Whose Culture? Who’s Teaching?:

The Canadian Multiculturalism Act (1988) is intended to ensure that all Canadians are able to participate equally in Canadian society. Based on what happens in this case, is this even possible? Explain.

Throughout the case, there is a great deal of evidence of our Canadian society incorporating, celebrating, and most importantly wishing to educate our future generations of the extremely important cultures that embody our nation. From the very beginning of the article, the reader immediately knows what traditional territory the case resides within, “The three-day August retreat for the teachers and administrators of the upper Niskawa School District began with the acknowledgment that it was taking place on the traditional territory of the Niskawal’ly in the easternmost part of the Artiv’na’ypl River region…” It is here that we see evidence of the Multicultural Act in play. Now, to say that we as a country are fully living up to the potential that the Act holds us accountable for is debatable. However, we are able to see a community trying to respectfully acknowledge the Indigenous land and inhabitants. Throughout the case we as readers see that there are Aboriginal foods eaten with pride, stories listened to, and cultural activities performed. Within these actions, we see progress, progress that since 2015 and the Reconciliation Act has been picking up in speed. We have altered our curriculum to better educate our future generations on the hardships faced, as well as celebrating cultures that have longed been cast to the side. Colonizers have been making strides in attempts to address and work to repair broken relationships. The main issue within the case was that there were no teachers of indigenous decent fluent in the language to step into an Aboriginal language class. While I do feel as though the staffing choices made were not conducive to accurate cultural and language lessons, we should look further than just one case. Within the TRU community, we are able to see in our own program Indigenous teacher candidate training that will no doubt popularity and the number of candidates in the program will grow. It is within programs such as these that we see the potential of the Multiculturalism Act within our community grows as we grow. Currently, we are in a place where we cannot avoid cases like these, however, in time we will be able to hopefully eliminate problems such as these. We are at a pivotal point in time as a country, and if we continue down the path we are on, I feel as though we have the power to put an end to colonization.

Blurred Reflections:

Why do you think reflective journaling has become a cornerstone of the socialization of teachers into the teaching profession?

In every single class, we have had to do some form of reflection or journal, and without a doubt, at least half of us in the program have had similar if not spot-on reactions as the characters in the case study. Personally, I find that journaling is one of the assignments in which I have been able to learn the most about myself. My reflections have grown as my knowledge and insights have grown. We as teacher candidates are able to look within our own minds and pull from personal experience and use it to critically analyze and respond to case studies such as these. It encourages us to look deeply within not only ourselves but our peers and truly be able to digest the content we are given. Throughout my undergrad, my primary focus was on research and reading the work others to make sense of the world I lived in currently. However, within the realm of teaching, we move away from the concept of research and looking to the past for answers, but are tasked with coming up with answers to benefit ourselves and our future students down the road. Journaling, therefore, is a means at which we step away from the methods drilled into us in the past and a step toward a new way of thinking. Our professors have been helping us find the starting point in our professional careers and it allows us to step aside from assumptions, biases, and preconceived notions we’ve picked up throughout life. We have been learning so much about inquiry-based learning and sparking wonder within our students, and I deeply feel as though reflection and journaling is a means at which we are given the opportunity to conduct our own inquiry-based learning. It just takes a different form through the post-secondary lens.

A Stitch in Time:

Given that anti-bullying laws are now in place, have we gone too far or not far enough in making schools safe places for all students? Justify your answer.

Fundamentally our schools’ systems have improved greatly in the last couple of decades to ensure there is a safe environment for children to learn. However, it is still extremely common to hear about stories of bullying, violence, or bullying within our school system(s). I think we still have a way to go before we can honestly say that we have done everything we could to ensure our student’s safety. We are constantly evolving and changing with the tides that students bring. With the expansion of social media, and the ever-growing online population is becoming more and more difficult to provide students with attentive online anti-bullying programs. The issue is, as we grow more vigilant in our anti-bullying efforts the problems expand further from our reach as social media apps gain popularity. So, we are fighting against an expansion we have no control over. The unfortunate thing is as this happens, I feel it will grow harder and harder to try and stay on top of the situation. We as educators will never be able to gain control of something that stems from the internet. We, however, need to work to find new methods and strategies for addressing issues within the classroom in the hopes that it targets some of the root problems behind cyberbullying. It seems to be a losing battle, as problems leave the schoolyard and subsequently become less and less accessible. In this social climate, one can effectively argue that we haven’t done enough, but, we have yet to figured out how to combat the problems that lay before us. However, if we maintain perseverance and keep the safety and well being of students in mind while educators and adults maintain open lines of communication with the youth, we may be able to get ahead of the issue in the future and find the equilibrium between not enough and too much.