 Good morning We are honored to be here at 3d7 territory I'm from muscochies and work with Wolf Creek school division And it has come a long ways Since I started working there Back home our ancestors Told us this time of the year is a new year for us New growth new beginning new learning. I had someone to say Good morning Again, thank you very much for the warm welcome we received We wanted to acknowledge that we are from treaty 6 land and there are a lot of us that are here today And I'm very grateful to have so much support It speaks to the dedication and the commitment that we have to our First Nation Métis and Inuit students in Wolf Creek Public Schools So thank you because I know it's a crazy busy month in May But all of these individuals made arrangements with family and work to be here. So thank you Our journey has been an interesting journey that started a few years ago when we joined the pilot project and Lois spate And I were the the two people here at the very beginning probably about I guess it was three years ago we attended the spring gathering and We were embarrassed that we hadn't been doing more for our students and we were a bit intimidated Because we didn't know what to do and where to start So from there we decided that we would move forward, but we needed to have a framework today What we'd like to do is to share that framework with you and talk to you a little bit about what our division has done division-wide But also speak to you about our schools and highlighting three Pinocca schools in particular the Pinocca elementary The Pinocca secondary campus and the Pinocca outreach school Our mission statement is to create success for all learners But we weren't doing that our First Nation Métis and Inuit students Were not successful in our accountability pillar survey Results demonstrated that we needed to come up with a structure a framework that we could put in place That would meet the needs of students Finding our way. I'm just going to throw this out there. We have three gentlemen looking at a map that refused to ask for directions It's a wonder we even found our way Sorry gentlemen Before we began we really felt that it was important that we access the knowledge of our elder and we approached Joseph and asked him How do we begin? How do we move forward and Joseph said the first thing that we need to do is have a ceremony in which we Travel to all four points of our district and we offer protocol We have tobacco and broadcloth that we laid down and we did a ceremony and it was an amazing ceremony And the purpose of that was to protect our students and our staff and our parents and also to move this Strategy forward to move us forward to a point where we're meeting the needs of our students This has become a moral imperative for Wolf Creek Public Schools And this is a quote from Russell Bishop that I continually Say every time I meet with staff Why are we coming from a Eurocentric viewpoint when we could be coming from a First Nation Métis and Inuit viewpoint when planning for our students It works for all students We read through a number of guiding documents before we began our journey and we really tried to figure out where do we start We had all this information But how do we make a difference and how do we ensure that our students needs are met and the first thing that we needed to Do was to connect with the pilot project because that was a strategy that allowed us to create professional development for staff Our three areas of focus are the same as the project. We wanted to build educator capacity We wanted to engage our learners and we wanted to make sure we were getting paths for success The first area that we needed to work with was building educator capacity If we wanted to change anything it had to happen in the classroom and it had to be support for our teachers I'm Lorna Houston and I'm a coordinator with inclusive learning services at Wolf Creek One of our key pieces as we look forward is really being Intentional about the people that we have working in our buildings also the structures and supports that we have Sheila who is our First Nations Métis Inuit Student Success Coordinator is very critical to all of the work that has been happening in Wolf Creek She works in all of our Pinocchio School developing very Significant relationships with all of our students and staff our EAs our administrators But she also works with our surrounding communities as well creating very strong relationships with those people with all of our people and Sheila has been critical in developing school programs small group programs, but also working with individual students as well Supporting them and advocating for for all of them Sheila also works very closely with our elder Joseph and I'm going to let Sheila come and talk a little bit about other Joseph We are so fortunate in Wolf Creek Public Schools to have elder Joseph to champs with us The magic that happens when he meets with students regardless of whether they are First Nation Métis or Inuit or non It is a magical moment the connect is huge And I just want to extend an acknowledgement and a thank you to Joseph for all of the hard work and The greatness that he brings to the lives of our students and our staff on a daily basis To start off with we needed to figure out a plan. Where do we begin with professional development? How do we even know where we're at? So I met with each of the three Pinocchio admin teams and we created a Capacity build a capacity indicator tool and that was something that Solange and I had worked on in the summer What we wanted to do is we wanted them to identify Based on the four guiding questions of learning to be learning to know learning to do and learning to relate Where are we at and the Pinocchio elementary school and the secondary campus and the outreach all had an opportunity To identify where they felt we needed to start from there We had put together a strategic plan if you needed to work on the area of learning to be these are all of the professional development Activities that we can help facilitate in your school and that's how we began our journey I have to share an interesting comment with Lois had last night. She said oh my goodness. We're so low Why are we so low? But I said look at the growth you've had throughout the year The second part is we needed to make sure that we had a website and we had resources available Because we needed to meet teachers where they're at teachers are continually saying what do you have? I can't find any resources. Can you can you give me something? Where do I begin and this was an opportunity for us to work at creating a website and to connect the website to the Moodle which allowed our teachers instant access to resources We also worked with learning supports part of our division in the literacy initiative last year And we introduced the work of Priscilla George. She's also known as the rainbow lady And she talks about literacy from a First Nation Métis and Inuit viewpoint and how we need to meet the needs of children and With literacy it looks a little bit different for our First Nation Métis and Inuit students Wolf Creek has worked very intentionally to at that design Universal design for learning and really being able to design to the edges we have created the Excellent learning environments for all students beginning at that that critical piece for everyone and Then continuing on with a collaborative response model that ensures that all staff are able to collaborate and work together To meet the needs of all of our students We also have social workers school social workers in each one of our schools of Crafts for Division We have inclusion coaches in each one of our schools and all of our supports are articulated through a pyramid of intervention We also work very closely and are very much a part of our local or regional RCSD And we at this point are working on the expansion to our First Nations with through that RCSD The next step we took was to create a First Nation Métis and Inuit Task Force cohort and that consists of teachers from the three Pinocchia schools an administrator Inclusion coach learning coaches and a social worker Our hope was to really ensure that our focus with their with S group is to build educator capacity Our medians consist of three areas We focus on the history of the First Nation people in treaty six areas specifically We focus on the cultural teachings from our elders and from community members that join us and we also focus on instructional strategies What do we need to do better in the classroom? Shilia hi, I'm Shilia Strykulski from the Pinocca outreach school. I'm one of the members on the task force Mostly I just want to talk about how great of an experience it has been Even though we have Joey in our school as the elder program the task force allows us to really dig in To learn more from him and some of the guests that Shilia and Joey bring in Gives that opportunity just to really find out more information, which I really enjoy Including some of our students sometimes We don't get to talk about those same kinds of things in a day-to-day on our classroom So it's been nice in the task force to get their perspective What we're doing well for FNMI in our school or what we should do more of And I really like that at the end of it We always bring it back to all of us teachers kind of brainstorming together. What are you doing in your schools? What could we do differently? How can I learn from you? How can I help? And I really appreciate that because we're all in it for our kids together. So This year we have also joined together with a partnership agreement with Montana First Nation We've learned a long time ago that we can't do this by ourselves And what we can offer Montana First Nation is doing better job at transitioning their students when they come into our School oftentimes they come to us when they are going into grade 10 and it's a huge adjustment for them And so we promise that we're going to do a better job on the transition We're also going to help out with professional development and we're going to share back-and-forth Collaboration related to a number of items including our CSD One area of the partnership agreement that we feel we can benefit from with Montana First Nation is a cultural component That's an area that we just don't have we don't have Cree classes we don't have the language we have sort of a band-aid right now where we've brought in a number of Parents and a number of community members to teach Cree, but we need to formalize that in Montana First Nation They're going to help us do that. So that's an exciting opportunity for us to actually work together with Montana First Nation Good morning. I'm Lois Spate and I'm principal of Pinoc elementary school And it's really been my privilege to be part of the spring gathering for the last three years So in terms of building educator capacity at Pinoc elementary school We've had a number of professional development activities for our staff everything from participating in a sweat to Some activities that have been facilitated by Ceylon's so one of the ones that was very impactful for our team at our school was Participating in the brain architectural game previous to Ceylon's coming We had dr. Gibb speak to us about early learning and the brain and then when Ceylon's Facilitated the brain architectural game. It had a profound impact on our teachers They saw how through the simulation those early learning Experiences that children have through the cards that they're dealt has an effect on the Development of the brain and after that activity teachers really began to see the child and The conversations that happened after that activity were amazing We also are going to be having this week a couple of other activities We are going to do the simulation of the blanket activity and then we're going to get on a bus and we're going to Have a professional development activity of a field trip heading out to our neighboring community of musketeers And we're going to visit Montana school as well as Samson and then we're going to have a little lunch at the Nipsey's cafe one of our staff members and Not just one but a number because of these activities have been so motivated to learn more and so Using her professional development money one of our teachers took part just a week ago in a cultural camp in Jasper and came back Very motivated to learn more and share her experiences with the rest of us as well as with the task force we've been trying to model some of the Strategies that teachers can use in their classroom during our professional development activities So having a talking circle as our formation during our professional development days has been key I've seen that now taking place in a number of classrooms We had an Unconference at one of our professional development days and if you've ever participated in an unconference It's quite the experience and so it's very self-directed professional development And so a number of different topics were thrown out on the table But one of the most powerful ones that day was a talking circle where our teachers Got together and shared a professional conversation or dialogue around first-nation madey Inuit Education so those are just a few of the highlights of things at Pinoc elementary Hi there. My name is Kathy McTagard. I'm the vice principal of Pinocca's secondary campus So Lois spoke of a lot of things that we are also doing in our school. So I will just speak about one more We had the opportunity Sheila Had a student Videotape herself and she talked about her storing her journey through her five years at our school And I would say that got to a ton of our staff that weren't maybe really having a true Understanding when she spoke and she spoke very frankly and honestly on that videotape that really really got to our staff So I have lots of other things to say but Lois spoke to lots of them Good morning. I'm Erin Frederick. I'm one of the teachers at Pinocca Reach School and As these other ladies have said we've done a lot of the same things lots of work with Salon We also just did the brain game with her one of the most powerful things that we did as a staff is the Suicide training that we did with young spirit winds out of Mesquiches We unfortunately have lost Too many of our students to to suicide and that was something that was really powerful for our staff We also have access to Joseph who's been amazing and Sheila and they're in our building at least twice a week We use the Moodle quite a lot that I know Salon just helped develop and Our staff we do and I know Sheila will speak to this later. We have site-based Modules that we create all of our our work is done in modules And so we're integrating First Nations content into those and that is a Great way for our staff to build educator capacity just in the learning that goes on with that I've got a 20 second little video here from one of our teachers John McEcheran. He is in our English department. There's two videos on there and when this gets shared out You're welcome to watch The other one maybe it's not gonna work. Okay. Well both videos you can look at later We also have dug a little deeper into the medicine wheel and done some work with Joseph there and developed an electronic version that Pits the the Cree Culture that we've integrated into our modules as well The next area of focus for us is engaging learners We felt if we develop the capacity then we could engage learners and I'm just going to invite Leanne Lewis She is a member of our wisdom and guidance committee a parent in our Wolf Creek public school Good morning. Thank you. I've been working with Sheila and the committee since Sheila started as our FMNI student success coordinator and Personally, I believe we cannot have a better person for that position within the school Wolf Creek Wolf Creek School Division And I'm really happy Sheila is there with us as well. My brother Joey The staff at the Wolf Creek head office so fortunate for all their support and especially the teaching staff and All the supports is within the schools helping our first nations making unit students It's been quite a journey. It's been a wonderful over two years spending Monthly meetings with Sheila and the group One of the first things that we wanted to hear from was our students We needed to know what they were thinking Attending an off-reserve school. I went to off-reserve school from grade five and graduated From Pinocca in a long time ago, but I did a majority of my school off-reserve And it was quite the struggle so I'm really happy with the steps that Wolf Creek has done in the last couple of years and the headstones that we've reached to this point, but our Gathering we had a year ago. We called it netoto and gathering netoto ends a key word for listen to me And we wanted to hear right directly from our students. So Sheila gathered the kids and We set aside a day spent a day with them While we're planning we wanted to highlight a few areas We separated the kids into four classrooms into different groups We looked at the physical the mental the spiritual and the emotional aspects and in each of the rooms We wanted it to be safe. We wanted to hear directly from our kids and we didn't want them to hold anything back. So We had the social workers in there and someone that they were comfortable with and on the Emotional side we had like the elder there some counselors in so in case it got emotional We wanted to support their first students, but it was a really wonderful day The feedback that we got from the students was amazing This is something that We're working with on a monthly basis when we meet as a group and looking at what the kids had felt What they're feeling now and then working towards a better education for First-nation students within Wolf Creek school district We finished off the day with a traditional feast ceremony and then we had a little powwow demonstration as well so it was a really eventful stressful busy day that day so Yeah, it was it was really successful what we got from the students their feedback Sheila has a report on that so I Just wanted to thank I guess everybody from Wolf Creek School Division for all their support and Continue working well together. So I wish you guys all a good day and safe travels when you head back tomorrow. Thank you So in terms of student engagement and teaching and learning one of our key things that I'll highlight because our time is Slipping away is our synergize time that we have on Fridays when we have students Last year we just had Muslim time and our First Nation Median you at students could bring a friend if they wanted but it was focused on our First Nation students this year we've implemented synergize which together is better and it's a time when all of our students can be exposed to the culture and It's been very successful so much that a number of our students are wanting to self-identify One little girl said I'm one sixth First Nations So during synergize time we have Sheila and our Muslim Joey attend and they get about 15 minutes all of our students in the school in different groupings To go through synergize and during that time there like I said exposed to the culture They might look at artifacts. They we've had drummers in they played hand games They've looked at local heroes who are First Nations and it's just a really neat time for our students. Hi. All right. I Just want to highlight like probably Mostly the relationship focus when we are looking to engage our students We have a lot of at-risk youth students at the Pinocchio School So first and foremost is we build a relationship with them We're not going to get much further into our modules if we don't have that so we do that we do that by doing things like everything you see there and The other one I want to highlight is our cultural room which we do a lot of cultural stuff in that room But it bleeds out into the whole school Helps build up that relationship. Josie Joey's in there. Sometimes we have men's group. We have a grief group Lots of different activities in there And it all then ties into the modules, which is where the learning happens and we integrate like Erin was talking about things that are really Engaging to the students Pinocchio secondary campus again. So we In trying to engage our First Nations students We just try to get them working on things that interest them like you would with any other students. So We did the blanket activity you can see up there talking circles we I Teach math so I did some specific things to math that are very hands-on and You can see their reconcealing action. That is a term that Sheila told me as a word But then when I went to look I don't actually think it is We're doing a lot of work with our grade sevens there and they have some really really great ideas Creating paths for success. I will call up Leonard actually are you He's gonna speak Good morning. My name is Leonard Stalin on a route on from musketeers from the Montana First Nations. I Never went to school in Pinocchio, but I live in Pinocchio now because I have a daughter that goes to high school and I got involved in the parent council to start with That just happened to be And getting involved at the right time, I guess enough. I got recruited to it for this Wisdom and guidance committee. I Didn't know what it was all about, but I just jumped in Three years had passed on and I'm not directly involved with the school on a day-to-day basis I I meet with the group of monthly and they give the reports, but so far it's been a success and a lot of Students are really getting involved and they're really liking it because I know I get the Feedback from my daughter when she comes home So it's been a real learning experience for me because I really Feel that we need to support our students when it comes to education Because we never had that when all the school to school So and I really Like to thank Sheila in her group we're getting us involved and Now I'm hoping that it'll continue As long as we keep doing this and that be successful. Thank you So in creating pathways one of the things that we've noticed is more and more of our families joining us for school activities and whether they be for School being resource people in our school or attending school events We have two main things here We're in the second year of a new registration process in which we have one-on-one interviews with every single family in our school and That has been phenomenal and we've got to meet Every parent and had a lot of First Nations parents come in that we never ever used to see for three or four years So that's being great and our school also uses Twitter a lot So I just went back and if we had time if you do click on there It shows our last two weeks of Twitter and there's probably eight different Tweets about specific things that we did with our First Nations kids And again at Pinocchio reach. I'm just gonna highlight two maybe three things on there We just moved into a new school this year. So Joseph We had a calling of the spirit ceremony for our new school, which was pretty powerful The last few years we've done a round dance at our graduation ceremonies, which has been Amazing for not only our First Nations graduates, but also our non-First Nations graduates and their families and everybody That's there does the dance and for we were trying to count over the last 10 plus years We've gone out to muscoviches ourselves to do parent-teacher interviews instead of having them come into Pinocchio for our schools We do a one-night Interview out there, which has been great to get our parents involved I put a quote up there, but our greatest learning opportunities really come from our students If you want to know what we need to do better in the classroom, then you ask the students What needs to happen and they share that with you? It's been very powerful for us We're running a time. So I'm going to let Amber and Jason speak Good morning. I'm Amber Hester assistant superintendent with inclusive learning My main role up here today is to acknowledge Acknowledge the great work that this whole team behind us has done Half an hour doesn't do justice to the amount of work that has been been taking place in our school division And we have to specifically acknowledge Joseph our elder Sheila does a fantastic job But at the front line we've got principles teachers EA's and our community and I'm gonna let Jason talk about our community But we are truly proud of the work that Solange has done to support our our school division And this has been a fantastic journey for us to being a part of this project Jason I'll leave the last words for you Thank you. Amber. Good morning. My name is Jason Lovell. I'm the acting superintendent with Wolf Creek Just I'd like to acknowledge What I believe is the most powerful and the most impactful Source for us to move forward and that's our parents who have been instrumental in Helping us understand and gain insights and really create a bridge between our community and the First Nations community Their insights their wisdom their sense of humor The way that they try to help us Engage our communities and understand The things that are important for us as educators to ensure that our students are being successful It's truly been an amazing experience And I I think we just owe a tremendous debt of gratitude To our parents who have supported so thank you very much on behalf of the school division And we look forward to continuing that relationship and taking our next steps beyond this year. Thank you