School Name: Myrtle Philip Community School
School District: SD#48 Sea to Sky
Inquiry Team Members:Tanina Williams: twilliams@sd48.bc.ca, Shelley Desbrisay: sdesbrisay@sd48.bc.ca, Heather Gallagher: hgallagher@sd48.bc.ca, Susan Leslie: sleslie@sd48.bc.ca
Inquiry Team Contact Email: hgallagher@sd48.bc.ca
Type of Inquiry: NOII (focus on core competencies, OECD learning principles, etc.)
Grade Levels: Primary (K-3), Intermediate (4-7)
Curricular Area(s): Language Arts – Oral Language, Matahematics / Numeracy, Social Studies
Focus Addressed: Aboriginal understandings (for example, Traditional Knowledge, oral history, reconciliation)
In one sentence, what was your focus for the year? The focus was learning language.
Scanning: Through scanning the physical school, the students and staff we noticed that there was no language visible in the school. To show respect to the land and the people of this land we realized that having the language present would be valuable to everyone. By having the language as an integral part of the school all people would know that the school is an open place.
Focus: The area of language was chose to keep the language alive in the area. The idea is that if children don’t learn the Native language to this land while on this land, no one will learn the language. We hoped that the children would change by first playing with saying the words for numbers; then putting the words to memory; and as an extension the children would apply the knowledge and use the number in relevant situations.
Hunch: There was the hunch that some students would not take this work seriously or treat it as applicable to them.
New Professional Learning: For the teachers all of the language was new. This was out of the comfort zone for many teachers.
Most valuable was the Aboriginal Educator who shared her knowledge of Ucwalmicwt (lil’wat language) and we used the the Ucwalmicwts app.
To support everyone’s learning posters were made and shared with all divisions. Songs and games were played by the children.
Taking Action: The Aboriginal Educator lead lessons for the students. It was then up to the teachers to supplement these lessons through practising the counting or words or song with their own classes.
Checking: There was a variety of gains made in each division. Some classes practised when the Aboriginal Educator was leading the lessons; other classes practised during class time; some students were self motivated and inspired to practise on their own or within small groups.
Reflections/Advice: Language was fun for the students and playing games to learn vocabulary was very successful. It is important for the learning to be reinforced outside of the time that is allotted for Aboriginal Educator’s lessons. The teachers need to take ownership of the learning and lessons to solidify skills and to create genuine excitement around the topics.