous folks from different nations is so meaningful for me and I work to never take for granted the knowledge that is gifted or shared with me. This looks like reciprocity, it looks like sharing my own knowledge (and being transparent about my not-knowing) and seeking kinship, care, and community.