Bringing Aboriginal literature into schools key to reaching kids

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Resistance may be a natural part of change, but one Saskatchewan educator hopes to overcome this obstacle when it comes to incorporating Aboriginal literature into the curriculum.

Beverly Kynoch, who has her masters degree in Education, is a volunteer with AWASIS (Cree for child), a branch of the Saskatchewan Teachers' Federation that deals with First Nations and Metis education. She is currently working with Dr. Shauneen Pete-Willett at the University of Saskatchewan on re-designing the communications curriculum for Saskatchewan Learning.

With a significant number of Aboriginal students struggling to stay in school, Kynoch believes core subjects such as English and History can be made more accessible to higher-risk youth. By telling the stories these youth can connect with, they will be able to see change is possible and education worthwhile.

"We need to branch out from the history that has been denied us from knowing ourselves," Kynoch said.

Kynoch made a presentation on how Aboriginal literature can be used as a tool in the classroom at the last AWASIS conference, held in April. During her presentation, Kynoch noticed her ideas were generally accepted, especially by those teachers in band schools or in inner cities where there is a higher percentage of Native students.

"People are looking for new ways to entice learners by matching experience and provide avenues for success," said Kynoch.

Despite the warm reception the idea has received, Kynoch recognizes wholesale changes across Saskatchewan's education system won't happen over- night. Replacing the study of authors like William Shakespeare and Margaret Lawrence with First Nation books from Chief Dan George and Lee Maracle is not an easy sell, despite obvious benefits.

"We anticipate resistance but the challenge of education is to move past that resistance and open up a dialogue to see this happen," Kynoch said optimistically.

Presently, only E.D. Feehan Catholic high school in Saskatoon has incorporated Aboriginal books en masse into its classrooms. Belinda Daniels-Fiss teaches Indian Literature to Grade 9 students at the school. Besides the traditional grammar, all of the literary studies in the course focus on works by Aboriginal writers.

The province mandates that students be taught fiction, true stories, short stories, plays and poetry. Daniels-Fiss says there are enough works by Aboriginal authors to design a course to meet the province's and the students' needs. The book Toronto Dreamers Rock, written by playwright Drew Hayden Taylor, was one of the books studied in the course, while the non-fiction component dealt with residential schooling in British Columbia.

But while some educators can be reluctant to change the way they teach a subject, this time it was the students who were hesitant about the change.

"Students were blown away and resisted for the first six weeks because they weren't ready to hear their stories read," Daniels-Fiss said of the initial offering of the course last year. Sixteen students were handpicked by Daniels-Fiss to be a part of the course, three of whom were non-Native. While the Aboriginal students were originally uncomfortable, the non-Aboriginal students digested a wealth of information previously unknown to them.

"My non-Native kids were really enthralled and wanted to know why the government would do that because they had never heard of the residential system," Daniels-Fiss said.

The second offering of the Indian Literature course will begin in February, with an increased class size of 25.

The push to include more Aboriginal literature to the Saskatchewan curriculum isn't just about bringing recognition to Aboriginal literature, Kynoch explained. It's about widening the scope of education.

"This is not just about content or cultural awareness but it's also about cultural competence," Kynoch said. "This is about an ability to value multiple world views."