A new option for area students to earn a High School English credit.
Teachers at the Keewatin Patricia District School Board began work last spring to develop the Understanding Contemporary First Nations, Metis and Inuit Voices course.
“What the students are submitting really speaks to not that they learned to write and essay or not that they created an infographic, but the deeper more meaningful work related to culturally responsive materials that we’re presenting to them,” explains Taryn Vachon, lead of the course and Principal at Red Lake District High School.
Vachon adds the feedback has been positive.
A student from Red Lake on their final exam wrote, ‘Indigenous writers demonstrate how they have endured and faced hardship without giving up however the biggest lessons I’ve learned from this course that by taking time to learn about the Canadian Indigenous experience, I’m able to be part of the change to a better Canada.’
When asked on the first day of class why this course is a good change from English, a student from Beaver Brae said, ‘It’s essential that we learn about the Indigenous peoples and their history and this course is a great way to teach High School students about this. Students need to learn about what happened in residential schools and how we can heal from that.’
The course is now offered at all KPDSB High Schools in Grade 11.
Vachon tells us what she hope to accomplish going forward.
“Right now we have a core group of amazing teachers and I would like more of the English teachers to own this work and bring it into their classrooms. In Red Lake, our English department had a meeting where we said what FNMI text are we using in every stream in every grade so that we can continue to build this through all four years of High School.”
