This week’s readings and discussions wove together theory, practice, and lived experience through Chapter 10 of Teaching Each Other: Nehinuw Concepts & Indigenous Pedagogy by Goulet and Goulet (2014) and the teachings shared by Elder Shelly Belhumuer, a Métis Elder from Saskatchewan. Both the text and Elder Shelly’s reflections offered a powerful reminder that learning is a lifelong, relational, and holistic process—one grounded in balance and guided by community.
Chapter 10 highlights how Indigenous education is deeply experiential and relational. Learning happens through engagement with others, through story, and through the continuous process of reflection and renewal. These ideas were made tangible in Elder Shelly’s sharing. Her words illustrated what Goulet and Goulet describe as “learning as a lived relationship”; a process that connects the learner to the self, to the community, and to the larger world of spirit and land.
Elder Shelly spoke about lifelong learning as central to her work as an Elder. She explained that the role of an Elder is not defined by age, but by responsibility, wisdom, and willingness to guide. Her statement, “not all Elders are old people and not all old people are Elders,” reframed how I think about knowledge and leadership. She noted that even the term “Elder” originates from European colonizers, while in Cree, ketayayk translates to “old one.” This distinction reinforced that wisdom is not conferred by time alone but by intention and lived commitment, a reminder that lifelong learning is both a journey and a practice.
This idea connected closely to the Saskatchewan Arts Education 9 curriculum, which states that “learning is a lifelong process that involves purposeful reflection and growth.” Elder Shelly’s teachings embodied this principle in action. Her humility, curiosity, and willingness to adapt her own understanding offered a living example of reflective learning as a lifelong pursuit.
One of the most powerful moments of her talk came when she shared her personal adaptation of the medicine wheel. Traditionally, I had learned the four directions as yellow in the east, red in the south, black in the west, and white in the north. Elder Shelly described how, in her own wheel, she has changed the colors and associations to reflect her life experiences: red in the east, blue instead of black, and seasonal shifts in the north from white to green. These changes did not replace traditional teachings but personalized them, showing how Indigenous knowledge systems are living, adaptable, and responsive to individual and environmental change.
Elder Shelly also shared her connections to the elements, animals, and medicines of each direction (earth, air, fire, and water) and the corresponding medicines of sweetgrass, cedar, tobacco, and sage. Her version of the wheel centered on maintaining balance among the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual dimensions of life. It was a vivid example of what Goulet and Goulet describe when they discuss how learning in Indigenous contexts is holistic, connecting all aspects of the learner to the act of learning (p. 210).
Her reflections found their way into my own practice this week during our interactice activity. As my fellow students used the Padlet to create visual reflections on how we connect students to content. I was reminded of my own symbolic self-portrait assignment that I use from time to time with Grade 9 Vis Art students. The assignment asks them to come up with 20 symbols that represent themselves and then to apply them to a drawing that becomes a “self-portrait” of sorts. The assignment emphasizes balance, and a holisitic view of self. I encourage students to think about the four aspects of the self; physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual, and to consider how these elements exist in tension and harmony in their lives. I use the medicine wheel in a similar way to the teachings of Elder Shelly. To talk about how we can create a balanced view of ourselves. After hearing Elder Shelly’s teachings around the same idea but also the way the medicine wheel can be personalized it has given a new depth to this activity, reminding us that creating art can be a form of rebalancing and self-understanding.
Elder Shelly’s personal reflection on striving to “be the person people believe I am”, also resonated with me as both a learner and a teacher. It spoke to the responsibility of living in a good way, of aligning intention with action, and of maintaining integrity in the relationships we hold as educators. In many ways, this echoed Goulet and Goulet’s emphasis on self-awareness and authenticity in teaching, which they describe as essential components of relational pedagogy.
As I think about this week’s learning, I’m reminded that both Elder Shelly’s teachings and Goulet and Goulet’s writing call for a pedagogy of reflection and reciprocity. In my own classes, I see this take shape in how I encourage students to make meaning from their experiences—to create, to share, to listen, and to connect their art to their own lives and communities. Learning, as Elder Shelly reminded us, is ongoing. It requires balance, humility, and curiosity.
The most powerful takeaway from this week is that education, when practiced relationally, becomes less about mastery and more about becoming. Whether through the wisdom of Elders, through artistic reflection, or through personal growth, the learning journey is lifelong, holistic, and deeply human.
Key Takeaways
- Learning is a lifelong process rooted in reflection, reciprocity, and relationship.
- The teachings of Elders, like those shared by Shelly Belhumuer, demonstrate that wisdom is grounded in humility and lived experience.
- The medicine wheel provides a holistic model for learning and balance, connecting the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects of self.
- Relational pedagogy, as described by Goulet and Goulet, reminds us that meaningful education is always about learning with and from others.
References
Goulet, L., & Goulet, K. (2014). Teaching each other: Nehinuw concepts and Indigenous pedagogy. UBC Press.
Saskatchewan Ministry of Education. (2010). Arts Education 9 Curriculum Guide. Regina, SK: Government of Saskatchewan.
Will Whitten 