Peterborough Institute May 2018

This institute was 'Inquiry through an Indigenous lens' in collaboration with NC with Hopi Martin representing NC and the Indigenous Community. Most participants were from the Peterborough area and therefore seemed more connected to the need for an indigenous lens, given their proximity to Curve Lake. Four of the participants actually teach at Curve Lake. We drew on some of their experience and their perspective as indigenous people.

We decided to focus on inquiry as a traditional indigenous community would....no power point, lots of outdoor experience to draw from, and the necessity to 'know' as part of the way of life.For the most participants this was a successful strategy with the following drawbacks:

• There were a lot of basic indigenous teachings upfront to set the context. This resulted in a lot of  'sitting' for participants. This flies in the face of good teaching practices as we represent them at LSF. We would have to find a different way.
• Inexperienced teachers had some anxiety surrounding the format. As one stated to me after the first day, "But I need help with my inquiry classes now. I'm not just looking for long term help." She wanted a 'quick fix' for her inquiry anxiety. We need to be more sensitive to the needs of all participants.
•  Even for experienced educators, they felt like their lifeline to conventional teaching practices was cut before we had time to successfully woo them away from relying on them.

To assuage these worries I would be much more transparent about the process next time and lean more toward the familiar, perhaps even reinstating the power point on Day 2.

This process did serve to show me just how far removed we, as educators, are from truly understanding a traditional indigenous lens. But it did renew my commitment to looking more closely at evolving this type of institute and not simply whitewashing it with a couple of smudging ceremonies etc done by a non indigenous person. 

As Stan said, "As non indigenous educators we can ask the questions but can't presume to answer them." But, with having an indigenous educator as part of the facilitation team, we can evolve and learn and begin to see what 'an indigenous lens' could look like.