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The big idea that really stuck out to me and connected both readings was seeing how much history there is about land. History that I wouldn't have even known if I didn't do this reading. We never take the time to learn about the land we are walking on as we aren't mindful about that. For us, this is a place of living. What I thought about was how when I was younger and I would be making my way through the city my parents would make comments to one another about how this street didn't exist and how that street was just a bunch of trees and now all of those same areas have been occupied with buildings. I too find myself thinking about how certain areas are now just being developed and occupied where once a family of coyotes lived. It's unfortunate because as we progress forward, all of this history is left behind and future generations won't be giving it any meaning. The history textbooks don't give students the means of making real connections with the lands either. All they learn about is THIS is what happened here and now we own this land but what should be taught is the meaning behind the land, whose land it was, what did they use it for, how much the land gave us, etc. In order to do that, we need to take the initiative to learn about the lands, give our students the chance to research and learn, and involve a meaning and purpose behind it all.

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I agree with Robert's point about encouraging the students to be curious about the land and the place that we live to connect in a deeper way with the stories and the history of the place. There are many experiences and meaningful stories that surround us, but most of the time we are focus on our busy lives, daily routines, social media, hence, we lost sight of the history and cultural significance of the places that we live on.

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Talking Circle

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I appreciate Phil's idea about how creating a personal connection to land and space being so much more important to just understanding the facts about a region, or taking that Westernized approach to learning about land and space. Finding a way to make connections and create personal meaning to the information and knowledge that we are trying to pass along to our students is a much more organic way to go about teaching, as the material becomes so much more relatable. Using the idea of storytelling and personal connection to that land and space are encompassing First People's Principles of Learning and is a great way to being to incorporate Indigenous perspectives in our daily teaching practice. Storytelling becomes so important to help bridge this gap and everyone in the discussion has brought up excellent points on how important storytelling is as a form of creating that personal connection that often is missing in education. This is something that I have been personally reflecting on daily and trying to make a point to not lose sight of this when I am teaching.

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As educators we need to get our students to inquire about the place holders.... why is this here? What is the story they tell us?  Whose perspective is this from?  Whose perspective is it leaving out? The Gassy Jack statue in Gastown..... ask our students to research him.... who is he? Why is he controversial?

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Connecting to nature is so important. How do we help students to connect with nature when we’re teaching in a city surrounded by manmade buildings and less access to nature? As educators working in cities, we could connect the students’ learning with stories of nature in the city, such as appreciating urban trees and pollinators. A class inquiry project into the importance of bees would be allow students living in urban spaces to connect with nature that they see in their home environments, and could be connected to bigger questions about climate change, the damage of pesticides, and more.

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Building personal relationships with the land is crucial in order to understand on a deeper level where we are and what our land can teach us. Being tied to the land is not a practice western systems bring up or emphasize, which fundamentally disregards so much of what makes us, us. Land ties us to everyone. It ties us to thing we can and cannot see in the natural world. decolonizing education first and foremost needs to recognize our relationship and bond with the land we live on and what we can get and give to the land. Reciprocal relationships, especially with our earth, are so important because it re-centres the ways education can and should look like.

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How do you bridge the disconnect between urban, inner-city experience and living on the land. How can we ensure students have land-based experiences that feed their social, emotional, spiritual health?
This is such a good question. In many inner-city schools there isn't green space or forest space near the school. Often the families in these schools don't have the funds for field trips outside of their neighborhood to have these experiences. How do we as educators open these experiences up for these students?

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Building on Emma and Robert's comments and questions about what educators can do to counter post-industrial Euro-centric cultural policies and practices where land (our Earth) is exploited for economic and political gain with little or no regard of the consequences, we as educators can bring in Indigenous pedagogy and resources that introduces Indigenous knowledge about land sustainability and stewardship.

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I liked Nanki's comment about how our education system is still stuck in the industrial era. We're still grading students and labelling them and assessing them based on their potential. This is utterly a Western way that erases identity and focuses on the conformity of students and workers to make the system efficient. I also agree with Emma's comment about how we should be more student-focused and centred. When you're in school, there is an untold expectation that one must change to fit in, and it is how identity is (unintentionally) erased - but if we can focus on the student and the identity and the place from which they are from, perhaps we can move away from this and move away from this expectation of conformity.

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I agree what Takami said about how we are so disconnected to our land and place due to the industrial revolution. I do feel like society expects us to live in a structured timeline and this can cause a huge disconnect to our land and place and even ourselves. I think this ties in with the article because when our timelines are different, we can share new ideas and stories that keeps us engaged and supports in our learning.

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I thought that the storytelling discussion was a very important aspect especially as elementary educators because it is engaging for students and they want to learn. But we need to make sure that we aren't telling Indigenous stories for them. I think that bringing in the community to make a lesson plan is a great idea to make sure that all voices are heard.
I thought that the discussion about the colonial views of what we are supposed to do in our life was important to think about. I thought that Emma's point was a good way to look at it which was that people's culture was taken from them and the white culture was forced onto them and that view is what they are supposed to do.

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Are we separated from our land based stories?
In the past, generations of families lived in the same land for many years. Now, it is normalized and encouraged to move out and move to other places. The options are endless of where you can live, rather than knowing one place well. In fact, you can live one place and work in another because of online/at home working practices. Or people often work in one place one week, and then go home to another place for a week. I think that this mobile, globalization of our culture and generation separates us from the land and the knowledge that comes from being in one place for a long time.

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"long before the university was established, this land was used for education.
The Musqueam people used the peninsula as a training site for their youth" Emma Spenner Norman.  This stood out for me from the other article.... UBC is on Musqueam land.  Are they being intentional about how they are teaching?  Are they honoring the land in any meaningful way?

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Nanki's point about our school and work systems still modeling after the industrial revolution era systems was very powerful. Things truly haven't really changed in such a long time, and all of these systems show how much more work we have to do to become less colonial and less western within our teaching. De-centering our expectations and ways as Emma said is the first step to decolonizing our education system.

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I agree that story telling is a vital part of learning because stories hold information about relationships and building that relationship is a huge part of the SEL as well. I appreciate Bianca's point about being intentional when connection to the content from stories.

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I like what you said Bianca about being intentional about what we are teaching.  Really evaluate the purpose behind it and being intentional about viewing it through a lens other than the white man's perspective is important.

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The land and places we belong to contextualize meaning to our life. I appreciate how the group discussion encourages deep introspection to the ties I have with the land. Through our connection with the land, we experience emotions, memories, and learning. What a powerful reminder that land shapes our identity and life experiences.

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Takami's point about society norms regarding the sequencing of life is really interesting. How we are pushed in our society by our family or what have you to live life in a certain way is thought-provoking. However, this is a colonial view of living. What can we do as educators to remove this ideology and how can we repair the harm this may have caused is a big question to consider. But I think by being intentional and constantly seeking education to reframe thinking would help to create a meaningful environment for all students and lead to positive change.

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I appreciate Emma and Bianca's point about stories have elements that are essential for students to truly comprehend and connect. Robert's idea about the disruptions between stories had me contemplating; in what ways are educators including Indigenous stories? Stories that have Indigenous language embedded is powerful in teaching and learning with connections to Indigenous knowledge. As educators, I think being cognizant of the intent to which we hope for students to learn is critical; for instance, are we reflecting upon the FPPoL? Are the students understanding about the 'why' behind the content? Seeking resources that support integrating Indigenous Perspectives in the school curriculum is one responsible step, and seeking consultation.

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There were some really good points made in this discussion. For one I agree with the importance and power of storytelling. Storytelling is such a great tool that can help children and adults alike connect and make relations to stories. I also think that storytelling is a powerful tool that can help us connect to the land and stories of the land. Bianca made a really good point of being intentional with our teaching and learning. Reading and telling stories need to be intentional and children should be aware of the intent behind storytelling and as well as the intent of sharing specific stories.

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I like what you said Emma about when you tell the "white story" you are only telling half of the story. When we teach from that perspective, students are not being taught holistically and as authentically as they could be. There are so many resources available to us in today's world of education that we as educators can put in the extra effort to source out stories that centre indigenous voices.

I agree with the point Bianca brought up about intentionality. The content of our teaching is just as important as our intention behind it. Why are we choosing to teach the things we do? Why are we not including certain resources? How can we as educators shift our perspective from the colonial way of teaching to a decolonized approach grounded in the First Peoples Principles of Learning?

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I agree with Emma that storytelling is such a powerful tool that should be used in teaching. Especially, for teaching young children who can really relate and connect to stories. I agree with these points and think storytelling is such a powerful way to connect knowledge to the land and place where an individual is learning. My question would be, if you are teaching science within a story or by beginning with a story, how do you know what story to tell?

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I love the two perspectives that have been brought up about the idea of storytelling. On one hand, stories are super engaging and they're a great teaching tool, especially when working with children. However, it is important to think about whose story we are living, and whose story we are pushing onto others. I thought that Takami's point about how our colonial story has always been about "what's next" was super interesting and something that I definitely notice with how I was brought up.

I like what Phil brought up about making personal connection to the land. I think by doing this, it shifts the story that we are following towards a decolonized lens, and it makes that story more universal rather than everyone complying to one person's/type of person's story.

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Takami’s point about how some people follow other peoples’ narratives makes me think about how many different “stories” people may live with or live by. There may be collective, familial stories people have as parts of their lives in addition to their own individual stories. There also may be narratives from society that inform the paths that people take. I wonder how people reconcile the differences or contradictions these narratives may contain in order to feel cohesion within one’s story.

I think that the question of what prevents people from connecting to land and place is an important one. It’s saddening to think that before cities and industrialization that people had more access to nature and land. This ties into a larger question about climate change and I wonder how resistance to wanting to make change to save the planet may be tied to people not having access to witness the beauty and necessity of the natural world.

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I liked Takami's point about taking knowledge from people who have more expertise in than you is valuable to know since it is best to talk to an expert about a subject before you decide to teach it yourself to ensure that you have the correct knowledge.

The idea of using intentional stories to build relationships, make units engaging, sets the stage and context for where you are telling this story, learn about the land. BUT whose story are you telling... we are pushed in so many directions from other people whose story is most heard. We need to change the story that has been written and edit the story to not be this colonial view on things.

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I agree, bringing in experts and community members
are important when developing lessons and building a sense of connectedness. At the same time, it allows teachers to teach in a way that is intentional and takes into consideration the values and different perspectives of those in our community. In addition, this consideration and intention can draw on students intrinsic motivation, as they are able to make deeper connections to more engaging and relatable content.

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Connecting with the First Peoples Principle of learning, that learning is embedded in memory, history, and story, I agree with the point about using story to teach students how to build relationships, to bring people together, and make connections with land and place. There is a grave disconnect between us and our stories living in a western society that conforms to successive and repetitive patterns of being. I agree that we have to return to the point of grounding our students and even ourselves in the circles of belonging and connection. Land and place are important in shaping our identity, thus grounding who we are is a great start in establishing a meaningful relationship with them. I agree with Phil’s point about the contrast of western and Indigenous approaches to geography, and the importance of finding a balance of that information with relation.

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Gathering the community to create a lesson plan is such a great and holistic way to teach. Every voice is heard and all opinions can be discussed and taken into consideration. This goes hand-and-hand with storytelling because it is a collaborative piece that all people are apart of. It recognizes communities as opposed to one voice. Working collaboratively is so beneficial for the adults lesson planning but also as an act to model to our learners.

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I completely agree with Emma's point about storytelling being such an important aspect of learning; it's engaging, and I think it's a great way to incorporate place/land-based learning into content teaching. As Bianca mentioned, storytelling is an important part for everyone, but especially for young children, who experience everything through the lens of stories. Most children find it easier to connect and form relationships when they are told stories.

Takami's point about 'sharing the knowledge' is extremely powerful. I believe that students working together to learn from one another is critical. As Robert mentioned, this is an important aspect of Indigenous pedagogies, so I believe it's critical to create that learning space within our classroom, not only when learning about Indigenous knowledge and practises, but also to truly embed it within our classroom environment/atmosphere because it's such a powerful way to learn.

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Talking Circle

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I agree with Emma on her point about story telling. I think it's an important aspect of education that we need to incorporate more of. FPPL tells us that learning is embedded in memory, history, and story. The difficult part is finding those stories to share. Western perspective have given us an endless supply of his-story. Our jobs as teachers is to find stories that represent all. We can research different stories about land and place and help our students have a deeper understanding in their learning.

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I think everyone brought up excellent points about how storytelling can be a great way to create that personal connection to what we are learning. Also as a way to create a deeper and more organic connection to land and space. Phil's comment about making a point to create that personal meaning to everything that is being taught really resonated with me as I have been reflecting a lot on ways in which I can do this daily within my teaching practice. Bianca also made a point early on in the discussion that we need to be able to incorporate Indigenous perspectives and ways of knowing while at the same time utilizing aspects of the Westernized form of education that we are so accustomed to. Bridging that gap is something that I have really been reflecting on throughout the entirety of this course. Storytelling is one way in both perspectives can be intertwined and as we have been learning provides such a great way for students to connect and provide that sense of wonder that we are all aiming to achieve as educators.