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talking circle

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"We have been taught that when we speak we need to be right." How do we teach children to feel free to speak and discuss without needing to have the right answers, just an openness to the other and an openness to learning.

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being uncomfortable is important and should be recognized as being okay when we are teaching our students. I really liked this point made by Daniella, that we do not have to be right and know everything. Our learning is a place where questions are important to discovering new ideas..

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I really like Robert's point about teaching being political. I think being neutral is very harmful. If there are staff or parents who don't agree with my position, I don't think that should stop me as a teacher. Kids need to learn the real history, they need to be distrupted. To fully understand the histrories you have to be uncomfortable. Especially with intermediate grades. In regards to uncomfortable conversations, thats why its so important for us to have safe judgement free classrooms.

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"I want systems in place that we don't need to be resilient from!"
That is so profound! Yes resiliency is so important in children- but we don't want to be teaching in systems that force children to be resilient! What systems in our school system force our Indigenous students to be resilient? How do we create spaces of safety and protection for students to grow in naturally and comfortably.

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Stepping away from the notion of being a perfect stranger requires a certain amount of openness and humility. As teachers, we may be better equipped to teach about and bring awareness to Indigenous knowledge/cultures/issues when we are willing to reflect on what we don't know rather than only what we do know. Bias, in my opinion, is the enemy of true reconciliation.

Expanding on Daniella's point about being comfortable feeling uncomfortable, I think this is a great antidote to break down biases we may have and work towards a reconciliatory spirit both with others and within ourselves.

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"Whose story are we telling"
Restorying= Restoring
We need to tell new stories.

Telling new stories requires active, intentional action of reflecting on whose stories we normally or feel more comfortable with telling or are naturally drawn to and going out of our way to find stories that tell something different or from a different point of view. There is a need to choose stories that are not normally shared, with characters that are not normally seen, with images that reflect those in the minority. I think it is so important for minority groups (specifically Indigenous people) to see themselves in the stories we tell and the images that we show.

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I related to Danielle and her question of "who is a perfect stranger?".
I feel that everyone is a perfect stranger at different levels. It is important for us to take responsibility for our own journey's but it is also important to be aware that we are on a journey and to recognize that we are all different and go at our own pace. The group brought up a good point that we need to remove our biases and stereotypes and replace them with seeking out knowledge and learn.
I was inspired by Alex's strong and important point that we can start re-storying and restoring this by removing ourselves from the white savor complex and the view of "us and them" and changing it to being an ally who can understand and support the Indigenous peoples with what they want and need and not what we think they want.

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Alex, YES!
I'm so guilty of the savior complex. Why is it this way? And how do we quiet our selves to let other voices rise.... but how quiet? When is the right time to speak? I suppose as educators we can start with respectfully inviting to the table our Indigenous leaders and work alongside them in hopes that it becomes the norm for future generations.

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"What is a perfect stranger?" "What caused you to be a perfect stranger?"

Daniella described the perfect stranger as someone who is a bystander. Which I think everyone can resonate with. We have to be honest with ourselves about what we have been ignorant to, did we pass up on the opportunity to grow and learn, and take the responsibility of becoming more aware. We don't have to learn it all, we won't have answers to everything or feel exactly what people felt but the first step is becoming more open, to listen and ask questions. I think it is important to add in experiences and activities into the classroom will create awareness in youth at a young age. It will create curiosity for kids to conduct further research on their own and to also educate people around them. That would be a step in the right direction of eliminating the "perfect stranger". We are all classified as the perfect stranger as we are aware of the injustices occurring around us and how we need to stand with them. Alex shared how we don't need to "just feel bad" but it is about how we need to stand together united rather than us peering down on them which creates a "us vs. them".

Questions that came up for me is that how can we let the Indigenous community feel that we are understanding them, that we want to understand them, and how we could be there for them rather than just obtaining an understanding and doing nothing with it. Not all sources available on the internet are reliable so how can we ask questions without offending. How can we help them feel heard when we feel as though our voices aren't enough in any situation.

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"The Perfect Stranger"- The desire to absolve guilt- I wasn't born yet; it wasn't me that put them in the schools; I didn't directly hurt anyone.

Maybe the "Perfect Strange" mentality for many people in Canada comes from the inability for many (settler) people to feel connected to their culture, heritage or ancestors. If we don't feel like we are apart of our history or ancestors, then we feel no responsibility for the atrocities that happened in the past because that has nothing to do with us.

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I think Kaitlyn's point is important. Moving away from being a "perfect stranger" doesn't mean that we have to therefore be a "perfect expert". I think allowing ourselves to see those categories as non-dichotomous provides space for us to unlearn and relearn, even imperfectly.

I wonder - how do we ensure our students, who do identify as Indigenous, have their voices heard and space to share their expertise about their lived experiences without putting them on the spot or without unintentionally "Othering" them?

I think Robert's point about resilience makes me think about the question of who is responsible for truth and reconciliation? If people have to be resilient about their circumstances that somewhat places responsibility on people who have been wronged, instead of on the system that wronged people.

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I agree with Kaitlin, we don't have to know it all. But we have to be willing to learn. We cannot be ignorant, we cannot put Indigenous education on the backburner. I think in schools it has to be just as important if not more than academics. Because by teaching Indigenous Education we are teaching our kids not to be ignorant, and teaching them that it matters and we must learn the hard truths.

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I think it can be a very overwhelming task to move away from being a perfect stranger. I think Kaitlyn's point about not having to be an expert right away is really important because it can help us begin to unlearn our biases.
I think that the curriculum could be limiting to teachers because it provides a political aspect of what the government "wants" to be taught, which is dangerous because this is how the atrocities at residential schools were brushed under the rug for so long. How do we know when stories need to be retold through a different lens?
"Cancel culture" on social media is definitely something that fuels the fear of always needing to say the right thing, and so often people just stay silent and end up becoming a "perfect stranger"

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I wonder how honest we can be with ourselves as to how we've been perfect strangers, and how we might be continuing this way of being considering all the information and facts we know now?
What are we doing in our everyday lives that perpetuates this way of being?
Is there a daily practice that we could do to walk alongside our Indigenous friends in a meaningful way that could help us reconnect and heal the relationship?

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A starting point is the acknowledgement. I liked the point that it's okay to not be experts- this is a lifelong process and learning experience where we co-learn and develop awareness. Saying "I don't know", and then not making an effort to 'know', is an excuse.

We can't sit back as bystanders, as Daniela mentioned, and claim that it is someone else's problem.
The past still lives today in the hearts of those who were affected, who experienced the trauma. We live on unceded territory, we profit off the land and its resources. We can't say that we aren't a part of Indigenous peoples' history when we live from it every single day. We are here because of it.

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I think Alex made such an important note regarding stepping back and listening to Indigenous voices as a guide in classrooms. To me, it reminded me of the importance of land acknowledgements and being able to connect to them on a personal level. Asking ourselves who's land we're on, who was here before us, asking ourselves why they're no longer here and how we benefit from that is so important! As people who function, play and learn on this land, we all directly benefit from the colonization of it. Once we take away our entitled mindset of the land and see ourself as a guest- we inevitably respect it more. Whether it be in a classroom or not, this awareness of our positionality ultimately gives space to amplify the voices and perspectives of those who the land truly belongs to.

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I really appreciated the quote and interesting point from Alex about the white saviour complex and questioning why we need to be a white saviour in this situation? Why do we feel like they need to be saved? Do we do this out of our own guilt?

I like the point Giselle made about how some may think that indigenous people are just gone, because some of the information had disappeared within the classrooms for a period of time. However, it's important for us to bring that into our classrooms even if there isn't much personal knowledge of the topic.

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It is uncomfortable to reflect on your own biases. The 'perfect stranger' is someone who does not want to, or know that they need to, sit in that uncomfortable-ness in order to break down their prior understanding and be willing to learn. I have experience with 'perfect strangers' in my life, and I have been a 'perfect stranger' before (and probably still am in some ways..). Learning takes time, reflection, and intention - we must give ourselves and others these things before we can expect learning to take place. At the same time, though, we must have high expectations of others' desire to learn because learning is essential to progress.

What Robert said about "We don't want to be resilient, we want systemic change so that we don't have to be resilient because of this system any longer" is so important. It should not be people's job to be strong in the face of oppression, it should be our job (as those who benefit from this system) to change the system in a way that allows EVERYONE comfort and stability. Education is such a powerful and necessary avenue for achieving these goals.

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I like what Daniella said about relating the perfect stranger to the bystander. I think there is a lot of fear about saying or doing the wrong thing, and it stops us from engaging and learning. I also liked what Kaitlyn said about not having to know everything right away. I think that expectation leads us to not wanting to engage in the first place, whereas if we open ourselves to being lifelong learners and unlearners, it makes learning and unlearning feel more like a feasible process.

I identified so strongly with what Robert said about the classroom culture and social media lending themselves to us thinking that we have to be right all the time. That is such a big fear that I had growing up and still have, and is a big reason why I always get so nervous speaking up in class. I am always so concerned about saying the right things, and this is something I continue to work through.

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As future educators, it is crucial to deeply reflect and increase our awareness when we examine dominant discourses. One thought that comes to mind is that complacency becomes a huge barrier to our unlearning/learning and change in the education system. When we are comfortable in our biases, we are ignorant to what needs to be disrupted. We are unaware that we are teaching harmful discourses in the classroom, and how these ideas will be multiplied and reproduced.

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I relate to being anxious about saying the wrong things, but we need to learn from mistakes and learn from others. Learning with our students is important especially with Indigenous knowledge. Co-learning is key.

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I liked the idea that it's okay to not know everything, but it's also vital to be willing to learn.

Jordan's comment about being afraid of saying the wrong thing resonated with me, and I sometimes feel the same way. However, I believe it is critical to acknowledge that it is acceptable to make mistakes because we are both in the process of learning and unlearning at the same time.

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Context is everything when you are having difficult conversations like the idea of being a "perfect stranger". People need to be willing to get a bit uncomfortable to un pack the culturally dominate discourses that the majority of us had growing up in regards to understanding Indigenous people. I am a victim of it where you go about your day to day life and if it doesn't directly affect you or your family, you can often times put it on the back-burner. I believe that in order to break this cycle, as future teachers, we all need to get out of our comfort zone if we are really going to be able to educate our students and truly dive into this subject matter.

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Being mindful as educators of the underlying stories being told in the information, we are giving is huge! As Julia said textbooks surrounding history especially are skewed from a white/European/settler perspective. It is so limiting to simply educate from this lens. However, for so long this has been the educational standpoint. Dismantling these systems and creating space for more voices is integral to creating a better future for all.

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I think the more we discover of ourselves, the more able we will be in connecting with the past and understanding how we can be part of the change - educating our students and giving them the knowledge and tools needed to have a positive input in today's negative mindset. Students will have questions we do not have answers to but I believe if they see us joining them on this learning journey it will cause them to be intentional with inquiring of truth and understanding of the lands we live on.

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I wonder what I can do, as a future educator, to disrupt the perfect stranger mindset in classrooms.  What does this look like in the classroom?

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holding responsibility is key!

I appreciate the idea of co-learning with our students and creating a relationship through ethical awareness

I agree with Alex and her point about how the systems and institutions have caused so many dichotomies between settler colonial identities and Indigenous people. The "savior complex" of many does not heal or help anyone

I can understand the fear of trying to be perfect, but the responsibility of learning and understanding is needed to be greater than the fear.

It is also best to notice that we acknowledge where we are and where we came from to be here

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Being a "perfect stranger" does exist. I think teachers for instance, who may practice ineffective ways of teaching (e.g., solely projecting curricular information without making a connection or relation to students). How can students deeply understand, and be engaged in Indigenous education?
We need to emphasize to students the importance of learning about Indigenous people because we are the products of history and why we are here today.

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I appreciate what Kaitlyn said about how we don't have to know everything right away but we can be a co-learner with our students. For me, I think it was easier to be a perfect stranger because there was the pressure of having to know everything perfectly and be an expert to be able to talk about the subject. But, realizing now that I can start without knowing, and progress along with the students, use the resources and branch out for help when we need it helps to step away from being a perfect stranger.

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I think what Kaitlyn was talking about in regard to ethical learning, can be connected to what we have been learning in other classes about critical thinking. It connects to critical thinking because we have to challenge the ‘easy’ or ‘common’ way of thinking and understanding. Once we start taking responsibility for our learning and understanding and creating classroom environments that are not a result of dominant discourses, I think this could help change the narrative. This leaves me with the question of, how can we move away from dominant discourses when we are teaching and integrate indigenous education throughout all subjects, rather than teaching it as a single topic?

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I think the relation to "perfect stranger" and "bystander" is a good way of thinking of it because bystanders sit back and say "well since I'm not involved, I'm clear from controversy" but what we know now, bystanders are equally to blame for bullying behaviour in school as the bully by not asking for help or guidance

I agree with what Robert is saying that I think the fear of saying the wrong thing in school is so true. I remember being so fearful of asking a "stupid question" and peer influences. How do we as educators embrace all answers and not make our students feel ashamed of asking or inquiring?

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Questions:
If we don't have the answers - who do we go to for answers?As previously said it isn't recommended to ask indigenous people for help and answers, it is not their responsibility. So who, and how do we get help for what we don't know and to maintain the upmost respect for the culture.
I have asked a family friend for help for me to understand more of the history of indigenous people because he has an elder in his life who he has learned from. I think the passing on of true information is key which applies to our future teaching.

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Exploring and sharing your culture while also listening and acknowledge one's culture will help everyone reflect, learn and build a strong connection with the community.

I really like the idea of Daniella defining "perfect stranger" as a "bystander". Many of us prefer not to interfere in a difficult situation because we are scared or not knowledgeable about what to do or say.

When Julia mentioned how information in our textbooks would only give us the view on one side, it does not give us an opportunity to understand the other side of the story. How can we ensure we are exploring both sides of things so we can better understand the world?

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Re-storying can be a shift in perspective. Daniella brought up the question "whose story are we telling?" We know that historically it has been taught from the Westernized perspective. Moving forward, how do we amplify Indigenous voices? What sources can we access that aren't biased?

We don't want to be teaching from the "saviour complex" mindset that Alex brought up. Does the mass media help or hinder when it comes to clearly articulating Indigenous perspectives? Does is perpetuate the "saviour complex" narrative?

Tying this into the First Peoples Principles of Learning, we need to explore our own identity. This includes recognizing our own biases and getting comfortable with the uncomfortable. Who are we and what do we bring to the table? How can we facilitate conversations that are respectful and meaningful? We want to foster an environment that allows for discourse and also the grace for times when we might get things wrong.

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At some point I think we all have been "perfect strangers". We find it easier and safer to keep our distance and watch from the "outside" and not take responsibility of our learning to educate ourselves. So I think the "bystander" is an accurate term to explain the "perfect stranger".

I also agree with the point being made that we shouldn't just run to Indigenous peoples for answers and expect them to answer. Our learning is our responsibility not theirs. If they are willing to share and teach us then thats wonderful for us but we should not have these expectations of them.