Tipi Teachings part of new school's curriculum

Page 16

Students at Chief Paskwa Education Centre aren't just enjoying a new school, they're also being introduced to a new program designed to incorporate traditional values and Native culture into their everyday studies.

Constance Dubois is project coordinator for the new Tipi Teachings project, which is aimed at addressing the legacy of the residential school experience among students on the First Nation. The program has been introduced into all grade levels.

"One of the reasons it was put together is because a lot of the behavior problems in the school, we recognize, stem from a lack of traditional values in the classroom. And so, therefore, I put this together to address education as a healing tool, to address the legacy of the residential school system," Dubois explained.

"It's not intended to describe all the horrors of the residential school experience. Because in talking with our Elders, they say, you know, everybody's tired about hearing who was abused and how they were abused. But rather it speaks to the effects of that abuse, addressing the common effects which were a direct result of the residential schooling experience. The consequences that we've identified as separation from culturally relevant skills and teachings, a lack of community cohesion and communications, a loss of cultural identity and self-esteem, a loss of parental involvement in a child's education process, and a serious mistrust in the education system."

The goals of the program are to create awareness and promote an understanding of the intergenerational effects the residential schools have had on survivors and their families, and to recognize that cultural traditions and values are valuable tools in the education process. The program is also designed to provide supports for students within the school community, to increase the amount of positive social interaction in the classroom, and to "begin the healing journey in education."

"It basically teaches different survival strategies within the classroom to help children be able to understand both their internal and their external environment, and how to function using the Tipi Teachings as a model for behavior," Dubois said.

The Tipi Teachings program is made up of 16 lessons, each with a traditional value as its focus. The 16 lessons have been divided into four units. Each unit represents a stage of life-childhood, youth, adulthood and elderly-as well as a season-spring, summer, fall and winter. The units are also divided into internal groupings as well -into spiritual, emotional, mental and physical development.

The lessons in unit one focus on the values of obedience, respect, humility and happiness. The overall focus of the unit is on adaptation and change, and developing coping strategies, giving the students the tools they need to respond appropriately to the changes and challenges they encounter.

"I guess one of the things with the first unit is that its very important that children know the rules and expectations of social interaction. That's what that focuses on, the respect, humility, happiness and obedience and all that, in order for them to be able to function effectively in the classroom," Dubois said.

In unit two, the lessons focus on the values of love, faith, kinship and cleanliness.

"The focus for this unit is on the way we make our decisions, and being able to identify those things that affect the way we make our decisions," Dubois explained.

Community support also plays an important role in unit two, with students creating a community album.

"Because the more you know about your community, the less you are likely to feel alienated. So what they do is, for instance, they go out and they take pictures of people in the community that are helping people. And they make their own classroom or school community album, so that together as a group, they can identify people that they can go to if they need support, in whatever area. But just being able to identify people intheir community empowers a child so much in their attempt to master their environment," Dubois explained.

The lessons in unit three look at the values of thankfulness, sharing, strength and good child rearing, while unit four deals with connectiveness, dependence, hope, and ultimate protection.

"We are all connected by our relationships, basically, and we depend on each other. And the ultimate protection is to make good choices. And hope is something we can make for ourselves by making good choices," Dubois said.

The program also includes a language arts project, with the class presenting an oral report to Elders and chief and council. According to Dubois, the language arts project grew out of concerns that students from the First Nation aren't equipped with the proper skills when they leave the reserve schools and enter the provincial education system. The project is designed to help them develop the necessary skills-doing research and written reports and giving oral presentations.

The Tipi Teachings curriculum uses a number of strategies to accomplish its goals, including brainstorming, case studies, conflict resolution, consensus decision making, cooperative learning, cooperative problem solving, inquiry, oral tradition, questioning, research projects, storytelling and the talking circle. And, during each of the units, an Elder comes in to talk with the children.

"Each of the units is designed to run for one week, so within a month you should be able to run through the whole program. But some of the activities are meant to be ongoing. There's journal writing, there are the coping strategies that are also part of the curriculum, there's different games that have been adapted from cooperative games off of the Internet, and there's the school community album. These things can be carried out throughout the year," Dubois said.

"It's not that we're looking at the education system to 'fix' the problem. Part of it is to quit being part of the problem, because the waythe education system is set up now, children aren't given the tools, basically, to compete successfully in the classroom. And that's one of the things that the residential schools did to us, was limit our potential," Dubois said.