Connections and Relationships

My focus on this blog has been to explore how one might intervene and support students with challenging behaviours in a mainstream classroom, using Indigenous principles and strategies. With reflection on readings and discussions, I shifted from a student focus to a focus on the classroom teacher. A school-based team meeting typically consists of the classroom teacher, student family members, administration, and learning support staff. It can evolve to include district support district personnel, such as school psychologists and behaviour interventionists, and community resources, like counsellors or social workers. The student is demonstrating an undesired or difficult behaviour; the teacher is directly influencing and being affected by the behaviour. Everyone else at the table is offering input, advice, or support; however, it the classroom teacher who ultimately performs the action of change or puts into place the innovation from the creativity shared as a group. Using Indigenous pr...

  One of B.C.'s First Peoples Principles of Learning is, "Learning requires exploration of one's identity". This principle aligns with British Columbia's move to Competency Based Inclusive Education Plans. Another way to explore this concept came to me in my reading of Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. The 3 sisters refers to the Indigenous agricultural practice of growing corn, beans, and squash or pumpkin plants together. This process allows the strengths of each plant to supplement and support the growth of each other, simply by doing what it naturally needs to do to survive, because, "as it happens, when the individuals flourish, so does the whole" (Kimmerer, 2013, p.134). The Competency Based Inclusive Education Plan is designed to reflect the revised B.C. curriculum's focus on core competencies, like creative and critical thinking and social responsibility. Students use their personal strengths, interests, and passions to access the p...

In my last blog entry, I explored how the First Peoples Principles of Learning influence my choices on a daily basis. The FPPL are guidelines in teaching and learning that were gathered and presented by the First Nations Education Steering Committee. I want to now use these principles to consider their potential positive influence on Inclusive Education.  One principle in particular refers to a sense of place: Learning is holistic, reflexive, reflective, experiential, and relational (focused on connectedness, on reciprocal relationships, and a sense of place). Shelley Moore is a scholar and advocate for improving Inclusive Education in B.C., and is a strong proponent of Competency Based Inclusive Education Plans (CBIEPs). In her podcast, in the episode in which she interviews Jo Chrona, an educator, scholar, and advisor to Ministry of Education in curriculum development, the sense of place in the FPPL is used to explore education plans for students with learning disabilities or oth...

  In 2006 and 2007, the First Nations Education Steering Committee of British Columbia produced the First Peoples Principles of Learning document in order to support and guide curriculum development in the province. It is understood that individual nations have their own principles and ways of knowing, but the knowledge keepers, elders, and scholars attempted to encompass common understandings that could be applied to province-wide curriculum. Jo Chrona has worked extensively with Indigenous Education in B.C. and presents a series of modules on the First Peoples Principles of Learning (FPPL) and implementing Indigenous practices and incorporating Indigenous content into classroom learning. In the second module that focuses on the FPPL, Chrona speaks to "going beyond the poster on the wall", which refers authentically incorporating the FPPL in the classroom. She suggest reframing the question to "Considering my context (classroom, school, district, province), how do I use...