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Note: I originally posted this in the asynchronous Padlet by mistake. This was originally written Jan. 28/22 after the Symposium.

For this week’s asynchronous activity, I attended the “Decolonizing Together Symposium”. The focus of the symposium was on Decolonizing Teaching, Indigenizing Learning, with talks lead by Carolyn Roberts and Arlo Kempf.

Two things that really stood out to me during this session were the idea of acknowledging more than one perspective/acknowledging other ways of learning, as well as a question (and answer) that came up about how to decolonize/Indigenize assessment.

Carolyn Roberts made us think about how, as teachers/teacher candidates, we can bring in other/multiple/different perspectives into the classroom. The idea of acknowledging and talking about more than one perspective, as well as acknowledging different ways of learning, really resonated with me. Carolyn explained the idea of perspectives through a lesson plan on dams, and gave examples of questions we could ask students (ie. who is the dam impacting? Whose livelihood depends on the dam being here? What animals are being affected? Who chose to put the dam here?). It reminds us that there is more than one side to a story. It also reminded me that the First People’s Principles of Learning are one of these ways of learning that are not (or have not been) present in our school systems. This encourages me to talk about these perspectives in the classroom, which could help students make different kinds of connections to what they are doing or what/how they are learning.

I interpreted the different ways of learning as acknowledging that all students are in different places in their learning journey, regardless of the “grade” they are in (which was also talked about by Carolyn). I suppose an advantage of the art classroom, in terms of age/grade level, is that there is often a range of grade levels/ages/abilities in each class (or at least, what I know from my experience up until now). This has me thinking about how I can keep assignments open ended, or allow for many different possibilities for learning depending on the student/learner. Schools can often put students into boxes, but I hope that students will feel like they have a bit more freedom and autonomy in the classes I teach.

The second thing that stood out to me was the question about decolonizing/Indigenizing assessment (I think Selena asked the question!). For those of us taking the assessment course right now, I’m sure many of us read the most recent reading about getting rid of rubrics, which I am very on board with. Again, I’m thinking in terms of an art classroom here, so I don’t know how this would work in other subjects or how teachers from other subjects feel about this, but I really love the idea of having discussions and giving verbal/written/personal feedback rather than rating students on a scale. Even a proficiency scale that isn’t a letter/number grade is still a scale. Earlier today in that assessment class, someone brought up how there is a conflict between honouring that students are at different parts of a learning journey, but that we still having to assess them against a competency/curriculum. Selena's question in the symposium chat reminded me of this comment. It really has me thinking about the impacts of how we assess, and how assessment is a western/colonial system used to rate and kind of decide who moves ahead and who doesn’t. I have/do benefit(ed) from this system. It has me feeling a bit frustrated because I know in the current school system, even if we don’t give a grade for assignments, we have to give a final course mark. But I don’t think grades are always proof of learning... It becomes a bit daunting thinking about how to dismantle this... During the Q&A at the end, Arlo Kempf mentioned something about teachers (or professors?) who were getting punished or fired for giving students As as long as they were engaged with learning (I think I heard this right?! ie. the grade was kind of arbitrary, the teacher/prof just wanted the students to feel like they were learning no matter what). I remember asking one of my professors last semester if I could just give all the students As as long as they were just willing to show up and learn, so this comment definitely made my eyebrows raise a bit when I heard it (if I heard it correctly!).

Some final (pretty big) takeaways for me from this evening’s talk were about stepping into discomfort, being “Imperfect Accomplices”, and situating ourselves/our perspectives in the work that we do. It feels scary for sure, to be uncomfortable, and as Arlo mentioned, and Sheila reiterated in her post, as a white person I’ve had the luxury of walking away from uncomfortable situations. But not taking action is starting to feel more uncomfortable (if that makes sense). I know I need to put in the work, and actually do the work (not just think about it or say it).

There was so much more from the talks this evening that I feel like I still need to process… I’m thankful for the opportunity to have attended.

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Taking a few days to digest the information learnt at the “decolonizing together symposium”, I was able to properly reflect on my take aways from the conference. Im really grateful to everyone and Robert that shared their stories sand trauma in the talking circle. Attending this symposium, and with our classes, I am thankful to be given the opportunity to listen in these taking circles - I never truly got to (until now) feel how emotional, therapeutic, engaging and reflective taking circles like this (the conference) can be for not just the people sharing their trauma, but for all the listeners who have gained a new first hand perspective and insight. - This was one of my biggest, most moving, take aways from this symposium.

This made me reflect on my education in high school art, and how I want to conduct my art classrooms. Having done the IB program in high school, and now as part of the IB cohort, I am noticing that the course load for IB art is gruelling for both the teachers and the students. I hope to be able to create a space or time especially for IB classes where students can engage in more collaborative artworks and group discussions.
In university I realized the benefits of having open informal discussions, and experienced first hand how the discussed aided our creativity and idea generating process. I think having open informal talking circles weekly, or bi-weekly where students can discuss a variety of topics will help with the sharing of different knowledge, community/group building, and can help with sparking creativity.

Reflecting on my privilege as an educator in a western colonial system, I recognize that I have had the opportunity and access to higher education. I have been supported by my family financially which has allowed me to see more financial, educational, and medical stability. I have also had the privilege to travel and have access to resources more conveniently. I recognize, having some from a colonial systems, the complexities of a colonial education system and society. As educators we also have the privilege to shape the knowledge and values we share with the next generation.
With Indigenous education, I have felt discomfort in presenting Indigenous resources as I am cautious not to disrespect any individual or community by sharing a story/resource in an incorrect manner. However, with this course, and the practicum coming up soon I’m feeling more prepared and confident in knowing how to share respectfully and getting permission.

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Carolyn talked about anti-colonial education as being community based, collaborative, and focused on building relationships (with yourself, your community, and the land). That is something that needs to be improved on in our school system. From what I've seen, school is still a very competitive place where everyone is focused on their own work and there are minimal interactions and collaborations between classmates. People studying in the same class may not even share a single conversations with each other.(or know each other's name!) I hope to work on that in my practicum and encourage more interactions and collaborations in my classroom. I think an important purpose of schooling is personal growth. Students are not just learning contents and memorizing informations from a text book, they are developing as a person, learning more about who they are and what their roles and responsibilities are in the world. They are developing social skills and building their own values. That growth and learning cannot be achieved individually. It is a collective effort achieved through meaningful experiences and interactions.

I think part of my discomfort comes from wondering if I could correctly represent and teach a culture that I knows little about.  It's like seeing a White person talk all about Chinese culture and traditions. There's this awkwardness to it. But when Carolyn talked about how it's not just about teaching a foreign culture but about teaching more than one perspectives, about history, about the land, and about what knowledge is and could be, I feel that it opens up more possibilities.

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Arlo and Carolyn’s presentations were incredibly impactful. I appreciated Carolyn bringing up the Save on Foods ad and who’s narrative is being told. It was only a few years ago that I learned of the Sumas Lake and started researching about it. Prior to taking my community art practice, I had no idea that a lake existed in that section of the Fraser Valley. Upon reading, “Before We Lost the Lake” by Chad Reimer as part of a research project for my Community Arts Practice, I was shocked to learn about how destructive and disruptive the draining of the lake was area and Indigenous community. It was central for everything for centuries. I made me question, what else has been destroyed and then covered up. Why isn’t more of the local area’s history being taught within our classrooms?

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Today's presentations are insightful and eye-opening. I especially love the idea of the balance of safe and brave spaces brought up in the Q&A section. I think the talking circle we have in our course is a great approach to implement it. People in the inner circle are in the brave space and are encouraged to step out of their comfort zone to share their experiences and understandings. At the same time, they are supported by people outside the circle and their thoughts can be further developed.

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Both Arlo and Carolyn's presentations were very insightful and I learned a lot in such a short amount of time. What I took away from Carolyn's presentation was that it's okay to be imperfect and to run towards our feelings of fear and discomfort. What's important is that we need to understand ourselves and our privileges and to take action. I feel that we often say "I don't know enough about Indigenous Peoples to teach students", but we need to remember that it's our responsibility to learn and to remove all those excuses we make for ourselves to avoid discomfort.
Another thing she said that stayed with me was that we need to teach more than one perspective. I didn't know the truth about that Save-on-Foods commercial she shared with us. It is crucial for us to teach more than one perspective so that we can get straight to the truth.

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Robert, and everyone,... I am curious as to your thoughts on Carolyn's use of language and whether you think that there is opportunity to advocate passionately without potentially alienating people who are truly needed to do this important work?

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From listening to both the inspiring talk tonight, I started to think of a blind spot of the BEd program that was highlighted by Kempf and expanded upon by Robert. This being that a fundamental part of our training is through our practicum, and it is difficult to bring about a paradigm change and break the perpetuation of complacency towards truly integrating indigenous education when the “teacher education programs have little control over the practicum experience which can perpetuate racism.” Kempf said that “culture beats training 10 days out of 10.” While there have been many discussions on anti-racism and incorporating indigenous ways of learning into teaching, the discipline-specific pedagogy courses have not provided enough tools or the practice to develop anti-racist and indigenous-focused lessons.

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I find that in order to teaching from a decolonizing perfectives involve teaching from multiple perspectives and that our education is colonized by teaching from only a western perspective is extremely powerful. It makes reflect back to my own heritage where Japanese historical education completely erases the atrocities that was committed against the Chinese people during the second world war. It really drives home the importance of the narrative which we teach.

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Arlo used a phrase that I found appropriate to the way a lot of issues are handled today. He mentioned something to the effect, "if you are cleaning out your closet it has to be from top to bottom". A tall order when people's attention is segmented in a way like never before. Makes me think that the challenge is going to be able to hold peoples attention span long enough to get them to really listen

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Another take away from Arlo Kempf's talk is the need to recognize one's own background, culture and privileges as this will give us better insight on this could affect our teaching and in turn how this affects our students.

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The ideas of teaching from an anti-racism perspective and a racially informed approach is very important to the advancement of decolonization as it's not enough just to recognize that racism occurs even at the most subtle levels from just educating from a western perspective to our every day interactions with students, but we are informing the growth and decisions of future generation and as such need to take a more active approach in rectifying the current inequalities that occur in the lives of our students and prevent the cycle of racism from continuing.

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Going along with what Arlo Kempf was saying on the topic of challenges by Teacher Educators in effecting discomfort, one of the points he mentioned is the moments when a teacher educator's personal politics or lived experience make dialogues of discomfort difficult to navigate. I can relate very personally to this because I have experienced teachers who are pretty against and outwardly expressive about their views on the inclusion of Indigenous Ways of Knowing in academia. "It's a bother", or "I hate it and the kids hate it too", or "They should just assimilate". They are always very one sided, uncomfortable conversations. That kind of perspective makes it very difficult to have a healthy and open conversation about the necessary changes we need in our pedagogy and school environments. Obviously I just let those comments flow in one ear and out the other, but it's sad to hear that there are many people who struggle to see the benefits and the need for the inclusion of Indigenous pedagogy; Not only for working towards decolonization, but for having those difficult conversations about racism, biases, stereotypes, and much more.