Category: Seminars, Webinars, Workshops, and Symposiums

#TreatyEdCamp 2.0: Bigger and Better

An astounding number of preservice and in-service educators (over 300!) gathered together on Saturday, October 1 to take advantage of a great opportunity: to learn about treaty education at #TreatyEdCamp 2.0. Treaty education is mandatory in Saskatchewan curriculum and #TreatyEdCamp is professional development delivered “by teachers for teachers,” allowing educators to learn about treaty and how to implement treaty education in their classrooms.

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(L-R) Katia Hildebrand, Raquel Bellefleur, and Meagan Dobson, Co-Organizers of #TreatyEdCamp

Katia Hildebrandt, Meagan Dobson and Raquel Bellefleur co-organized this second annual #treatyedcamp with the help of UR S.T.A.R.S. and many volunteers and with financial support from the Faculty of Education and the Aboriginal Student Centre.

Before participants went off to concurrent sessions (27 presentations over 4 sessions this year), Mike Desjarlais sang and drummed a song of remembrance, a reminder to participants to think of their loved ones who have gone before them. Dr. Jennifer Tupper spoke on the importance and need for treaty education, reminding participants of the recent murder of 22-year-old Colten Boushie of the Red Pheasant Reserve, which highlighted the racism that is prevalent in Saskatchewan, “still touching us all.” Education about what First Peoples have gone through at the hands of government — broken treaty promises that resulted in such losses as the loss of language and culture, loss of children to residential schools, and loss of loved ones to intergenerational trauma effects– will help to make changes that honour treaty rights, and someday will hopefully eradicate the issue of children in foster care and youth in gangs.

Brad Bellegarde, a Regina hip-hop artist and journalist, brought the Keynote presentation, “Hip Hop is the New Buffalo” after a lunch of soup and bannock. Bellegard expressed his desire to see the smiles on the faces of First Nation youth as they find relevance, self-expression  and the ability to fight oppression through Hip Hop music. (See his video: https://youtu.be/TGZSBx3Ye5c). He also showed a youtube to demonstrate how music can bridge cultural gaps, creating opportunities to collaborate in schools.  He encouraged teachers to ask about what they don’t know, just as he did when he went to Germany and Chile. “You’re teachers; you’re just like a big gang,” he said, “you can support each other.”

(See photo album by sliding cursor over the photo below and clicking on the arrow key)

#TreatyEdCamp 2016

If you couldn’t make a session, watch for the notes that will be posted for each session here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1auBuAsi3sTIhfcaXBsoHz7aNdaO0z_W9mX8LViyXfEU/edit#

Baby Moccasin Workshop

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Joely Bigeagle Baby Moccasin Workshop Facilitator

Joely Bigeagle facilitated a baby moccasin workshop on April 5th, 2016 in the Faculty of Education from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. In the morning session she instructed  on how to make the moccasins and in the afternoon session Joely taught how to bead the moccasins. This event was organized by UR Indigenization Lead and faculty member, Dr. Shauneen Pete.

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Seminar and Video Archive

Fall Faculty Seminar~Welcoming Back Staff and Faculty

The faculty and staff came together for their annual fall seminar. This year the focus was on wellness and working together in teams. After coffee and muffins, the day began with a welcome by Dean Jennifer Tupper, in which successes and achievements from the past year were highlighted, and the Dead Balloon recipients were recognized for completing their Phds while members of our faculty (a time-honoured tradition in our faculty). Then, six teams were dispersed to run (or walk) an “Amazing Race,” which guided participants across campus to places such as First Nations University, RPIRG, Registration, Student Success Centre, Students Union, an intermedia lab, a Fafard sculpture and so on. Each team created iMovies to show the whole group the amazing aspects of the campus that they found during their race. After lunch, the group headed to the Kinesiology Building to participate in a variety of group fitness exercises such as Nordic walking, yoga, and zoomba. Later, everyone came together for a reception. The fall seminar helps build a collegial culture of collaboration and teamwork as the faculty and staff anticipate the arrival of students on campus next week for their fall term.

Fall Seminar 2015

Photos credit: Shuana Niessen

“Disrupting Settler English” Workshop

Please join Drs. Shuaneen Pete and Andrea Sterzuk for a workshop titled
“Disrupting Settler English” on Monday, May 11, 2015 at 1:00 – 2:15 pm
in the Atrium of First Nations University of Canada.

Description: As teachers, what we believe about language can influence
how we teach and the types of relationships we establish with students
and their families. Differences in how students speak and write English
(accents, vocabulary, or grammar) can sometimes be seen as something
that gets in the way of literacy development and content knowledge. This
presentation/workshop invites participants to consider the myth of
“standard English,” reject deficit discourses around Indigenous
learners and discusses implications for the transition from high school
to university Englishes.