This week in Teaching Each Other: Nehinuw Concepts Goulet & Goulet started to really explore their conceptualiztion and model of effective teaching. Their model is a circle divided into four quadrants. A model that clearly takes it roots in Indigenous knowledge and beliefs (it echoes the medicine wheel teachings that show up across the Indigenous teachings of Turtle Island). Their model suggest that effective teaching is a cyclical or maybe even more specifically a spiral through these quadrants.
As teachers and students work through these quadrants they continue to grow, develop and shift making both student and teacher better. The implication of a spiral rather than a circle is that you are not simply returning to the beginning and restarting but you are moving forward while continuing to follow this path. Starting from the same quadrant but at a different place and time.
I would suggest, as do Goulet and Goulet, that the first place to start as a teacher looking to become more effective in supporting Indigenous learners in our classrooms is in the relationship with student quadrant (p. 169). This quadrant is of critical importance in my opinion and is one that can sometimes be pushed aside in favour of a Western/Colonial view of what is important in education. Often times teachers in content heavy areas would argue that curriculum and the amount of content specific outcomes they need to meet in specific classes does not allow for time to build these relationships and that it “sounds great in English class or the Arts, but we have so many outcomes and are already short on time”. This argument has been brought up again and again in conversations I have had with colleagues. The counter point that I would suggest here is that you can’t help students meet the outcomes if they are not in your space.
Goulet and Goulet frame this relationship with the student by using the word kiskinaumagehin: teacher-directed learning (p.117). In this first step they emphasize creating a relationship with the student. This relationship should be one that creates a decolonized, culturally affirming interpersonal connection between the teacher. This section not only includes making connections with each student but also having a belief in the student and seeing them as a capable person. This can look like having high expectations that all learners can succeed. The key here is that means recognizing that success looks different for every student and that it does not always need to relate to high academic achievement. The second subcategory within this area is genuine care that reassures students through the building of mutual trust. This reflects the Nehinuw value of kistenimitowin (respect). This respect is gained through meaningful interactions in which the teacher demonstrates a humanness and vulnerability that expresses interest in the student that demonstrates a value for the student as a person rather than through a colonial version of respect for the teacher as an authority figure due to power imbalances within the structures of western education that reinforce colonial structures of cultural dominance. This development of relationship can create reciprocal respect enhancing the teachers effectiveness when delivering direct instruction. When viewed through this lens the connection to student in Nehinuw teachings is clearly the starting place. This development of relationship with students has been fundamental to my teaching philosophy since long before I read and researched about its value. Early in my career I recognized that connection to students made classroom management easier, made it easier for students to share their struggles with me and to keep them attending class. Often times this relationship lasted even if the student didn’t find academic success or get the credit in my class, this to me was always foundational in supporting holistic student success and personal growth.
The second section kiskinaumatowin: teaching each other centres around connecting student to the class. The focus here is on building positive social relationships of weechihitowin (supporting and helping each other). This is such an interesting dimension of this model, in my opinion. I feel like sometimes again this falls into an area that in some classrooms takes a back seat to curriculum delivery. This can also often disappear into the fog of a quiet and structured classroom that uses philosophies of Western Education models. I think sometimes of teachers I had when I was younger or even some colleagues who feel that a quiet classroom, with strict rules is a space where the most learning can take place. The old don’t let them see you smile until Christmas model. All of which hearkens back to the era or residential school and very western colonial views of teaching and learning. There is an interesting overlap between Arts Education and many of the philosophies presented by Goulet and Goulet and other researchers that seek to Indigenize western education. As an Arts Ed grad and a teacher in a unique Arts Ed program so much of this section is embedded in the work we do around ensemble and building safe spaces for students to create and explore. Creating a space where students support and help each other is critical in order to allow students to take risks and be vulnerable in creating and sharing. As part of my pedagogy I have taken this same ensemble building into my ELA classroom to build community even when we aren’t creating performance.
In this evolution the next form of learning Goulet and Goulet discuss is kiskinaumasowin: self-teaching (p.93). This feels like many other teaching models that rely on graduate release of responsibility. We aim to move the student beyond support from teacher and peers into a space where learning becomes independent and self-directed. This can look very different depending on the space and place that this self-directed self-teaching takes place. For many spaces it might look like students learning on their own or being engaged in learning. A key take away for me from this section of the text is the ideas of decentralizing the teacher. This model of sharing power with the learner not only empowers the students to take ownership of their own learning but it also begins to deconstruct traditional western ways of knowledge where the teacher is the source of knowledge and the student is a vessel waiting to be filled. Sharing power in the classroom allows students not only to actively shape their learning experience but also to authentically engage with learning that is culturally relevant. This is a great way for non-Indigenous teachers to authentically and meaningfully engage with students cultures, knowledge and belief systems in ways that they couldn’t if they continued to centre themselves as the only source of knowledge in the classroom.
In the final two stages of the cycle (connecting to process and content) the goal is to makes sure that learning is culturally relevant in how it is delivered, whose knowledge it recognizes and who is represented in the space. The goal at the end of this cycle is that students can reach a space of nisitootumowin: understanding. Much of this cycle really does seek to acknowledge the student as a holistic being. Their success can look very different when this model is used to impact effective teaching. This model does require however that teachers make changes to their practice, put students and student relationship at the centre of their practice and continue to be reflective and reflexive. Much of this work makes me think of several initiatives that are working to make learning and education more responsive to FNMI learners. I think that many of the ideas are interwoven within a Following Their Voices frame work and echo the work of Jo Chrona (Wayi Wah!), which has helped lay the foundation for the work that is being done by The First Nation School Board in Yukon. Their focus on holistic student success and the connection land and community seems to be leading the way on how education can incorporate community and experiential learning to benefit not just the learners but the community as a whole. I hope to continue to learn more about the work that is being done there as I think it is grounded in strong pedagogy and research.
Will Whitten 