School District: SD#63 Saanich

Inquiry Team Members: Sarah Miller: sarahmiller@saanichschools.ca

Inquiry Team Contact Email: jerickson@saanichschools.ca

Type of Inquiry: NOIIE

Grade Levels: Primary (K-3)

Curricular Area(s): Science, Social Studies

Focus Addressed: Core competencies (for example, critical thinking, communication, problem solving), Experiential learning, Flexible learning, Land, Nature or Place-based learning, Self-regulation, Social and emotional learning

In one sentence, what was your focus for the year? Exploring how repeated visits to a familiar, natural outdoor setting will affect play and interactions between students and the environment.

Scanning: We began this year with the intention of providing our students with regular and frequent learning and play experiences in the natural world. This included time spent on school grounds, as well as weekly visits to a local forested park. During the scanning process, we noticed that students gravitated towards games involving running and chasing. They seemed to be using the space in the same way they would use the school playground or gym, and this often lead to aggressive forms of play and upset feelings around play negotiations (ie. zombie tag). Our hunch was that many students in our class were unfamiliar and unpracticed at playing and interacting in natural outdoor spaces, and that they needed support and scaffolding to play and interact in this new type of environment. During the scanning process, we drew connections from the First Peoples Principles of Learning describing the importance of connectedness, reciprocal relationships, and the importance of place.

Focus: We selected this area as we are both advocates of the importance of learning and playing outdoors, and helping children develop a connection with the natural world. We noticed a disconnect between our expectations for this outdoor time and the actions and behaviours of our students. We were hoping to help our learners build a repertoire of new ways in which to play and engage in the outdoor world, and through this develop a meaningful connection to place.

Hunch: At school, children have access to play areas and equipment that often pre-define the play options (ex. gaga ball pit, tag games on the playground). Time to play is also limited and defined due to scheduled recess times. This year, place and time for play were further restricted due to Covid guidelines. Opportunities for extended, un-prescribed play in nature were limited and often unavailable during school hours on school grounds. In addition, the school practice of individual, one-time only field trips does not provide students with the time needed to develop the experience and skills necessary for working and playing in nature.

New Professional Learning: Professional learning in the area of outdoor education has been an on-going process for us and many of our colleagues. Focusing on this inquiry question inspired us to take our own learning deeper. The opportunity for professional collaboration and discussion was a big part of our learning, helping us to distinguish valuable areas to focus on. Engaging other outdoor education professionals, shared reading of outdoor education books, and developing our own knowledge of the outdoor environment all contributed to a greater understanding and richer inquiry experience. To help share our learning from our inquiry project with the school community, we provided ongoing opportunities for the staff at large to expand their knowledge base and comfort level around outdoor education. This included hands-on learning in the natural spaces at our school as well as a school-wide book club. A goal for next year is to further share our own passion for outdoor learning with colleagues and families.

Taking Action:

• Repeated visits to a local, natural, outdoor environment (daily outdoor time on school grounds, weekly visits to school nature trail, weekly visits to local forested park)
• Explicit teaching and class discussion to develop different ways to play and engage in the outdoor environment
• Involving learners in a community circle to share their emotions and concerns around existing play and to generate new ideas and solutions
• Scheduling of large blocks for outdoor learning that included time for both structured and unstructured exploration
• Establishing routines and rituals for entering and leaving the space intended to help foster a connection and appreciation for the space (welcome song, shared stories, song of thanks)

These strategies were added on throughout the year as we scanned and questioned the learners and saw areas of need. In combination, these strategies helped to address our areas of concern and fostered a richer and deeper experience for our students.

Checking: We used the four questions as part of our scanning process to develop a baseline at the beginning of the year. We noticed that many of our students had a limited number of connections within our school. Our children were in kindergarten and grade 1, and their limited schooling, shortened 2019/2020 school year, and Covid regulations all restricted the number of adults in the school that they knew and that they felt knew them. In regards to the questions about their learning, they often were at a lack of how to respond to these questions at the beginning of the year. As we progressed through the year and incorporated the strategies mentioned above, we noticed that their responses became richer and more personal. They began to see themselves as learners and contributors in their outdoor learning experiences, and their responses reflected this. For example, one group became involved in an ongoing shelter building activity. They knew what was important to their learning, where they wanted to go next, and the steps and support they needed to make this happen. The strategies we implemented were a good start in helping to deepen and enrich the outdoor learning experiences for our students. We see this as a beginning for ourselves and our students, as we continue to seek ways to build a purposeful and meaningful outdoor education program. At the end of the year, one student shared his realization that, “nature takes care of us and gives us all we need.” This helps us to set our intention moving forward to not only deepen our students’ connection to people who support and believe in them, but to also create that same connection and belief that nature will do the same.

Reflections/Advice: This inquiry helped us to see the incredible power of collaboration and discussion, both with colleagues and also learning alongside our students. The process of scanning and developing hunches helped us develop a good starting point for where change could be made. Involving the students, both in gathering evidence through the four questions and as active participants in developing and implementing the strategies, created space for learning and reflection. As we said earlier, this has only deepened our own interest and curiosity in this area. We would like to continue questioning and investigating our own practices while pursuing further professional development and learning. Our advice to other teachers and schools with a similar interest is to start small, with just one step, in collaboration with others with a shared interest. For us, our first commitment was a weekly visit to the local, forested park. Once this was established, we were able to add to this program, question what was working and what wasn’t, and make meaningful changes. Doing this in collaboration with colleagues provided the support and accountability to see this plan through. The power of a shared interest helped to maintain momentum and excitement for ourselves as educators. The experience of a shared inquiry grounded our thinking and decision making around everyday practices and will continue to do so going forward.

School District: SD#39 Vancouver

Inquiry Team Members: Margaret Paxton mpaxton@vsb.bc.ca
Joanna Wood jmwood@vsb.bc.ca
Christopher Lee cjlee@vsb.bc.ca
Alexandra de Montigny ademontigy@vsb.bc.ca

Inquiry Team Contact Email: mpaxton@vsb.bc.ca

Type of Inquiry: NOIIE

Grade Levels: Intermediate (4-7)

Curricular Area(s): Other: General student engagement in all curricular areas

Focus Addressed: Indigenous understandings (for example, Traditional Knowledge, oral history, reconciliation), Community-based learning, Core competencies (for example, critical thinking, communication, problem solving), Experiential learning, First Peoples Principles of Learning, Inclusion and inclusive instructional strategies, Indigenous pedagogy, Land, Nature or Place-based learning, Social and emotional learning

In one sentence, what was your focus for the year? Our focus is on engaging all of our learners (grade 6/7) in Indigenous Cultural learning experiences, thereby increasing our own knowledge and comfort with both content and the skill of weaving First Peoples Principles of Learning into the curriculum.

Scanning: In our scanning over the past two years, we looked for evidence that our grade 6/7 students are engaged and interested in what they are learning. When we asked, “What are you learning,” we were given very subject-oriented answers. When we asked, “How is it going?” we got, “Good.” When we asked, “Where to next?” most answered, “I don’t know.” We saw students wandering during class, taking many trips to the washroom, going outside and hiding from staff, and many seemed thoroughly disinterested in completing any school work. Many students had poor attendance. However, when we asked, “Are there two or more people who care about you and know that you will be a success in life?” the answers were positive. Students listed teachers, support staff, the office assistant, the librarian and the principal, as people who cared. In the 2020 – 2021 school year, many of our Indigenous students chose to stay home the entire school year. We believe that they were the most vulnerable to begin with. Those who did attend school were much more engaged than in the previous year, perhaps because of the smaller classes and some changes in staff. Our staff participated in professional development around the BCTF First Peoples Principals of Learning, and in the District’s Indigenous Focus Day. Both were well-received and generated much discussion about our context.

Focus: Our small committee felt that if we were to provide more opportunities for students to learn about the Musqueam language and culture, as well as other Indigenous cultures, we would see more interest and engagement in our Indigenous students, and in all students.

Hunch: Our hunch was that our Indigenous students found school to be boring and irrelevant. They came to school for the socialization.

New Professional Learning: We participated in the BCTF Workshop: https://bctf.ca/PD/WorkshopDetail.aspx?id=38696. It generated a lot of site and context specific dialogue among staff members, but the presented could not answer many of our questions. The VSB Indigenous Focus Days have been impactful, leading to greater staff commitment, but still leaving us wondering, “How?”

Taking Action: This is a list of specific actions we took this year:

• Orange Shirt Day, school-wide
• Drum making with the Grade 6/7 classes, coached by VSB Indigenous Department member
• Weaving, school-wide, with video instruction by a Squamish Elder
• We wrote a letter to the Musqueam Education Department, requesting more cultural support
• We met twice with Musqueam Language Dept. — once as a committee and then in a whole-staff meeting. We then purchased a set of hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ “alphabet cards and made a bulletin board display.
• Th’owxiya: The Hungry Feast Dish Axis Theatre online play was booked and viewed by all classes
• Ms Alexandra taught Métis beading to both classes. They all made poppy broaches for Remembrance Day (Alexandra is Métis)
• We added many Indigenous titles to the library collection and discarded books about Indigenous people written by non-Indigenous
• Grade 4/5 Classes Chose Reconciliation as a Unit of Inquiry
• Fatty Legs Author, Margaret-Olemaun Pokiak-Fenton, met with the classes by video
• Place-based stories about Chief Joe Capilano read by grade 6/7’s
• 215 ribbon, heart-shaped memorial on our fence created in response to the news about the children’s remains found in Kamloops at the site of the former residential school
• VSB Healing Ceremony was watched by all classes following that news
• Indigenous Allies and Leads – Margaret and Alexandra participated in monthly meetings
• Maintained ongoing relationship with Gail Sparrow, who spoke to classes via Teams, made a recorded greeting for our Grade 7 Leaving Ceremony

Checking: We felt that our actions made a difference for students who were in attendance. They seemed happier, more engaged, and we were able to meet more needs with smaller classes. This however was a tarnished silver lining as we thought constantly about the students who remained at home. We did what we could to maintain contact and communication with families, but it was not enough.

Reflections/Advice: We learned that all students are hungry for learning about Indigenous language and culture. Next year, we want to continue to offer as many experiences as possible and try to build a stronger relationship with the Musqueam Education Department. We plan to revamp our school’s Resource Model to address the needs of the students who have missed over a year of school: by creating and open-area and safe drop-in zone, ensuing that our support is “push-in” rather than pull-out, and using ALL staff members as efficiently and effectively as possible to support students. We will also continue to reach out to families and communicate regularly, individualizing support and differentiating instruction.

School District: SD#73 Kamloops/Thompson

Inquiry Team Members: Thomas Lowe (tlowe@sd73.bc.ca)
Kristy Dolha (kdolha@sd73.bc.ca)
Mark McVittie (mmcvittie@sd73.bc.ca)

Inquiry Team Contact Email: astott@sd73.bc.ca

Type of Inquiry: NOIIE Transitions (focus on Indigenous learner transitions)

Grade Levels: Secondary (8-12)

Curricular Area(s): Not applicable

Focus Addressed: Indigenous understandings (for example, Traditional Knowledge, oral history, reconciliation)

In one sentence, what was your focus for the year? Embracing the traditions and culture of the people on whose land we work, learn and live.

Scanning: This was year two of our participation in the Indigenous Transitions study.

We began a deeper scan this year and wanted to wade into the territory of uncovering our unconscious biases, but did not get far. The scan shows that staff come to work with a bias that they are not aware of. This bleeds into our entire school population, not only our Indigenous population.

Focus: Because work on ourselves is tough at the best of times, and these were not the best of times this year, we focused on integrating more purposeful actions to include our entire school community in the work of reconciliation and learning of the local Indigenous culture.

Hunch: We, as staff, continue to contribute to a lack of knowledge and understanding because:
1. We are not, for the most part, part of the local community (we drive from neighbouring communities).
2. It has not been a priority for our school community and is easy, or perhaps even simpler, to avoid.

New Professional Learning: In April we learned from our local knowledge keeper, Don Bowser. We were told stories, we sang songs and drummed, and then we made our own drums. Don Bowser is a fabulous resource. We need to spend more time researching and learning to better understand the impact of intergenerational trauma.

Taking Action: This video shows one piece of action we took. This was showcased at the NOIIE Symposium in May 2021.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94IHGtR1Bjs

Checking: This is what we need to do as a means to scan for our next iteration.

Reflections/Advice: DO NOT fake it. I feel like we did a lot of making things up.

It is so important to scan and focus on the one thing that you firmly believe is going to make the BIGGEST difference for learners. I am curious: if we create a sense of belonging through the development of sound pedagogy and a culture of high expectations, will our students feel like they want to be here AND grow as learners? Right now it seems like we are focusing on a sense of belonging without really critically looking at the connection to academic achievement (improved literacy and numeracy levels). This is where we need to be focusing our attention next.

School District: SD#68 Nanaimo-Ladysmith

Inquiry Team Members: brie.fellows@sd68.bc.ca, khart@sd68.bc.ca, hannah.billard@sd68.bc.ca, patti.mountain@sd68.bc.ca, cdepka@sd68.bc.ca

Inquiry Team Contact Email: khart@sd68.bc.ca

Type of Inquiry: NOIIE Transitions (focus on Indigenous learner transitions)

Grade Levels: Secondary (8-12)

Curricular Area(s): Not applicable

Focus Addressed: Indigenous understandings (for example, Traditional Knowledge, oral history, reconciliation)

In one sentence, what was your focus for the year? Dover Bay’s inquiring was to increase feelings and a sense of connectedness in our Indigenous students to Dover Bay Secondary School.

Scanning: The information the Dover NOIIE team gathered and considered in order to determine what was really going on for our Indigenous learners around our inquiry project, were student survey results to the following questions. Students were invited into the Aboriginal Education room to answer the questions as a means to invite them in, involve and connect them to this important inquiry. In following with the OECD principles of learning and the First Peoples Principles of Learning, the survey was a social opportunity for students and staff to meet in a meaningful, respectful way, where students could engage verbally through print or computer, and the purpose of the survey was clearly communicated to all involved. Here are some examples of the survey questions:

• How is high school important for your future success?
• What are two things you like about school?
• What are 2 things that would make school better?
• What makes you feel connected at school?
• Can you name two adults at Dover Bay who believe you will be a success in life?
• Do you feel you have 1-2 good friends that you see daily at school?
• What could Dover do to help you feel better connected to our community?

What we noticed was that students were shy about coming to share, yet grateful for a venue to share and be heard. Most of our students feel they have at least one teacher who believes in them. 24% of students feel they do not have a teacher who believes in them at school. Students were very positive about their connection to Dover, speaking to the need for caring teachers, more hands-on learning, education around mental health came up a number of times, more choice, cultural and academically inclusive, classes outside, more support for students, less homework and more attention to using different learning techniques.

Focus: Student attendance, past satisfaction surveys and anecdotal observation led us to believe that many of our Indigenous students lack a connection to their school. Indigenous students are underrepresented in clubs and leadership positions. Collectively, we wanted to have student voice in how and what needs to happen to increase student connection and thereby student achievement in school. Our intent was to see an increase in Indigenous student attendance, involvement in extracurricular and school activities, as well as increased student satisfaction.

Hunch: Our hunch was that students do not feel connected to school because they do not see themselves in the curriculum, in the culture, and in clubs. We were curious if we were to create partnerships and opportunities in the school, whether that would increase social, emotional, academic and physical reasons to attend school. If so, what would this look like? What can be done? Who can do this? What do the kids say they need?

What we learned is, to make school better:

• Relationships with teachers is integral to learning, and without it students struggle to learn
• Students want support with their learning
• Students want choice and less weight on tests
• Students want learning to be meaningful, not something that is “piled on”
• Students want learning to be in smaller chunks, outdoors, experiential, interactive and hands-on; they want to learn with people, not through text and media
• Students want to be educated about mental health
• Students want learning to be accessible to all – more differentiation of teaching so different learners can learn

What we learned, to foster connection and belonging was to:

• Manage student workload better
• Reach out more regularly or do check ins with our Indigenous students
• Find a way to identify barriers to joining a club and increase school-wide team building activities such as the gym riot.
• Continue to improve instruction

New Professional Learning: It is still early in our inquiry. This year has been one of listening, connecting, and learning about our students. It has also been a year to start to think ahead. For example, our school this year has moved forward in revising our School Goal on Truth and Reconciliation so that it not only recognizes that truth and reconciliation are a collective responsibility, but that we promote the use of Indigenous resources across the curriculum, encourage the use of the Hul’qumi’num language, incorporate First Peoples Principles of Learning, and strengthen our connection to our Snaw-Naw-As nation.

Taking Action: A few things that have nurtured our learning, thinking, and inquiry for next year:

• Dover Bay has an Elder in resident who joined our school. His name is George Seymour, who has been involved in several aspects of curriculum and language delivery.
• One of our team members has a connection to our local university, VIU, and is working on building a partnership with them and their gathering place, “chtekca,” as well as their “community cousin” and other programs that may benefit in having a “sister” program at Dover Bay. Along with the above, the focussed action of the final two months were:
  • Monthly participation of language lessons with Elder George Seymour
  • Research and connections in preparation for National Indigenous Day
  • 215 wings of memory, in honour of the children from Kamloops residential school and others who were lost, and survived, from residential schools.
  • Orange shirt education and awareness – ribbons for all – every Monday was declared Orange Shirt Day at Dover, in honour of the 215 children and others who never returned home from residential school.
  • Hulq’umi’num word of the week through announcements (with George), once a week
  • 5 words/5 phrases (1 poster with all five words)
  • National Indigenous History Month (Govt. website) & ways to celebrate — what, why, and how to celebrate it
• CHOICE BOARD for Indigenous Day
  • Eco-Club started a Native plant garden
  • School-Wide Personal Pledge of Reconciliation – Poster in the classroom for all students to sign. B block pledge collectively as a school on June 21, 2021.
  • Northern Games run in all PE classes on June 21st

Checking: In asking students to complete the survey, we were able to create greater connection to Dover Bay in two distinct ways. In asking students what their feelings were, regarding their connection to Dover Bay, inherently builds a sense of greater ownership over their experiences. Based on the feedback, students felt heard and were very open with their responses.
In asking students to come to the Indigenous Support room to complete the surveys, students that had never accessed our space before, and those that had infrequently, were reminded of the different services we offer and were introduced to Elder George Seymour. In entering our space, we were able to foster a greater sense of connection for all Indigenous identifying students at Dover Bay. After the surveys took place, more students accessed the space for a variety of reasons, either social/emotional support, academic support and cultural support. Although we do feel as though we were able to effectively make a difference in the connection for students, we struggled with the cultural connection. Ideally we would have loved to increase the presence of local artists and knowledge keepers in the school. Unfortunately, due to health restrictions, we were unable to do so in an effective way, and therefore pivoted our plans for Indigenous Peoples Day to be a virtual experience. We have, however, taken this learning and started on plans for next year and ways that we will be able to jumpstart increased cultural activities, including drum-making in the fall.

Reflections/Advice: When reflecting on our experience this past year, we were both encouraged to hear that many students felt a connection to Dover Bay, and had our hunch confirmed regarding an increase in cultural activities. Interestingly enough, another topic that frequently came up across student responses was greater exposure to social/emotional learning in their day to day lives at Dover Bay. With more opportunities for students to engage in cultural activities next year, this may bring about more conversations around the connection between culture and well-being. This also gives us ideas on how we can incorporate more land-based learning activities (like medicine walks) and emphasize the connection to social/emotional well-being moving forward.

For schools that may be interested in this inquiry moving forward, we would recommend facilitating the surveys in the Indigenous Support space. Not all students have the opportunity to connect to the room, and this is the best place to start.

School District: SD#36 Surrey

Inquiry Team Members: Brad Issel: issel_b@surreyschools.ca, Dawne Edwards: edwards_d@surreyschools.ca, Elaine Vaughan: vaughan_e@surreyschools.ca, Sabrina Schoen: schoen_s@surreyschools.ca, Stephanine McDonald: mcdonald_s@surreyschools.ca, Bronwen Howden: howden_b@surreyschools.ca, Juhi Fitzgerald: fitzgerald_j@surreyschools.ca

Inquiry Team Contact Email: issel_b@surreyschools.ca

Type of Inquiry: NOIIE

Grade Levels: Primary (K-3), Intermediate (4-7)

Curricular Area(s): Physical & Health Education, Other: Social and Emotional Learning

Focus Addressed: Indigenous understandings (for example, Traditional Knowledge, oral history, reconciliation), Community-based learning, First Peoples Principles of Learning, Flexible learning, Land, Nature or Place-based learning, Self-regulation, Social and emotional learning

In one sentence, what was your focus for the year? Our committee began to build a dedicated space which would encourage staff and students to move some of their formal and informal learning outside.

Scanning: We knew that our students wanted to be learning outside more. We learned that they wanted to be quiet and listen outdoors. We learned they didn’t have a lot of places to just sit and be still, while still being together as a community. We learned that the opportunity to sit together quietly, or listening to each other quietly, or listening and telling stories outside together is not something that most of our students have an opportunity to regularly experience. This ties in nicely with one of the FPPL principles, that “learning is holistic, reflexive, reflective, experiential, and relational (focussed on connectedness, on reciprocal relationships, and a sense of place).”

Focus: We built a circle using cedar logs to provide an opportunity for our learners to come together; a place that belongs to all of our students and teachers, that could be used in a multitude of ways. We wanted to support our learning communities by providing a sacred place to reflect, listen and understand, a place of stillness, a place to learn together in a circle.

Hunch: We found that the majority of the teachers/students that were using the log circle were moving what they already were doing in their classrooms (e.g. Morning Meetings, Talking-Stick-Circles) into the outdoor area. We found that simply providing a space and place did not necessarily mean that classroom communities who do not generally practice or value such rituals would suddenly start to try new things.

New Professional Learning: We tried to explore Medicine Wheels deeply and the idea of a Medicine Wheel Garden, which was supposed to be in the centre of our log circle. We initially started exploring the medicine wheel and the different aspects and meanings of the 4 quadrants. We purchased beautiful resources, materials and teaching materials with our grant, with the intent to build that garden. Unfortunately, the day before we were to have the materials delivered to the site, someone from the school district put a hold/stop/pause to our plans, citing CUPE/safety concerns. We are still hopeful that we will be able to move forward with this part of our project next year.

Taking Action: We tried to plan, act and deliver as a committee (we even merged Indigenous Understandings with the Gardening Club), but we learned that without full-school buy-in, it is difficult to make things happen quickly. Many of our ideas were not adopted by our larger school population and there was even some push-back. Perhaps this was due to the difficult situation we were in this year (Covid), but it often feels like Indigenous initiatives, teachings, learning and understandings are left as an add-on if there is time. It’s almost as if it takes something tragic or scary (e.g. the Kamloops unmarked graves), to push people into taking action. We are hopeful that the resources we have purchased and gathered will be used well in the months and years ahead.

Checking: We started something… we built a beginning… we created a dedicated space. We are proud of what we started, but we wish that we had been able to do more. We are committed to continuing the work in the years ahead, and hope that more classrooms will become involved and use the learning space that was created.

Reflections/Advice: We learned that big, well-thought out plans and ideas can come to a screeching halt because one person makes a decision. We learned that although our plan did not play out as we had hoped, that we still created something beautiful and a legacy to our students. We learned to be okay with plans changing – that we can adapt (e.g. instead of the medicine wheel garden, we created a rock medicine wheel inside the logs circle – some of the grant money went towards rock paint instead of plants). We learned that change doesn’t happen quickly, but we can hope that by continuing to persevere, and by building spaces and creating opportunities for learning, that change will happen… we can only continue to plant the seeds and water them and hope for growth.

School District: SD#68 Nanaimo-Ladysmith

Inquiry Team Members: Joanne Allair: joanne.allair@sd68.bc.ca, Stacey Brown: Stacey.Brown1@sd68.bc.ca, Lori Bibbs: LBibbs@sd68.bc.ca, Katie Loos: KLoos01@sd68.bc.ca, Darlene Crane: Darlene.Crane@sd68.bc.ca

Inquiry Team Contact Email: joanne.allair@sd68.bc.ca

Type of Inquiry: NOIIE

Grade Levels: Primary (K-3)

Curricular Area(s): Career Education, Language Arts – Literacy, Language Arts – Oral Language, Physical & Health Education, Science, Social Studies

Focus Addressed: Experiential learning, Land, Nature or Place-based learning, Social and emotional learning, Other: Play-based learning; BC’s Early Learning Framework

In one sentence, what was your focus for the year? The role of play, particularly outdoor play, in students’ well-being and learning, as well as the educator’s role in play, particularly outdoor play.

Scanning: We gathered observations, artifacts/photos, educator reflections, classroom assessments to date, and talked with and listened to our students. We used the second and third of the four key questions to inquire with children about their understanding of learning at school. Our students have diverse backgrounds, families, life experiences, wide ranges of strengths and academic levels and behaviours, and expressed preferences indicate students crave movement, choice, participation, play, and social interactions. Play is particularly joyful and feels good, and is important to our learners; we see meaningful and authentic learning in their play. Using the Early Learning Framework as our guide, this connects to the OECD principles of: “Learners at the centre,” “The social nature of learning,” and “Emotions are integral to learning.”

Focus: We are noticing our actions and pedagogical decisions, including the learning environment, affect children’s experience of school, their sense of joy, well-being, belonging, and learning. We chose the principle “Play is integral to well-being and learning” from the Early Learning Framework to focus our inquiry. We would like to focus our learning this year on outdoor play, specifically. We are hoping to understand more about the impact of play/outdoor play for ourselves, and are hoping to create an environment of play, choice, agency, and well-being grounded in relationships for our students.

Hunch: We carry our hunches from last year’s interrupted inquiry forward into our context this year of outdoor play – we are curious about how children will respond to outdoor play offered through a range of pedagogical strategies (as in BC’s Play Today Handbook). Typically, outdoor play is “recess” and often outdoor learning is structured, however our students are early primary and are still constructing their understanding of “school”. We wonder about the role of the teacher in outdoor play.

Our hunches from last year carrying forwards: “that paying attention to the role of play in children’s developing sense of well-being and in their learning will help us teach and respond to children holistically — to see their gifts, to help children develop positive relationships and personal identity, and for them to see their strengths and the strengths of others. Our second hunch is that this will require us to reflect on and explore our views of children, learning, school, play, and relationships. We believe we can experiment with ways in which educators can listen, notice, name, and nurture learning. We think this will also cause us to reflect on and explore assessment/reporting practices, as the curriculum is brought to life through our learners’ play.”

New Professional Learning: We wanted to understand more about the benefits of outdoor play for children, so together we read “Balanced and Barefoot: How Unrestricted Outdoor Play Makes for Strong, Confident, and Capable Children” by Angela J. Hanscom. We referenced the websites outsideplay.ca, and childnature.ca – Thrive Outside, and Megan Zeni’s website. Some of our team explored the idea of “a seasonal pedagogy” from Hopi Lovell Martin http://edgeofthebush.ca/a-seasonal-pedagogy/. We used our observations of play to inform decisions about new materials – Kindergarten teachers opting for very open-ended outdoor playthings such as tarps and pails, eager to see what play they would provoke, and Gr. 1 teachers opting to enhance play with story telling materials and resources about the local natural world. We referred to the Early Learning Framework’s description of pedagogical narration, and invited colleagues and parents to look at images of outdoor play and share thoughts about the learning happening.

Taking Action: We would continue to refine and explore use of all of the following that we tried this year:
-using ‘a pedagogy of listening’ to understand the child’s experience/thinking to reveal the learning happening individually and collectively
-teachers responded to those observations and understandings with offerings of new materials, adjustments to time, repetitions of opportunities, overt or internal structures in outdoor play time
-sharing of teacher observations, curricular and core competency learning, and possible next steps for growth with families using online digital portfolios
-explored tying ongoing formative assessments to outdoor play through narrative assessment/pedagogical narration
-shared with colleagues and parents, and invited them to contribute their reflections on images of play using the thinking routine “See, Think, Wonder”
-centering the child in their learning by protecting time, committing to student choice, listening, matching play to curriculum

Checking: We continue to explore ways to track these qualitative measures. We asked some interview questions early in the year, and similar ones towards the end, regarding children’s experience of play. We collected their words. Anecdotally, each classroom teacher noticed great growth in confidence in the children’s physicality and embodiment of play, both large and small muscles. We are astonished by the capacity of the children to fill their time to the brim with rich play pursuits with increasing stamina and unwavering joy. We watched the ebb and flow of SEL in real and meaningful contexts as the year progressed, with enduring relationships, generosity, and an increasing sense of identity.

We see that our outdoor play experiences, in part, had a positive effect on the children’s experience of school:
“I thought that Kindergarten was going to be good, but it’s actually amazing!”
“My favourite part of the day is Partner Play, and playing outside, and in the forest.”
Parents also had positive impressions of their child’s outdoor play experiences:
“I am glad my child is learning outside to use different materials and her imagination.”
“I wonder if this type of learning would benefit other age groups and if teaching this way would enhance kids’ level of absorbing learning skills better.”

Reflections/Advice: The influence of the pandemic on this school year was immense. We jumped into outdoor play more than we might have without it, and find that it is a practice we want to keep in future. It had lots of challenges, but so many more benefits! We plan to continue to learn more about place-based learning, play-based learning, ways to share about the learning in play with both families and colleagues. Communicating about the value of play and outdoor play/learning with colleagues and families was important, and will continue to be so – the Early Learning Framework and Play Today are invaluable and have parent-friendly versions to share as well. Our advice would be to just do it – go outside, stay outside, dress for the weather, and let kids make real choices about their play and learning!

School District: SD#73 Kamloops/Thompson

Inquiry Team Members: Barb Hamblett; bahamblett@sd73.bc.ca
Mike Faisthuber; mfaisthuber@sd73.bc.ca
Corina Waage; cwaage@sd73.bc.ca
MJ Johnson; mjjohnson@sd73.bc.ca
Roberta Regnier; rregnier@sd73.bc.ca
Serena Reves; sreves@sd73.bc.ca
Brandy Turner; bturner@sd73.bc.ca
Eric Haffenden; ehaffenden@sd73.bc.ca
Tracy Ned; tned@sd73.bc.ca
Melody Tompkins; mtompkins@sd73.bc.ca
Danielle Harris; dharris@sd73.bc.ca
Dianne Bell; dbell@sd73.bc.ca
Mark Virgo; mvirgo@sd73.bc.ca
Jaymi Daniels: jdaniels@sd73.bc.ca
Erin Price: eprice@sd73.bc.ca

Inquiry Team Contact Email: bahamblett@sd73.bc.ca

Type of Inquiry: NOIIE Transitions (focus on Indigenous learner transitions)

Grade Levels: Secondary (8-12)

Curricular Area(s): Not applicable

Focus Addressed: First Peoples Principles of Learning, Indigenous pedagogy, Social and emotional learning, Transitions

In one sentence, what was your focus for the year? The focus this year has been on being, belonging and becoming by exploring well-being as a whole school community.

Scanning: At Valleyview Secondary we continue to use Téxemnem-kt to advise, guide and co-construct where we need to go next as a school community to improve Indigenous transitions for students. Téxemnem-kt, or paddling together as one, is comprised of Indigenous and non-Indigenous staff at all levels of the school organization and Indigenous students. Despite the impact of a global pandemic, this group has taken on many pieces of action this year which we refer to as “paddles in the water”.

Scanning occurred in expected and unexpected ways this year. As in the past, we reviewed the following data which helped us to understand what was going on academically for Indigenous learners at VSS. The following data is based on this current school year:
• There is no difference in course failure rates in the first half of this year between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students.
• Although there has been some success in this area, equity gaps continue to be found between Indigenous and Non-Indigenous students when we look at those students who are fully meeting course expectations. As a District we use C+ as the benchmark indicator for those who are fully meeting expectations.

• 8% gap between Indigenous and Non-Indigenous rates in ADST electives
• 16 % gap in English
• 14% gap in Math
• 11% gap in Social Studies
• 24% gap in Science

Scanning also occurred in unexpected ways.

• During Orange Shirt Day, students in Tracy Ned’s Secwépemctsin class began to express identity as ninth generation survivors of the Residential school system through the use of blue hearts. They used the tag blue generation to help others understand the impact of intergenerational trauma. In response to this, Talise Seymour, a grade 11 student, made presentations to classes throughout the school, and with the encouragement and support from family, put her words into video which has been shared all over the planet.
  • Xeykt Xexweytep, by Talise Seymour.
  • As a scan, Talise was interviewed in order to better understand how this type of learning impacted her, and what Téxemnem-kt hoped to achieve at Valleyview. This was shared at ICSEI.
•  Being, Belonging, Becoming: Improving Transitions For Indigenous Learners
  • Scanning has also occurred along the way. Téxemnem-kt guided two action plans or new paddles this year. The first was our response to Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc’s tragic discovery of the remains of 215 children at the Kamloops Indian Residential School. The second was in relation to National Indigenous Peoples Day.

Focus: We saw through Talise’s experience a connection between belonging and well-being. When given an opportunity to explore identity, she set roots into the VSS community and found her voice to educate others. How could we foster this for Indigenous and Non-Indigenous students?

Hunch: There are a number of things that have come into our thinking this year that may be contributing to the experiences of our learners. Some good, some perhaps not so good. These will continue to be explored further next year:

• A scan of all students in the first week back to school, indicated many students were feeling anxious and missed their friends. We wondered whether staff had the skills and knowledge to help students’ well-being. We asked teachers what they were doing in their own classes, and found that our collective understanding of well-being was at a surface level.
• Well-being and Belonging in our learning environments

New Professional Learning: It was clear to us that we needed some new professional learning if we were going to begin to nurture well-being in a purposeful way at VSS. It was also very important that whatever new learning we did had to have an Indigenous focus.

As the school leader, I brought forward Jennifer Katz, Ensouling Our Schools as a resource. This was also used at the District level in the Aboriginal Education Leader Series. In particular, we focused on Chapter 7: “Addressing Mental-Health Needs with All Students”. The intent was to move this focus into a broader school context so we could support all teachers and all students. To do this a few supports were put in place:
1. Katz’s Framework on Well-Being, on page 108 of her book, was highlighted and used as a checking tool at all staff meetings from November 2020 onward.
2. Katz’s Framework was also used to guide where to go next in all instructional leaders’ meetings.
3. Professional learning this year was all centred around well-being for teachers and students.

Taking Action: Some of the ways we took action were purposeful structures used in staff meetings and instructional leaders meetings. I believe these helped to create the conditions for a strong leadership from Téxemnem-kt. Here are a few highlights that include both actions taken as part of the whole school community and those that were supported and guided by Téxemnem-kt:

• Staff meeting learning agenda consistently focused on Katz’s Framework
• Instructional Leaders also focused on Katz’s Framework, but also used the criteria in the Katz Framework as a way to check staff progress and see where to go next.
• Strong examples from teachers that used learning design to nurture well-being were showcased on the staff meeting learning agenda as “Learning Bursts”. These were followed up with a connection back to the Katz Framework.
• Nurturing Well-being by Connecting to the Community
  • The announcement at the beginning of June this year from Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc brought Téxemnem-kt together again. Collectively, the team guided a much-needed response from the school community. “Love”, “support”, “nurture” and “well-being” now had crept into our vocabulary as a school community, which aided in the school’s readiness for facing these hard truths. Téxemnem-kt co-constructed a mini learning and reflection experience for the whole school on June 3, 2021. This featured Talise’s earlier video as well as one of her peers who also has Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc ancestry.
  • A Day of Acknowledgement: Walking with Tk’emlúps Te Secwépemc Community and local First Nations
  • The response was positive from the June 3rd session. This was followed up with a video project on June 21 to celebrate Indigenous diversity at Valleyview and explore what it means to be an “ally”. This was viewed on National Indigenous Peoples Day (NIPD). It was a broader, purposeful step to exploring identity.
  • Celebrating National Indigenous Peoples Day at VSS

Checking: Again, we used some expected and unexpected ways to check to see what difference we were making.

• Quantitative data will come in shortly, however, we have not seen much movement in the equity scan this year comparing the percentage of Indigenous students fully meeting course expectations to that of non-Indigenous students.
• Indigenous staff and student voice is elevating at VSS
  • Tracy Ned is sharing story and language on her YouTube channel, The Smart Owl.
  • Talise and Skylah both agreed to share their artistic understanding of the impact of residential schools with the whole VSS community and beyond.
  • Staff self-identified as Indigenous in the NIPD video.
  • There has been an increase in staff who are trying new Secwépemctsin words.
• After viewing the NIPD video, the student population was asked what 3 things they were thinking about, 2 things they had learned, and one act of reconciliation in a Padlet.
  • Almost all students had thoughtful things to say: “I am thinking about all the lives lost. I carry on my days with a heavy heart… that there are so many people that we don’t know are a part of this issue and that have stories they might choose not to share.”
  • Many students indicated that they learned, “that there are many diverse students and staff at Valleyview”.
  • Predominantly, students indicated their act of reconciliation was to “listen more, talk less.” Although this is encouraging, this response was given to them earlier. Perhaps more learning around TRC is needed for us as a school community.
  • A few racist comments were found in the Padlet, and a few used the space to post inappropriate social media links.
•  One third of the student population was scanned using the Katz Framework for Well-being.
  • 93% of students surveyed indicated that their teachers were nurturing their intrapersonal well-being, 75% indicated they could see their interpersonal well-being was being looked after.
  • 55% felt their spiritual well-being, or sense of purpose, was being nurtured by their teachers.

Reflections/Advice: Using video to capture authentic voice is a powerful tool. These videos can be used as unexpected evidence that can reconnect witnesses viscerally to the moment when the video was taken. They are timeless artifacts that can create a sense of urgency in the scanning phase. The process of collecting story through video can also be transformational for the producer/editor because you hear the voices over and over. You will also get an opportunity to work with the humans behind those voices. You need their permission and their input along the way. This can create the conditions for building deep, trusting relationships.

Working through Indigenous transitions can be complex “heart work”. Gathering a team, (even if it is small), defining your purpose (even if you aren’t sure what it is yet), and using local language even if you need help from other language experts (especially if you need some help) will help you with your inquiry.

And finally, celebrate everything… every micro-move, every time one of your staff or students shows bravery, every time a team member takes a risk and tries something new, or speaks up to engage in a courageous conversation. This will encourage you to come together as a team and give you the energy to be creative when you are feeling you still have miles to go.

School District: SD#68 Nanaimo-Ladysmith

Inquiry Team Members: Julie Ludwinowski, Grade 6/7 Teacher : julie.ludwinowski@sd68.bc.ca
Patrick Young, Principal: PYoung@sd68.bc.ca
Tina Moore, Aboriginal Support Worker: Tina.Moore@sd68.bc.ca

Inquiry Team Contact Email: julie.ludwinowski@sd68.bc.ca

Type of Inquiry: NOIIE

Grade Levels: Intermediate (4-7)

Curricular Area(s): Physical & Health Education

Focus Addressed: Indigenous understandings (for example, Traditional Knowledge, oral history, reconciliation), Growth mindset, Social and emotional learning

In one sentence, what was your focus for the year? Journey of Syeyutsus: Reconciliation in Action through meaningful ways to develop an appreciation of Hul’q’umi’num culture while developing healthy relationships.

Scanning: Syeyutsus, a Hul’q’umi’num word for walking in two worlds, can be described as living and honouring the teachings of the land and first peoples, while navigating the ever-changing complexities of today’s world. The social complexities of various social media have the potential to affect adolescents’ self-view and interpersonal relationships through social comparison and negative interactions, including cyberbullying.

When engaged in classroom discussions (i.e. circle talks, healing circles), many of my students stated they have smart phones, social media accounts of various global platforms, and spend an average of 3- 5 hours a day on electronics. When they talked about activities of engagement, the generated list was heavily waited towards online gaming and social media platforms regardless of the age requirements. Many of the students admitted, beside family members, they usually only socialize with actual people when at school. And, now during COVID times, they said social interactions were significantly less, as school cohorts were implemented and after-school get togethers were limited as well as discouraged. Students noted feelings of heightened anxiety and social isolation.

As a staff, we observed students really struggling with positive relationships while balancing appropriate use of social media sources, especially with a heightened usage of technology during this pandemic. So much so, in house social emotional support staff and outside agencies were consistently accessed, resulting in a desire to reconnect our students to our community of learners, elders, culture and the land, by honouring the Journey of Syeyutsus in meaningful ways.

Focus: By engaging in Syeyutsus — learning, modelling and playing the Hul’q’umi’num game of “Lahal” — staff will intertwine verbal teachings from the Seven Teachings, Circle of Courage, and First Peoples Principles of Learning, alongside culture sharing of Elder teachings and Mentorship. By doing so, creating opportunity for students to build healthy relationships with peers and others through culturally enriched hands-on activity; thus, limiting social media exposure and increasing student engagement.

Hunch: With limited hands on social interactions due to pandemic restrictions, as well as months of online learning, students may struggle with focusing and interacting with others for long durations and in a respectful manner. Although the game of LAHAL is fast paced and can appeal to those gaming enthusiasts, students may find it difficult to focus on learning the rules much less the verbal teachings, while students gather sticks from the land and prepare game pieces. Also, due to COVID restrictions, direct Elder mentorship is limited to coordinated FaceTime sessions, which may take away from engagement.

New Professional Learning: Elder Teachings & Mentorship – Most impactful regardless of being on a FaceTime social media platform. Selecting the right Elder for various topics was critical. Elders have such diverse backgrounds, yet selecting an Elder that walks and has walked in two worlds (Syeyutsus) is essential. Also, having a prior discussion with an elder about the NOIIE project was helpful. We outlined what the session would generally cover. An Elder from Tahltan First Nations played a pivotal role as his experience as an Aboriginal School Counsellor and Cultural Teacher made it easy for him to ‘dance’, so to speak, with the students’ responses yet entice them with his innate ability to connect with kids.

• Circle of Courage Platform
• First Peoples Principals of Learning
• Teacher mentorship with experienced growth mindsets
• Consistent wrap around team approach with staff [including CYC, EA, ASW]
• Supportive and encouraging Administration

Taking Action:
Interacting with the Land – Walking in the forest and gathering sticks for Lahal. Students were introduced to various elements of the land and how the land can provide. Local vegetation was discussed and explored. With the sticks gathered, students shaved off the bark while listening to culture shares and storytelling; students stated that the repetitive nature of shaving off the bark with an utility knife was soothing while listening, resulting in student’s ability to listen intently with respect to speaker. Although we did not complete a whole Lahal set of game pieces this year, it is definitely something for next year.

Cultural Sharing – Learning traditional teachings [how to cope with life’s situations and relations] through narrative story telling/ songs, while learning protocols when engaging with Elders, as well as other adults, in a positive way; learning socialization and how to speak to others with respect and dignity, while still having that grandparent family feel.

Traditional Songs – Learning to sing and dance to celebrate cultural diversity; dancing made people laugh while working on physical fitness. Students had to simulate holding hands while doing a round dance — which was uncomfortable for many — but continued to move forward as the foundational protocols from Elder chats made an easier transition into dance.

Wish List – FOOD – if you feed them, they will come! Although food can be expensive, sharing a meal together is cross culture as well as socially engaging. Although due to COVID, making and the sharing of food was not allowed within our school. However, this is something I wished I could have incorporated in between breaks from playing Lahal.

Checking: Student reflections were key to understanding various discoveries made. Students started with reluctant comments when engaging all NOIIE activities that did not involve a chrome book; examples included “I don’t want to do this,” “can I just watch it on Youtube?” and “I just want to be inside.” Students struggled with being respectful of their words let alone listening to directions and stories. It wasn’t until we gathered sticks outside while discussing how the Coast Salish Peoples lived off the land with various vegetation, that they began to ask questions rather than give demands and or reluctant comments. However, the most profound and pivotal point was with the conversation with an Elder who spoke about building healthy relationships and understanding your own beauty. He shared stories that were relevant to school life and grade specific — grade 6/7 in this case. Students and staff laughed and listened intently, as well as asked questions when appropriate.

Yet, the “ah ha” moment was when the students were asked to write “what is your beauty,” as well as define what respect for self and respect for others looks like. Staff noticed many students had blank pages. Even after further explanation around beauty could be described as your gifts, strengths, talents, and character traits, many students tried to avoid the question and/or listed surface type traits such as the “best hair” or “best iPhone/gaming system”; students were listing outwardly things. Also, as the rest of the class was transitioning to gym after completing their assignment, the students who were left were the students who struggle the most with making good behavioural choices on and off social media platforms.

One would think the “ah ha” moment would stop there, but it didn’t. I followed up with that particular Elder; as a retired seasoned counsellor, he described the students’ actions even before I shared them with him. He knew most students would struggle with defining their beauty. He mentioned establishing healthy relationships starts with respect of self, and most students who have had some sort of trauma will have more difficulty completing the task as they don’t respect themselves.

Reflections/Advice: After debriefing with that particular Elder, we can find ourselves truly on that Journey of Syeyutsus. Constantly navigating that spiral of inquiry… thinking of new ways to move forward with what was learned… reconciling with self through meaningful ways.

Things I am adding to my teaching practice:
– Increase rich learning – small group off-site, turning students into leaders, cultural shares w/Elders
– Wellness in all domains
– Finding additional meaningful ways to connect and build healthy relationship with students

Advice:
Do not be afraid to show/express your own [school appropriate] vulnerabilities, as well as share how you over come them – it is an essential pivoting point. Students can pretty much sniff out authenticity and people who genuinely care about them. If you’re not afraid to show vulnerability, then they won’t either.

By “restoring friendly relations” [reconciling with self – finding out who you are in order to find your path and people], students become courageous and success follows; success will look different for each student.

Reflections:
Hay ce:p qa to my students for the honour of guiding & witnessing you develop resiliency through the fire of adversity while connecting to traditional teachings and the land.
Hay ce:p qa to Frank J. Ney Staff for the privilege of paddling with you on our journey of supporting our students.
Hay ce:p qa to Elders for your stories, your guidance, your teachings and for your willingness to share.
Hay ce:p qa to all of you out there in the NOIIE community for your dedication towards learning and growth.

School District: SD#38 Richmond

Inquiry Team Members: Brooke Douglas: bdouglas@sd38.bc.ca
*Whole school staff
Margaret Hill: mhill@sd38bc.ca
Peter Johnsen: pjohnsen@sd38.bc.ca
Shane Kumar: skumar@sd38.bc.ca
Geri Trewin: gtrewin@sd38.bc.ca
Wendy Molnar: wmolnar@sd38.bc.ca
Melanie Silverson: msilverson@sd38.bc.ca
Kat Porter: kporter@sd38.bc.ca
Quentin DiNota: qdinota@sd38.bc.ca
Kristine Canas: kcanas@sd38.bc.ca
Chelsey Scott: chscott@sd38.bc.ca
Rebecca Kargut: rkargut@sd38.bc.ca
Alexandra Danahy: adanahy@sd38.bc.ca
Colby Leigh: cleigh@sd38.bc.ca
Victoria D’Urso: vdurso@sd38.bc.ca
Lynn Tyacke: ltyacke@sd38.bc.ca
Haley Borthwick: hborthwick@sd38.bc.ca
Natalie Ingham: ningham@sd38.bc.ca
Joan Tolman: jotolman@sd38.bc.ca
Robert Walton: bwalton@sd38.bc.ca
Andrea Hunter-Mogg: ahunter-mogg@sd38.bc.ca

Inquiry Team Contact Email: apchan@sd38.bc.ca

Type of Inquiry: NOIIE

Grade Levels: Primary (K-3), Intermediate (4-7)

Curricular Area(s): Other: integrated curricular areas were addressed

Focus Addressed: Core competencies (for example, critical thinking, communication, problem solving), Differentiated instruction, Flexible learning, Formative assessment, Inclusion and inclusive instructional strategies, Inquiry-based learning, Land, Nature or Place-based learning

In one sentence, what was your focus for the year? How can a focus on connections and core competencies help students better communicate their thinking and understand themselves as learners?

Scanning: In the scanning phase in Spring 2020, we asked students the 4 key questions from the Spiral of Inquiry playbook. The data showed us that students were able to share brief explanations of what they’re learning and why it’s important, and that their next steps were to deepen their capacity and articulation of their thinking.

While we feel that all of the OECD principles and First Peoples Principles of Learning were embedded into our inquiry, worth specific mention are:

• Learners at the centre
• Recognizing individual differences
• Stretching all learners
• Assessment for learning
• Learning is holistic, reflexive, reflective, experiential, and relational (focused on connectedness on reciprocal relationships and a sense of place).

Focus: This fall, we reviewed the data and invited staff to make observations of their learners about their ability to make connections and articulate their thinking. After meaningful conversations as a team, we solidified our focus and determined that the next steps for student learning are to deepen their connections to curriculum, to place, and to land, and to grow their capacity to articulate thinking.

Hunch: Students need modelling and explicit instruction of the language used in communicating thinking. Through thinking routines and think-alouds, students can practice using and sharing thinking strategies. Using strategic questions as formative assessment can also provide students with an opportunity to reflect and share their learning and thinking. We sense that when we explicitly make learning and thinking visible, students can begin to draw connections between different learning experiences.

New Professional Learning: Through our School Story, we will continue to explore ways to support students in deepening and articulating their connections to learning, to place, and to land. On our most recent Pro-D day, we took initial steps in gaining a shared understanding of how to plan with big ideas (for indoor and outdoor learning) and how to weave through the core competencies through thinking routines that can be adapted across curricular areas. Staff attended district assessment workshops led by Katie White, and engaged in the exploration of assessment practices in communicating student learning. We have also grown our pedagogy through collaborative conversations about planning, teaching and assessing, as well as an in depth co-teaching structure with individual teachers and the admin.

Here is a link to the documentation reflecting our professional learning:
https://www.canva.com/design/DAEeYuTKs_4/0KR6JoE_vtqeIRFuNdDJlw/view?utm_content=DAEeYuTKs_4&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link&utm_source=sharebutton

Taking Action: We used innovation grant monies to do a prep-payback style release time for classroom teachers. Given the extreme shortage of TTOCs, we met as collaborative groups after school on Zoom. Teachers then signed up for individual blocks during the day for time-in-lieu when TTOCs were available.
Here is a document that highlights our collaborative efforts:
https://gilmore.sd38.bc.ca/our-school-story/our-learning/our-actions-blog/202021/connections-through-co-teaching

The below link shows actions taken by teachers:
https://gilmore.sd38.bc.ca/our-school-story/our-learning/our-actions-blog

Checking: Prior to Spring Break, all teachers submitted documentation of how they have scanned to see if there had been growth in students’ capacity to talk about what they were learning and why it was important. We were specifically looking for depth and breadth of responses, rather than a simple “topic” answer. What we found was that students made progress in their capacity to communicate their learning, but the biggest shift has been in teachers’ ownership of learning and teaching.
Here is the Spring scanning documentation: https://gilmore.sd38.bc.ca/our-school-story/our-learning/our-evidence-blog/202021/spring-check-what-are-we-learning-why-it

Reflections/Advice: The staff have grown considerably in their pedagogy and, at the same time, there were many limitations that impacted collaboration and growth due to COVID. There is an interest and a willingness to learn and grow professionally and a need for continued opportunity for staff to engage in a continuous input of new learning, as well as a reflective process of how their learning is impacting students. These conversations and new learning will happen in our staff meeting process, professional development days, and other innovation grant opportunities that allow for collaboration time.

The biggest shift has definitely been the change in ownership and agency on the part of the staff. In having them do the scanning and sharing back and finding of evidence to support the work they are doing with students, staff are increasingly in tune with where students are in their learning and what’s needed to further grow.

School District: SD#75 Mission

Inquiry Team Members: Lorien Osborn: lorien.osborn@mpsd.ca, Judy Cathers; judy.cathers@mpsd.ca, Shannon Greig: shannon.greig@mpsd.ca

Inquiry Team Contact Email: lorien.osborn@mpsd.ca

Type of Inquiry: NOIIE

Grade Levels: Primary (K-3), Intermediate (4-7)

Curricular Area(s): Other: Nature and placed-based learning

Focus Addressed: Indigenous understandings (for example, Traditional Knowledge, oral history, reconciliation), Inquiry-based learning, Land, Nature or Place-based learning

In one sentence, what was your focus for the year? Connecting Aboriginal understandings and oral storytelling practices through experiential, applied design, and skills & technology practices based upon the use of our nature classroom, the land, nature or placed-based learning.

Scanning: This year we were able to start the building and planting of the two school nature classrooms. The first area, the Forest Classroom, consists of a forested area located within a fenced perimeter of the school. The other area consists of a larger square made of natural materials and surrounded by local Indigenous plants. The Greening Committee is looking to further develop the areas over the next academic year. Through the use of these two areas, our team hopes to engage learners in Place-Based Environmental Learning; thus, providing insight into the connections and impact of Placed-Based Environmental Learning on not only our students, but the larger community as well. We will continue to develop the NOIIE Inquiry project we had started the previous year and been unable to complete due to the COVID-19 lockdown and school closures. As had been examined the previous year, the schools’ MDI report for 2017-18 indicated a gap in environmental awareness and opportunities to engage with nature by the students at our school. Our team used the First Peoples’ Principles of Learning to understand what’s going on for our learners based on several questions from previous years’ inquiries.
– Does the nature and Place-Based Environmental Learning at school translate to the family unit and larger community?
– Do learners exhibit a deeper sense of place?
– Are the learners given the opportunity to have nature and place-based experiences with different generations?
– Do learners exhibit a greater appreciation and understanding of Indigenous knowledge?
– How and to what extent are stories part of the learning experience of learners?
– Are learners developing and exploring their own identity as well as their social-emotional well-being.

Focus: We chose to focus on Place-Based Environmental Learning due to an observed gap in our learners school experience. As noted by Scott Sampson, “… Nature’s impact extends far beyond physical fitness, encompassing intellectual and emotional health, self-identity, and basic values and morals” (How to Raise a Wild Child: The Art and Science of of Falling in Love with Nature, 2015). We observed that in order to make a Placed-Based Environmental Learning program successful, teachers required the training, resources and tools, not just the construction of nature-based learning areas. Our hope was to provide teachers the skills and materials needed to use the Forest and Outdoor classrooms so that they can begin to engage with a Placed-Based Environmental program within the curriculum. In doing so, we hoped that the learners had been given the opportunities needed to engage in activities that would provide answers to some of the questions we had about the benefits of Placed-Based Environmental Learning.

Hunch: In previous years, we had theorized that the nature-deficit seen in our students was the result of the structure of the traditional school environment and a need to meet curricular demands. However, once the spaces were created, we continued to see a lack of Placed-Based Environmental Learning programming taking place at our school; this was even with smaller class sizes and a shift away from curriculum towards a focus on mental well-being, during the re-opening of schools after the Covid-19 lockdown. Our hunch is that a lack of teacher knowledge and available resources in Place-Based Environmental Learning, combined with the lack of adequate nature-based learning facilities, has made it difficult to explore Placed-Based Environmental Learning within the curriculum by teachers. Furthermore, once the two areas were created, teachers had limited knowledge of ways in which to engage with the spaces in order to provide meaningful Place-Based Environmental Learning.

New Professional Learning: We were looking to restart some of the professional-development we had only just begun the previous year, prior to the COVID lockdown. Previously, we had planned to start examining several resources, including a book study group to explore the recommendations made in the book, How to Raise a Wild Child: The Art and Science of Falling in Love with Nature by Scott D. Sampson (2015). Also, we intended to examine and explore lessons in the book, The Big Book of Nature Activities: A Year-Round Guide to Outdoor Learning Paperback (2016) by Jacob Rodenburg, Drew Monkman. Furthermore, we had hoped to be able to access the professional development workshop in Manning Park organized by the Greening Committee, to further explore and investigate resources and tools for incorporating Nature into lessons. Unfortunately, very little of this has happened this year due to the ever-changing COVID restrictions. We are, however, already planning to start the book club and complete the professional development workshop at Manning Park this up-coming academic year.

We were successful in conducting research as to which plants are ‘Place Specific’ to our area, as well as those Indigenous plants native to the land, and plant these specific plants around the school grounds. Classes looked to determine the Indigenous uses for these plants and create signs to identify the plant and their uses. With the construction of the Forest and Outdoor Classrooms, we were able to start the process of identifying and planting Indigenous plants. This required members of the greening committee to search plant databases and consult with local Indigenous mentors, to identify those plants already established in the area and those that would grow and be useful as learning tools.

Some helpful resources include: Native Plant Unit (by Donna Walker), Sto:lo Ethnobotony resources, Plant Gathering (book by the Sto:lo), and Pacific Northwest Plant Cards (by Strong Nations). Next year, we will have learners create signage for the plants and resources for their uses.

Taking Action: Knowing that teachers would have a challenging year, we chose not to make it a school-wide project to adopt a Place-Based Environmental program; nor did we engage teachers in specific Placed-Based Environmental Learning workshops or professional development. Our strategy for this year was to allow teachers the opportunity to engage with the Forest and Outdoor classroom within the context of their own knowledge, and provide the opportunity to offer suggestions and ideas from the Greening committee as well as the Indigenous Liaison and Halq’eméylem teacher. Several teachers engaged in Place-Based Learning Environmental Programs for plant identification and artwork, with the guidance of the Halq’eméylem teacher and the use of the Native Plant Unit (by Donna Walker). As the year progressed, our focus shifted to one of mindfulness and mental well-being. As noted by Scott Sampson, “Health benefits of exposure to nature include enhanced healing, stress reduction, increased creativity, and self-esteem” (How to Raise a Wild Child: The Art and Science of of Falling in Love with Nature, 2015). Thus, the Forest and Outdoor classroom became places for mental reflection and mindfulness activities, in addition to Placed-Based Environmental Learning programs.

Checking: The questions we asked ourselves at the beginning of the academic year may have shifted away from the need for Placed-Based Environmental Learning towards that of mental well-being; however, many of our originally determined questions are still valid. Our team used the First Peoples’ Principles of Learning to understand what’s going on for our learners based on several questions from previous years’ inquiries. We found that our learners did have the opportunity to make connections to nature even without the training and tools we set out to provide teachers with. When asked at the end of the year, our learners identified the Forest classroom as a place for deep reflection and mindfulness. Connections were made with Elders through the use of zoom meetings, and learners felt engaged in environmental learning through the stories they heard. Learners exhibited a greater appreciation and understanding of Indigenous knowledge. Upon the passing of Olemaun (Margaret Pokiak-Fenton, 1936-2021) — author of children’s books, story keeper, residential school survivor, and Elder to our school Community — our learners continued to refer back to the stories shared that had been part of the learning experience and impacted their lives. Finally, our Placed-Based Environmental Learning programs were adapted in ways that we hadn’t predicted, to help learners to develop and explore their own identity as well as their social-emotional well-being. In a year that demanded flexibility, we did not necessarily complete the goals we had set out to accomplish, however, we managed to adapt and create new goals along the way that will hopefully guide our inquiry for the following year.

Reflections/Advice: We were very hopeful at the end of the last academic year that we would have our Placed-Based Environmental Programs up and running and ready to be used this current year. Now our team can look back and posit, we were naïve in thinking everything would just fall right back in to step. This year has required flexibility and compassion. This was not the year to start insisting on new practices and data gathering, rather, it was a time for mentorship, helpful suggestions and sharing resources and ideas. That being said, we look forward to the new year in the hope that we can find a way to make our professional development plans take place, and provide the Placed-Based Environmental Learning programs that we have so looked forward to engaging with.