As a future educator, we are currently learning how to create a tangible unit plan for the classroom we are assigned to teach. The goal for our unit plans are for our students to learn through various ways, while balancing the traditional and authentic assessments that are required for us to evaluate and examine our student’s progress. We started our classroom discussion by introducing the UbD template under the USASK College of Education page tools and resources, which is under field experience. We are able to use this template, as we will be doing our pre internship and our internship in between our four years at the College of Education campus. We discussed the desired outcomes that our students should attain based on our own personal experiences as High School students. Another topic we discussed was evidence of achieving these outcomes, how much we should apply, when, and how? Although I wasn’t able to suggest or apply knowledge towards our class discussion today, I was able to write it. I suggested that our students are not alike when it comes to learning. Our generation should know this and should apply this and create around this as we are assessing our students. I have learned to consider using the method of backwards planning. The idea of backwards planning is assessing first in order to create a common goal within the classroom for inclusion throughout, and accessible learning strategies.

As we began to unpack our personal goals for our unit plans and how we can shape our unit plans to suit the goals of the whole classroom, we were also introduced to the “traditional and authentic” assessments that are currently used, used in the past, what worked and what didn’t work. During this time, I especially enjoyed our classroom discussion on the pros and cons of “teacher structured” versus “student structured”. I believe in equality in the classroom. Teachers may have more resources and experience, but if students and teachers collaborate in the classroom to showcase classroom inclusiveness, assessments can be created around everyone’s exceptions and abilities. Breaking down formative and summative assessments and essential questions is another idea for classroom discussions/motivational set. Presenting the idea and goal with collaboration gives students the chance to invest and relate to the topic of discussions, which can create interest throughout.

When it comes to place based learning, I think of innovation. I think of how educators use innovation to step outside of the box when it comes to teaching about our lands, our surroundings, plants, species, and others that live among our lands. Place based learning takes our students outside of the classroom and onto our first classroom; the land. Using natural resources with the help of other resources such as research, textbooks, experts, elders, keepers of the lands, etc. can create new knowledge for our learners. Taking students outside of the classroom environment creates visuals that we cannot explain enough using texts. Being outside creates awareness of our surroundings, and how we can use natural resources to explain what is in our textbooks. Students should not be subjected to a desk, and as much as I love classroom discussions, they sometimes just aren’t enough, especially for avid learners. Place based education also helps students understand that they are also prime examples of place based education. Teaching students that self awareness and self reflection is important, as they are responsible for their own knowledge of what they learn and how they can use it in and out of the classroom.

I began my education journey in 2014. My son was a year old at the time. Unfortunately, I was unable to showcase my intentions as a future teacher, as I was unsure if this was the right journey for myself. I was unsure if teaching was suited for me, as I felt that I was far too young and inexperienced to be responsible for our youth’s future. I gave it a shot, and throughout the years I am finding myself and I am learning how to unpack my own intergenerational traumas and turning them into life lessons. As a First Nations female, I have had many opportunities to overcome obstacles, which I did. As cliche as it sounds, these obstacles, whether I have failed or overcame, have taught me to move forward. They have guided me to sociology, how to teach others about self-worth, identity, self-reflection, and most importantly, self-love. I’ve had many teachers in my past, inside the classroom and outside, who I owe a great deal of gratitude towards. If it wasn’t for their words of encouragement, I would not have had the courage to keep fighting, internally and physically, for what our ancestors have taught us, and for what they have infused into our minds. They may not be among us today, but it is up to us to continue the legacy that they have created for us. Using our voices to create equality in many aspects of our lives being one of them. Our ancestors were not given a voice or platform, so I believe that we can continue this healing journey by creating a positive platform for the voices that were not heard. A great start can be inside the classroom, where students are eager to learn and eager to take on challenges for their time in society. Creating strong minds can lead to strong belief systems, which creates a domino effect of diverse perspectives among our nation(s). As I continue to learn, I will continue to challenge my mind and body to new knowledge, which I am hoping to use as resources in the classroom(s).

As a First Nations female, I have the honour of creating self-awareness within myself, in order to become a teacher, and a future leader. In order to create self-awareness, I must understand myself as an individual through many constructive and critical perspectives. Reflecting my identity as a First Nations individual can mean finding my own sense of self as the center rather than external concepts or frameworks, using personal identity and self reflection to expose myself and my goals, finding self identity to create a better understanding of who I am. Having an understanding of who my family is, my territory, researching a part of our FNIM history, what we know, what we practice, how we use these to continue moving forward. Using old teachings such as unending, continuous, inter generational stories of our lives. These stories continue throughout our blood relatives, as they are who we are as individuals and a community. They are the main source and responsibility of passing on the history of our people. Mainstream textbooks do not inform mainstream society about the history of First Nations’ people, as the stories we tell are performed in ceremonies, they have proper protocol, as they cannot be told just at any time, there is always a time and a place for these to be told, in maturity and self awareness, before being told. In the current era, we must understand that accuracy, accountability, awareness, and mutual respect in FNIM content must be present in order to create proper understandings to teach FNIM content. In other words, you don’t necessarily have to be FNIM to teach FNIM content, but respecting the value of generational teachings is important. Also, understanding that it is okay to ask elders, or storytellers to be in the presence of the classroom to teach their ways, as they are spiritual guides for the youth. In the future, preferably in adulthood, your teachings from your childhood becomes clear, as it is relevant to what you experience- our teachings go unnoticed and sometimes unplanned. For example, my passion project was just another pre-written novel, based on generations of teachings from my ancestors, waiting to be re-opened. I was given the honor of these stories and teachings not only for myself, but for those who need to hear them. I feel as I was given a voice to teach, and in order to teach, I must continue to be open to teachings. Finding ways or activities to teach students can create a sense of self-reflection and self-awareness, which are huge goals for our curriculum. I did not learn these things from the textbooks, but from oral teachings, which I can now incorporate into classroom teachings and curriculum. Being open minded to FNIM perspectives challenges anti-oppression for our faculty staff and students, for generations to come. The cycle of oppression, biases on FNIM content, or any diverse content for that matter can be closed. It may not have started with this generation, but it can end here.

• Challenging forms of oppression through the ideology of anti-oppression

In 2018, I was given a few articles to read, few of them written by Kevin Kumashiro, during my first Professional Development Day at Mount Royal Collegiate in Saskatoon. The theme of these articles was based on creating an anti-oppressive environment. A few things that I have learned in that one day was that diversity will always be an ongoing learning process, so having to gain knowledge on how to touch on subject in regards to multiculturalism needs to be a learned task, considering your own background and how it effected yourself in the past, present, and in the future. Then, using those skills to attend to teaching students. Also, the importance of the effectiveness of teachers, how teachers can help navigate a student to understand multiculturalism in the classrooms, in order to understand society. One common misconception of challenging oppression is the consequences of unpacking anti-oppressive education, as it will include a deep commitment to changing how educators conceptualize and engage in:

1. curriculum: breaking down the syllabus and having a visual present for the classroom creates consistency, an articulate timeline of classroom management for learners and teachers. Using anti-oppressive strategies in the curriculum opens doors to diversity, which can help create multiple learning and teaching strategies. Consider personal issues that peers face, in which some cases, are not planned. Understanding that how we respond to the world is how we see the world. Enlightenment between students and teachers should be mutual.

2. pedagogy: multiple methods can be used to “teach” multicultural education, such as evaluation/participation among classroom/faculty staff in the school(s). This can be unpacked by having a vision of what it actually means to you as an individual first, and how levels of understanding multiculturalism steers our emotions towards education and open-minds.

3. classroom management: understanding that undergoing (a few) process(es) of personal transformation, in regards to the ideologies of inferiority, realizing that having appropriate and sympathetic communication with students is another analogical step used to create self-awareness

4. school culture: researching tools to help you understand, then, to teach these areas. Bringing value, and believing in the values you bring, to everyday situations and how they create oppression, and how to help make it better within the school’s environment. Then, in the classroom, having students break down the topic of multicultural education by using different exercises, such as group discussions, to form a critical analysis of the topic. Having diverse perspectives can lead to many open and interesting conversations, if instructed correctly.

Unpacking anti-oppression can become controversial, as it can mean making a huge amount of changes in the environment, political beliefs, structure, policies, and having the idea that commonsense is present in everyone. Oppression can often lead to biases, ignorance within the environment, which can withhold the ideology of diversity, inquiry, and open-mindedness. Constantly learning about oppression (race, gender, sexism, class-ism) can help individuals understand that having to undergo a process of personal transformation in order to recognize and reject racial ideologies of superiority is a step toward an anti-oppressed education.

Policy related to diverse related issues are a sensitive matter, which can be addressed accordingly, while using your ideology in educating learning students. We as teachers need to have an open mind when it comes to teaching multicultural perspectives in the classroom, in order to prevent culture misappropriation. As teachers, we have the responsibility, which is an important one I may add, to decolonize our classrooms by inviting diversity into the classroom. Whether it is guest speakers, multimedia resources, or international texts, we need to address that diversity is not to be ignored, and assumed that students will eventually understand misappropriation when it comes to diversity. In fact, multicultural perspectives in Social Studies are considered to become a “colour-blind” free zone, as discussed by Carla Peck. Canadian citizens can no longer believe that underneath our skin color we are “all the same”, as it is stated that “what we don’t know can hurt me”. I stand alongside this statement. As individuals, we should not be seen or identified by through race or the color of our skin. We all can be viewed by our cultural beliefs or traditions, but as knowledgeable individuals with different ethnic views. This does not mean that we are all the same, but we can come together, as Canadian citizens, to create a true diverse Nation. One way for us, as educators, to teach this to our students is to make them aware that the differences which make us ethnically diverse creates multiple perspectives when it comes to curriculum. Giving students the chance to look through different world views can create multiple critical lenses for students, which ultimately means critical thinking and learning in each subject.

Curriculum development in all subject areas states that the principles of anti racism equity “should equip all students with the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviours needed to live and work effectively in an increasingly diverse world, and encourage them to appreciate diversity and reject discriminatory attitudes and behaviour.” I also agree with this statement, as in my own experiences, I was often judged based on looks before knowledge. Prejudice and bias opinions creates a stigma among minorities, which leads to the inability or lack of desire to explore outside of the boundaries that have been created. Being appreciated and appreciating diversity in and out of the classrooms creates new knowledge when it comes to ethnic diversity and understanding that having different opinions is okay. As a teacher, attending workshops hosted by the school board is mandatory, as re learning anti-oppression in the workplace creates new resources that can be incorporated into lessons for your students. Setting standards and living these standards creates new development into curriculum, and lived curriculum. The more you learn, the more you understand what you teach, the more you will believe in your own teachings, so teach what is right and all will fall into place, as you grow.