The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Calls to Action are especially important in the education sector. These calls to action were created to help Indigenous peoples across Canada receive equality and equity within the country while also acknowledging Canada’s history. One of the calls to action requires teachers to teach students about residential schools in age-appropriate ways. This means that residential schools are no longer being swept under the rug and teachers must acknowledge and teach it in their practice. The system of schooling in Canada is a very colonized view of learning. In order to achieve a sense of equality, teachers must Indigenize their content as much as possible. This can be done by incorporating Indigenous stories, Indigenous ways of knowing, Indigenous history, the First Peoples Principles of Learning, the medicine wheel, the circle of courage, and much more. Below is a link to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Calls to Action.
In my future classroom, I will be working on decolonization by teaching multiple ways of knowing in every lesson. There are many ways to learn something and there is no “correct” or “better” way. I will constantly be reflecting upon my teaching and asking myself the following questions:
- Are there any voices missing from the conversation?
- Am I representing all ways of knowing in the content?
- What are the cultural contexts of what I’m teaching?
- Will my students feel seen and heard within the classroom content?
- Are there other ways that I can include Indigenous content respectfully into my lesson?