A Student's View

We're completing the last part of our human rights unit-now on the residential schools in Canada. I had the kids do a web of what they knew and what they thought about the residential schools. I was surprised by one of my student's webs. It was very thought provoking. he basically felt his people had been prostituted out by the government in exchange for the restitution money. Ii understood where he was coming from-he was saying he felt his people were being bought off. Whether or not I agree, you have to recognize where this boy is coming from. He's sayin the money is not enought for the damage it's done to his people.

He's been through so much and experienced so much. I almost didn't even realize that he had such deep thoughts about the subject. You see, he's the life of the party, and it can be very hard to get serious answers out of him. He could be a great leader if he chose to stay on the right path. He would make a great lawyer for his people I believe.

Disappointments Along the Way

I struggle whether or not I should record my feelings of discouagement. I want this blog to showcase the great things, not necessarily the not so great things. At the same time, I feel I need to be honest as disappointments and tragedy is quite common here on the reserve.

People think that there is all the money in the world for anyone who is native or any organization that is native oriented. I can't speak for all places, but the people here are not rich. The school is not rich. The school has a lot of difficulties. I've been without a fridge for almost a year now and I'm a Home Ec teacher. I brought in a tiny bar fridge, and that's quit now...I sell pop to bring money in for food, school supplies, etc. I don't quite like selling pop as I feel it's a total oxymoron, but it brings in money.

And today, I discovered that my digital camera, worth a lot of money, was stolen. I accidently forgot it at school last night, and now it's gone. I'm just grateful that my pictures were uploaded from my great grandmother's recent birthday. I'm not a rich person. I put a lot of my own money back into the classroom, and I work hard to make ends meet. I also don't think it was any of my own students. I don't know who would have taken it, but it's so discouraging. That camera is used all the time for school, for my art, family, and other things. It's so discouraging. I'm not sure how I'm going to be able to replace it. Things are tight right now, for everybody.

Update: got my camera back!!!!

Human Rights

Lately, things have been a little crazy-kids are hyper, the roads have been a mess, and I'm trying to keep my energy up as the kids are winding down, getting prepared for summer.

I've been teaching a very heavy unit as part of my Grade 9 Social Studies class-human rights. I got the idea from a division that I used to work with, the largest in my province. Where they normally tackle human rights in eighth grade and the Holocaust in the ninth, I decided to combine the two. So in my human rights unit, we are covering the Holocaust, the assimilation of aboriginal children in Australia, and the residential schools here in Canada.

Many had never heard of the Holocaust, and those that had heard about it, still could not explain it. We started off with a word splash, followed by a Powerpoint Presentation. We watched the film, Schindler's List...and wow that was hard. I had watched it previously in the theatre when it first came out, but it was just as hard watching it again-maybe even harder being an adult watching it. I knew it would be hard for them and after the first day, I could see that it was getting to a few. A couple admitted it made them angry, and to that I replied, "good, you should be angry". My point? By feeling what they did, they were acknowledging the injustice done to the people. One of my favorite quotes is something like, "if you forget the past, you're condemned to repeating it", one that I shared with my students. I was pleased that the kids were understanding and recognizing the horrible things done to the Jewish people. I was even more pleased that when we finished the film, and I turned the lights on, quite a few of my students had wet eyes.

We started the brief unit on the assimilation of half caste aboriginal children in Australia, watching "Rabbit Proof Fence". Wow...what a film. It's based on a true story of three girls who are sent to residential school, and escape. They travel over 1500 miles to get back home. It's unbelievable. I haven't had a chance to discuss it with my students yet, but they were really into it.

We start the residential schools in Canada next and I think that's going to be hard. It's a lot for the kids to process-a lot for me to process. My method is not to be the teacher, but a facilitator, even a learner with my students. I have some amazing stuff that was sent to me by the Aboriginal Healing Foundation and we have an elder coming in, one I mentioned earlier.

I'm really proud of these kids for recognizing the past injustices.

Joke of the Day: How Many Janitors Does It Take To Get A White Chick Out Of Her Office?

Today was the first day back from spring break, and I wasn't expecting the kids to have so much energy. I also came back to school knowing that our school had been broken into and that somehow my classroom got hit. What that meant I didn't know until this morning.

So, when I got to my room, I looked around looking for evidence of the break in. I found it in my office. They must have taken something very heavy because they actually knocked my door handle off of my office door right off. Oh yeah-the pieces were lying on the floor and if you looked where the door knob once was, you could see right into my office from the classroom. We had a break in a couple of months ago, in which people got into my office too. Last time though, they found money I'd had from a fundraiser. I learned my lesson, and now take money home each night. My guess? They were looking for money.

To get into the office you had to pull a tab in the hole to pull the lock out. Now this afternoon, I went into my office to get something. I had my grade eight's in for their class-but only two students (it's a very small class). The door closed behind me and guess what? I couldn't get out!! The lock wouldn't budge. So here I am locked inside my office. My grade 8 girls are so shy and I guess they heard me, so they started calling one of my high school students, who I've taught all year. She came in, and I'm yelling for her, and saying I'm stuck!! She tried to pull the lock but it wouldn't work, so I told her to go get help. So one of the security guards came and couldn't get me out so he went to get a set of pliers, and then three more came. It took four to get me out, but I got out!!! Thankfully, they removed the lock thingy...the kids got a hoot of it and I get to make great jokes!