Peoplehood, Two-Eyed Seeing & Reconciliation

Anti-Racism Call to Action Unit Plan: Historic Trauma

I designed the following lesson plans in response to Dr Patricia Makokis’s lecture: Understanding and Coming to Terms with Historic Trauma – It’s a Lifelong Journey! In her MET Anti-Racism talk, Dr. Makokis expressed that racism is a social construct and we need to learn about our privilege to make space for those who are “othered” and the best way to do this is through community, connection, and understanding. First Peoples ways of knowing support the importance of connection and community as we deconstruct and think about the intergenerational impact of colonization and how we can move toward healing. Makokis shared the symbolism of the colours red, yellow, black, and white to emphasize that we are all family, that all people are related. This notion connects with Mi’kmaw Elder Albert Marshall’s teachings about etuaptmumk, two-eyed seeing, and how we need to work together to form a shared understanding because, if we don’t, we are only seeing and understanding part of the whole.

Context

  • Grades 10/11
  • 9 – 14 class sessions
  • 30 students (average class size)
  • British Columbia (BC) Curriculum: ELA & New Media

Big Ideas From the BC New Media 11 Curriculum

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is image-9-1024x423.png

Curricular Competencies From the BC New Media 11 Curriculum

Comprehend & Connect

Students will read, listen, and view to:

  • Explore the role of story, narrative, and oral tradition in expressing First Peoples perspectives, values, beliefs, and points of view
  • Explore diversity among First Peoples cultures, as represented in new media and other texts
  • Recognize the influence of land/place in First Peoples and other Canadian texts
  • Apply appropriate strategies to comprehend written, oral, visual, and multimodal texts
  • Recognize and appreciate how different forms, formats, structures, and features of texts enhance and shape meaning and impact.
  • Think critically, creatively, and reflectively to explore ideas within, between, and beyond texts.
  • Explore how language constructs personal and social identities.
  • Construct meaningful personal connections between self, text, and world.

Create & Communicate

Students will write, speak, and represent to:

  • Respectfully exchange ideas and viewpoints from diverse perspectives to build shared understanding and extend thinking
  • Respond to text in personal, creative, and critical ways.
  • Assess and refine texts to improve clarity and impact.
  • Demonstrate speaking and listening skills in informal contexts
  • Use writing and design processes to plan, develop, and create engaging and meaningful texts for a variety of purposes and audiences
  • Use digital media to collaborate and communicate both within the classroom and beyond its walls
  • Express and support an opinion with evidence
  • Transform ideas and information to create original texts

Content Objectives

General Objectives: From the BC New Media 11 Curriculum

  • Text forms and genres
  • Text features and structures
    • interactivity
    • features of multimodal texts
  • Strategies and processes
    • Reading strategies
    • metacognitive strategies
    • writing processes
    • new media design processes
  • Language features, structures, and conventions
    • elements of style
  • literary techniques and devices

Specific Objectives:

  • Understand the role of language, sacred history, ceremonial cycle, and territory in shaping peoplehood and First People’s lived experiences
  • Make connections between peoplehood, residential schools, and intergenerational trauma
  • Understand the connection between peoplehood, culture, identity, and representation through multimodal text features
  • Identify and understand the connection and difference between perspective, point of view, vantage point, worldview and the Indigenous teachings of two-eyed seeing and the circle
  • Annotate while reading and viewing
  • Understand the role of story in sharing and understanding lived experiences as part of the reconciliation and healing process
  • Making connections between media texts, society, and self to form an opinion, develop an analysis, and provide supportive details
  • Compare and contrast multimedia messages
  • Identify values, identity, and actions encouraged by media messages and the impact this has on an audience
  • Ideate and design meaningful critical creative responses to multimedia texts to portray understanding of peoplehood, two-eyed seeing, and intergenerational trauma
  • Reflect on how learning experiences have changed or supported understanding of reconciliation.

Learning Goals: I can . . .

  • understand the impact stories and poetry have on our understanding of peoplehood.
  • understand the difference between peoplehood and identity.
  • understand and make connections between perspective, point of view, worldview, the circle, and two-eyed seeing.
  • understand the difference between perspective, point of view, worldview, and two-eyed seeing.
  • identify and understand First Peoples lived history and its impact on peoplehood.
  • identify and understand the connection between peoplehood, two-eyed seeing, residential schools, intergenerational / historic) trauma, and reconciliation.
  • communicate in a variety of ways with my peers to express, challenge, and build on ideas.
  • support my opinions with references to texts.
  • make connections between texts, texts and society, and texts and myself.
  • ask questions and think critically about literary and multimedia messages.
  • express ideas about the impact of colonial history for a specific audience, purpose, and context.
  • reflect on my learning experiences, making connections between what I used to know and what I have learned.

21st Century Competencies

  • Students will build collaboration competencies through these learning experiences, scaffolded by Project Zero’s (2016) visible thinking routines. Through their discussions and assessment of the various multimodal texts within the unit, students will “understand that communication can influence, entertain, teach, inspire, and help us make sense of the world and our experiences” (BC Ministry of Education, Communication Competency).
  • Through visible thinking strategies, discussions, and graphic organizers, students will examine texts closely, engaged in critical and reflective thinking to analyze, “question, and challenge their own thoughts, ideas, and assumptions and challenge those of others” (BC Ministry of Education, Thinking Competency).
  • Throughout the unit, students will have the opportunity to “reflect on the information they receive through observation, experience, and other forms of communication to solve problems, design products, understand events, and address issues” Ministry of Education, Thinking Competency).
  • Students will also be engaged in metacognition of their personal and social competencies, with a focus on cultural identity and personal responsibility. The intent of the lessons is for students to reflect on the notion of identity and its role in societal interactions, providing students with an “understanding [of] the connections between personal and social behaviour” while encouraging them to “make constructive and ethical decisions and act on them.” This extends to the notion of identity in our “pluralistic society” and the need for both the learning environment and society to be “welcoming and inclusive communities, where people feel safe and have a sense of belonging” (BC Ministry of Education, Personal and Social Competencies).

Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, Decolonization, Anti-Racism (EDIDA) Frameworks

In the Activation Phase of this lesson plan, students will explore and discuss aspects of perspective, point of view, vantage point, and worldview – leading into the Mi’Kmaw notion of etuaptmumk and the significance of the circle to First People’s ways of knowing to reflect on the importance of “seeing all sides” of something, sharing what we see from our vantage points, and how we can understand each other better when we share what we see, know, and understand. The circle is a symbol for life and can represent the circle of self-awareness and knowledge. It is a reminder that everything flows in a circle. It denotes wholeness, inclusion, and eternity which connects to “The Métis infinity symbol, the joining of two circles, [which] illustrates the joining of two cultures and the unending existence of a people” (OOSTF/FEESO, 2012, p. 3).

Rebecca Thomas (she/her) is a spoken word artist, Halifax Slam Master, Poet Laureate, and Activist. She writes and speaks about her Mi’kmaw identity, sharing her cultural voice through poetry in public discussions. In her TEDx Talk, she speaks about the power of language as it is woven into who we are as people and how it impacts our worldview. She extends this idea in her discussion of “peoplehood” in relation to identity: “Peoplehood… differs from identity in that it extends beyond individual identity… to four things: territory, sacred history, ceremonial cycle, and language – each thread informs the other” (Thomas, 2016b). This concept helps youth to understand the connection between who we are as individuals and who we are as part of a community, as a connected culture and what happens if too many of those threads are broken.

In the Apply Phase, students will explore the Indigenous principles of peoplehood, two-eyed seeing, and the circle through First People’s lived experiences and stories to learn about the impact of past experiences on the present, both in terms of peoplehood and two-eyed seeing. This will provide a context for understanding the impact of colonization and the residential school system on intergenerational (historic) trauma and how, through the breaking of threads (language, sacred history, ceremonial cycle, territory) this impacts peoplehood which builds intergenerational (historic) trauma. By examining these connections through Indigenous voices and stories, students will build an understanding of the deeper meaning of and need for healing and reconciliation.

Mi’kmaw elder and poet, Rita Joe celebrated language and culture in her writing. An author of 7 books, she was inducted into the Order of Canada in 1989, received an Aboriginal Achievement Award and doctorates from several universities. She wrote “I Lost My Talk” as a response to her lived experience in the residential school system with the purpose of spreading hope. Her work has inspired many creative collaborations, including the music video The Voices I Gained created by students at the Helen Betty Osborne Education Centre in Norway House, Manitoba. This performance is part of the National Arts Centre Rita Joe National Song Project which takes on Rita Joe’s challenge to Indigenous youth to find their voices, share their stories, and celebrate their talents.

Canadian playwright and author Ian Ross was the first Métis to win the Governor General’s Award for English Drama in 1997. He has written 15 plays, two of which he has translated into Cree. He is, perhaps, best known for his radio persona on CBC, Joe from Winnipeg, the episodes from which were later published into two books. Through the voice of Joe from Winnipeg, a compassionate and curious “everyman,” Ross shares humorous commentaries on social issues by connecting them with daily experiences. The chosen episode, “Yams” questions the way we perceive people, bringing racial stereotypes to the fore through the metaphor of a yam – how we see people based on their exterior identity. The short oral text provides an accessible means for youth to think about perception, which relates back to our learning about peoplehood and two-eyed seeing.

Leanne Betasamosake Simpson is a Mississauga Nishnaabeg author and musician. An Anishinaabe activist, she writes about Indigenous issues in Canada and applies Nishnaabeg methods in her storytelling. A Writer-in-Residence at McGill University and a Matakyev Fellow at the Center for Imagination in the Borderlands at Arizona State University, Simpson endeavors to center her academic work on Indigenous ways of knowing. Her poem “i am graffiti” presents a powerful metaphor that emphasizes both empowerment and perception. She tackles the tokenism of culture recognition and questions the impact of superficial reconciliation, asking her readers to think critically about their actions, and make them meaningful.

Anishinaabe speaker and restorative justice activist, Matthew Shorting shares his experiences growing up in the child welfare system in Manitoba and how understanding intra-personal conflicts in society has helped him heal. He has worked toward changing the justice, education, and child welfare systems to support better treatment of youth.  In his TEDx Talk, he shares his stories of healing from intergenerational trauma to holistic well-being. This talk provides a specific context through which students can make connections between their learning in previous lessons about peoplehood, two-eyed seeing, intergenerational (historic) trauma, healing, and reconciliation.

From Where We Stand is a podcast hosted by IHeartRadio that highlights the experiences of Indigenous, Black, and People of Colour (IBPOC) communities and their impact on mental health. In each episode, guests from different communities in Canada share their stories, the barriers they face, and their wellness journey. The episode highlighted in this lesson features residential school survivors, author and chief Edmund Metatawabin from Fort Albany and Roberta Hill of the Six Nations of Grand River, and children of residential school survivors, Janet Head from Opaskwayak Cree Nation, and author David Robertson whose creative work we explore in experience 3 of this lesson plan. Dr. James Makokis, Cree family physician, helps us understand intergenerational trauma.

7 Generations: A Plains Cree Saga (2012) is a four-part graphic novel series written by David A. Robertson and illustrated by Scott B. Henderson (he/him) that depicts the epic story of an Indigenous family over seven generations. The first story, Stone, introduces readers to the protagonist, Edwin, who spends the series learning about his past, about his ancestors to understand his present and move toward a future. An award-winning Swampy Cree author and public speaker from Winnipeg, David A. Robertson (he/him) has published over 25 books. His work, which ranges in genre from children’s books, young adult fiction, and graphic novels, examines traumatic histories, traditional stories, cultural identity, and coming of age. Graphic novels provide a powerful lens through which learners can explore story and literature while building multiliteracies. There are three storytellers in a graphic text: the writer, the illustrator, and the reader. By filling in the gaps between images and text, the reader shapes their understanding of the story while immersed in techniques such as juxtaposition, flashback, symbolism, and “show, don’t tell” immersive storytelling. This particular text provides a reflective narrative that immerses readers in understanding how our past is connected to our present, giving context to help youth understand intergenerational (historic) trauma and healing.

In the concluding lesson we move into specific focus on representation of Indigeneity in games such as Terra Nova and Never Alone. These Indigenous-made games provide more than just representation and inclusion of Indigenous characters. Both cooperative games work to educate through interaction, using both narrative and “play to perform activist interventions around race, gender, and discrimination” (Ruberg & Phillips, 2018, p. 4). Terra Nova invites players to explore Earth and what Indigenous and settler first contact would look like thousands of years in the future. Players share a keyboard and explore the respective environments of Terra, an elder of Earth, and Nova, a space-born youth, on a split screen. Never Alone is a different kind of cooperative game infused with powerful Iñupiaq story telling. Set in the north, the adventure follows Nuna, a young girl and an arctic fox as they connect with the spirits to learn why her village was destroyed.

Both games use interactivity to teach players about the natural world, relationships, and the need for cooperation “through an Indigenous lens as opposed to a Western, colonial perspective” (Barnes, 2019). Through these digital landscapes and their respective mechanics, players can explore decolonization as gameplay success relies on the respectful, interdependent relations of Nova and Terra, and Nuna, the spirits, and the fox. B & Yang (2020) indicate that “games aren’t just about telling people something; they’re about having them take part in the action. For social justice work, that has the potential to be way more effective than just handout materials” (p. 156). It is for these reasons that we conclude our learning of two-eyed seeing, peoplehood, historic trauma, and reconciliation through the power of interactivity in digital storytelling with these two powerful games.

Differentiation

Universal Design for Learning Framework

With Universal Design for Learning (UDL), and Vygotsky in mind, it is important to add levelled choices, student efficacy, as well as broaden the representation of authors and experiences. To support these theories in my lesson plan, we will compare a variety of texts and forms, the sense of self from the speaker, the historical, cultural and societal ideas held within the texts, and the power of language since socio-cultural theory emphasizes that “in classrooms in which there is co-participation, cooperative learning, and joint discovery, environments are created which students are able to build upon  the culturally shaped knowledge and value systems they bring to school” (John-Steiner and Mahn, 1996, p.201). Each author examined in the lesson explores a sense of self in different formats. Using their varied texts and voices as springboard choices provides students of varying language and cognitive levels an opportunity to explore their own sense of self, using a model of their choosing, within their zone of proximal development.

To differentiate instruction for individual learners. Teachers can:

  • provide written and oral instructions
  • structure lesson content visually with informative titles, headings and links
  • break information into manageable pieces wherever possible
  • write instructions in plain language
  • guide interaction
  • providing audio options for printed text and instructions
  • opportunities to meet with small groups to re-teach an idea, or to extend thinking

The lessons are designed to provide:

  • visible thinking and literacy strategies, using Project Zero’s (2016) visible thinking routines.
  • guided interaction and inquiry
  • consistent, regular feedback
  • multiple and varied opportunities for learners to show their understanding, ask questions, and collaborate with peers
  • opportunities for learners to share ideas in a variety of ways, including oral, visual, or textual
  • information in smaller manageable pieces – building from prior knowledge toward synthesis and creation following Bloom’s taxonomy
  • support the learning and using of new terms and ideas through scaffolding strategies, such as Word Splash
  • opportunities to extend learning through evaluation, synthesis, and creation
  • an exploration of interactive multimodal texts to make observations, connections, and conclusions
  • student choice in form of creative output (audio, visual, textual, interactive, multimodal)
  • opportunities to reflect on learning

To differentiate instruction for individual learners. Teachers can:

  • provide written and oral instructions
  • structure lesson content visually with informative titles, headings and links
  • break information into manageable pieces wherever possible
  • write instructions in plain language
  • guide interaction
  • providing audio options for printed text and instructions
  • opportunities to meet with small groups to re-teach an idea, or to extend thinking

Delivery/process

  • modelling
  • visible thinking routines
  • individual learning
  • think-pair-share
  • small group discussion
  • visual and audio for visual and auditory preferences
  • interactivities for kinesthetic learners

Outcome/products

  • multimodal writing and creating
  • optional coding extension
  • oral and written discussions – visible thinking routines
  • inquiry based learning
  • project based learning

Learning environment

  • safe, inclusive environment
  • students are free to make mistakes
  • students feel included and accepted
  • consistent, meaningful feedback and opportunities for reflection
  • learn through visible thinking routines

Accommodations

  • Extra time
  • Quiet space in the classroom to work independently
  • Appropriate area and noise-cancelling headphones to minimize noise level and/or distractions
  • Use of headphones for digital text explorations
  • Deliver the instructions of the task in a variety of ways to layer learning styles (eg. Visual, written and oral instruction)
  • Front-end load new vocabulary
  • Use of text-to-speech, audio recording, read-to-me tools to support literacy
  • Provide printed lyrics and transcript for audio/video content

Materials

  • Teacher-run laptop and projector for
    • in-class video and interactive text viewing/reading
    • visible thinking & discussion modelling
  • Print texts for (optional) paper use
    • On 11×17 paper with two poems printed side-by-side with room in the margins
    • On 11×17 paper side-by-side with room in the margins
      • The covers for each of the four parts to Robertson, D. A. (2012). 7 Generations: A Plains Cree Saga [Graphic Novel]. Portage and Main Press.
    • Ross, I. (2004). Joe from Winnipeg: All my best. J Gordon Shillingford Publishing Inc.
    • Simpson, L. B. (2016). i am graffiti [Video & Audio]. F(l)ight. RPM Records. Retrieved from YouTube. https://youtu.be/ilV7Jq6LY5A
    • Transcript: Shorting, M. (2019, September 27). Intergenerational Survivor and Healing [Video]. TEDxWinnipeg. YouTube. https://youtu.be/ecgXgHQySiE
    • Transcript: Thomas, R. (2016b). Etuaptmumk: Two-Eyed Seeing. TEDxNSCCWaterfront. YouTube. https://youtu.be/bA9EwcFbVfg
    • Class Set: Robertson, D. A. (2012). 7 Generations: A Plains Cree Saga [Graphic Novel]. Portage and Main Press.
    • Beer, M. C. (2020, February 25). The next chapter in Indigenous representation in video games: A new crop of games teaches language and culture. Polygon. https://www.polygon.com/features/2020/2/25/21150973/indigenous-representation-in-video-games
  • Graphic Organizers (hand-made, printed, or future digital – as google docs, word docs, miro boards, etc.)
    • 3D Object for circle discussion
    • Word Splash (summarize, describe, analyze, synthesize)
    • Graphic Organizer for 321 Bridge Critical Response
    • Reflection: I used to think… now I think…
  • Sticky notes, highlighters, markers and chart paper to make thinking visible for non-digital face-to-face discussions

Unit Introduction: Minds On (1 class session)

Activate: Two-Eyed Seeing & the Circle (1 class session)

Topics/Terms: symbol, circle, etuaptmumk, two-eyed seeing, perspective, point of view, worldview, vantage point, peoplehood, territory, sacred history, ceremonial cycle, language, residential schools, (de)colonization, culture, First Peoples ways of knowing

  • Rearrange the classroom so that students are sitting in a circle.
  • After all students have taken their seats, in the center of the circle, place a 3D object that is visibly different when viewed from different angles (for example, it could be a hexagon with different pictures on each side that relate to each other in some way)
  • Ask students to describe what they see.
  • Note the differences in the students’ descriptions depending on where they are sitting in the circle.
  • Ask students: what are you experiencing? and what makes you say that?
  • Reflect on the experience together as a class and build definitions for the following terms, recording the ideas students share on chart paper, whiteboard, or digitally in an LMS (projected for students to see during the lesson):
    • point of view
    • perspective
  • Extend the discussion to talk about worldview and why this idea of sitting in a circle and the notions of perspective or point of view might be important for us to consider. Add the words to the board:
    • circle
    • worldview
  • Discuss aspects of “seeing all sides” of something, sharing what we see from our vantage points, and how we can understand each other better when we share what we see, know, and understand.
  • Extend the discussion by exploring the symbol of a circle:
    • The circle is a symbol for life and can represent the circle of self-awareness and knowledge. It is a reminder that everything flows in a circle. It denotes wholeness, inclusion, and eternity.
    • “The Métis infinity symbol, the joining of two circles, illustrates the joining of two cultures and the unending existence of a people.” (OOSTF/FEESO, 2012, p. 3)
  • Add the Mi’Kmaq word “Etuaptmumk: two-eyed seeing” to the board (which should already have: perspective, point of view, worldview, circle) for students to examine.
    • Ask students what they think “two-eyed seeing” might be – make connections to the other words on the board as well as noting differences.
  • Project Rebecca Thomas’ TEDx Talk “Etuptmumk: Two-Eyed Seeing.”
  • Following the video, use the think-pair-share strategy for to explore what they learned about the term “Two-eyed seeing”
  • Add the term “peoplehood” to the growing list. What do students think? Can they recall what Rebecca Thomas said about this in her talk? How might it relate to the other words on the board?
  • Make connections to Thomas’ discussion of territory, sacred history, ceremonial cycle, and language.
  • End with an exit slip in which students reflect on what they have learned about: the circle, two-eyed seeing, peoplehood, and worldview.

Unit: Action-Learning Experiences (5-8 class sessions)

Apply: Etuaptmumk, I Lost My Talk, The Voices I Gained, Joe From Winnipeg, i am graffiti, From Where We Stand: Intergenerational Trauma, 7 Generations

Topics/Terms: residential schools, (de)colonization, culture, first peoples, intergenerational (historic) trauma, racism, voice, oppression, empowerment, survivor, healing, summarize, describe, analyze, synthesize, peoplehood, etuaptmumk, two-eyed seeing, perspective, point of view, worldview, vantage point, peoplehood, territory, sacred history, ceremonial cycle, language

Experience 1: “Etuaptmumk” by Rebecca Thomas & “I Lost My Talk” by Rita Joe (1-2 class sessions)

  • Rebecca Thomas ends her TEDx Talk with a performance of her spoken word poem “Etuaptmumk” which begins with an allusion to Rita Joe’s poem “I Lost My Talk” which she wrote as a reflection of her residential school experience.
  • Begin the class with students sitting in small groups of 3 to 4.
  • Provide students with the written text of both poems side-by-side on 11×17 paper (or a digital version of the text on a digital whiteboard).
  • Rewatch the slam poetry portion of Thomas’ TEDx Talk:
    • Instruct students to listen to the words of the poem with a pen/highlighter in their hands, recording/marking aspects of the text that impact them using Project Zero’s Word-Phrase-Sentence Routine to activate their thinking and guide their annotations.
    • Word: that captured your attention or struck you as powerful.
    • Phrase (shorter or longer than a sentence): that moved, engaged, or provoked you.
    • Sentence: that you felt captures the core idea of the text.
  • Give students time to re-read the poem a few times after listening to the performance. Instruct students to record in the margins beside their “Word – Phrase – Sentence” selections the reasons why they chose them (this could also be done on sticky notes).
  • Then, in their small groups, students can share their annotations, beginning with each person, in tern, sharing their words (and reasons why) before moving on to share their phrases and then sentences. This sharing often leads students to discuss aspects of the text and make connections between their collective annotations.
    • What themes emerge?
    • What implications might their selections indicate?
    • What aspects of the text were not captured?
  • After each group has had a chance to collectively share their thoughts, ask for groups to share with the whole class what they noticed. Project the text of the poem and create a whole-class annotated text with the word-phrase-sentences that students share, recording their annotations in the margins. This practice helps to model text annotation, while also clarifying and enhancing all students’ understanding of the text.
  • Next have students read Rita Joe’s poem “I Lost My Talk” following the same routine.
  • After students have finished annotating and sharing their thoughts about Rita Joe’s poem, project the music video “The Voices I Gained” created by students at the Helen Betty Osborne Education Center in Norway House, Manitoba as part of the National Arts Centre Rita Jow National Song Project. Instruct students to extend their discussion and annotations to include elements of the music video lyrics:
    • Why does Rebecca Thomas allude to Rita Joe’s poem at the beginning of “Etuaptmumk”?
    • What connections can students make between these three texts and the meaning behind peoplehood, the circle, and two-eyed seeing?
    • What questions do students have that might extend their discussion and understanding of the ideas these poets raise?
  • Reflection Extension: Students can visualize these connections through a concept map

Experience 2: I Am – Joe From Winnipeg “Yams” by Ian Ross and “i am graffiti” by Leanne Betasamosake Simpson (2-3 class sessions)

  • Continue to keep the classroom organized in small groups (3 – 4 students per group).
  • Distributed copies of “Yams” and episode from Ian Ross’s CBC Radio program Joe From Winnipeg.
    • With pens/highlighters in hand, students will listen to a recording (or the teacher can read aloud from the printed text), using the WPS routine learned in the last lesson to identify significant ideas from the text.
    • In their small groups, students can share what stood out for them and come to an understanding of Ross’s text. Ask students to explore who they think the audience is for this text and what purpose they believe Ross had in writing/speaking it. Ensure they support their ideas by asking: what makes you say that?
  • You can then distribute copies of Leanne Betasamosake Simpson’s poem “i am graffiti”. Project or play the audio of her music recording of this poem. You can also project a student’s performance of the poem from the Poetry in Voice competition website.
  • Have students continue to use the WPS routine to explore the poem and make connections to:
    • Ian Ross’s “Yams”
    • Rita Joe’s “I Lost My Talk”
    • Rebbeca Thomas’ “Etuaptmumk”
  • After the discussion students can create a Central Word Map. This can be done on large chart paper or using a digital whiteboard or concept map tool, such as Miro.
  • Central Word Map Instructions:
    •  Select 1 word from the four texts as central to the overall meaning they notice in the texts and place it in the center of their map (with appropriate citation – author and line number/page reference).
    • Then – branching out from the center, students are to select quotes (phrase and sentences – with proper citation) from each of the texts that support their chosen central word. They should have at least one quote from each text but can certainly choose more.
    • Finally, on the line that they draw connecting the quote to the central word they write their explanation that describes how this quotation supports the word at the center.
  • After each group has completed their Central Word Maps, engage students in a Gallery Walk in which they peruse the maps that each group made (this can be through physically displaying them in the classroom, or virtually within the class LMS).
  • During the Gallery Walk, each group should use the 321 Feedback Routine below to communicate their observations and feedback to their peers. This can be done on sticky notes in the physical classroom or via the comment function on an LMS discussion board.
  • 321 Feedback Routine:
    • 3 aspects of their map that you found interesting, insightful, powerful, etc.
    • 2 connections between your ideas and their ideas (can be similar quotes, explanations, and so on).
    • 1 question you have for the group about their ideas, analysis, choices.

Experience 3: Matthew Shorting’s TEDx Talk Intergenerational Survivor and Healing, From Where We Stand: Intergenerational Trauma Podcast by iHeartRadio & 7 Generations Graphic Novel Series by David A. Robertson (2-3 class sessions)

  • Keep students in small discussion groups of 3-4.
  • Record the term: Intergenerational (historic) Trauma on the board.
  • Ask students to share their thoughts about what they think this term means, associations they can make to the term, examples they think illustrate it and record their ideas on the board.
  • Then, view these two videos on Intergenerational Trauma.
  • After viewing (and in between) add to the definition on the board with more examples, associations, and ideas brought forward by the videos.
  • If you want to explore Intergenerational Trauma more deeply, and have time, you can direct students to (or listen as a whole class) iHeart Radio’s podcast From Where We Stand.
  • Ask students if they can make any connections between intergenerational (historic) trauma and the ideas you’ve explored in previous lessons and texts:
    • Simpson, “I am graffiti”
    • Ian Ross’s “Yams”
    • Rita Joe’s “I Lost My Talk”
    • Rebecca Thomas’ “Etuptmumk”
  • Next project the four covers of David A. Robertson’s graphic novel series 7 Generations. You can also print these on a large 11 x 17 sized paper for each group to examine at their desks (or provide them on a digital whiteboard for virtual viewing).
  • Engage students in using the See-Think-Wonder-Connect (STWC) visible thinking routine to examine these images.
  • After each group has had a chance to examine the images and record their observations, ideas, conclusions, questions, and connections, bring the discussion to the whole class, asking groups to share what they noticed and recording it on the whiteboard (or in the LMS) for the whole class to see, modelling this thinking aloud routine.
  • Share with students that there are 3 storytellers in a graphic text: the writer, the illustrator, and the reader because the reader fills in the gaps between the images.
  • Write the following terms on the board and examine/review their meaning as a class:
  • Juxtaposition, flashback, symbolism, show, don’t tell writing techniques
  • Have students return to the four cover images, examining them with these terms in mind, see what they notice and think. Each group can again share what they observed and the connections they made with the whole class and continue to build the whole-class STWC annotations.
  • Give students time to read the graphic novel series (or at least the first text).
  • Bring students back into their discussion groups and have them return to their pre-reading STWC and reflect on their thoughts and predictions about the story. Ask them to add (using sticky notes) and extend their initial ideas with what they now think and understand, having explored at least one of the texts.
  • Now it’s time to connect:
    • Remind students of Rebecca Thomas’ explanation of “peoplehood” from her TEDx Talk in a previous lesson: “peoplehood… differs from identity in that it extends beyond individual identity… into four things: Territory, sacred history, ceremonial cycle, and language – each thread informs the other.”
    • Ask students to discuss the ways in which David A. Robertson’s 7 Generations connects with what you’ve learned about Etuaptmumk (two-eyed seeing) and intergenerational (historic) trauma.
  • Students will then be ready, having discussed the texts and engaged in prewriting annotation building to express their understanding through a scaffolded critical response which will provide them with contextual practice of curricular competencies and writing forms they will encounter on the BC Literacy Assessments.
  • A good scaffold for textual connections and analysis is 321 Bridge Critical Response.
  • Begin with a Wordplash of: Summarize, Describe, Analyze, Synthesize.
    • Write them on the board/LMS/Chart paper and engage students in sharing what they know about these words, what associations they can make and come up with a whole-class definition, focusing on how they are different.
    • A good strategy, here, would be to provide example sentences for each one.
  • Then provide students with an google/word doc (or printed handout) to support their writing using the 321 Bridge.
    • Students can choose two texts we have explored so far in the lessons for this analysis.
      • Simpson, “I am graffiti”
      • Ian Ross’s “Yams”
      • Rita Joe’s “I Lost My Talk”
      • Rebecca Thomas’ “Etuptmumk”
      • David A. Robertson’s “7 Generations”
      • Matthew Shorting’s TEDx Talk “Intergenerational Survivor and Healing”
    • Students will write three parpagraphs:
      • 1 for text 1 (6 sentences using the 321 structure)
      • 1 for text 2 (6 sentences using the 321 structure)
      • 1 bridge paragraph in which they make connections between the two texts
  • 321 Bridge:
    • 3 Descriptive Sentences
      • What is the text about?
      • What does it mean?
      • Provide an overview of the content
    • 2 Analysis Sentences
      • Ask yourself “so what?”
      • Dig into the significance of the ideas the author portrays through the text
      • How might these ideas impact the reader?
    • 1 Question
      • This should be a question that is not answered within the text
      • What does this author make you wonder?
      • What do you want to explore in more depth to understand the ideas/topics better?
    • Bridge Paragraph
      • The connections can be in parallel ideas and/or ways in which they contradict or contrast each other
      • Sentence starters:
        • Both Author Name 1 and Author Name 2 illustrate…
        • While Author Name 1 notes… Author Name 2 claims…

Unit Conclusion: Consolidation & Reflection

Apply: Terra Nova &Never Alone (3-6 class sessions)

Topics/Terms: colonization, de-colonization, culture, first peoples, survivor, healing, summarize, describe, analyze, synthesize, peoplehood, etuaptmumk, two-eyed seeing, perspective, point of view, worldview, vantage point, peoplehood, territory, sacred history, ceremonial cycle, language

  • Write the word reconciliation on the board and use the think-pair-share routine to invite students to explore what they know and can connect to this word, what it means considering the lessons we have explored throughout the unit, and what it means for all the people of Canada.
  • Invite students to share their ideas with the class and record their thoughts and ideas on the board to establish an understanding of how reconciliation connects with two-eyed seeing, peoplehood, and intergenerational (historic) trauma.
  • You can extend this to a reflection activity in which students express how their thinking has changed or been supported as a result of a learning experiences using the visible thinking routine: I Used to Think… Now I Think…
  • This can be done in written or oral form, depending on your students’ preferred way of expressing their thoughts.
  • Students, working in pairs and sharing a device, will need access to laptops, iPad cart, or a computer lab for this lesson.
  • Introduce students to the video game Terra Nova, available for free on itch.io.
  • Terra Nova is a two-player split-screen platformer set into a future first contact between Indigenous Earth-born people and star-born settlers.
  • As a collaborative game, students will share a computer, one person playing the character Terra and the other controlling Nova.
  • Instruct students to keep a game journal while they play, using the See-Think-Wonder-Connect routine as they record their thinking:
    • Can be written, audio, or video.
    • The purpose is to have annotations to help with future discussion and analysis.
    • They should also add their emotional reactions to different aspects of their play.
  • After playing you can have a whole class discussion to engage students in sharing their thoughts about their play experience and some of the ideas they chose to record in their game journals.
  • Next, in the same pairings, guide students to the game Never Alone, an award-winning atmospheric puzzle platformer set in the compelling world of Iñupiaq stories, imagery, and characters.
  • Guide students to continue keeping notes in their game journal.
  • While students play, walk around the room asking them questions about what they are noticing, what they think, connections and questions they have.
  • After playing, you can have a sharing discussion. Pair up partner groups for small groups of four to share their experiences and what they chose to record in their game journals.
    • What connections can they make to previous texts?
    • How might this video game connect to the idea of two-eyed seeing?
  • Give students the article “The Next Chapter in Indigenous Representation in Video Games” (2020) by Molly C. Beer.
  • They will continue to use the See-Think-Wonder-Connect routine to share our Observations (see), Ideas (think), Questions (wonder), and Connections.
  • After their discussions ask groups to share their thoughts, bringing their ideas together.
  • Note with students that Terra Nova ends abruptly after what feels like the first level (something that likely came up during some of their discussions).
  • The game ends abruptly after what feels like the first level. What might the second level hold?
  • How can you use your learning from Module 4 to support your creation of a next level?
  • Think about the game’s premise and message:
    • How might this story continue?
    • Where might these two characters go? What might they do?
    • What kinds of problems might they encounter?
    • Will it continue to be collaborative?
    • What are the implications of this?
  • In their groups, have students ideate what they imagine Level 2 might be like. They will share their pitches with the class and can express their ideas in many forms – guide them to use the one (or combination) that suits them best:
    • Slide show presentation
    • infographic
    • video
    • audio
    • and so on
  • Students should organize their pitch presentation to showcase the direction they see the game heading, how this connects with what we’ve learned about two-eyed seeing, peoplehood, (de)colonization, and reconciliation. They should outline: topic, purpose, form, context, and audience in relation to their idea for level 2.
  • Provide an opportunity for groups to pitch their ideas to the class, provide each other feedback (the 321 Feedback method would be effective to use again here), and reflect on the process of ideating a game level.
  • 321 Feedback Routine:
    • 3 aspects of their map that you found interesting, insightful, powerful, etc.
    • 2 connections between your ideas and their ideas (can be similar quotes, explanations, and so on).
    • 1 question they have for the group (about their ideas, design, etc.).

Extension: Students can use Bitsy Tool to create the level! This is a free, user friendly, easy access game builder that provides a quick drag and drop, no coding needed, framework within which students can build their game idea, combining visuals and text. There are other tools that you can explore in creating games with students that will provide different affordances; however, most of these tools will require more extensive tutorial lessons. To find out which tool is best for you and your students, if you want to move beyond the Bitsy Tool, check out my Twine Do Video Games Have a Place in Classrooms?

Assessment

Diagnostic

  • Word Splash & Visible Thinking Discussions
  • These exercises are designed to inform the teacher (and the students) of what they know coming into the lesson regarding the ideas under study. This will support learning as students make connections with prior knowledge and support the teaching as the instructor gains an understanding of their prior knowledge.

Formative

  • Visible Thinking Discussions
  • The teacher should move around the classroom and monitor the small group and think-pair-share discussions to gain a sense of students’ understanding and interpretation of the various texts, the connections and questions they have, how they collaboration and communicate their ideas with each other, and to help them build on these ideas while they use the visible thinking routines.

Summative

References

B, T. & Yang, E. (2020). Making games about queer women of color by queer women of color. (pp. 153) Duke University Press. http://doi.org/10.2307/j.c tv1134cq5.21

Barlett, Cheryl. (2012, November 8). Two Eyed Seeing [Video]. Cape Breton University. YouTube. https://youtu.be/_CY-iGduw5c

Barnes, K. (2019, July 24). Aqniq Suannaktuq and Kisma Innitchuna (Never Alone): ‘Cause Gaia likes it cold. First Person Scholar. http://www.firstpersonscholar.com/agniq-suannaktuq-and-kisima-innitchuna-never-alone/

Beer, M. C. (2020, February 25). The next chapter in Indigenous representation in video games: A new crop of games teaches language and culture. Polygon. https://www.polygon.com/features/2020/2/25/21150973/indigenous-representation-in-video-games

British Columbia Ministry of Education (2021). Core competencies: Communication. Retrieved from BC’s Curriculum website: https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca/competencies/communication

British Columbia Ministry of Education (2021). Core competencies: Thinking. Retrieved from BC’s Curriculum website: https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca/competencies/thinking/critical-and-reflective-thinking

British Columbia Ministry of Education (2021). Core competencies: Personal and social. Retrieved from BC’s Curriculum website: https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca/competencies/thinking/personal-and-social

British Columbia Ministry of Education. (2021). New media 10 curriculum. Retrieved from the Government of British Columbia website: https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca/curriculum/english-language-arts/ 10/new-media

Dudek, D. (2016). “Good Relationships Mean Good Lives”: Warrior-Survivor Identity/ies in David Alexander Robertson’s 7 GenerationsCanadian Review of Comparative Literature / Revue Canadienne de Littérature Comparée 43(1), 39-50. doi:10.1353/crc.2016.0007.

E-Line Media. (2016). Never Alone [Video Game]. Upper One Games. http://neveralonegame.com/

Gray, K. & Leonard, J. (2018). Not a post-racism and post-misogyny promised land: Video games as instruments of (in)justice. In Woke gaming: Digital challenges to oppression and social injustice. University of Washington Press.

Historica Canada. (2020, March 9).Intergenerational Trauma: Residential Schools [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/IWeH_SDhEYU

Joe, R. (2007). I Lost My Talk, from Song of Eskasoni. Poetry in Voice. Retrieved from https://www.poetryinvoice.com/poems/i-lost-my-talk

John-Steiner, V., & Mahn, H. (1996). Sociocultural approaches to learning and development: A Vygotskian framework. Educational Psychologist, 31, 1991-206.

Le Doux, A. (n.d.). Bitsy Tool [Game Editor]. Retrieved from https://bitsy.org/.

Longboat, M., Caplin, R., Dehdashti, M., & Moersch, B. (2019). Terra Nova [Video Game]. https://maizelongboat.itch.io/terra-nova

Makokis, P. (2022, April 27). Understanding and coming to terms with historic trauma: It’s a lifelong journey! [Lecture]. MET Anti-Racism in the EdTechnosphere. https://met.ubc.ca/2022/04/speaker-series-makokis/

Marshall, A. (2019). Two-Eyed Seeing [Video]. Global Symposium. Samuel Centre for Social Connectedness. YouTube. https://youtu.be/DTJtAdH9_mk

Metatawabin, E., Hill, R., Head, J., Robertson, D. A., & Makokis, J. (2021, Nov 3). Episode 5: Intergenerational trauma [Podcast]. From where we stand: Conversations on race and mental health. iHeart Radio with Bell Let’s Talk.

National Arts Centre. (n.d,). Poet, Rita Joe, C. M. Retrieved from https://nac-cna.ca/en/bio/rita-joe

National Arts Centre. (2016, Jan 8). Rita Joe Song Project – The Voices I Gained. YouTube. https://youtu.be/PukcSRJkpcc

Not_Annie. (2022). Do video games have a place in the classroom? [Twine]. Itch.io. https://not-annie.itch.io/learning-through-game-design

OOSTF/FEESO. (2012). Full Circle: First Nations, Métis, Inuit Ways of Knowing. https://www.oise.utoronto.ca/deepeningknowledge/UserFiles/File/UploadedAmina_/full-circle-first-nations-metis-and-inuit-ways-of-knowing.pdf

Project Zero. (2016). “Thinking Routine Toolbox.” Harvard Graduate School of Education. http://www.pz.harvard.edu/thinking-routines.

Robertson, D. A. (2012). 7 Generations: A Plains Cree Saga [Graphic Novel]. Portage and Main Press.

Ross, I. (2004). Joe from Winnipeg: All my best. J Gordon Shillingford Publishing Inc.

Ruberg, B. & Phillips, A. (2018). Not gay as in happy: Queer resistance and video games. Game Studies Special Issue: Queerness and video games, 18(3). http://gamestudies.org/1803/articles/phillips_ruberg

Shorting, M. (2019, September 27). Intergenerational Survivor and Healing [Video]. TEDxWinnipeg. YouTube. https://youtu.be/ecgXgHQySiE

Simpson, L. B. (2016). i am graffiti [Video & Audio]. F(l)ight. RPM Records. Retrieved from YouTube. https://youtu.be/ilV7Jq6LY5A

Thomas, R. (2016a). Etuaptmumk. Understory Magazine. (8) https://understoreymagazine.ca/article/etuaptmumk/ Thomas, R. (2016b). Etuaptmumk: Two-Eyed Seeing. TEDxNSCCWaterfront. YouTube. https://youtu.be/bA9EwcFbVfg


GOALSPHILOSOPHY | E-LEARNING | INCLUSIVE EDUCATION | GAMES & LEARNING | NEW MEDIA