Author: Editor Ed News

Soutenance bien réussie | Érika Baldó

Félicitations à Érika Baldó qui a soutenu avec succès son mémoire de maîtrise en éducation française intitulé: “Les défis auxquels les mères-enseignantes de l’immersion française en milieu langagier minoritaire canadien font face” le 8 décembre 2021. Son mémoire était dirigé par Dre Heather Phipps. Le jury de soutenance était composé des membres du comité Dre Sara Schroeter et Prof Nadine Bouchardon (LaCité) et l’éxaminatrice externe Dre Karla Culligan (Faculté d’éducation, University of New Brunswick). Un grand merci à Dre Sheila Petty (MAP) d’avoir présidé la soutenance.
Congratulations to Erika Baldo, who successfully defended her master’s thesis in French titled: “Les défis auxquels les mères-enseignantes de l’immersion française en milieu langagier minoritaire canadien font face” on December 8, 2021. Erika was supervised by Dr. Heather Phipps. Committee members were Dr. Sara Schroeter and Nadine Bouchardon (La Cité). The external examiner was Dr. Karla Culligan, Faculty of Education, University of New Brunswick. Thanks to Dr. Sheila Petty (MAP) for chairing the defense.

New book reconceptualizing science education

New Book! Congratulations to Dr. Jesse Bazzul and co-editors on their new open-access book titled, Reimagining Science Education in the Anthropocene” with chapters by #UREdu‘s Dr. Xia Ji, “‘Trees Don’t Sing!…Eagle Feather Has no Power!’—Be Wary of the Potential Numbing Effects of School Science”; Miranda Field, “Decolonizing Healing Through Indigenous Ways of Knowing”; and Dr. Jesse Bazzul (co-author), “A Feral Atlas for the Anthropocene: An Interview with Anna L. Tsing.”

Part of the Palgrave Studies in Education and the Environment book series (PSEE)

Editors Maria F. G. Wallace; Jesse Bazzul; Marc Higgins; Sara Tolbert

This book:
“Reconceptualizes science education in ways that center the concerns and interests of marginalized people.”

“Encourages multimodality in expression, including the use of pictures, graphics, multimedia, and different genres of writing.”

Download at https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-79622-8

Education News | Autumn 2021 issue


In This Issue:

A note from the Dean…..3
Stories about Indigenous education and unmarked gravesites in Canada…..4
Artistic expressions: masinahikêwin yêkâhk/ Writing in the sand poem…..10
Inaugural Gabriel Dumont Research Chair in Métis/Michif Education…..13
Education Students’ Society Truth and Reconciliation Week events…..16
Candidate for the Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships Doctoral Awards 2021-2022 competition…..17
“I need to be in the quinzhee, not just talk about it!” Embodying our pedagogy…..18
Pimosayta: Learning to walk together slideshow…..21
Les étudiants du Bac mènent les activités de la Journée nationale de vérité et de réconciliation…..22
Le Bac student activities…..23
Funding and awards…..24
New faculty and staff…..26
Retirements…..27
Published research…..28

A conversation with Dr. Melanie Brice

In June, the Faculty of Education launched the inaugural Gabriel Dumont Research Chair in Métis/Michif Education. Dr. Melanie Brice was appointed to the Chair for a 5-year term. With the establishment of this new Chair, the first in a Faculty of Education in Canada, and many other endeavours toward Truth and Reconciliation, the Faculty continues to demonstrate a concerted and sustained commitment to teaching and research that is engaging faculty, students, and other education stakeholders in gaining a deeper understanding of our shared histories and a reconciliatory approach to a more just future.Dr. Melanie Brice’s upbringing as a Michif (Métis): “A Culture of Place”

Dr. Melanie Brice, a Michif (Métis) born in Meadow Lake and raised at Jackfish Lake, Saskatchewan, has a strong understanding of Indigenous histories, cultures, languages and literacies, perspectives, educational experiences, and cross-cultural education issues. However, Melanie didn’t start out with this understanding. “SUNTEP was pivotal in helping me see how all my experiences growing up were an important part of my identity. I knew that I was Métis and what that meant. With SUNTEP, I learned how to integrate these understandings into my teaching and how to explain them to others.” says Melanie.

“Most of my childhood recollections are around time spent at my grandparents’ ranch, north of Meadow Lake. I had a charmed childhood, living at the lake, and spending holidays at the ranch, riding horses and playing with my cousins,” says Melanie. Her family had instilled values that she understands as Métis: “I was always told, ‘Be proud. We are hard-working people.’ And constantly reminded that family is important,” says Melanie.

Genealogy is another interesting aspect of her Métis upbringing. Because Melanie is fair, her grandfather used to call her “wapistikwaan,” meaning “white head” and she wonders if he talked a lot about their genealogy because he knew there would come a time when she would be questioned. “Interesting, with everything going on around identity fraud,” Melanie says. “One reason genealogy is part of Métis culture is because we are always asked to prove our identity. We didn’t have the same recognition, rights, or status around the Indian Act.” Quoting 20th Century activist and Métis, Howard Adams, she says, “We are the forgotten people.”

From her genealogy, Melanie mentions ancestors such as Cuthbert Grant Jr, “considered warden of the prairie, one of the Métis leaders when Métis people became political with the Battle of Seven Oaks,” says Melanie, and Cyprien Morin and his wife Marie Morin who were among the first to settle at Meadow Lake in the late 1800s. “Hearing these stories when you are young, you realize, this is who your family is.” Melanie says, “That family is large, with many people descending from Cuthbert in the south and Cyprien in the north. I have family everywhere—many cousins as part of a large extended family. There is kinship among community.”

When thinking about how her upbringing gave her a sense of belonging, Melanie quotes bell hooks calling this sense “a culture of place.” “All of those experiences growing up,” she says, “and knowing you are related to so many people, shapes your understanding of how you see yourself and your place in the world, and the willingness you have to get to know other people and work with other people.”

The Misconceptions Around the Term “Métis”

Misunderstandings and misconceptions exist around the term, “Métis.” Melanie says, “I get frustrated when I tell somebody I’m Métis and they automatically think that means ‘mixed’ or worse, the derogatory ‘half breed.’ We are a distinct people with a distinct culture. We are our own, not half of anything!”

A pan-Indigenous misconception of what it means to be Métis has also been an issue. Melanie says, “I’ve been questioned my entire life about my identity.” However, Melanie looks at the questions she is asked, “Not as a challenge but as an opportunity to be able to share with people what it means to be Métis,” she says, adding that there are many variables involved in claiming the identity, not the least of which is to have connection with your community. “We have a nation. I don’t say I’m a member of the Métis. I’m a citizen in the Métis Nation. There is more than just genealogy and being accepted by a community. You also need to give back,” says Melanie.

The Importance and Activities of the Gabriel Dumont Research Chair in Métis/Michif Education

Melanie feels excited and thankful about being the first Chair: “I’m thankful to the Dean and GDI. Without the work they did, this Chair wouldn’t be possible,” she says. There have been similar chairs in Métis studies, in history and Indigenous studies, but this is the first in education.

It’s important, Melanie says, because “of the impact that education has on change, changing lives, influencing how we see ourselves and others.” Melanie hopes to bring a stronger Métis presence into curriculum, “impacting future generations with what we have contributed and continue to contribute to education.” She is excited to engage with other Métis scholars across the country to understand their research and the work they are doing to affect Métis/Michif education.

Another aspect of the Chair Melanie values is the opportunities it brings for enhanced academic engagement with GDI and SUNTEP. Melanie already has a long-standing relationship with GDI and SUNTEP as an alumna and former faculty while she was working on her PhD. She is excited that the Chair brings her back into teaching at SUNTEP. “Working with GDI and talking about what are some of the priorities right now, and how can we work together to achieve some of those priorities—That’s the really important piece: having something that responds to our community’s needs. The Chair can put those things forward.”

The Kaa-tipeyimishoyaahk–We Own Ourselves Project. Working around the issue of identity, one of the big projects that Melanie hopes to engage with as Chair is to research Métis/Michif Education. She says, “The word Kaa-tipeyimishoyaahk—We are a people who own ourselves (Gaudry, A. 2014)—was given to me by Michif elder, Norman Fleury. There has been a lot of research around Indigenous education. However, it is done in either a pan-Indigenous view or it is First Nations. There isn’t a lot of research on Métis/Michif learning. I definitely want to focus on bringing that into academia, supporting the teaching at SUNTEP.” The We Own Ourselves project is supporting this goal. Melanie is talking to elders and old ones, and Métis educators and scholars to find out what they need. She is also part of her own research project, learning northern Michif from a fluent speaker.

Language and Cultural Revitalization. According to the Statistics Canada 2016 census, with a rising population of 51.2%, the Métis were the fastest growing population in Canada between 2006 and 2016. However, less than 2% of Métis people speak the Michif language, making the Michif language one of the most vulnerable Indigenous languages in Canada.

Through the chair, Melanie intends to build capacity in Métis/Michif education by focusing on language and cultural revitalization along with research, learning, knowledge keeping, reconciliation, and inclusion.

Not everyone has had the same cultural experiences and opportunities as Melanie. Her daughters, whom she raised in the city, didn’t have the same experiences: “Even though I thought I did such a good job with my daughters, instilling in them a strong sense of their Métis identity, they didn’t have those kinds of lived experiences—cultural knowledge from being in community and at gatherings,” says Melanie. Over the years, Melanie has also seen a change in SUNTEP’s scope, in that when she went through the program, “SUNTEP taught Métis people how to be teachers. Now because of how successful colonization has been it is more like teaching students how to be Métis and how to be teachers.”

Melanie clarifies that the culture has not disappeared. “Culture is still there; it’s just not taken up in the same kind of way because of how families have moved away. That’s why it is important to be more explicit in terms of naming.”

Dreaming Big. Research on Métis ways of learning, knowing, and being is important; however, Melanie is concerned about the dearth of Métis researchers and PhD students. When asked to dream about the possibilities if unlimited resources were available, Melanie says she would like to see “fully funded Métis graduate students—students pursuing their PhDs without having to leave their communities or give up their income.” She recognizes that this would be tricky because there is value in doing a residency component; “Yet,” she says, “I can see where a move away from family and supports is a huge obstacle for potential students.” Another dream of Melanie’s is, “to adequately compensate our elders, old ones, and knowledge and culture keepers who are so pivotal to the research.”

“I need to be in the quinzhee, not just talk about it!” Embodying our pedagogy

Following in his mother’s footsteps, a teacher before she married back in a time when women had to give up their profession if they married, Nick Forsberg knew he wanted to become a teacher. He still remembers the anticipation he felt when he opened his acceptance letter. While an Education student, he worked hard, fast tracking his program while playing volleyball with the Cougars, and even socializing enough to enjoy the life of a university student. After a very full 3½ years, in 1984, Nick graduated with his B.Ed. He then had the privilege of going back to his hometown of Chaplin, Saskatchewan to teach alongside his former teachers.

Before long, Nick began his master’s degree at Northern Illinois University (NIU). Dr. Larry Lang had encouraged Nick to follow in his own steps, to take his master’s in outdoor teacher education from NIU. Further, Nick says, “The people I was reading about in outdoor education during my undergraduate years were on faculty at this university.” After finishing his Master’s in 1987, Nick moved back to Regina to teach at Dieppe Elementary School and he also taught the Winter Outdoor Course as a sessional at the U of R. In 1988, Nick was offered a full-time term appointment, which eventually transitioned to a tenure-track position. This was the beginning of a 32-year career with the Faculty of Education. As a requirement of his employment, Nick began his PhD in 1992 with the University of Alberta, and took 1 year off from teaching at the U of R to do his residency in Edmonton and successfully defended his dissertation in 1995.

Nick points to his undergraduate and faculty experiences at OCRE (Off Campus Residential Experience) held at Fort San, Saskatchewan for many years, as the opportunity that changed the course of his career. “Everybody went, 120 students and the current faculty, 3 days in fall and 3 days in winter.” OCRE was so influential that it became the topic of Nick’s dissertation. The reason OCRE was significant was “because we did it, we didn’t just talk about it,” says Nick, “The experience modeled that relational quality in teaching where teaching and learning become real…Professors and students teaching and learning in the outdoors, eating together, and, if they wanted, sleeping in a tent or teepee in fall or a quinzhee in winter—the outdoors leveled the playing field—We were all just people.”

An insight Nick gleaned from the OCRE experience was that “teaching and learning are not confined to a four-walled building or classroom.” He refers to the late Dr. Garth Pickard’s regular question about exit and enter signs above doors in buildings, asking, “When we leave the building are we exiting or entering a way of teaching and learning? Maybe these signs should be reversed: exit signs on the outside and enter signs on the inside.”

Nick has vivid memories of colleagues teaching their subject matter outdoors, often through an interdisciplinary lens. Reminiscing about the days before budget cuts took OCRE and its later version PLACE (Professional Learning as Community Experience) out of the program, Nick points out that being out on the land at OCRE was a natural way of teaching and learning content. “We also learned alongside our colleagues from SIFC (now FNUC) and SUNTEP as well as the Bac program. Being on the land created an embodied living curriculum and we engaged in this experientially.”

Some major influences who encouraged Nick’s path in health, outdoor and physical education (HOPE) include Dr. Larry Lang, Dr. Garth Pickard, Dr. LeOra Cordis, Dr. Meredith Cherland, and Dr. Ray Petracek. Nick says, “The embodiment of what I experienced as an undergrad drew me to work at the U of R because of the respect I had for the professors who taught me. The relational quality they modelled, I wanted to emulate in the Faculty.”

Nick continues, “The privilege of teaching alongside my former professors was very gratifying. They invested their time in me, so I felt a responsibility to pass that forward to my students, and to get in the trenches and teach.” But, beyond their encouragement, Nick says, “I always felt that I could have a greater impact by teaching future teachers. I wanted to help shape the field of education and to create a voice for health, outdoor and physical education and the vital role it plays in the lives of children and youth.”

To further his influence, in 2003, Nick took on the Associate Dean of Undergraduate Programs role: “Working with undergrad programs—that was my passion—finding ways to meet with faculty in groups and talk about programs and the ways to deliver the best program.”

Over the years, Nick also chaired the HOPE subject area and sat on various committees and external boards, at one point serving as president of the Canadian Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance (CAHPERD–now PHE Canada). It was meaningful, to “find a network of colleagues with a similar passion for human movement and the critical importance of the outdoors, and to have the opportunity to sit around tables and influence changes provincially and nationally,” says Nick.

Nick fondly recalls his summer outdoor education class that he taught every 2 to 3 years, where he took students for a 3-week trip on the Churchill River in northern Saskatchewan. Part of the experience was a “solo,” where students were dropped off on an island by themselves for 25 -30 hours. “It was an opportunity to be by yourself without technology. We believed that this experience allowed students to take time for inward reflection. Students were always saying, ‘Don’t take solo out of the course. It’s the best thing I could have done.’ For some, the experience was like an epiphany.” says Nick.

Quoting Nel Noddings, “We live storied lives and we tell stories about our lives,” in answer to the question of what advice he offers colleagues, Nick says: “Invest in what it means to be a pedagogue, know the stories about teaching and embody those stories. Know the story of the teacher education program of the Faculty of Education. We have a responsibility to the voices that came before us. Never lose sight about why you are here and continue the story.”

In answer to the question of what is significant about the work done in the Faculty of Education, Nick says, “The responsibility of our work may seem simple but it is complex because we work with people. It’s a huge responsibility to help prepare and support (be)coming teachers who will influence children for 12 years of their lives. This work requires humility, and we need to walk alongside these future teachers and experience what they experience. It’s living that story: ‘I need to be in the quinzhee, not just talk about it.’”

As he retires, Nick has no intention of taking a break from teaching: “I plan to engage in leadership development but I want to do this experientially and through the outdoors. I believe this truly allows us to ‘see’ the human side in all of us and for who we are.” He’s moving to his classroom of choice, the great outdoors, allowing nature to do its work. “But more importantly,” says Nick, “I’m looking forward to more time with my family who unselfishly gave their time for me to pursue my passion for the past 32 years, mixed in with time for some paddling and golf!”

Stories about Indigenous education and unmarked gravesites in Canada

Dr. Angelina Weenie is a Plains Cree from Sweetgrass First Nation in Treaty 6 territory.

My TRC story is not the typical story as I did not attend residential school; I went to Sweetgrass Day School. My parents attended Delmas Residential School. It is about 10 miles from our reserve. My two sisters and my brother attended Lebret Residential School. My other sister attended St. Gabriel’s High in Biggar, Saskatchewan. They each had different experiences. It is hard for me to write about others’ experiences. It is their story, and they are not here anymore. It is not my place to write about them, but they need to be honoured and not forgotten.

I do understand why I carry a deep sense of loneliness and sadness. It must emanate from my parents and my brother and sisters and what they went through when they were taken from their families and from their homes. My father was interviewed by the Leader-Post in 1990. He talked about how the nuns would call them savages.

Lebret is far from our home (about a 5-hour drive). Sweetgrass is west of Battleford, Saskatchewan. I remember when the big yellow school buses would arrive to pick up the children. I can only imagine how lonely, lost, and scared they would be to go so far away from home. I also have a photo from my sister Lorraine’s Grade 12 graduation. My parents, my grandparents, and the principal from our school travelled to Lebret. This was a grand occasion for my family. My grandfather stood proudly in his chief’s outfit (See photos below).

These memories are about how First Nations people believed in education. Education has always been important to us. The outcomes were different in many situations but, ultimately, First Nations people wanted their children to succeed. Our parents instilled the importance of education in us and supported us. We come from a nation of proud and resilient people.

_______________________________________________________

Dr. Anna-Leah King is an Odawa/Potawattimi originally from Wikwemikong.

When Angelina and I heard of the reveal of 215 unmarked gravesites at Kamloops, British Columbia’s former Indian Residential School (IRS) site, it affirmed horror for Indigenous survivors. In response, we hosted a feast at First Nations University (FNUC). This connected us as we knew we both had in one way or another the IRS experience in common and were pondering what to do and recognizing the sense of heavy spirit that was overtaking everyone. It was a positive and constructive measure.

This news report was only the beginning. A short time later, at Marieval Indian Residential School on Cowessess Reserve, Saskatchewan, another ground-penetrating search was conducted, which found 751 gravesites. The IRS survivors were always aware these gravesites existed and the news was no surprise. Some survivors have shared their stories with each other and with others who did not attend a residential school, but have not always been believed, even by their own people. Being believed about their collective horrific experiences that took place at Indian Residential School has been a long time coming. Some shared testimonials with the Truth and Reconciliation commission. In fact, this is where the sharing of these gravesites began. The then Chief Justice Murray Sinclair recommended in the TRC Calls to Action to have ground searches done at every residential school across Canada to finally reveal these gravesites publicly (TRC, 2015). And so it began, ground searches across Canada, to the 139 Indian Residential Schools, to uncover gravesites verifying the tragic end of innocent children’s lives who came to their deaths at the hands of abusive nuns and priests. The stories of these now Keteyak (Old Ones) will never be forgotten.

I remember my Elder and dear friend, the late Laura Wasacase, sharing some of the experiences she and her friends encountered at the Indian Residential schools. Some women heard the babies cry at night but there were no babies in the morning. Some witnessed horrendous physical abuse. Some saw a fellow student “fall out” the second floor window to her death, learning later of the possibility that she was pushed because the next girl held on tight and prepared herself not to “fall out” when left alone with an angry nun.

These ground searches at Kamloops and Cowessess were the first of many that would take place across the country in every residential schoolyard. The grand tally will not be known until all the ground searches are completed. As of today there are 1,800 unmarked graves estimated of which former Chief Justice Senator Sinclair estimates numbers could be anywhere from 6,000 to 25,000. The heartache and pain of the survivors’ traumatic memories stirred up is no less for the survivors of the survivors.

I thought about my mother and father who attended Spanish Indian Residential School in Spanish, Ontario. It was run by the Catholic Jesuit Order. There were two school buildings: Garnier was the boys’ school and St. Joseph’s the girls’ school. My father had chosen building maintenance for his obligatory chore. He told me one day when I was a young adult how he recalled making the crosses for the boys that died there during the school year. He reflected on the insensitivity of the “black robes” as they callously informed the parents of the passing of their child in that school year. My parents never shared much of what took place there until late in life when more news stories frequented the print media. My mother was in her 70s when she first began to share experiences. She and my Auntie would recall “Bologna Legs” as they referred to a nun who was particularly cruel to them.

These schools ran from 1870s to 1990s and some were open for over 100 years (Restoule, 2013). The Canadian government and the churches aligned forces to “kill the Indian in the child.” Assimilation was their point and purpose by order of John A. McDonald. The truth was, they exercised genocidal practises on the children in every form of abuse possible. Although many priests have been reported for their sex offences towards children, only some have been charged. The United Church of Canada in Sudbury, Ontario was the first to publicly apologize in 1986 for the atrocious wrongs that were committed against Indigenous children at these schools. The same cannot be said for the Roman Catholic Church. Of the 130 schools, most of them were run by the Roman Catholic Missionary congregations. The Vatican refuses to apologize despite Justin Trudeau’s efforts in 2017. On September 24th, 2021, at the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, an official apology was issued for their role in the IRS, succumbing to public pressure (Warburton, 2021).

Click to download full Cecil King's full op-ed
Click to download Cecil King’s full op-ed

I conclude with my father, Cecil King’s, words with regards to reconciliation that he shared in a piece for the TRC. My father was encouraged to become a teacher in the 12th grade. This he did, spending 50 years in education as a teacher, professor, researcher, consultant and teacher of teachers. He is the creator and founder of the Indian Teacher Education Program (ITEP) and former Dean of the Saskatoon Campus First Nations University. My father advises to strive for “bonnigi deh taadewin” an Ojibwe phrase meaning “the process of pushing the badness out of your heart.” He suggests that everyone needs to get out of the dialogue of the mind and speak from our hearts, including politicians, bureaucrats, and the general population, before any true reconciliation can happen (2015, TRC).

Additional Note: Dr. Cecil King will be publishing his memoir titled: The Boy from Buzwah in February 2022 through the University of Regina Press.

 

Fall 2021 BEAD Convocation Prize | Thor Stewart YNTEP

Thor Stewart graduated from the Yukon Native Teacher Education Program (YNTEP) with Great Distinction and was the recipient of the Fall 2021 Bachelor of Education After Degree (BEAD) Convocation Prize. The Yukon Native Teacher Education Program (YNTEP) offers a University of Regina B.Ed. (elementary education) in cooperation with Yukon College in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory.

While a student, Thor was also a recipient of the Academic Silver Scholarship (2020 Fall). Early in his adult life, Thor began working with youth and building community through skateboarding and this turned into working with diverse groups of youth at summer camps and guiding outdoor pursuits. In 2012, Thor completed the University of Manitoba’s Inuit and Environmental Science field course in Pangnirtung, Nunavut and in 2019, Thor returned to Nunavut with some high school friends and climbed Mount Thor, an experience documented in the film “Ocean to Asgard.” (Source: Thor Conquers Thor). One of the goals of this expedition involved engaging with the community in Pangnirtung and taking some local youth on a day of rock climbing on the cliffs that overlook the town.

While studying at Yukon University, Thor worked as a substitute teacher, giving him opportunities to apply the skills he learned in the classroom. Thor provided constant academic support to his classmates in the YNTEP program and would go out of his way to ensure his peers would thrive in the classroom. Thor has fond memories of teaching the program supervisor how to ‘ollie’ for a special skateboarding Phys-Ed class!

Following his graduation, Thor is continuing to substitute teach in Yukon and BC, acquiring experience in all kinds of classrooms.

 

Alumni Spotlight | Bushra Kainat

Bushra Kainat graduated with Distinction with her Baccalauréat en éducation secondaire and was the Fall 2021 recipient of the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation Award.

In today’s spotlight, we’re recognizing the student achievements of a new member of our alumni family, Bushra Kainat, who graduated in Fall 2021 with distinction with her Baccalauréat en éducation secondaire.
 
Over the course of Bushra’s program, she was the recipient of the Centennial Merit Plus Scholarship (2017 Fall), an Academic Silver Scholarship (2020 Fall), and an Academic Silver Prize (2021 Spring/Summer), and finally the 2021 Fall Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation award recipient.
 
Bushra wanted to become a teacher because she says, “During my schooling, I met many educators that inspired me, and I wanted to be that inspiration to others. I have a passion for the French language and I wanted to share that passion with the next generation. I highly value education and learning, and wanted to encourage the same passion in the next generations.”
 
Among her University experiences, Bushra says, for her what was most memorable, was her second year in the Bac program, “which I spent at Universite Laval, where I got to experience the French language and the French culture first-hand.”
 
In terms of on campus experiences, Bushra especially enjoyed “having the opportunity to have some amazing professors!” Three of her professors were especially influential: “I really enjoyed Laurie Carlson Berg’s courses, as well as Stephen Davis’ courses. These two professor’s showed me the impact the educator has on the content being taught. They were very involved with their students’ progress and learning. Lucie Anderson was also an amazing educator. She gave us some of the best teaching advice I have received.”
 
From her experiences as a student, Bushra offers the following advice to current and future students: “My number one advice would be to take advantage of as many opportunities as possible. Join the club, apply for the award, participate in conferences, volunteer with an organization, etc. It will go a long ways! Not only will it help you gain experience, but you will develop many skills on the way.”
 
Bushra says, “The most significant aspect of earning her degree with the Faculty of Education was that “through this degree, I was able to gain a variety of experiences that helped shape me into the educator that I am becoming. From the variety of in-classroom experiences to the exposure to various learning and teaching environments, it all helped me build my skills as a teacher.”
 
Bushra began teaching with Saskatoon Public following her graduation, and she looks forward to returning to University of Regina for her master’s in education in the near future.

Vanier Scholarship Candidate | Jessica Madiratta

This week we are shining light on Jessica Madiratta, currently in her second year of a Doctor of Philosophy in Education program with the University of Regina. Jessica recently received the good news that she has been selected as a University of Regina candidate for the Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships–Doctoral Awards 2021-2022 competition. She will find out in spring if she has been successful in the national competition. For her dissertation, Jessica’s proposed research is a critical participatory action research project which she hopes will improve teaching practices through professional development in culturally responsive pedagogy. “This project challenges educators to build deeper relationships with their students, to bring in authentic learning experiences for students, and to explore social issues happening around student lives,” says Jessica.
 
Living up to her maiden name “Wesaquate,” which means “sharp as a whistle,” Jessica’s been a non-stop student on campus since 2006, earning her BEd from SUNTEP Regina in 2010, her MEd (C&I) in the Faculty of Education in 2015, followed by a BA in Indigenous Studies from FNUC in 2019. Jessica’s been working as a teacher with Regina Public Schools since 2010. Beginning in 2018, she took on the role of Indigenous Advocate Teacher at Kitchener Community School in Regina.
 
Jessica’s fondest memories come from her favourite MEd course, Culturally Relevant Pedagogy, which she took with Dr. Angelina Weenie (FNUC): “This class showed me the importance of decolonizing and indigenizing my classroom practices and shared the power of culturally relevant and responsive pedagogies. It had a huge influence on my PhD research topic. Someone should take this class if they are looking for ways to engage their diverse student population,” she says.
 
In Dr. Weenie’s class, Jessica had the opportunity to attend culture camp: “It was completely dedicated to Indigenous ways of knowing, doing, and being. I had the chance to learn from many elders, participate in a sweat, and to be on the land,” says Jessica.
 
Jessica, who grew up in Regina, and has roots with Piapot First Nation, considers the most significant aspect about earning her degree from the Faculty of Education, “is the opportunity to learn in my traditional territory with learnings connected to the Regina area.”
 
As advice to students, Jessica says, “Connect with other students. This gives you the opportunity to ask questions and learn from the experiences of those that have already started their schooling journey.”