As an educator coming out of a program that has been so focused on Indigenization, I believe I am equipped to do my part in decolonizing our education system. I am dedicated to tackling this difficult task through my future classroom teachings, and I know this will be something I will continue to adapt and grow until I leave this profession. To decolonize the system I first had to begin to decolonize my thinking, which is hard to do as the education system I went through was not dedicated to Indigenization. This process began for me in my undergrad, as I majored in History and fell in love with it. Unlike the history I was taught in high school, I learned about our Western world through the lens of various minority groups including our Indigenous people. My passion for teaching grew here, and I am excited to bring this knowledge into every classroom I enter. I believe we have so much to learn from our local Indigenous groups such as holistic, experiential, and patient learning. In my practicum, I created a classroom theme using the four components of the Circle of Courage. Our classroom was a “kindness” classroom, which created a sense of belonging and generosity in my students. I always reminded them that they could do hard things, and supported a growth mindset- pulling from the mastery and independent components. Whenever they said “Ms. Stewart I need help I can’t do this,” I would respond “You can always do it” before I even made my way over to them to help. On top of these four components, I would include Indigenous content into our lessons where possible. I look forward to continuing learning and growing in this aspect, and sharing this through my teachings. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As an educator coming out of a program that has been so focused on Indigenization, I believe I am equipped to do my part in decolonizing our education system. I am dedicated to tackling this difficult task through my future classroom teachings, and I know this will be something I will continue to adapt and … <\/p>\n