So thankful to have had this opportunity for experiential learning and reconciliation. We gave thanks to Mother Earth, left with wisdom from the Elders and felt the communal pride exhibited through traditional ceremony and dance. @T4Gathering@UofRegina@URFacofEdpic.twitter.com/C5Gf125VBQ
I had an amazing experience today at #Treaty4Gathering. I was able to learn more about the Indigenous culture and being able to connect with the land. pic.twitter.com/a9T1vgBbvD
I had the privilege of going to the Treaty 4 Gathering with my grade 6’s today! It was so enlightening and I was so happy to run into @jmachnaik in the beading tipi! #Treaty42018pic.twitter.com/0FXhn1Iq4X
Had an amazing experience at the Treaty 4 Gathering yesterday! Completing my first blanket exercise was a great step towards reconciliation. @T4Gatheringpic.twitter.com/GzKXCcduCB
Had an awesome experience at the #Treaty4Gathering today! Participated in the blanket exercise and reconnected with the power of our Mother Earth through the smudging of white sage. pic.twitter.com/6cRqpUR9c7
Nikolas Gordon, a grade seven student from Yorkton’s M.C. Knoll School, couldn’t help but notice what was happening the moment he stepped on to the campus.
Gordon was one of about 70 students who spent part of the day touring the University of Regina, April 20.
“It feels cool seeing all of these role models walking around the school,” says Gordon of the current U of R students “The students have finals right now so they look pretty stressed out. Their heads are in their books to get their tests done and they’re ready to finish school and have a really good summer.”
Looking for clues in the ‘Escape Room,’ set up for visiting students from Yorkton. (l-r) Students Emily Dyker, Kalynn Revet, Jaxon Sperling and Bronwynn Money. U of R Photography
Far from being intimidated at the thought of writing tough finals in university someday, Gordon was inspired by what he saw.
“Seeing everybody working like this makes me want to go to university some day,” he says.
The grade 7 and 8 students were accompanied by Jason Trost, Principal at M.C. Knoll and a U of R graduate. As a student, Trost majored in history and earned a minor in English before moving on to his teaching degree.
“We send so many kids to the U of R from our area,” says Trost. “It (the tour) is about setting goals for the students.”
The U of R has a strong relationship with Yorkton-area students. Following high school, students living in surrounding communities have the option of taking University of Regina accredited classes at Parkland College. It’s an option that allows students to smoothly transition into University life while still staying close to home.
Samantha Dech, an Education student about to take visiting students from Yorkton on a campus scavenger hunt. Photo – External Relations
But that option is still a few years away for Nikolas and his classmates as they toured the campus.
Upon arriving at the U of R, the students broke into small groups for a tour led by volunteer student ambassadors from the University’s student recruitment office. They also spent time having fun deciphering clues to solve a puzzle in the ‘Escape Room’ which was set up exclusively for the visiting students, and a scavenger hunt, led by members of the Education Students’ Society.
Free time was also set aside for the kids to play some games in the gym at the University’s Centre for Kinesiology, Health and Sport.
The University visit came near the end of a two-day field trip that included visits to the fish hatchery in Fort Qu’Appelle, the Saskatchewan Legislature, RCMP Heritage Museum, the Royal Saskatchewan Museum, and the Saskatchewan Science Centre.
“I remember the first time I came to the University in grade six or seven and we came to watch a Cougars basketball game,” says Laura Bieber, President of the Education Students’ Society and a third-year education student. “We just thought it was the coolest thing in life and I will still never forget that day. Tours like this promote that you can do so much more than what people tell you that you can do.”
No doubt the young visitors will feel the same way when they enter University.
“This campus makes me excited for the kids and makes me excited for what’s in store for them,” says Trost. “There are so many opportunities here now. From 25 years ago to today to see the growth and change, it is mind-boggling and it makes me excited for the kids that they get to study for finals here someday.”
By Costa Maragos Posted:April 20, 2018
On Tuesday, April 10, graduate students from Dr. Marc Spooner’s ED 800 course, an introduction to educational research, hosted a Poster Fair, sharing their poster research proposals around (new and interesting) food and conversations. Spooner, who invited faculty to attend, says, “This is a perfect opportunity for our graduate students to see what ED 800 and research is all about and for faculty to see and discuss what our students are thinking about researching.” Through experiences such as this, Spooner says, students gain “some conference-like experience in a warm, familiar, and supportive environment.”
On March 26, Education students from Audrey Aamodt’s Treaties in the Classroom (ECCU 400) section overcame their own discomfort to engage in conversations with peers and profs in the hallways at the University of Regina about the many ways of taking action towards reconciliation. Aamodt says, “Students decided to host these conversations in the halls of the University to remind themselves/us that they not only belong, and have a responsibility, to the more intimate Faculty of Education, but are also part of this larger learning community and beyond.”
Bert Fox High School students and their teacher Sheena Koops, as regular facilitators of the Blanket Exercise, travelled from Fort Qu’Appelle to join the conversations, to raise awareness about the Blanket Exercise, which is an activity in which “participants take on the roles of Indigenous peoples in Canada. Standing on blankets that represent the land, they walk through pre-contact, treaty-making, colonization and resistance ” (Source).
SUNTEP students and their instructors Brenna Pacholko and Russell Fayant visited the stations, and offered, in instructor Aamodt’s words, “critical and courageous conversations with students and myself.” Aamodt adds, “We extend gratitude for their generosity, wisdom, and patience with us.”
Regarding what the students learned, Aamodt says, “I think the most important overall learning that could potentially come out of this experience for us was that listening to and reflecting on critiques takes practice and is necessary. Treaty Education, along with potentially associated reconciliation, decolonization, indigenization, and social justice efforts should always be submitted to critical reflection and none are without tension. So, we ask who benefited from this event and if it was truly ‘action.’ Perhaps it didn’t amount to anything of significance, except to make us feel good. Then, we reminded one another about Pam Palmater’s claim that “if it feels good, it’s not reconciliation.”
As for her own learning, Aamodt adds, ” I have learned how I might better invite students to consider who might be the right people to talk about particular issues, some of the problems with being perceived as positioning ourselves (settler-Canadians) as experts about MMIW, residential school legacies & intergenerational trauma, FNMI identities-histories-cultures-communities, FNMI languages, reconciliation, decolonization, indigenization, and even treaties.”
Below are student comments about what they were doing, and what they thought about its importance.
There were three sections of ECCU 400 this semester and all three hosted events: Evelyn Poitras’ class held a Talking Circle on April 5, and that night, Vivian Gauvin’s class held a “Treaty Walk in the Village” off-campus. Also, Ed student Brandy Burns has posted a blog reflection about the Treaty Walk in the Village posted at https://brandyjburns.wordpress.com/2018/04/06/respectful-relationships/
On Friday, March 2, a make-shift Theatre in the Round in the Faculty of Education drama room set the stage for Globe Theatre Actors Daniel Fong, Angela Kemp, David Light, and Kaitlyn Semple as well as Craig Salkeld, the Performance Pianist, to perform two short excerpts from Us, which is currently being performed at the Globe Theatre Main Stage.
“Us is a heartwarming, brand new musical that explores what happens when LGBTQ+ youth come together in a group of peers at a summer camp. Created by award-winning playwright and radio producer Kelley Jo Burke and internationally renowned singer-songwriter-pianist Jeffery Straker, Us is an uplifting play about “coming in”—finding acceptance within yourself and in your community.” (Globe Theatre)
Arts Ed students were privileged to be part of this up-close performance and discussion as part of their PLACE experience. Playwright and alumna Kelley Jo Burke talked about her experience at Camp fYrefly, where she listened to LGBTQ+ youth and counsellors talk about their experiences of coming together at summer camp, the research she drew on in writing the script for this fictional play. Other members of the creative team, such as Director and Musical Director Valerie Ann Pearson and Set and Costume Designer Wes D. Pearce, discussed the thought behind their areas of development for the musical.
A panel presentation followed the performance moderated by Dr. Kathryn Ricketts. Panel participants discussed the importance of the play (and summer camp) for youth who have identified as LGBTQ+, who are needing to find an Us to which they belong, and addressed current issues around diversity and inclusion.
On December 11, 2017, Math 101 students held a mini Math Fair, presenting their posters which reflected the Indigenization of mathematics concepts. (see photos above)
The concept of Indigenization is identified as “one of the University’s two overarching areas of emphasis” within the 2015-2020 Strategic Plan (https://www.uregina.ca/strategic-plan/priorities/indigenization.html). Depending upon the definition consulted, Indigenization may or may not be considered the work of settler/immigrant Canadians for it involves first-hand revitalizations of First Nations, Inuit and Métis languages, legal systems, and ceremonies, among many other aspects. Indigenization, however, lies in relation with decolonization and thereby challenges all Canadians to work at disrupting and changing current institutions and systems, including those educational. Thus, as a doctoral candidate of mathematics education, Shana Graham has been studying Indigenization and decolonization so as to inform her dissertation research which involves (re)imagining possibilities for mathematics education.
The idea for the implementation of a Mathematics 101 final project as poster and Mini Math Fair was informed by Show Me Your Math: Connecting Math to Our Lives and Communities, a program developed by Dr. Lisa Lunney-Borden and Dr. David Wagner (http://showmeyourmath.ca/). While a final poster project is not unusual within education courses, it is unique to a Mathematics 101 course. Decolonization, however, encourages considerations of context/community, which for this particular mathematics course involved only preservice teachers from the Saskatchewan Urban Native Teacher Education Program (SUNTEP-Regina). Thus, in adapting/decolonizing curricula for context/community, the arguments presented for changing the Mathematics 101 final evaluation from exam to project were accepted by Dr. Shaun Fallat, Head of the Department of Mathematics & Statistics. The support of Dr. Fallat and the Dean of Science, Dr. Farenick, need be acknowledged for reconciliatory acts may not otherwise be possible without the support of such powerful individuals.
On Wednesday, December 6th, Education students attended an Education Internship Fair, with Alumni and School Division Panels discussing diverse internship placements. (See below pre-intern Janae Prediger’s comment posted on Twitter)
Attended @URFacofEd Internship fair today and learned so much about interning in rural areas! I’ve lived in a city my entire life… Can’t wait to request to intern in small town Sask and experience something new!😌👩🏫 #education#internship
Wednesday, November 8 was a busy night for the Faculty of Education. Education Students’ Society organized a Bowling night for students, faculty, and staff. The event was well attended and pizza well enjoyed. Graduate students held a potluck and students attended from as far away as Nunavut (NTEP)! TEP (Teacher Education Program) graduate students were here for a TEP Indigenous Knowledge Exchange.
To view the photo album, place cursor over the photo and click on arrow.