 My name is Chelsea Jackson and I am a learning specialist with Rocking the School Division and I am at division office So I cover the whole area. So we have Airdrie Chastamire out to Cochrane, Red Creek Just so you have an idea of what we're the size of us. We have over 20,000 students. So we're small but mighty So I would like to acknowledge that we are on Treaty 7 territory in Métis region 3 I would also like to acknowledge all of our elders for the wisdom and guidance today and I want to thank you for taking the time to spend your day with us so we can learn from one another I would also like to acknowledge all of the educators in the room and that's every single one of us that walks into a school. We are all educators So I'm thankful to be here to learn with you and from you and so together let's move forward So the agenda for today my overarching theme is really going to be relationship building And I really focused on the professional learning we're doing with our educators So what's changed in these three years? What are we doing differently in these three years? So I also want to say this is a highlight reel. So it's not all glossy fun skipping through the fields There's a lot of hard work to do To still eliminate those disparities and inequalities that we see in our school So this work is not easy. It's not always well received by staff and community and family But we need to keep going So I work with a very very supportive crew who holds the same passion and openness And I would like to introduce you to some of them. So They're all back here and I'm going to make them stand up and say hello So I will start with the Rockety school's director of learning supports. Um, greg roberts And I have our let's see. She's missing our first stations of AT and Inuit connector Jackie simons. She's sneaking in So they both work tirelessly for our students and our staff and I'm really lucky to be part of such a strong team now, of course, we have a whole learning supports department as well, but They really help Lead this work forward So we've brought some very special and important people with us today and I want to acknowledge all of them So psych's powder face from stony nicota. You can just give a wave We're tucked in the back corner there Virgil Stevens from stony nicota Yeah Randy bottle from the blood tribe Sheldon first rider an educator with glenbo museum And we are also missing buddy Wesley today, but I did want to say thank you, buddy And I'm unfortunately he couldn't be here with us today And then of course daniel borough and she is the manager of education at glenbo museum Thanks guys Okay, so according to our agenda, I'm going to just highlight kind of two major professional learning projects that we've done this in the last three years And I'm going to briefly touch on the poverty simulation kid in the brain game And then we always offer a responsive professional learning opportunity So I did briefly touch that but we're going to focus kind of on the two So I'm only in my second year of this role. So I had to hit the ground running and Okay, go and do it and this is now part of your portfolio and one part of my portfolio So I really needed to start with relationship building So I had to start building my own capacity and then finding ways to deliver coordinate, authentic, meaningful opportunities to introduce First Nations Maintain Inuit Ways of knowing into our schools and you can tell I walk in right away non-authentic, right? So I need to make relationships to make this work So I wanted to ask psychs powderface to come up He has been world through many of these types of meetings and conferences and projects through the years And I just want to give him about five minutes To talk about relationships and collaboration. And is this time any different? And what can we do as educators to make it different? Like what do we need to know to effectively connect to community and elders? So psychs if you can speak to that I'm lost itch One of the first things that we all talk about and the that I've been involved with education for quite a number of years Now is that the Different words have been used collaboration, engagement, connection and everything else To me it all means relationship building. It's a relationship that we're looking for What kind of a relationship are we looking for? We're going to be connected. We better have a relationship Because I have a relationship with my wife and I And I had to connect with her who the first one that's the first thing And they call it engagement Anyway, one of the One of the first things that everybody's talking about in different fields I've been involved in in all kinds of areas being the jack of all trades And in the last five days, this is my fourth meeting And I still got two more to go tomorrow the next day And the it seems like the Everywhere you you have Aboriginal non-Aboriginal People together they're all talk about Engagement Relationship building How do we connect? We need to know those things So I've been talking about I'm beginning to sound like a broken record because I keep talking about the same thing The first thing that you want to go you want to get into the community You want to get to know the community you want to get to know the people You must understand you just don't barge in there and start raising questions about who they are and everything else You got to show respect Respect to know that we do have protocols We have very very strict protocols And to make connections the first people that you need to know is Elders Elders Because elders do not elders Just like me. I'm beginning to experience that I need a little more space Than I used to Elders don't like to be crowded be bombarded with Questions and everything else let them talk. That's the first thing is you got to show respect And that's the protocol And one of the things that the people who we've been talking about and I've been talking about is We also have I've heard from different institutions that I've talked to And about this relationship with the elders The question keep coming up who is an elder? What is an elder? And just like in the dominant society's professional world We have elders at different levels Of professionalism We have elders which we categorize in two different types of elders One are the traditional elders We have traditional elders Which focuses to help people understand who they are And the life that we live Be responsible and accountable Those are the type of elders that we call elders You're looking for wisdom if you're working go cultural skills Wisdom cultural knowledge those are the ones that you need to get to know But we also have another set of elders We call them knowledge elders elders that have That had known the best of the two worlds that have taken the best of the two worlds And that's the academic and cultural world And put it together and made it work And these are some of the people that are out there These are the elders where you will need some Help the students to make that transition Aboriginal students to make that transition into the white world Those are the elders that you need to talk to So they can share their experiences is how they made it across That have well adapted to the non-Aboridinal world as well Well those are the ones Because they come to you with different skills because of their academic levels And experiences and their wisdom they come with a different one Those are things that you need to know when you're making connections with the elders Because we also have which I didn't want to talk about But we also have Want to be elders I'm I hear I'm and I'm hearing this from the corporations That I work with there's four forty to fifty five year old Who are saying I'm an elder Simply because they're now have read something about being an Indian that they never grew up On the res or never grew up under the tutorship of elders But those are they call themselves elders and then they hand out Okay, I want 500 bucks to come and do a sweat for you Saturday I was at a meeting and the And I'm happy to say that an elder from sixica Also noticed this is what what's happening. He said these type of people Give us a black eye and that was just exactly the way he said He said their people are now having a totally different Different perception of what our culture is and what our spirituality are ours because we see them doing the practice and Putting us through the through the sweats and everything else and talk to us about that But when we see them in everyday life, it's totally different because an elder sets The world by example Becomes a role model practice what they preach. Thank you. Thank you very much Sykes need to move on after that Okay, if we switch gears a little bit and um, I wanted to talk about our collaborative inquiry projects that we've done with Stoney Nakota schools. We did highlight this last year But I just want to really point out that this isn't just that we go to them once they come to us And we had some cultural teachings in it. It is very Intentional deliberate planning. It's guided by a learning specialist We provided a learning specialist last year to work with Stoney Nakota teachers and our own teachers to walk them through Inquired by design process and then build something together So I don't have time to show you the video and we did show videos last year So I won't show you the video, but it is linked here So again, it's very purposeful professional learning So our students are getting cultural components and not our teachers are working collaboratively with stoney nakota or nakota elementary So again, they they're walked through a planning process They have to implement those strategies. They have to learn to work together They then built they have a one day where they build a video workshop on the work that they've done and compiled together So they work as a team Nakota elementary teacher And and their team teacher with one of our schools and they work together And then we walk them through building a video and creating a learning story They also have created blogs So there's that professional learning that we're getting for those honors or teachers that we know are severely underfunded So we've been doing this for three years already But we want to continue that work So I did um capture some of the teacher voices I don't know if I'm going to have time to share them with you today but um It was just the feedback from the teachers on the process and how they found it Um, and of course like it was all it was all good Actually, I shouldn't say that because I did send out a survey and you know Sometimes we have this expectation that they're going to put on a big cultural show And that's going to be part of the learning. Well, that is a lot on of stress on On a First Nations school authority, so we really tried to come away from that like no We don't expect you to do a pow wow. It's just about the connections and the learnings for the teachers and of course the student So I won't share the teacher voices with you But um, the other thing that we implemented this year was um, we've had communities of practice within our division for several years now I think we're going into about our seventh Um, but this year, I don't know if it was previous if we ever had a topic of First Nations Métis and Inuit as a community of practice But this year I'm a year and a half into my position. So I have Greg says hey get one going you got to get one going so so um, So let's um create a community of practice. I want to oh So really this was just the link to um our superintendent kind of explaining communities of practice, but I can do that quickly. Um So at all staff Whether your office staff Divisional staff have to sign up for a community practice each year and you can choose from probably hundreds that we have Um, so whatever you're interested in learning. There's literacy ones There's all sorts if you want to learn some technology stuff So we've included First Nations Métis and Inuit as a choice um This past year it you um, we've set aside three professional learning days So um, you sign up kind of the end of the end of the year or the beginning of the next school year So whatever you're interested in and I thought jeez. I don't even know if I'm gonna get enough people to even run this So we went with it I think I had 12 signed up the very first day And then people kind of started trickling in and so we had about 20 people in our community of practice And the guiding question for the community practice was how can First Nations Métis Inuit teachings and perspectives be infused into everyday practice to benefit all students So how can we change our practice so all students are learning this? Um, so it's meant to educate encourage and guide division staff to champion this work So this is kind of what um, it looks like so I don't own the community of practice. I can just put in hey I'd like to run when I could have done it on anything and hope people join which is what happened um So I set up the first day and I just wanted this all to be on a loving level playing field and um, we had elder randy bottle Participate with us. So he he guided us through this process So day one we all started with randy and he gave us a workshop on this is this is what it looks like Um, so all the teachers it was interesting. We had some coming in that were like Nope, I'm not starting with a prayer Like I just don't do that and then by the end they're asking they're asking to do more and more stuff So even that's just in the one day Um, so out of that one day, I said, okay, what do we what do you guys want to do next? Like now, you know, what do you want to do and one of the high school? Social study teachers said well, let's go to glendal museum And I was like glendal museum. I haven't been there since I was a kid stuffy born I would never have chosen it to be honest Um, uh, but I was very very wrong So we so that whole started a whole process of connecting with um, the glendal museum and hence why Sheldon first writer and daniella are here with us today So, um, we went we first connected with danielle I brought salange and elizabeth crescent from the calgary regional consortia into the conversation. I said this can benefit everybody Salange the project. Oh, this is you know, this is a great idea. And so we all went and met with danielle She walked us through the gallery the blackfoot exhibit, which is absolutely amazing if you haven't been there Um, and of course we send our kids there all the time But teachers teachers want to learn too and they want they want to learn authentically from the blackfoot educators that are there Um at the museum So we had adrian wolf leg and sheldon first writer take us through and we were also of course accompanied by randy because he's our part of our community of practice So amazing day and if you haven't been in that museum you the sense the feeling the awe when you are in that building is is spectacular so from there They they said let's drum. Let's do some drumming. How do we do that? And i'm like good question. How do we do that randy? How do we do that? So that's where I really look to the elder to say I don't know the process here Um, is this something we can even do and how do we do it respectfully and follow the protocols? So randy helped guide that process for us So the morning of our third day we spent going over the resources of the salon and and sharing with I should also mention it's not just teachers in our cfp. We have educational assistance With speech language pathologist and an assistant. So it was it's whoever signs up So that morning where we introduced the mood all and all the resources We really had to do it in such a way that everybody took something from it um, and I think and I think uh, it went over well and then of course we did a drumming session actually with Darcy turning her over who was there this morning and his cousin Leonard cutter and they were very open and shared immensely with our staff so So this will continue and it will continue to evolve and um, it's just led by the participants and what they wanted to look like so This was so the two pictures on the side are at the glenbo museum And then um, this is one of our learning support teachers out at land and schools far out east Um, and it's a little video. So I'll uh, Just share her Are you ready? So our FNMI CFP has been very enriching for me It is A group of people who are Dedicated to not only understanding what has happened in the past with our first nations people but also trying to look at ways in which we can Move forward Looking to the first nations for their guidance and their wisdom and coming together as educators to pass along what we've learned To make our environment safe for all children And also to share the incredible resources that have been We've been privy to uh in the CFP. I highly recommend it and I will be joining our team next year So I managed to um Get lian to speak and and she just spoke to the rich the richness of the CFP and having the involvement of community and elders Um, I just included this too in case that didn't work. This was from another. Um, it was just a quick email to me after overwhelmed Unforgettable experience. So and now she's going to take it forward with her high school, right? So now she feels empowered to move forward at the high school So just to quickly touch on the poverty simulation kit. It's a kid that um, well simulates poverty And it's to be used with staff. So they get an understanding of the impacts of poverty We purchased this kit as a division So, um, we've got it We get it from the united states and then you come up and then I was lucky enough to go to the formal facilitator training Um, so I can take this forward now Excuse me use it not only for our staff If I didn't do that in the water, um And also community members on just what is it like um to live in an experience poverty? So you kind of I don't know if any of you have done one before but it's pretty chaotic and uh It gives you a different uh Perception and now this of course is universal for for all of our students. Thanks, Elizabeth This is universal for for many of our students um So we are trying to get one done before the end of june um, and we just actually did the training in may so we're Or no, sorry march, but we're moving that forward. Um, and somebody else mentioned the brain game Um, so again, that's where you build the brain with a group Um, and it and it really just talks about those early stresses and brain development Um, this is excellent professional learning too for all of our stuff We actually have a school psychologist that that does this and she has reached hundreds and hundreds of Community members and our staff And she she can tie it. She ties it into trauma, which could be intergenerational trauma as well. So Although uh, this isn't really my baby. It is something else that we do that again universally Can help build professional learning for our staff 10 minutes So again, like we do professional learning all of the time and we do it kind of as requested and requests are weird and Wild and come in we hear all sorts of things but of course we do all of these things which I think probably all of you do with inquiry project last year we did present to the treaty seven principles and um We are in discussion and have been asked to present again at the treaty seven conference The actual conference in the fall. Um, whether that'll happen or not I'm I'm not sure but you know, I can't do any of this professional learning without collaboration and and partnerships So I'm really just like the bridge. I'm the bridge Um, so again, if I tie it all back in relationship building Um, this is just to highlight some of the the work our guests do we can call on our elders and And because we've developed relationships with them we can ask them Lots of strange question or they might think are strange, but we can ask them or what do you think we should do here or Oh, maybe you should come in and so we have that relationship starting We're really starting to build on that. Um, so they'll come in they'll talk one on one with a student They'll talk the stuff. So this is just kind of Some things that that um, we can we can ask them to help guide guide our practice in So without our external partners our elders the service providers community members None of this work would be meaningful And I just want to thank each and every one of them for coming as guests of rocky view And also the rocky view staff That are champions of work in our schools and of course we have leaders in our schools This is the division kind of outlook on it. We have some great leaders in our schools too So I'm very excited um to have tomorrow dedicated to to your voices community members elders So we can learn with and from you And just thank you. Thank you very much I had two seats and I was reading off my first Which was something else that I had read But what we're doing in Cochrane on this relationship building Is I talked a little bit about the elders making sure that you get to write elders So with a structure that we have recently worked on uh with my uh with my colleagues Virgil Stevens and Buddy Wesley Is that We we are because I'm here from what I'm hearing at other presentations that I mentioned is that the um They all talk about a resident resident elder But but you're saying that the where resident elder only has one focus and probably one dimensional experience and skills They can contribute to what they're looking for And and it's not working and I notice it's not working So what we've done At at Morley with the stone and acoda is there's three of us That sit together and we act as the referral our role Is a referral group If any of the Cochrane schools want a specific elder Not just an elder to come But something for a specific project or specific task They called us and we sit down And we look at who is available in certain areas because we know our people really well in our own world As I mentioned, this is how we know that they like the professional world They have different skills and so on for different purposes and so on And this is what we're doing we make the referral and we uh, we uh, send those people to the schools through Jackie and the um And the And that's how they are able to contribute To the learning of the students because that's our focus and that's our main concern Is make sure that we send the right elder to help those children in what they're doing whatever tasks that they're doing And I mentioned I forgot to mention that one and I just wanted to make sure that we have this process in place that is working Really well, we have a list of elders that we work with And the uh, and it's working really well But because we we now have some counseling elders We have the spiritual elders that are available to if children Also need one-on-one counseling right in school where they may be sensitive to Laddle violence and so on within the school. There's still there's still that too and our children are very very sensitive And when that deed comes up, we say we try to send the right people to help them That's the structure we got in This relationship building with galka. Thank you. Thank you so much