I. General Information
School Name: Beaver Creek Elementary School
School District: SD#36 Surrey
Inquiry Team Members: Lindsay Higgs higgs_l@surreyschools.ca
Lesley Fetigan fetigan_l@surreyschools.ca
Andrea Walker walker_a@surreyschools.ca
Inquiry Team Contact Email: higgs_l@surreyschools.ca
II. Inquiry Project Information
Type of Inquiry: NOIIE Case Study
Grade Levels Addressed Through Inquiry: Primary (K-3)
Curricular Areas Addressed: Applied Design, skills & Technology, Arts Education, Language Arts – Literacy, Language Arts – Oral Language, Language Arts – Writing, Science, Social Studies, Other: Outdoor Education
Focus Addressed: Indigenous Focus (for example, Traditional Knowledge, oral history, reconciliation)
In one sentence, what was your focus for the year? Our goal was to bring more Indigenous Education to our classrooms, both in content and teaching/learning styles.
III. Spirals of Inquiry Details
Scanning: We wanted our Indigenous learners to feel represented and understood, and we wanted our non-Indigenous learners to benefit from diverse perspectives and holistic teaching and learning styles. We noticed our students wanting to share their culture with others, and to show pride in their family histories. We noticed a passion for social justice, and we noticed how much joy outdoor education brought to our students. We took those observations into account when we created individual focuses for our 3 classrooms.
We wanted our students to have learning experiences that were holistic and grounded in social justice and reconciliation. Two of us spent extra-curricular time with the Indigenous students at our school (grades K-7) and thought about the kinds of school-wide and classroom changes that would benefit them when we began our work.
Focus: We wanted to learn about decolonizing our own practice, and centering our classroom on Indigenous teaching and learning practices to benefit our own students, and eventually the whole school, as we become comfortable sharing our inquiry with the rest of the staff. We wanted reconciliation work to begin in Kindergarten, and become a feature in every classroom in our school. We want to use authentic Indigenous resources for the benefit of all our learners.
Hunch:
– Indigenous practices are being used more in primary classrooms than intermediate ones
– Holistic learning will benefit all, especially our Indigenous and ELL students
– Sharing cultures leads to greater empathy and understanding
– Primary students are capable of powerful social justice and reconciliation work
– Land-based learning benefits all subject areas
New Professional Learning: Together, we engaged in a book study of Re-Storying Education. We were supported through discussion with our team and district helping teachers. We explored the district Authentic Resources Collection, and discovered many new books and resources to use with our students. Our team met and shared ideas regularly around the individual projects we were working on in our classrooms and shared resources/lesson plans that worked for our goals. We also attended an in-service session at a new land-based school in our district and heard from teachers working on similar inquiry projects as well as our district Racial Equity team.
Taking Action:
– Each of our 3 classes engaged in discussions around treaties, settler/Indigenous relations, land theft, and the history of colonialism where we live. In conjunction with learning outdoors and spending time on the land, our classes created our own land acknowledgements using our students’ words and understandings. These have since been shared at school assemblies and gatherings.
– Our kindergarten class focused primarily on outdoor education, spending time on the land, and incorporating First Peoples principles on learning outdoors. They engaged in activities across subject areas outside in a neighbouring park/forest.
– Our K/1 class focused on sharing their individual cultures, presenting on their ancestors, and drawing on knowledge from their families to share about their identity with their classmates.
– Our 2/3 class was focused on holistic learning that blended science, social studies, math, art, ADST, and ELA into one cohesive unit on our coastal forests and the Coast Salish people. The end result was 4 teams each building a Coast Salish village in Minecraft that included knowledge about art, totem poles, longhouses, plank houses, salmon spawning and fishing, coastal forest animals, cedar carving and weaving. Each Minecraft village also listed multiplication, measurement and geometry facts for each building the students created. Each group also wrote a story for their village that was modelled after the many Coast Salish and Northwest Coast stories they read throughout the term.
Checking: We monitored class engagement and understanding often. All 3 classes were very passionate about the wrongs of colonialism and land theft. They demonstrated genuine outrage, a desire for reconciliation, and continued commitment to learning more about Canada’s Indigenous peoples. One of our land acknowledgements was shared during our First Peoples in Residence week, and a presenter approached the class to let them know it was the best land acknowledgement they had ever heard – we and the students were so proud that day!
Our students all showed a renewed vigour for learning, and were especially engaged with the different aspects of Indigenous Education we focused on in each class. Spending time outdoors and in hands-on pursuits was so beneficial for all our learners, especially those that don’t excel in traditional classroom activities. We all saw positive change in our students, we all witnessed increased engagement, and the retention of information seemed to improve as well.
Overall, we were satisfied with what we did as a starting point, but we all have ideas to further our practice next year. This was just the beginning for us.
Reflections/Advice: Re-Storying Education was an excellent teacher resource. We are looking for new books to further our decolonization journey next year. We all have plans to change other elements of our practice further, but will continue to do the activities we did this year with future classes. We want to coach our colleagues so that every class in the school engages in the process of drafting a class land acknowledgement. We found this very beneficial, and want to see it rolled out school-wide.
Our advice would be to find one or two like-minded teachers to work with, and start with one idea that will add more Indigenous learning or decolonize your practice. You will learn by trying, you’ll learn from each other, and if you keep going you’ll likely add a bit more to your practice each year. Reach out to your districts to find Indigenous resources and picture books, and use them across subject areas throughout the year. Book clubs are also excellent for learning and sharing ideas.