Vision of the Future : Sharing the Stories of Residential School Survivors

Vision of the Future : Reflection 

I have been an educator for approximately 15 years. I am passionate about my work and I feel strongly that I have an impact on the students that I teach. I typically tell people that I have two goals in teaching. First, I want students to know their multiplication facts and to understand the connection between these numbers. The second, it to create a classroom of empathy and one that demonstrates gratitude for others and the place in which they live. With this, students must learn about other parts of the world. We dive deeply into injustice, poverty, racism, discrimination, pollution and many other global issues. Unfortunately, Canada is not at all exempt from these issues as we so often believe. As Jennifer Katz, author of Ensouling Schools says in her foreword, "To fully understand this country we call Canada, we need to understand the impacts and legacy of trauma." (2018, p. 4) It wasn't until BC launched its new Redesigned Curriculum, that I began to teach my students about Canada's dark history of Residential Schools. I have taught my students about the history of Residential Schools through PowerPoint presentations, class discussions and picture books. The variety of picture books that are available on this topic is incredible! However, I have never felt that I am doing this part of our history justice. I want to find a way to make this part of our Canadian history come alive. 

For my first reflection post, I explored the idea of how stories can be told. Stories can be told in so many ways! I shared the following brainstorm that I created. 

When teaching about Residential Schools, I feel that I have barely brushed the surface. I have been more focused on sharing with my students the facts and details then about truly creating empathy and understanding. Picture books have allowed us to touch the surface but I feel that there is another level of deep understanding that I am still not achieving with my students.  

Understanding that teachers are very busy people, I have created a resource that educators can use immediately in order to share the stories of Residential School survivors in a variety of ways. My hope is that by using different forms of storytelling, students will truly understand the impact that Residential Schools have had on the First Nations children that attended these schools, their families and our collective Canadian history. With the recent discovery of over 5,000 remains of children found in unmarked graves in Residential Schools across Canada, the need to share these stories is more important than ever before. 

Google Slides

To be honest, I chose to create this resource on Google Slides because I find all Google programs very user friendly. It is easy to add photos, videos, hyperlinks and to change the background and font. I also used Google Slides exclusively during our period of remote teaching during the pandemic. 

My primary goal was to create a resource that teachers can use immediately in order to teach about Residential Schools in a meaningful, powerful and respectful way. In addition to this, I want this resource to be shared with as many educators in Canada as possible. I would also love for teachers to have the opportunity to add to this slide presentation. 

In looking at these three goals, I believe that Google Slides is the perfect platform to achieve this vision. Google Slides is easily shareable. I simply have to write in my co-workers name (or e-mail address) and they immediately have the power to use this presentation. By sharing this slide presentation, my co-worker also has the ability to edit and add to it. 

The settings on my Google Slide are public and in doing so,  it has become "live". It can be edited, added to and changed. This makes me a little bit nervous as I have done a lot of work to create it but I know that by opening it to another educators, it can only transform for the better. I will keep a copy of my original slide presentation and then I am excited to see how this presentation morphs and changes over time. 

Sharing With Others 

Here are some ways that I plan to share my resource with others: 

• In Kelowna, we are required to participate in three professional development days during the summer. As a result, I am meeting with four co-workers the first week of September to discuss the book Ensouling Our Schools by Jennifer Katz. As we will be discussing First Nations topics in education, I plan to share my Google Slide presentation with them and to receive feedback. I am also hoping to spend some time during our day to add more content. I will encourage my co-workers to share this work with others. 

• As I originally started my teaching career in North Vancouver, I will share this resource some of my former co-workers. This will ensure that my work is not limited to teachers in Kelowna! 

• I will encourage my peers in LIBE 477 to use this Google Slide presentation and to share it with their co-workers. By doing this, teachers in many different parts of the province will have access to it. 

• I hope to share it during our first staff meeting in September. Orange Shirt Day is on September 30. September is a crazy month for teachers so I hope that teachers will find it helpful and will be able to use it immediately. 

• I will also share this resource to the head teacher-librarian at our district Learning-Commons Network. This will give teacher-librarians in our district a resource that can be shared with staff at their schools. 

Challenges 

The primary challenge that I faced was trying to find a way to condense the abundance of information that is available on the Internet, into a Google Slide for teachers to use. When creating this presentation, I had to apply many of the skills that Will Richardson believes are imperative for children to know how to do in his book, "Why School?" For example, I had to "manage, analyze and synthesize multiple streams of information" (p.177) When I search "Residential Schools" on Google,  I instantly have access to over 5 BILLION results. Being able to sift through this information, find the links that I believe to be appropriate for my audience and create a synthesized final product (Google Slide presentation) is not an easy task! 

The next area that I found challenging is one that Richardson argues is a necessity for 21st century readers. Richardson believes that it is important to "design and share information for global communities to meet a variety of purposes" (p.177) I am happy to collaborate and work with others in my school community. I also share resources and things that I have created with my colleagues. I have never shared anything that I have created to global communities. I am not sure what is holding me back! I appreciate the teachers that willingly share ideas and content with other teachers via personal blogs, teachers pay teachers and social media. I have never had the confidence that my ideas and resources are good enough. Sending my resource out into the Internet is a very scary to me! I do hope that teachers find it helpful and that their students benefit from these stories. 

Without further ado, HERE IT IS! 

Link to Project : 

HOW CAN THE STORIES OF RESIDENTIAL SCHOOL SURVIVORS BE TOLD?

Link to Resources Used  : HERE 

References:

Katz, Jennifer. (2018) Ensouling Our Schools : A Universally Designed Framework for Mental Health, Well-Being, and Reconciliation. Portage & Main Press (Winnipeg, Manitoba). 

Richardson, Will. (2012) Why School?  How Education Must Change When Learning and Information Are Everywhere (Kindle Single) . TED Conferences. Kindle Edition.