I. General Information
School Name: Fraser Lake Elementary Secondary School
School District: SD#91 Nechako Lakes
Inquiry Team Members:
Patti Ann Plowman: pplowman@sd91.bc.ca
Kathy Chmelyk: kchmelyk@sd91.bc.ca
Leona Prince: lprince@sd91.bc.ca
Inquiry Team Contact Email: pplowman@sd91.bc.ca
II. Inquiry Project Information
Type of Inquiry: NOIIE Case Study
Grade Levels Addressed Through Inquiry: Intermediate (4-7)
Curricular Areas Addressed: Applied Design, skills & Technology, Arts Education, Career Education, Language Arts – Literacy, Language Arts – Oral Language, Language Arts – Reading, Language Arts – Writing, Science, Social Studies
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, Flexible learning, Formative assessment, Inclusion and inclusive instructional strategies, Indigenous pedagogy, Inquiry-based learning, Land, Nature or Place-based learning
In one sentence, what was your focus for the year? To learn how to use the Seasonal Rounds of the Dakelh people to plan instruction.
III. Spirals of Inquiry Details
Scanning: When we did our scanning, we saw disengaged learners, lack of retention and transference of skills and information, kiddos who did not know about their own history, let alone the history of Canada (they have a basic understanding of residential schools, but not all of Canada’s history – racism towards different groups, treatment of immigrants, etc.), skill levels that had declined substantially since I started teaching 30 years ago and are even more apparent now after the impacts of Covid, and high rates of absenteeism since Covid.
Learners can vaguely articulate what they are learning, why they are learning it, and how they are doing. They have trouble explaining how what they are learning about is important, what else it relates to, and what they will learn next. During scanning it was apparent that students enjoyed experiential learning, loved learning outdoors or in different environments, liked to work with others, liked to have some voice and choice in what they were doing, and loved to hear stories. Many of these observations are directly related to the FPPL and the OECD PL.
Focus: For the past two years, we have been trying to find a way to make learning less piecemeal, by not teaching concepts in compartmentalized subject silos, but by teaching thematically or cross-curricular so students’ learning is interconnected. Our hope was that by teaching this way, students would realize that skills are used across subject areas, they would be more engaged, and there would be better retention of skills and information. We focused on incorporating more Indigenous ways of learning, as they are more wholistic, hands-on, meaningful, and engaging.
Hunch: Our hunch was that the way we were teaching was part of the problem. The other part of the problem lies outside of our control, as it has to do with what goes on at home. We knew that we needed to change what we were doing to make a difference. We knew that using Inquiry with learners, letting them have some voice and choice, and incorporating more of the Indigenous ways of learning would lead to more learners being engaged. We thought that if we started working smarter, not harder, by combining curriculum so that one project would fulfill outcomes for multiple subjects, we would make a bigger difference for learners. We started deconstructing the walls between the subject silos when we were planning, so learning was reconstructed in a more meaningful way. Then when we assessed students’ work, we would deconstruct the project to assess the outcomes for the different subjects.
We believe that part of our struggle to make more headway with what we are attempting to do is a result of our colonized system. It is difficult to change the way you plan a school year, when the entire system is designed around: bells, schedules, chunks of time; shared resources, spaces, staff; specific content that is supposed to be covered and sometimes at certain times of the year based on what is happening. All these things make it difficult to change, but NOT impossible.
New Professional Learning: We continued to learn more about the Seasonal Rounds using a few resources that we found online. We have continued to ask people we know in the local Indigenous communities if there are knowledge keepers or Elders who could share more about the Seasonal Rounds and more traditional ways of teaching, but have had little luck. We attended the BCTELA Conference in Vancouver in October and the Indspire Conference in Montreal in November, where we attended some great sessions and found some useful picture books. We plan to continue learning more about the Seasonal Rounds (researching, speaking with knowledge holders) and Indigenous pedagogy and ways of learning.
Taking Action: We used the Seasonal Rounds Calendar as the framework to plan learning around, and used the four questions that have long shaped Senator Murray Sinclair’s thinking and worldview to guide us: Where do I come from? Where am I going? Why am I here? Who am I? At the top of our year-long planning page, we came up with three guiding words that combined the ideas of the Seasonal Rounds and Justice Sinclair. September to December, we focused on being RESILIENT and being the author of our own story, learning about ourselves and the place where we live, and building the skills we need for deeper learning. From December to February, we focused on RECONCILIATION, learning about others, learning about where we come from, being an advocate, and beginning to go deeper with our learning and telling the story of others. Then from March to June our focus was on RECIPROCITY, learning about the land and the world around us, striving to be an activist for the Earth or a cause that is important to us, continuing to delve deeper into our learning, and learning to speak up and make a difference.
We designed several cross-curricular units and did our best to break free of the time driven schedule. We focused on the things that were truly important and didn’t get hung up on doing everything. We strove to make learning engaging, fun, and relevant.
Checking: We feel like it is getting better in year two, but it is still a struggle because of the ties to the bells and schedule. We are getting better at doing things cross-curricular and incorporating skills across subject lines – folks don’t always know what subject we are doing when they come into the classroom! We have gotten better about using more of the Indigenous ways of learning and on integrating Indigenous content and knowledge into more subject areas, while also valuing the contributions of other groups.
We unfortunately did not have students complete the 4 Questions that Matter at the end of the school year, due to a personal injury and illness that impacted the classroom teacher’s ability to get things done the last month of school.
Reflections/Advice: We have learned that teaching this way makes a difference for learners and for the teacher. The learning is deeper, richer, more meaningful, and more engaging for the students, and we believe that they are better able to understand how skills are important in all subject areas. For the teacher, the planning is more purposeful, and you can cover more of the content in different subjects more easily.
We plan to continue to search for local knowledge keepers who can help us learn more about the Seasonal Rounds, to continue developing the Seasonal Rounds Year Overview for the classroom, to complete the course “4 Seasons of Reconciliation” through the Outdoor Learning Store, and to add more of the learning from the Indspire Conference in Montreal into next year’s planning and teaching. We will look for more connections between subject areas to create wholistic/thematic/cross-curricular teaching units. We will also continue to focus on finding ways to transfer skills and link key aspects of the core and curricular competencies, big ideas, and content across subject areas.
Our advice would be to learn about the Seasonal Rounds in your area and to look for resources and people in your area who can help you. Take time to thoroughly look through the curriculum and see where logical connections exist. Start with one thematic unit and see how it goes before jumping in with both feet!