View from the High Level Diner

Look out the window says my Cree friend.

I see the river. I see the trees. I see the sun shining down, he says.

What do you see?

I see the bridge. I see cars. I see buildings across the river.

And I wonder.

Generations ago. What did your ancestors see?

Did they see the river, the trees, the sun shining down?

What did my ancestors see?

Empty spaces, waiting to be filled with their dreams?

And did they know their dreams would crush yours?

What a story

I'm creating a script for my animator.

I had only a general idea when I started. But then he told me it had to be a story. A story with a setting, characters, and a plot.

That made me think differently.

So my script tries to talk about the history of the treaties as stories because they are stories and stories are interesting.

I started with Treaty 8 because it is where I live.

So much material but it was easy to find. I hit pay dirt with the Glenbow archives and a site by none other than Albert Burger who lives right down the road in Faust. He had the entire diary of  Charles Mair, the secretary for the "Half breed Scrip Commission" from 1899 on his site with photos. And more interesting history in the South Peace Historical Society- quite amazingly, written by my own former high school geography teacher and family friend, Gerry Clare.

Treaty Commission gathered at Willow Point, June 21 1899

Now I feel ripped off.

Why didn't I get to learn about Treaty 8? I grew up in Treaty 8 territory. I live in Treaty 8 territory now. Why didn't I know the fur traders of the HBC provided help for the native people and vice versa in early days, or that our government refused to help them in the brutal winters after they bought out the HBC -the year the winter was so cold they resorted to eating their own horses? Even after the fur traders and the missionaries begged the government to help.

Why didn't I know that the government of the day refused to make treaty even when the headmen asked -because they didn't  think any settlers would want to come north? And that it was only after Klondike prospectors began trekking north, and when oil was "discovered" in Athabasca, when 500 indigenous people in Fort St John rose up and blocked the trail after the prospectors stole their horses and shot all the wild game and those same people pushed the prospectors' carts over a 900 foot river bank, only then did the government decide to settle up?

Moostoos, headman and Chief of Sucker Creek Reserve

Why didn't I know about wise Kinooshayoo of what is now Driftpile and his conciliatory brother Moostoos? Or the 19 day journey taken by the treaty commission from Edmonton to Athabasca to Grouard where "trackers" literally pulled the boat up the river and sailed across the lake where I now live so the Commission could make treaty with the indigenous people and Metis?

How "civilized" and honest our First Nations appeared in comparison with those further south? How self possessed and wise and independent they were, according to all accounts? How they pondered over the terms of the treaty with concern for the "long game " and future generations?

I think I would have been proud of that, if I had learned about treaties as a kid. Even though I am not First Nations, the northern people are my people. I like learning about how forward thinking they were.

Why didn't we learn that when I was in school?

Mostly I am excited that we are teaching it now. It's our Canadian story, right or wrong. We all own it. And I hope that between me and my animator we can build something that will speak to our students.

How is it

How is it after all these years of being Canadian it never occurred to me how audacious it was for the French and English to colonize Canada?

Seriously.

How is it?

My ancestors sailed in on their ships. They traded with the people who lived here. They accepted their help so they didn't die of scurvy and exposure and starvation.  And then they said to themselves, this is pretty nice here. We should bring all our friends over.

Or was it more of a gradual thing.  The land seemed sparsely settled. A lot of it not settled at all, not like their overcrowded homelands. Why not expand?  The native people are friendly. They don't mind.

Or what?

What was going through their heads?

Everything you know is wrong

Things I thought I knew

• Treaties are legal agreements between sovereign nations.
• Treaties are to last "as long as rivers flow"
• These agreements were signed by representatives of the Crown and First Nations leaders.
• There are three treaty areas in Alberta, 6,7 and 8.

In exchange for land, First Nations were given:

• reserve land (usually fairly crappy land)
• education
• health care
• a small amount of cash
• hunting and fishing rights
• no income tax for money earned on reserve
• no sales tax on reserve

Treaty people were not allowed to vote until 1960

They were not allowed to join the military unless they gave up their treaty rights.

Some things I thought but didn't know for sure:

• Indigenous people did not always understand the terms of the treaties
• There is only one area in Alberta not covered by a treaty, Lubicon Lake
• B.C. is not covered by treaty and they have been working on agreements as long as I can remember

Here are some things I learned:

• There is no word for "cede" or "surrender" in Cree
• Indigenous people see treaties as sacred agreements.  
• Indigenous people see treaties as a relationship. They were about peace and friendship 
• Indigenous people did not think historical treaties were about control, they were about sharing and honouring the land. 
• Oral history tells a different story about treaties
• Indigenous people did not "sign" treaties. They did not have a written language
• The terms of Treaty Six were changed as the treaty made its way from Alberta to Ottawa
• You should not even talk about the sacred nature of the treaty without smudging first
• You should not make any visual representation of a peace pipe
• Treaty rights in Alberta are being discussed at the United Nations and there are indigenous and non-indigenous treaty experts in Alberta

Where I belong

This is an activity to get kids thinking about the relationship between land, community and identity. Hopefully leading to an increased understanding about the relationship aspect of treaty.  But maybe not. Maybe they won't even be able to think about a place where they belong.

link

Created with Padlet

Blueprint

So we start our instructional design process with a blueprint, or what we used to call a "design document."  It's basically a plan for what you intend to do.

Key to the blueprint, at least for me, is identifying who the students are.  Who they are, where they are, what their background knowledge is, who is there to help them, where they want to go.

Students We know the students come from a vast array of backgrounds. Increasingly, adults.  Many students who have failed the course already. Kids at home with babies, caring for grandparents, sick parents and more. Kids with mental illness, most commonly clinical depression to the point they cannot get out of bed.  Debilitating anxiety. Kids who have been bullied and are afraid to go to school. Homeschoolers who have perhaps never attended a regular school and don't know protocols, for lack of a better word. Kids in other countries. Elite athletes, although not that many of those.  Kids who work part time. ESL students. Aboriginal kids. Kids in outreach programmes. And regular classroom students for whom the course does not fit into a timetable.There may be lots of supports or none at all. There may be strong background knowledge or limited to no formal academics.  And what to do with that information?  What does this mean for our instruction?

Goals Their goals vary, from simply getting a passing grade so they can move to the next grade and graduate, to kids trying to get top marks for scholarships and post secondary entrance.

Those things all have to be considered.

Outcomes Then we look at outcomes. What needs to be covered? (or "uncovered" as some say).

Resources What resources do we have? What can we get? Is there a prescribed or supplemental textbook? An online resource that already exists?

Supports Then we determine was supports are needed. Do we need editors and peer reviewers and web designers and writers and copyright people and digital designers? (Usually yes to all of those things) Are there extra things needed, say videographers or animators or meetings with experts or other teachers or designers of interactives? (less common, but often required)

Assessments. Formative and summative. Authentic. Practical. Automated self tests, automated feedback, reflective activities, group work, discussion postings, creative work, audio, video, visual, essays and questions, opportunities for interaction? What's appropriate? What's feasible? Is there a provincial exam? Do we teach and assess appropriately for students to succeed on those high stakes tests? 

Now we take all that and put it in the blender and see what comes out.

My key information is in a binder. On the binder is a sticker my daughter brought back from Alaska when she snowshoed at the Arctic Winter Games in Alaska. It's from the U.S. Military recruitment booth.  It reads "An Army of One."  I have a whole team of people there to support me but sometimes it feels like it's all on me.  As they say, "with great power comes great responsibility."

For me to know and you to find out

That's for me to know and you to find out

My brother used to say this to me any time I asked him a question to which he didn't have an answer or he didn't want to answer.  Or if he  just wanted to annoy me which he usually did.

But I wonder too if it's not the way we should teach kids.

Usually it's "I know the answer and now I will tell it to you." Or "I don't know the answer, here is where you can read about it."  "I am a very modern teacher.  I will show you a movie about it ...on my SmartBoard."  Or at best, "I know the answer and I will tell you exactly how to find it yourself."

I know those are efficient ways of teaching. That's how universities manage to "teach" classes of 500 students at a time or why we often turn to often poorly designed distance education instruction with pages of notes either print or online. "Here's the material. Take it home. Internalize it. We will give you a test.  There, you have learned."

Is this really the best way to learn?

So I'm working on this course.  I have content or I can create it. But do I really just want students to read and watch videos and do a project and write a test?

No. No I don't. 

I want them to think.  I want them to care.

How do I do that?