What? One of the biggest takeaways from the Indigenous pro-D day in September was the idea that Indigenous students come from different backgrounds and should be assessed with that in mind. The speakers talked about the multiple perspectives that are in part of every classroom and how important it is to consider them all when planning and assessing your students. Individualizing learning is something that we have been discussing throughout the education program. We know how much more meaningful learning can be for the students if they know the reason behind it and if they can make a personal connection to the concept. The speakers focused on personalizing assessment for Indigenous students specifically. As the teacher, we need to keep in mind that our Indigenous students may come away from a lesson with a different interpretation of the content than we intended, but that does not mean they didn’t learn something important. We need to acknowledge the different histories that our Indigenous students come into our class with and keep that in mind while assessing their learning outputs.
So What? Learning more about Indigenous cultures is incredibly important. Knowing that our Indigenous learners come into our classes with different life experiences and perspectives from us is incredibly important. It is also vital, however, that we have an understanding of what those perspectives are. If we can have a deeper understanding of Indigenous histories ourselves, we can incorporate them into our teaching and assessment strategies to create a more holistic learning experience for out Indigenous students. Being able to teach Indigenous perspectives and principles in our class will also benefit the non-Indigenous students as they will learn more about the history of Indigenous peoples in Canada.
Now What? I need to know more about Indigenous cultures if I am going to incorporate it into my teaching practice effectively. Continuing to engage in professional development with a focus on Indigenous perspectives is a way to continually grow as an educator and be able to engage more of the diverse learners in my class. Creating connections with Indigenous people in my community can be a great way to incorporate traditional knowledge and perspectives into my classroom. Being able to bring in guest speakers who can share personal or traditional stories will provide a much more meaningful learning experience for all students regardless of their backgrounds.