First Nation educator shares the importance of including Aboriginal culture in schools
Understanding aboriginal culture important in delivering curriculum
By Jon Thompson - April 22, 2008
Teaching children who come from native culture requires a little bit of cultural education, the region’s Catholic teachers learned on the first day of a two-day conference on aboriginal education called Culture, Curriculum and Community.
Pamela Rose Toulouse is a sought after expert researcher and teacher from the education faculty at Laurentian University. She was raised on a reserve in the southern region of the Robinson-Superior Treaty area near Sudbury and has seen the impact of her educational practices begin to bridge the cultural gap in the region.
Covering such topics as signage to denote acceptance that native tongues are “one of the languages of the land” to awareness of learning styles and the use of humour, Toulouse was a living example of her teaching style.
“I emulate my pedagogy,” she said, out of breath after standing on a chair spelling her name with her belly button. “I don’t just talk about it, I do it.”
She assumed a high level of intelligence in her audience, and rightfully so. Teachers know better than anyone who does it right teaches without having the students fully realizing how much they’re learning.
She often referred to Anishinabek (Ojibwe) words in her presentation, emphasizing the link between culture and language. Such elements as humour, “positive teasing”, the resources of elders and inclusiveness for those of other cultures were all pillars of her inspiringly hyper educational spirit.
She said for teachers to lead aboriginal students, culturally appropriate methods such as group work occurring in a classroom atmosphere that appears safe to the student, for example, are needed. She described the cultural value of visual and hands on learning techniques and explained many of her lessons in metaphors using natural phenomenon such as using the number of spots on turtles and moon cycles to talk about maturity and stages of life.
The importance of taking time for reflection to formulate answers, establishing and using relationships in the community to honour the diversity and innovation of First Nations peoples is critical, she argued.
Through critical ethnography, she called upon teachers to share their successes in publications to ensure that academics can have some input from those in the field. That way, she said, schools could identify their specific needs, develop policies to respond to them, find out what went worked for them, and share it with others.
Canada-wide research shows that education rates, employment fields, and other socio-economic indicators, the Dominion’s First Nations people are 28 years behind the remainder of the population. She is banking that integration into an education system that is culturally responsive will be the shortcut to tightening that gap.
“Aboriginals have been robbed of the opportunity to learn about aboriginal culture and history,” she said, pointing out the Duke, John Wayne and the stoic Indian images as the Hollywoodization of culture that has permeated consciousness. “Now we have a situation where school board and schools have been collaborating. If you look at North shore and the Manitoulin area, you see pride and identity, recognition of the contribution to the country, and bridges between cultures.”