Culture Camp

I had the privilege of being a part of the first ever culture camp put on by Regina Public Schools. Myself, Jeff Cappo, Sarah Longman, Lori Milligan, and Wayne Tranberg were able to create this awesome event for my Native Studies 20/30 class from Thom Collegiate. The purpose of the camp was for students to learn Indigenous content in Indigenous ways.

The kids were taught by Gary Gott how to set up a tipi.

The camp took place at Echo Valley Provincial Park in the Qu’appelle Valley. The students were able to experience and participate in a number of activities that focused on Indigenous knowledge, teachings, and traditional practices. While there, students were able to learn about the tipi and how to set up their own. They also learned about traditional mens and women’s roles.

Students also had a chance to flesh and dehair deer hides. We were able to teach them the process and they got hands on experience doing the work themselves.

The prepared hides will be used to make drums for the students and the school.

Students also had the opportunity to gain traditional teachings from knowledge keepers including Joseph Naytowhow (Nehiyaw from Sturgeon Lake), and Keith Ryder (Dakota from Standing Buffalo). We had the opportunity to go on a medicine walk, learn songs, and hear traditional stories and teachings.

Students also had the opportunity to go on hikes, make traditional bows, play traditional games, go canoeing and fishing, and smoke wild elk meat.

Bow making

Mitiigwab – the bow. Once the tree has been cut down the wood must cure until it has dried enough to begin working it. A good rule of thumb is about 1 year for every inch of diameter. The next step is to split the wood and make staves.

Once the staves have been cut you can begin to design and carve out your bow. Once the bow has been roughly carved out the next step is to weigh the bow and tiller to the desired draw weight.

Anishinaabemowin

This is a list of Anishinaabe words and phrases which I have compiled mainly through conversation with nimishoomis and noko (my grandfather and grandmother).

anishinaabemowin-learningDownload

Peer Reviewed Article

Here is a link to “Generating and sustaining positive spaces: reflections on an Indigenous youth urban arts program,” a peer-reviewed article which I co-authored with our team from IPHRC.

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1177180117714406

Deer Processing and Raw Hide

This post shows the process from hunting, to skinning, to stretching, and fleshing the hide to make raw-hide. Click on the images to read the description.

  • Three generations

Bellow is a video of part of the process as well as photos with descriptions in the captions.

Once the animal is killed, tobacco is offered and a prayer is given. Then the animal is gutted quickly in the field to prevent bacteria growth and the meat spoiling. Then the animal is and skinned. Bellow is a gallery of the stretching and fleshing process done with students. Click on the images to read the captions and description of the process.

  • Frozen hides
  • Building a frame
  • Stringing
  • Stretching
  • Fleshing
  • Stretched hides
  • Stretched hides
  • Stretched rawhide

Noondamikwe – Beaver hunting

Amik – The Beaver:

Amik can decimate a wooded area. You can see the place across the valley where the trees used to be that amik cut down. Though they are considered nuisances for this, they also change the habitat and create larger wetlands for other animals.

Amik is one of the wisest animals and appears in our creation stories. It used to be one of our primary food sources before colonization and also is a source of traditional medicine. During the fur trade, amik was one of the main resources sought after by the European fur traders to make hats. After the hats went out of style the fur trade declined and the relationship between European and the Anishinaabek shifted. Europeans no longer needed to trade with the Anishinaabek and began to colonize and viewed the Aishinaabek as barriers to progress.

Today amik is largely left alone and as a result, the population has risen. Consequently, he causes problems for some farmers and landowners. Amik is notorious for devastating the tree population and can turn a beautiful wooded area to a decimated landscape in just a year or two. Although amik is still respected. He is the only other creature that can change the flow of rivers besides humans. Amik knows the landscape and oral tradition says he can sense when climate change is coming and prepares and protects the water from danger and damage.

These photos show the process from hunting, to skinning, to fleshing the beaver hide, stretching it and the finished made beaver.

#progress. My first beaver vs. a more recent fleshing and stretching job.

My Philosophy of Education

April 22, 2019

Teaching and learning is a lifelong process. Though I have an education degree and my title is teacher, I see myself more as someone who walks alongside my students and learns with them. My goal as an educator is to help my students realize their inherent value and potential. Being Anishinaabe inini I see education as a holistic endeavour.

Meaningful learning requires that students learn in every domain and that the content they are learning is easily applicable to their lives or the formation of a positive worldview. Experiential learning is invaluable and often times the best way to learn. This is true whether students are learning about the Indian Act and residential schools, or how to skin a beaver and flesh an animal hide.

Relationships are central my pedagogy. To meaningfully help students I believe you have to know them personally. I also believe for them to trust and respect you then you must allow them to know you personally as well. Though some boundaries are necessary and healthy, students should be able to know what you stand for, what you believe, and parts of your life stories, struggles, and victories to build relationship.

Meaningful learning is done in relationship with others, we find meaning and value in human relationships and experiences. As an Anishinaabe inini, hunter, artist, and dancer, building relationships with the mastors and mentors of these skills is more important than the actual acquisition of these skills. Without honouring the sources of these practices and ways of being, the knowledge keepers themselves, the learning looses its value.

May 28, 2015

As an educator I believe my soul purpose is to help my students succeed. One of the first steps to ensuring this is to provide and maintain a safe learning environment that promotes positive values, encourages learners to share, and never allows a learners ideas or participation be ridiculed. Another is equipping youth with the skills they need to be happy and self-sustaining members of society. My largest goal is help youth realize their self worth and potential. By doing so, I believe I can empower my students to achieve greatness, and ultimately be happy, healthy, and productive people.

To achieve these outcomes, the classroom must be a healthy and positive learning environment that promotes good behaviour. It should be a place where students feel welcome and free to learn and express themselves, without fear of being judged. I expect that everyone in my class act in a respectful, understanding, and polite manner. This could be achieved by modelling the behaviour I want the learners to learn, such as forgiving faults, complimenting and praising good works, and gently giving correction. There is no room for disrespectful,  rude, or unfair behaviour in the classroom. A classroom that welcomes everyone and encourages cooperation is the kind I strive to create and maintain. I believe providing a suitable learning environment, where my students can come and learn safely and healthily is essential for their success.

It is my responsibility to teach my students the skills they need to live and participate in life and society to the fullest of their potential. Those skills include communication, critical thinking, and problem solving; all of which can be learned through the arts. As an arts educator,  I will be teaching students the arts (visual arts, dance, music, theatre/drama, and literature). The skills I believe I am responsible to cultivate in my students are the ones that will allow them to communicate and express themselves and ideas, and appreciate others’ art. Helping my students learn these skills will ensure they are equipped to be lifelong learners that can  function efficiently, independently, and productively in society.

Motivating my students to have a desire to learn is the single hardest job for me as an educator. In the end, it is all on them; they have to make the decision to explore learning with me. What I can do though, is try to make it more appealing. One way this is done by having enthusiasm about what I am teaching. Because, if I am “jumping up and down” about the arts and the value to be able to express and communicate clearly, I believe my little learners won’t be able to do anything other than pay attention. When doing so I hope that they will see the value of the arts, which provide us with a valve -a flood gate- to communicate, share, express individuality and meaningful ideas, and achieve personal satisfaction and success.

I believe we all have boundless potential and can achieve anything we set our minds to. Unfortunately, many students don’t realize their potential and it is all too easy for them to underachieve and fall through the cracks. As an educator, it is my job to help my students realize their potential and pull it out of them. I believe setting high expectations for my students and communicating these expectations to them, is one way to do this. I believe when this is done, the students know I expect and am hoping for them to succeed, and in-turn they will be much more motivated to do so. I also believe it is important to give them the praise when they do succeed. Should they stumble, it is my job to help pick them back up and encourage them to keep striving for success. By helping my students realize their potential and help them set and accomplish goals, they will have everything they need to accomplish  greatness.

Education is not just providing students with a place to learn and skills to function in society. I believe my job as an educator is to help my students realize they are capable of, and to strive for greatness, and I believe doing so through the arts is the best way. We all have greatness inside of us, but it is through the arts: speech, writing, dancing, drawing, making music, and acting out stories through plays that we are able to let our greatness out and shine for all to see. By doing so they will grow to be independent, happy, and productive people; truly successful people. It is kind of a intimidating task but it is incredibly important and someone has to do it. I am excited to be becoming a teacher and look forward to learning and helping people learn and become the best they can be.