School Name: Colebrook Elementary
School District: SD#36 Surrey
Inquiry Team Members: Corrine Bell bell_corrine@surreyschools.ca
Monica Chiorean chiorean_m@surreyschools.ca Team Leader
Anita Kang kang_anita@surreyschools.ca
Tam Manery manery_t@surreyschools.ca Administrator
Inquiry Team Contact Email: chiorean_m@surreyschools.ca
Type of Inquiry: NOIIE
Focus Addressed: Our focus was to explore the connections between First Peoples Principles of Learning and Growth Mindset.
Inquiry Story: We began our inquiry by exploring the Spiral of Inquiry framework, which allowed us to scan our learners, develop our focus and continue exploring new areas of learning. We identified that many educators are hesitant to teach Indigenous education due to a lack of confidence in their knowledge. It occurred to us that a pedagogy like growth mindset — which teachers are familiar with — could strengthen our confidence and be used to help us explore the First Peoples Principles of Learning. Once our focus was determined, we met as a team, decided which professional resources to use, and began exploring opportunities.
The professional resources used were:
– Growth Mindset by Annie Brock and Heather Hundley
– Ensouling Our Schools by Jennifer Katz
– Learning The Land: Creative Community Engagements by Sophie Edwards
– The Art of Land-Based Early Learning by Sophie Edwards.
Using the knowledge we have gained from these resources, we decided to do weekly nature walks to our neighbourhood park and explore local Indigenous plants. We began exploring connection to land by listening to Ms. Bell’s Legend of the Cedar Tree, and identifying cedar tress and other plants in the forest. We also explored the importance of salmon in Indigenous culture while participating in the Salmon Enhancement Program (raising salmon) in Ms Kang’s classroom. Mrs. Chiorean’s grade 1/2 students explored Coast Salish shapes and patterns. The students enjoyed learning from Ms. McSpadden about how these shapes are used in weaving and created their own blankets. Unfortunately due to the cessation of in-class instruction we weren’t able to follow up with our inquiry in term 3. We are looking forward to continue our learning next September.