Writing Assignment
Disrupting Molded Images (Dion, 2007) In preparation of reading Susan Dion’s article I reflected back upon my personal response to the question of what is my relationship to Aboriginal peoples. I recall as I wrote the response the nerves as I acknowledged my lack of relationship and understanding concerning Aboriginal people. In this moment I made a vow to myself to not be disheartened but rather experience the fullness that needed to fill a now apparent void. I read over the Dion article twice and then re read certain passages, yearning to learn more about Aboriginal Peoples. Instead I was surprised. There are three main areas that would like to explore concerning my own enlightenment. All three areas are closely connected…show more content… Basically this taking this position suggests that we are a product of what we know, what we were taught and more disheartening what we “refuse to know”. Applying for this program I knew that I was ready to claim my spot as and educator and create small changes in a largely flawed system. What I didn’t seem to delve into were my own flaws. Reading over this particular passage allowed me to call myself out on being a “perfect stranger”. As an educator my own pedagogy is built upon being a lifelong learner, it is a value that I hope in instill into my students. I realized that being able to identify as a “perfect stranger” I had closed the door to learning in this area. As a growing professional I think it is imperative to acknowledge errors in our practice and move forward to repairing them. For me, this means happily disowning identity to this term and becoming an ally for other like…show more content… Growing up in the Canadian school system I was given some insight to Aboriginal People. I saw First Nations presentations of drumming, dream catcher weaving and told of some stories of totem poles. For Social studies we did a unit titled First Nation Studies and went on a field trip in correlation. We snow shoed through Grouse Mountain and after we had bannock in a long house and watched a dance performed by some Aboriginal people. Unfortunately just like Kat “I do not recall ever being told why were making bannock” (Dion, 2007 p. 337). The fact that I can quote Kat’s statement to my own experience is even more telling. This repetition of account shows that our society and education has failed to right its wrongs. There are two things that I take with me in my growth as a professional. The need for change has been a cry for many years. I hope that with this resigned curriculum the question “why” is explored and encouraged so that we raise our students to have this critical thinking of why long before someone asks them. In addition to realizing the reasoning behind making bannock Kat connects
The lack of acknowledgement… [that] parallels a larger historical erasure of the Aboriginal people which is very much a part of the contemporary western reality. Genocide, land removals, forced assimilation, “breeding out”, and legislation which “essentially legalizes the Aboriginal out of existence”