Tuesday 27 September 2011

Check out the Fraser River Journey!

http://www.fraserjourney.ca/

The following from the website:
The Fraser River Journey documentary follows a group of 12 B.C. First Nations youth on a raft trip down the Fraser River. Wielding waterproof video cameras, the youths set out to document their adventures on one of the most stunning and diverse river systems in the world. In the process they learn important things about their province, their heritage, and themselves.
The documentary film and this website were created to help us take a brief look at the past, present, and future of native life in B.C. One goal of this project is to explore how Aboriginal youth can develop an identity and a place in contemporary society. Another is to show how adults are finding ways to help Aboriginal youth participate in a culture that is adapting, regenerating and changing.
Available on the website are various resources for use in the classroom. Worth checking out, I quite enjoyed the documentary but I haven’t had the opportunity to use it in the classroom myself. I would love to hear your thoughts on the documentary in the classroom if you have used it. Send your reviews to bcabeducation@gmail.com.

Friday 23 September 2011

Once I realized I wasn’t alone

The following piece is an article from Marjorie Dumont, Aboriginal Education Program Co-ordinator at the BCTF.  It is a an excellent piece.

It is a cold, crisp autumn morning.  As I make my way to the smokehouse, I can feel the dew from the long grass blades along the path.  The sun is just about to greet us so the air can be seen with each breathe I take.  When I get to the smokehouse, my mom and grandmother are already getting prepared for our long days work.  I rub my eyes, stretch and yawn. It is pretty chilly I say to myself and wish I were back in the warmth of my warm cozy bed.

Dinï ze’, ts’akë ze’, skiy ze’  Had’i’h/Greetings.  My traditional name is C’tan and my English name is Marjorie Dumont.  My father’s name is Wah tah k’eght and my mother’s name is Wila’at.  My house chief’s name is Chief Namoks.  I belong to the Tsayu clan of the Wet’suwet’en Nation.  My roots are also of the Gitksan Nation. 

I want to first of all thank the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil Watauth First Nations for allowing me to live and work on their territory.  I feel very privileged to be working for the British Columbia Teachers’ Federation as the Assistant Director for the Aboriginal Education program in the Professional and Social Issues Division.  I have learned so much from the processes of the Federation, from my colleagues within the BCTF building, as well as from the teachers and students in the public education system. 

My journey through Aboriginal education at the Federation is like my experience growing up around the smokehouse.  There were many days I felt alone as I did many mornings walking towards the smokehouse.  Yet just as my mom and grandmother appeared from front door of the smokehouse so did others appear from their offices at the BCTF building or from their schools and classrooms from around the province.

Once I realized I wasn’t alone I was able to continue with my responsibilities.  As a child, I was shown by example what my duties were at the smokehouse.  If I ever made any mistakes, I never heard my grandmother tell me that I was doing something wrong.  She would be right by my side and would help me with whatever it was that I was doing at the time.  I would see that she was doing it differently than I so I would change what I was doing to what she was doing.  I made many mistakes in my current position at the Federation and as with my experience in the smokehouse; I learned by doing and learned from my mistakes. 

I am still learning and with the many other BCTF members, we are still persevering and determined to make the public education system a better place not just for the Aboriginal students but for all students in the province.  Advocating that the curriculum include Aboriginal content in all subject areas and to have more Aboriginal teachers in the classrooms is just two of the many initiatives the Federation is working on.  I look forward to the many more opportunities to come in the next couple of years as we forge into uncharted territory with Employment Equity for Aboriginal teachers.  I would like to thank all those who are yet to join me in my journey and to all those who have joined me thus far.  For me, the smokehouse is BCTF and BCTF is my smokehouse.




Our Newsletter 2010

It is a little late in coming out, I put it together in October of last year, but our inaugral newsletter is up on the blogsite.  You can find it here.  I won't go into the details of the adventure that was our attempt to get this up and published but for the moment it is available.
I do need to point out that several of the articles in the newsletter have been published elsewhere; I posted Why Do We Need Aboriginal Education? on my personal education blog in December.  Some of the others, particularly the resources are available here on this blog as individual posts.  Indeed, many of them will be going up here, to ensure that they get the fair coverage we hope to acheive with our audience, via the blog and newsletter.  As such, some of the articles I am collecting for the next issue will also be appearing here, to ensure we get them out to as many people as possible.
Hope you enjoy, would love feedback.  Please be kind, it is a first issue and mostly reflects my writing as, since we are just starting up, I haven't accumulated many contributers yet.
Robert

THE FRASER RIVER JOURNEY

http://www.fraserjourney.ca/

The following from the website:
The Fraser River Journey documentary follows a group of 12 B.C. First Nations youth on a raft trip down the Fraser River. Wielding waterproof video cameras, the youths set out to document their adventures on one of the most stunning and diverse river systems in the world. In the process they learn important things about their province, their heritage, and themselves.
The documentary film and this website were created to help us take a brief look at the past, present, and future of native life in B.C. One goal of this project is to explore how Aboriginal youth can develop an identity and a place in contemporary society. Another is to show how adults are finding ways to help Aboriginal youth participate in a culture that is adapting, regenerating and changing.
Available on the website are various resources for use in the classroom.  Worth checking out, I quite enjoyed the documentary but I haven’t had the opportunity to use it in the classroom myself.  I would love to hear your thoughts on the documentary in the classroom if you have used it.  Send your reviews to bcabeducation@gmail.com. 

Friday 16 September 2011

PSA Conference Details Now Available!

Hey everybody!

I hope that the new school year is off to an excellent start for you and your students.

This is the official notice of the Wellness and Our Environment Conference: brought to you by the BCTF Aboriginal & Environmental Educators’ Provincial Specialists Associations, the Langley School District Aboriginal Program and the Social Justice Committee.  The conference will be held on Friday, October 21, 2011 at Fort Langley Elementary School.  Looking forward to seeing you there!
In the mean time, you can find our poster here, and you can find a rundown of our workshops and the registration form here
*Please note that the registration form is at the very end of the second document.