Professional Masters of Education: Magdalena Brzoska's Journey
Queen's University Kingston, ON Canada
Journal #1
Date: January 15th 2018
Upon completing the first module (Indigenous vs. Colonial Approaches Towards Aboriginal Education), I found the content heavy. The material made me take a step back and look at the First Nations people that I work with, teach and am friends with. The documents we were required to read and the Justice Sinclair video clip I watched just shook me.
My heart ached.
My Facebook feed had a "Cultural Genocide" video from INSH which shows photos and statistics regarding the Residential School System in Canada that I wanted to share: https://www.facebook.com/INSH/videos/1159381377477799/
Journal #2
Date: January 20th 2018
There is a youtube clip that talks about the importance of Reconciliation Through Indigenous Education, where the speaker states that Indigenous students will achieve success when educators show value of Indigenous ways of knowing. How true!
link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1Wx4PIh4ZQ
clip time: 2min 12 secs
Journal #3
Date: January 25th 2018
I decided to use an online sketchpad application to draw (using words) how the course material has affected me emotionally due to the location and area where I work and what I also see with the Indigenous people I am friends with. It all just started to make sense on why there are so many intergenerational struggles and just the tremendous negative impact Residential Schools and the government policies that were imposed on the Indigenous people of Canada.
Journal #4
Date: February 4th, 2018
For this journal, I have decided to look at the report "Aboriginal Childcare in Ontario and Quebec" submitted to The Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples in 1994 by Clare Wasteneys. The report states, " Child care plays an important role in the improvement of social and economic conditions in Aboriginal communities" and I couldn't agree more when it comes to the engagement of children and their success as Indigenous students (Wasteneys, pg.1). Having high-quality child care on reserves would eliminate students having to stay home to babysit their younger siblings and miss important school days. Not only would having high-quality child care be helpful for students but it would be integral to help to heal for parents and other relatives that may be struggling with addiction, mental illness or finding a stable job. Everything seems to be interconnected when it comes to what obstacles Indigenous students face in obtaining a high level and success education. By providing high-quality childcare on reserves the government of Canada would be eliminating at least one of those obstacles that students face in terms of attending school.
This report was written in 1994 and yet in 2018, there is still so much to be done in order to help Indigenous communities have adequate child care services. There are professional educational staff at my school that is amazing co-workers and yet they still have to deal with the struggle of finding safe, reliable and consistent child-care for their own children while they are at work. How is this fair? I personally believe there should be free day-care on the reserve for professional educational staff so they can not only focus on helping reclaim the Anishinabe culture and language within the school system on the reserve but so that they can do so without the stress of wondering if someone will be available to watch their children while they work.
Without adequate childcare for staff and students on reserve, the system is hindering their professional and academic development and in reality capping their potential to excel in the areas they wish to explore.
Can the provincial and federal government look into these problems? Why are they being ignored? Who do I have to speak to in order for something to be done or start being looked at?
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Resource:
Wasteneys, Clare. Aboriginal Childcare in Ontario and Quebec. The Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. 1994. Web. Feb 4, 2018. http://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2016/bcp-pco/Z1-1991-1-41-60-eng.pdf
Journal #5
Date: February 9th 2018
I know we aren't supposed to include anything that we posted on our discussion board but I am proud of the work I did for the culture-based education reading post and it took me a long time! Haha. Anyways, I wanted to share it with you on here and not make a separate page.
Click on the image to view the mind map created with padlet.
Cheers,
Magda
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Journal #6
Date: February 19th, 2018
Journal #7
Date: March 2nd, 2018
Recently the school that I work at (Eenchokay Birchstick School) had the opportunity to be a part of the N'we Jinan Tour which is a music initiative across First Nations and Native American communities. The N'We Jinan Tour as stated on their website " brings a mobile recording studio and a video production team into schools and youth centers across First Nation and Native American communities. The program offers youth the chance to create an original song and music video that explores relevant issues and topics while promoting positive messaging, community engagement and collective voice."
Although, the music video has not been uploaded from Pikangikum First Nation (yet) I did notice that there is a music video from a school where I grew up.
The song is called, " Pierce The Sky" and is created by Six Nations youth who attend Princess Elizabeth School in Brantford, Ontario. I think this is a fantastic initiative to help reclaim, retain and promote Indigenous culture, history and voices. You can also contact the organization for them to come to your school. Take a look at the music video shot in my hometown! Pretty awesome. I hope that you share this with your friends, family and colleagues.
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Reference to Home Page:
Journal #8
Date: March 5th, 2018
The following website is something that was sent to me by my colleague and friend who has been looking into post-secondary training and doing all of their research on their own. There are so many websites and loops to navigate through and you can imagine how difficult it may be to do these things without the luxury of living in town and on the power grid. I've learned that there that as an Indigenous person, my friend has to prove so much more when applying for scholarships, grants, loans etc. It is A LOT of work.
This website was one that they found to be very helpful and it has even helped me with my policy assignment.
https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/services/indigenous/asets.html
Quote from the government website:
If you’re an Indigenous Canadian and are wondering where to find a job or how to upgrade your skills, the Aboriginal Skills and Employment Training Strategy (ASETS) may be your answer.
All Indigenous people, regardless of status or location, may access its programs and services, which include:
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skills development;
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training for high-demand jobs;
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job finding;
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programs for youth;
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programs for urban and Indigenous people with disabilities; and
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access to child care.
My question is...why do these services have to be so hard to find? No one is coming to our schools or communities to provide the services or even talk about them. I think that it is now part of the Educators job to help our students/staff grow to their full potential. I have already forwarded this website to the "Civics and Careers" teacher just in case they didn't have this already.
Journal #9
Date: March 7th, 2018
My colleague (the co-teacher whom I work with) decided to share with me some videos about Pikangikum First Nation where he has grown up and went to school. In addition, these are some videos that we have shown to our students and have had journal discussions about them and in general discussion topics about how we can make Pikangikum a better, safer and more happy place to live.
The following clips have to do with various initiatives that people across the nation have been trying to not just giving a "hand out" but a"hand up" in helping develop Pikangikum First Nation.
This second video was shown in Health Class for our grade 4 students about why resilience, mentorship, and hope is important. In addition, why Indigenous peoples voices are important to their future. To the future of reclamation and celebration of their history.
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Lastly, but not least. The video below is an inspirational video that talks about literally building up Pikangikum First Nations and many people in the video are now educators and active members of the community striving to make Pikangikum a great place for children to live in.
Journal #10
Date: March 9th, 2018
I'm so happy, proud and excited to share the Facebook link to the N'we Jinan music and video initiative that I was sharing earlier. The group posted the music video on their Facebook page (still waiting to see when it will be uploaded to their actual website).
Here is the link to see some of my former students singing about the 7 Grandfather teachings. As per the caption on the Facebook group page "The River Flows" is an original music video created by the youth of Pikangikum First Nation. This powerful message works closely with the 7 Grandfather teachings of the Ojibwe people and demonstrates the honest realities of living in this community. ENJOY & SHARE"
Another mind map created in order to discuss DECOLONIZATION:
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