Pro-D
Built-in our Fall 2015 semester were numerous Pro-D opportunities that allowed us to dive deeper into important educational topics.
Leadership Training at O.U.R. Ecovillage (September 11, 2015)
To conclude our first week of the semester, we were invited to participate in a full day of Leadership training at O.U.R Ecovillage. A sustainable learning community and demonstration site located in the Cowichan Valley, O.U.R Ecovillage is based on Permaculture principles and offers experiential learning opportunities for Natural Building, Sustainable Food Production and Leadership.
The day was co-facilitated by Kix Citton of the Inclusive Leadership Co-op, who shared some inclusive leadership skills and activities that help disarm instinctive fight/flight/freeze reactions against differences. |
As a former intern in Sustainable Food Production and Permaculture Design Program (2008) at O.U.R. Ecovillage, I was thrilled to have a chance to look back at my learning experience at O.U.R. Ecovillage from the perspective of an educator.
Experiential learning
As an education setting, OUR Ecovillage implements hands-on and experiential learning, modeling ways in which education can take learning outside of the school walls and into real, local, place-based, cooperative and practical learning. When we came for this leadership training, we were provided, first and foremost, with an experience.
My pod was involved in a hands-on learning opportunity in natural building: we helped finish the last wall of a cob house. We didn’t get a lecture about natural building, we experienced what it feels like with all our senses. After a short introduction, we quickly got our hands dirty.
My pod was involved in a hands-on learning opportunity in natural building: we helped finish the last wall of a cob house. We didn’t get a lecture about natural building, we experienced what it feels like with all our senses. After a short introduction, we quickly got our hands dirty.
During this experience, a lot of questions emerged: What is the cob made of? How long does it take to dry? How long did it take to build this house? How effective is cob at insulating against the cold? Is it earthquake proof? What about building regulations?
We were engaged right away. Through the engagement of our bodies and emotions came the desire to learn. The teachers, or facilitators, were happy to answer our questions. Instead of a set curriculum of what the teachers thought we needed to learn, the curriculum was being created through our questions. It was a bottom-up process rather than the traditional top-down approach. |
As teachers, we need to create learning experiences that are real, place-based, cooperative and practical. We must have an idea of the learning outcomes that will emerge from those experiences, but we also have to let go of rigid lesson plans and allow for the proper learning to occur in its own time. By engaging our students bodies and their emotions, we will see that they will ask the right questions to make sense of the experience. Thus, it is the whole person that we will be educating, not just their brains.
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Creating change from the bottom-up takes courage and initiative
Another key take-away that comes out of my experience at O.U.R Ecovillage is that courage and initiative are needed to create change. The founders of O.U.R. had a dream and a vision, but were far from having all the answers when they started on their journey. The challenges seemed endless, such as the zoning regulations and the building code. It seemed like the governance model and public policies were not ready to welcome a revolutionary project such as the ecovillage.
They could have waited forever for the public policies to change, but instead, they took a leap of faith. They started on their project and approached the government bodies with a spirit of cooperation. They had to educate a lot of people and they had to be patient. Years later, the dream has become a real demonstration site that has the power to raise awareness on the most sustainable practices available to us in terms of food production and building practices.
As an educator, I am compelled to see the similarities with the new practices needed in our education system: we don’t have to wait for the government and public policies to welcome a radical transformation in education. We can start, as teachers, to implement the vision and the dreams that we have for education even if we don’t have all the answers and risk making mistakes. We will have to educate parents, colleges, local school boards and the government. We will need to use a cooperative and non-confrontational approach, but as we have seen at O.U.R. Ecovillage when we helped build a cob-house, buildings are built from the ground up.
They could have waited forever for the public policies to change, but instead, they took a leap of faith. They started on their project and approached the government bodies with a spirit of cooperation. They had to educate a lot of people and they had to be patient. Years later, the dream has become a real demonstration site that has the power to raise awareness on the most sustainable practices available to us in terms of food production and building practices.
As an educator, I am compelled to see the similarities with the new practices needed in our education system: we don’t have to wait for the government and public policies to welcome a radical transformation in education. We can start, as teachers, to implement the vision and the dreams that we have for education even if we don’t have all the answers and risk making mistakes. We will have to educate parents, colleges, local school boards and the government. We will need to use a cooperative and non-confrontational approach, but as we have seen at O.U.R. Ecovillage when we helped build a cob-house, buildings are built from the ground up.
Real change happens from the bottom-up, not top-down. Many people united towards a common goal can create major changes. Even when working in my own classroom, I can collaborate with other teachers to transform the system, one day at a time. It takes courage. It takes leadership. It takes initiative. I am a strong leader in my own way and I am not afraid to be an agent of change.
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Revolutions don’t wait for legislation. They emerge from what people do at the ground level. |
Understanding our Village (September 17, 2015)
Facilitated by Michelle Staples and by elders from the Cowichan Tribes, this experiential workshop gave us the foundations we need to understand where we came from and where we are now as a community.
We learned about 400 years of Canadian history, recreating a coastal BC village from before European contact. We discovered an example of local Aboriginal governance structures and learned about local traditions and cultural values. All students participated in the workshop by assuming a role in the village.
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The children were our breath. They were at the centre of the Village. |
We need to forgive if we are to move forward |
The facilitator then took our village on a journey of colonization: we explored the effects of Residential Schools and of Canada’s Assimilation policies and we learned, through the stories of Elders, how they still affect our communities.
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As educators, we are responsible of teaching the dark history of colonization. We must also bring in the classroom the rich traditional and cultural values of our local First Nations to move towards a decolonization of our education system. This workshop was a great opportunity to build bridges and relationships with Cowichan Elders who are willing to share their stories in order to work on those solutions.
The Cowichan Elders also generously shared with us their wisdom and the values that can help us improve our education system and take care of ourselves as educators.
The Cowichan Elders also generously shared with us their wisdom and the values that can help us improve our education system and take care of ourselves as educators.
Each child has a unique gift. Our role is to recognize this gift and nurture it. Cowichan Elders
Nurture Yourself. Tousilum (Ron George) Cowichan Elder
Don't talk from your head. Talk from your heart. Dorothy, Cowichan Elder
They also shared with us a gratitude song from the Cowichan Tribe. Here is a video of our group singing Huy ch q’u siem (thank you respected person), led by Cowichan Elder Tousilum (Ron George).
Indigenous Education Day
Our Cowichan Valley based Pod visited the local Resource Centre to discover what resources were available to teach Indigenous Education. We met with many people, including Ms. Denise Augustine, the District Principal of Aboriginal Education. We also met with Sally Hart, who illustrated the book yuw’i’na’qws tthu hwthuthiqut (Ruler of the Forest). We even received our own copy of the book! Huy ch q'u to the Aboriginal Education Team !
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