Abstract
This paper reflects on the efforts of a group of Indigenous and non-Indigenous university instructors to create a transformative educational experience for the largest Indigenous Course Requirement (ICR) course at Trent University. Indigenous Knowledge (IK), the foundational ethic of the Trent University Chanie Wenjack School for Indigenous Studies, guided these efforts. What we learned about increasing the possibility of creating a transformational learning experience for our students focused on the behaviour of instructors in creating an educational climate conducive to transformation and is grouped around four themes: Self as Teacher/Learner, Responsibility to Be Kind, Responsibility to Show Humility, and Stories Matter, Feelings Matter.
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Notes
- 1.
The Onondaga are one of the five original Indigenous nations of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, commonly referred to as the Iroquois Confederacy. The other members of the original confederacy are Mohawk, Seneca, Oneida and Cayuga. It is common in Canada for Indigenous academics to identify their Indigenous national affiliation.
- 2.
Traditional Indigenous Elders are identified by the Indigenous national affiliation. Elders have been teachers within the Chanie Wenjack School since 1977. Their teachings are largely oral and not written down.
- 3.
The medicine wheel is a circle divided into four quadrants. Each quadrant is a different colour and represents an aspect of human beings: body, mind, emotions and spirit. All aspects of the medicine wheel are interconnected and inter-related. What affects one aspect affects all. The medicine wheel has emerged as an important Indigenous theoretical perspective.
- 4.
The Anishinaabe are the Indigenous peoples who reside in a large part of Ontario. The Michii Sagiig Anishinaabeg is the Indigenous nation of the Anishinaabe who reside in the area that Trent occupies.
- 5.
The Seven Grandfather/Grandmother teachings: Humility, Bravery, Honesty, Wisdom, Truth, Respect and Love are the foundational moral values of Anishinaabe society. They are the values which are used most often as the basis for the behaviour of Indigenous teachers.
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Newhouse, D. et al. (2022). More Than Harmony: Transformational Teaching and Learning in Canada in an Age of Reconciliation. In: Nicolaides, A., Eschenbacher, S., Buergelt, P.T., Gilpin-Jackson, Y., Welch, M., Misawa, M. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Learning for Transformation. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-84694-7_27
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