We’ve brought up Indigenous Knowledge and mentioned ways of knowing a few times throughout this series, and hopefully it was understood in the context of each post. Today, for the fifth principle–Learning Recognizes the Role of Indigenous Knowledge–we’re going to go deeper into what ‘Indigenous Knowledge’ means and why it’s important to talk about. Perhaps the best way to describe Indigenous Knowledge, also referred to as Indigenous Ways of Knowing, is holistic;  it is not si

As we delve further into the First Peoples’ Principles of learning, we start to see a pattern of themes–themes like community, mutual...

The third principle of the First Peoples Principles of Learning is “learning involves recognizing the consequences of one’s actions.” Understanding the impact our deeds have is important, but it must be done in a healthy way in order to align with the values of the First Peoples Principles. Not long ago, a former colleague of mine griped that “kids these days”  have no respect for teachers. After musing on it, I had to disagree. It was that colleague’s generation that taught

The second principle states that learning is holistic, reflexive, reflective, experiential, and relational (focused on connectedness, on reciprocal relationships, and a sense of place). This contains a lot of ideas - there are so many aspects to holistic learning, and it would take a long time to unpack all of them! Many of these ideas are covered through discussions of the other principles of learning, so we'd like to focus today’s post on one aspect that stands out and help

Welcome to the first part of our series on decolonizing education. In the introduction post  about this topic, we mentioned the First Peoples Principles of Learning . Today we’re going to go into that more, starting with the first principle, which states: “Learning ultimately supports the well-being of the self, the family, the community, the land, the spirits, and the ancestors.” A fantastic article  by Indigenous educator Jo-Anne Chrona gives detailed insight into the pedag

Those of us volunteering and working with ITMP strive everyday to provide inclusive educational support through a lens of decolonization to Indigenous students. But this is easier said than done, for everyone involved. What does decolonizing education really mean? What efforts are being made to make education more inclusive? What Indigenous values are being considered, what aren’t, who is deciding what values to include, and how are they being integrated into an education sys