How to choose quality Indigenous education resources for your classroom
Decolonizing teaching and learning has been at the forefront of many minds involved in Canadian educational discourse for years now.
The choices of Indigenous education resources that you, as teachers, make every day in your classrooms have a direct impact on the success of initiatives to make education more inclusive and respectful of Indigenous perspectives.
As teachers, you are also incredibly busy, with many different demands on your planning and time, both inside and outside the classroom. So, amidst all those pressures, how do you ensure you choose the best Indigenous education resources to share with your students?
It’s something we’re thinking about all the time here at Live It Earth. And we’ve been on a learning journey for many years now. We wanted to gain as deep an understanding as possible of Indigenous Perspectives and First Peoples’ Principles of Learning—so we could respectfully and seamlessly incorporate them into our programming.
Through our experience, we’ve found some tools and picked up some best practices for choosing and creating education resources that not only include, but celebrate and honour Indigenous perspectives.
So we thought we’d take a minute to share what we’ve discovered, so you can use it to help evaluate the appropriate Indigenous education resources for your students.
Choose carefully and evaluate thoroughly
Not all Indigenous education resources are created equally. Be sure to source and use resource lists that have been vetted or curated by Indigenous organizations. And even if your resources are coming from an Indigenous organization, it’s always a best practice to evaluate them for authentic voice.
Here’s a link that can help you get started with choosing authentic Indigenous Teaching Resources.
When in doubt, get curious
As educators, we need to make every effort to stop using learning resources that highlight only the colonialist/settler perspective, stereotype, eliminate diversity or don’t defer to the Indigenous communities when addressing history and cultural experience.
Remember that all texts and materials are different, and it’s always OK to respectfully ask a question when you’re in doubt. “
Take these principles of learning to heart
Remember that First Peoples Principles of Learning is about relationships and the learning environment itself and not just a matter of the content. Indigenization of the curriculum needs to permeate deeply into how we communicate and how teachers assess learning
ABL (Always be learning.)
Never assume that you already know enough. Indigenous knowledge and culture is inherently diverse. Always be willing to listen and learn a bit more. Actively seek out professional development resources on your own, or through your district or union.
Find resources that have been professionally curated
Seeking Indigenous teaching resources that have already been professionally evaluated is a win-win. You get material you know you can rely on, and it’s already curated or packaged up for you to use in your classroom.
All teachers in BC have access to Focused Education Resources. Their collection is an excellent place to start looking for Indigenous teaching resources. You can search the collection here.
If you want to learn more, you can also find the evaluation criteria they use for resources here, and submit a resource for evaluation here.
We hope you find this resource helpful when you're choosing indigenous teaching resources for your class.
As educators, we can have a significant role to play a part in furthering Truth and Reconciliation if we are mindful and empathetic in our practice. Please reach out to us if you'd like to learn more about the programming that we are creating.
