Finding My Pedagogy
Finding My Pedagogy: Teacher conduct in the classroom through the lens of Traditional Aboriginal education and culture
Introduction
Each day my Mother and I spend almost one hour talking to each other on the phone. During one of our most profound discussions, she happened to tell me about family member that suffered from alcoholism. Although the conversation began with the topic of addiction, it evolved into a conversation about cycles. She explained that, in her opinion, behaviors are learned cycles; regardless of whether they are negative or positive ways of thinking and being, all manners of conduct live on a continuous spectrum and they all have a history. What is more, she rationalized that despite the mistakes of others, the direction …show more content…
Understanding the past is central to the discussion of contemporary Aboriginal education. Before educators can discover way in which to integrate traditional education into the present-day non-reserve classroom, recognizing the tumultuous relationship that FNMI people have with colonial education due to residential schools is essential. Inherently, residential schools were an attempt by the Europeans to eradicate Indigenous peoples from the land and assimilate the children of Indigenous families to a Eurocentric colonial worldview. What is more, however, the objective of residential school was far more sinister than simply wanting to convert Aboriginal children's spiritual beliefs; residential schools were a form of cultural genocide. Underpinning the intentions of colonialist's residential school was the desire to facilitate the capitalist model of society by denying FNMI children the right to their language, spiritual beliefs, and culture. Schissel and Wotherspoon (2003) concisely summarize the essence of residential school by confirming the "intent of residential school policy was to destroy culture and rebuild Indian children as active participants in the industrial economy . . ." (p.43). These genocidal acts committed in residential schools are indisputable according to the United Nations (1948) which, specifically sates "any . . . [act] committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group . . . [by way of] causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group . . . [and] forcibly transferring children of the group to another group" (p. 1). Knowing and understanding these facts, in my opinion, is the initial step towards redirecting the
Introduction
Each day my Mother and I spend almost one hour talking to each other on the phone. During one of our most profound discussions, she happened to tell me about family member that suffered from alcoholism. Although the conversation began with the topic of addiction, it evolved into a conversation about cycles. She explained that, in her opinion, behaviors are learned cycles; regardless of whether they are negative or positive ways of thinking and being, all manners of conduct live on a continuous spectrum and they all have a history. What is more, she rationalized that despite the mistakes of others, the direction …show more content…
Understanding the past is central to the discussion of contemporary Aboriginal education. Before educators can discover way in which to integrate traditional education into the present-day non-reserve classroom, recognizing the tumultuous relationship that FNMI people have with colonial education due to residential schools is essential. Inherently, residential schools were an attempt by the Europeans to eradicate Indigenous peoples from the land and assimilate the children of Indigenous families to a Eurocentric colonial worldview. What is more, however, the objective of residential school was far more sinister than simply wanting to convert Aboriginal children's spiritual beliefs; residential schools were a form of cultural genocide. Underpinning the intentions of colonialist's residential school was the desire to facilitate the capitalist model of society by denying FNMI children the right to their language, spiritual beliefs, and culture. Schissel and Wotherspoon (2003) concisely summarize the essence of residential school by confirming the "intent of residential school policy was to destroy culture and rebuild Indian children as active participants in the industrial economy . . ." (p.43). These genocidal acts committed in residential schools are indisputable according to the United Nations (1948) which, specifically sates "any . . . [act] committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group . . . [by way of] causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group . . . [and] forcibly transferring children of the group to another group" (p. 1). Knowing and understanding these facts, in my opinion, is the initial step towards redirecting the