The Calls to Actions can be found at: http://trc.ca/assets/pdf/Calls_to_Action_English2.pdf
In response to the TRC Calls to Action 62i., I would use the FNESC resource (2015) titled āIndian Residential Schools & Reconciliation: Teacher Resource Guideā for grade 5 students.Ā This particular resource has been created by FNESC and FNSA with the intention to help grade 5 students learn and understand the history of settler-Indigenous relations in Canada.Ā As an educator, I would use this resource as part of my grade 5 social studies curriculum because the Big Idea and content areas are about discriminatory government policies.Ā It is important to teach young students about residential schools and discriminatory government policies as part of the Truth piece in the Truth and Reconciliation.
In response to TRC Calls to Action 10iii. and 62i., I would use the book titled āShi-Shi-etkoā by Nicola I. Campbell in Kindergarten to grade 4 classrooms to bring awareness, sensitivity, and perspective about Indigenous childrenās experience going to residential schools.Ā This book is beautifully illustrated and written, and as an educator I would read this to a Kindergarten class even if they do not fully grasp the concept of residential schools.Ā I would use this book in younger grades for language arts and reading, and starting in grade 2 or 3 I would start to talk more about residential schools and Shi-Shi-etkoās experience leaving her family and where she went, what happened there, and how that might have impacted her life.
In response to the TRC Calls to Action 10iii., I would use an online video called āThe Sacred Relationshipā to bring awareness of Indigenous perspectives of water and life to the classroom.Ā As an educator, I would specifically use this video in my grade 2 science classroom, where the Big Idea and content areas focus on water and life cycles, including local First Peopleās knowledge of water.Ā I would also use this video in older social studies classes because it talks about the history Indigenous-settler relations and is a great resource to show First Peopleās perspectives.Ā The video itself is 52 minutes long and ties in many aspects of spirituality and life and water.
Sources
Campbell, N.I. (2005). Shi-Shi-etko.Ā Groundwood Books: Canada.
First Nations Education Steering Committee(FNESC) and First Nations Schools Association (FNSA). (2015). Indian Residential Schools & Reconciliation: Teacher Resource Guide Gr. 5. Retrieved from
Native Counselling Services of Alberta. (2020). The Sacred Relationship.Ā Retrieved from https://www.sacredrelationship.ca/videos/