In the last couple of days, there have been some brand new firsts for me. I'm teaching Grade 9 Social Studies for the first time, bought a pack of smokes for the first time, offered tobacco to an elder for the first time, and kicked some ass on the volleyball court!!!
First the Social Studies. I'm starting off by teaching my students a Human Rights unit; by which students learn about the Holocaust, the assimilation of aboriginals into residential schools in Australia, and residential schools here in Canada. Most of these kids had never heard about the Holocaust, and if they had, didn't understand what it was about. We started the unit by doing a word splash whereby students had to list words and/or definitions around each word. We moved on to a Powerpoint presentation that because of unforseen circumstances, had to be presented on my laptop. Thankfully, I made them handouts of the mini slides. Despite the presentation being on my laptop, I'm hoping and I think that they're starting to understand what the Holocaust was and the effect it had on people. We're going to be watching Schlinder's List-of which they have to get parental permission. Some are upset by that because they have watched really bad stuff (this I know as porn is being watched more frequently among the teenagers), but I figure I'm just covering my butt. I have warned them that this movie will haunt them and leave them with scenes in their head that they won't ever forget. I'm excited for this unit and even for this course. I want them to understand that history and current issues are important to who they are as individuals in this country.
Along with this unit, we're covering residential schools. My goal for this is not necessarily for me to be teaching it. I see myself as a learner, along with my students. The Aboriginal Healing Foundation is sending us books and DVDs and I am so blessed and honored to be getting an Elder in about her experience in the residential schools.
The Elder? That was my first tobacco offering (what I bought smokes for). She knew something was up because I had approached her and said that I needed to see her sometime that week and it involved tobacco. On Friday, she found me, and I introduced it first by saying, "this is my first tobacco offering, so I could be messing something up, so please bear with me". I proceeded to explain what I was doing and why I was doing it and the goal of using her. She said yes, and proceeded to give me the biggest hug. I felt so happy, relieved, honored, and so grateful. The fact that she gave me a hug reassured me on my walk in this community and in the beliefs. I know so little, but people are so patient to teach me (well, most of the time!).
***Just a midnote, from what I've been taught, you offer tobacco when you ask for something from someone. Though I don't often believe in referring to books as most of what you learn is oral instruction, from the book, "First Nations-Teaching and Practices" (an amazing book that a dear friend gave to me) it describes tobacco as such:
"Tobacco is considered to be one of the main medicines one needs to carry at all times. Tobacco is used for prayer...Tobacco is also used whenever we seek teachings or attend a ceremony...You may offer tobacco to an Elder when you are seeking her/his guidance...You may offer tobacco when giving thanks, and when making food offerings".
On Thursday, the Junior High and High School played Volleyball all afternoon as a part of spirit days. I have a small homeroom, and ended up having to pull a couple of players from other homerooms. We had a blast playing, and were actually doing really well. At one point, a male student and I knocked into each other. He started to fall, and so did I. Instead of me falling on him, in a split second reaction, while I was rolling, I somehow jumped over him and went into the next court. I was just relieved that I didn't hurt him as he's a very talented fancy dancer and he shrugged it all off. It was all good-plus, people got a great chuckle. I went into the office laughing about this, telling the story. Some people laughed, and some people shared that I did something wrong, but didn't explain it.
If you know me, you know that I'm not a disrespectful person at all. The thought that I disrespected a student was awful, and awful too because I didn't understand how. Again, this is where people's patience for me has come into effect! There's one person that I seem to always run to when I'm upset or need advice. I trust her immensely-she has a beautiful soul. I sat down and said, "I think I've done something wrong". I described what happened and one of the first questions she asked me was, "do you believe in our ways?" I said yes, with no hesitation (I'll probably speak more about this later in another post). I found out that it is considered to be disrespectful to step over a man, which can cause like a bad medicine of sorts (such as headaches), especially if you're on your moon (your period). I felt absolutely horrible. She explained that because it was not intentional and I did not understand this when it happened, she didn't think the spirits would do anything. I still felt horrible. She asked me how the student reacted, and I said he was fine, he shrugged it off, and everything was okay. She reassured me that it was a mistake and it was okay.
So the volleyball came continued, I joked that this time if I tripped on him, I would just go ahead and fall on him (after apoligizing profusely). We ended up getting 1st place!! How cool is that? It was so much fun-I fell a couple of times, I did a few victory dances, and I got to cheer for my students (all of them, not just my homeroom).
I am so blessed to be where I am and to have such amazing people in my life. I learn so much from the students and people around me. They are incredible.
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