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Educational Resources

Adventures of Rabbit and Bear Paws: Storytelling in the Aboriginal Community

Source: Comics in the Classroom:Chad Solomon and Christopher Meyer – developers
Focus: Grade 1 – You and Your World

Summary: A series of Grade 1 lessons featuring the featuring the wild wacky exploits of two brothers, Rabbit and Bear Paws. The characters are mischievous and the audience learns enjoyable life lessons from their numerous pranks and mistakes while also appreciating the unity of the Native communities and how they related to one another peacefully.

Rabbit and Bear Paws are heroes that the developers created to share humorous adventures based on Traditional Teachings, to carry on the teachings to the youth who wish to explore their roots, while helping to share the wisdom of the Aboriginal community with the universal audience (non-Aboriginal).

Exploring Aboriginal Art in Canada

Source: Curriculum Services Canada
Focus: Grades 9-12– Building literacy skills through Visual Arts

Summary:

This cross-curricular visual art and information literacy resource is designed to help students develop skills to help find meaning in Aboriginal art and culture. The tasks using information literacy skills require students to determine the extent of their information needs, to access a variety of materials to satisfy these needs, then to synthesize and communicate information within the context of the assignments.

The visual literacy tasks teach students to “read” pictures as documents, analysing imagery to learn about culture and society. The resource uses a structured inquiry and research methodology combined with the artistic process. The resource describes how visual arts and resource centre teachers can collaborate in presenting an integrated study.

Australia’s National Curriculum Services: Indigenous Education Resource Update

Summary: A joint project with:

  • the National Curriculum Services (NCS), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Victorian Commercial Teachers Association (VCTA)
  • Dare to Lead, a Commonwealth funded national project with a focus on improving educational outcomes for Indigenous students
  • What Works. The Work Program which helps schools plan and take action to improve educational outcomes for Australian indigenous students
  • Australia’s Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations

This initial newsletter highlights emerging resources in Indigenous education in Australia. It contains research and statistics on literacy and numeracy as well as resources that are classroom-ready.

British Columbia First Nations Studies 12: Integrated Resource Package

Source: British Columbia Ministry of Education
Focus: Grade 12 Native Studies

Summary: This Integrated Resource Package (IRP) provides basic information teachers will require in order to implement British Columbia First Nations Studies 12. It focuses on the diversity, depth, and integrity of the cultures of British Columbia’s Aboriginal peoples. In emphasizing the languages, cultures, and history of First Nations peoples, the course addresses an important part of the history of British Columbia. Designed to introduce authentic Aboriginal content into the senior secondary curriculum with the support of Aboriginal peoples, the course provides an opportunity for British Columbia students to acquire knowledge and understanding of the traditions, history, and present realities of British Columbia Aboriginal peoples, as well as a chance to consider future challenges and opportunities.

British Columbia First Nations Studies 12 addresses the richness and diversity of First Nations languages and cultures by exploring them within their own unique contexts. It is intended to provide a conceptual foundation for all learners to develop an appreciation and respect for the similarities among and differences between the diverse cultures of the world. As such, it will help to promote understanding of First Nations peoples among all students. A curriculum that concentrates on Aboriginal content can lead to enlightened discussion of Aboriginal issues and can also contribute to Aboriginal students’ sense of place and belonging in the public school system.

Aboriginal Curriculum Integration Project (ACIP)

Source: South Australia Department of Education
Focus: Kindergarten to Grade 8

Summary: APAC is a project that aims to broaden and deepen students’ and teachers’ understanding of Aboriginal cultures and ways of being. APAC assists all students to be able to look at the world from an Aboriginal viewpoint and understand the different Aboriginal points of view on a range of issues such as reconciliation, social justice and equality.

Council of Ministers of Education Canada (CMEC)

Focus: Teachers, Educators and Education Policymakers

Summary: In 2004, CMEC declared Aboriginal education to be a priority issue deserving targeted activity. This commitment was reaffirmed in Learn Canada 2020, the framework that the ministers are using to enhance Canada’s educational systems, in which Aboriginal education was identified as one of the specific activity areas.

In establishing Aboriginal education as a priority, ministers have acknowledged the need to find new and varied ways of working together and in partnership with Aboriginal leaders and communities and with the federal government to improve outcomes for Aboriginal students at all levels of education. The objective in Learn Canada 2020 presents the primary objective: eliminate the gap in academic achievement and graduation rates between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal students by bringing together key stakeholders including ministers of education and Aboriginal affairs, national and regional organizations, and federal government representatives to discuss issues related to Aboriginal education. CMEC has two activities linked to Aboriginal education:

Integrated Resource Package 2008 – British Columbia Ministry of Education

Source: The First Nations Education Steering Committee (FNESC) has developed curriculum pursuant to a jurisdictional agreement with the Province of British Columbia. This agreement represents a departure from past practice with respect to both the development of provincially prescribed curriculum and the provision of resource documentation to support for provincially prescribed curriculum. This distinctive development process is intended to ensure that teaching and learning with respect to First Peoples in British Columbia’s school system is based on authentic knowledge and understanding, as articulated by Elders, educators, and other content experts from within British Columbia’s First Nations and Métis communities decisions affecting teaching and learning with respect to First Peoples in British Columbia’s school system take appropriate account of the advice and opinion of community leaders from within the province’s First Nations and Métis communities.

Focus: Grade 12 English – First Peoples

Summary: English 12 First Peoples provides opportunities for all students to engage with indigenous creative expression to enter the worlds of First Peoples provincially, nationally, and internationally. The course focuses on the experiences, values, beliefs, and lived realities of First Peoples as evidenced in various forms of text, including oral story, speech, poetry, dramatic work, dance, song, film, and prose (fiction and non-fiction).

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