Moving Forward Together Through Holistic Practice. At Nunavut Arctic College

Transcription

1 Moving Forward Together Through Holistic Practice At Nunavut Arctic College

2 3 Year Project: March 2007 February 2010 To develop a Portfolio Development course for Adult Basic Education learners at Nunavut Arctic College To deliver the course at all of our community learning centres Funded by HRSDC s s Pan Canadian Innovations Initiative

3 PLAR Project Objectives To increase literacy To increase self-esteem To increase engagement with education, work or community involvement To raise awareness of PLAR(RPL) and Portfolio Development Among Stakeholders

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5 Dialect map

6 Demographics Population of approx. 30,000 Median age of 22.1 Inuit represent 85 percent of the population

7 STATISTICS Average household income: $31,000 ($45,000 for the rest of Canada) Transportation: air, sea, snowmobile Cost of an airline ticket: (First Air) $3,000/ person Igloolik-Ottawa return $2,955/person Cambridge Bay - Iqaluit return

8 Challenges: An area one-fifth the size of Canada, A population density of one person per 70 km sq Infrastructure: housing, transportation and telecommunications systems Climate Four languages

9 Beginner s s Mind In the beginner s s mind, there are many possibilities, in the experts mind, there are few.

10 Holistic practice is about moving forward from a place of values and principles. It is not what we do, but how we do it that makes the difference.

11 Partnering with FNTI Portfolio development as transformational learning Recognition of whole person development Addressing ethnostress Validating traditional knowledge and ways of being within an institutional context

12 What is the role of current education systems in redressing past mistakes?

13 Holistic Education Is A philosophy of education based on the premise that each person finds identity, meaning, and purpose in life through connections to themselves, to each other, to the community, to the natural world, and to spiritual values such as compassion and peace.

14 Students or Human Beings? Student: The root of the word student is the latin word studere to take pains. From a perspective of Inuit Traditional Knowledge or Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit, Inuit value the degree of humanity or inungurniq that a person demonstrates. This is the measure of a person s development.

15 Holistic Portfolio Development fosters identity, connection, meaning making and empowerment

16 Developing the course was a collaborative, participatory process

17 Inuit Circle of Belonging Inuuqatigiit Curriculum Framework, Department of Education, NU

18 Meeka Arnakaq

19 The Igloo of Life

20 Relationship is Central to Learning The part of the brain most influenced by relationships is the thinking part of the brain. This means that relationships help us learn to think, make decisions and control our feelings.

21 Colonization and Trauma Impacts

22 Beyond Colonization Personal healing and community development reaffirms cultural values as they can be expressed in the contemporary world. Communities that are connected, empowered, provide a positive identity for its members through the encouragement of meaningful social roles, and where a traditional cultural vision is practiced are healthy.

23 Learning relationships Attunement changes the brain When you are deep in conversation, staring into someone s eyes, in sync your right brain is fully engaged! Your right frontal cortex lights up like a Christmas tree.

24 Telling our Stories My goals are to see Inuit standing. To stand means that I will be able to see far ahead into my future. In healing, the best way to stand tall is to begin to tell our stories. Our stories connect us to each other and to our culture The Inuktitut meaning of healing is that you can speak of your thoughts and your feelings. When you can speak of your feelings, then you can stand strong. Angaangaq Lyberth

25 Emotional Literacy The ability to put feelings into meaningful words Part of what makes a situation traumatic is not talking about it. Talking reduces trauma symptoms. When we don t t talk about trauma, we remain emotionally illiterate. Our most powerful feelings go unnamed and unspoken.

26 Changing our practice by changing our perspective Marie Battiste

27 Year 1 Created the curriculum Trained 12 Adult Educators Piloted the curriculum in Cambridge Bay Revised the curriculum Extended the training for Adult Educators Piloted the course in 8 communities to 48 students Held an Adult Educator debrief

28 Year 2 Revised the Curriculum Trained an additional 12 AE s Delivered the course in 18 communities to over 150 students Integrated portfolio into certificate programs community therapy assistant, college foundations Delivered an outreach course to stakeholders Developed RPL Advisor Assessor Training for staff and instructors. Held an Adult Educator debrief

29 What did the evaluation say? To increase literacy To increase self-esteem To increase engagement with education, work or community involvement To raise awareness of PLAR(RPL) and Portfolio Development Among Stakeholders

30 What did learners say? I I now know who I am I I learned about myself, that I can change my attitudes to have a better life (I learned) that I can trust and that I am not alone. I can now claim the skills I have gained in my life

31 What did the learners say? Seeing all of it in one place is very powerful when when I look at it [the portfolio], I realize, yeah, I never thought of this, my background, my grandparents, it s s like I feel special and my family feels special it s s so amazing,.. and so nice to have I feel much closer to my children and my grandchild. It is as if I stepped outside of myself and saw the whole picture. If my mother and grandmother could go through hard times, I can do it too. It s s like I came back to the world after being lost, and I am still here today.

32 We owe it to the world, and especially to ourselves, to articulate who and what we were in the past, who and what we are today, and who and what we want to become in the future. Jaypeetee Arnakak, Prometheosis, 2002)

33 My heart has been touched For they have shared their perception of me The short time that we have spent together It has inspired in me all that is positive How much more can I strive For these that are good When we look with our hearts We are open We are raw We are true Broken will be rebuilt Hurt will be healed Lack will be filled Anger will dissipate Here we will sit content within ourselves All because we dared To look with our hearts

34 For More Information visit Charmian Jenvenne,, Kitikmeot and Kivalliq Regional Coordinator Phone: Dawn Stewart Qikiqtani Regional Coordinator Phone: Jennifer Archer, Project Manager Phone:

35 Values

36 Turning to One Another CHOOSE ONE OR TWO VALUES CARDS THAT STAND OUT TO YOU INTRODUCE YOURSELF TO YOUR PARTICIPANTS, AND SHARE YOUR CARDS AND WHY THEY ARE IMPORTANT TO YOU KEEP TALKING SEE WHAT EMERGES

37 Mattering Are we working on an issue that matters to people?

38 Ownership Involve people in the process

39 Collaboration

40 Values Integrate values, traditional knowledge, and perspectives from the outset

41 Courage Be fearless even in the face of challenges and obstacles

42 Mistakes Mistakes are opportunities. Everything is a failure in the middle - Margaret Wheatley

43 Responsiveness Continue the dialogue. Be open, flexible and responsive

44 Strengths Identify and build on strengths and assets

45 Perseverance Every day we have to make a choice will we give up, or will we keep going?

46 Celebration

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