Today I will be teaching Coeur d\’Alene history through an Indigenous lens for the youth. The class will not be a typical classroom history lesson and won’t include the textbook version of “history”. I’m pretty excited because my colleague and I will be doing an exercise that includes asking them if they know about the word colonialism and we’ll be explaining what a colonized education “looks” like. I know it may sound like some feat, all I can share at this time is, to me it’s important they know the difference. Yesterday four 8th graders made a couple of statements about white teachers who “try” to come to their school and “don’t know nothing about us”. I couldn’t contain my excitement and shared that they would like tomorrow’s class. (One gal looked at me with a “whatever” look and said, “Meh” under her breath with a “yeah right” face. =) Needless to say she’s the one gal I’m confident will leave class today with an appreciative smile… yes that’s how confident I am in my skills in communicating with this little people.
Take a look at this video we watched yesterday… it was pretty keen. Coming from an Indigenous perspective, it’s exactly what the kids needed to be reminded that it’s okay to display their Nativeness…
Wishing you blessed day from the Pacific NW.
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