Secondary English Language Arts

Introduction to Story:

Here is an interesting document to read before exploring Indigenous stories

Story is one of the main methods of traditional Indigenous learning and teaching. First Peoples’ stories also take many forms such as prose, song, dance, poetry, theatre, carvings, pictures, etc. Different stories have different purposes. Traditional and contemporary First Peoples’ stories are told for:

• teaching – life lessons, community responsibilities, rites of passage, etc.
• sharing creation stories
• recording personal, family, and community histories
• “mapping” the geography and resources of an area
• ensuring cultural continuity (e.g., knowledge of ancestors, language)
• healing
• entertainment.

Because of the connotations often associated with the terms “legend” and “myth” (i.e., fiction), it is preferable to use the terms “story” or “traditional story” or “narrative”.

Authentic Indigenous Voice:

• Authenticity Check List
• Authentic Novel List
• Authentic Short Story Collection
• Aboriginal Resource Library
• ERAC Social Considerations and Cautions

Teacher Resources:

• Oral Traditions: UBC Indigenous Foundations
• Indigenous Storywork: Dr. Jo-Ann Archibald
• Understanding Story: FNESC
• Storytelling: Indigenous story protocols

Curriculum Resources:

• First Peoples English (Grade 10-12) Teacher Resource Guide: bringing authentic content, perspectives, and teaching approaches associated with First Peoples into the ELA classroom.
• Teaching Lost Stories: a set of lesson plans and historical documents that encourage critical thinking about the history connected to Indigenous Peoples
  • These lessons would connect well with the Tales from Big Spirit graphic novel series
• Full Circle: First Nations, Metis and Inuit Ways of Knowing: Classroom resources produced by Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF/FEESO) that tackle important social issues and compels students to examine their beliefs, choices and actions.
• Indigenous Arts and Stories- Teachers Guide: Using this guide, educators can assist Indigenous youth with the creative process of developing their art and writing

Poetry:

• Tea And Bannock Stories: First Nations Community of Poetic Voices SFU published a compilation of poems in celebration of First Nations aesthetic practices, such as poetry, songs, and art, that speak about humankind’s active relationships to Home Land and her Beings
• Poetry Foundations Native Poetry: a curated this collection of Indigenous poets
• Native Poetry in Canada: A Contemporary Anthology
• Poetry Collection: available through the Aboriginal Resource Library

Films: Preview before showing to class – language and content concerns

• NFB Indigenous Cinema: NFB Educational playlist selects films based on themes that tie in with Canadian curricula and address the important issues of the day.
  • A personal favourite: Dancers of the Grass
• 8th Fire:  propels us past prejudice, stereotypes and misunderstandings, to encounters with an impressive new generation of Aboriginal Canadians who are reclaiming both their culture and their confidence. (screen before showing)
  • • Teacher Guide
• Keep Calm and Decolonize: The Flood -A young woman, guided by Spider Woman, must overcome colonial history and education to find herself. 
• The Mountain of Sgaana: Haida filmmaker Christopher Auchter spins a magical tale of a young man who is stolen away to the spirit world, and the young woman who rescues him.
• Lumaajuuq: The Blind Man and the Loon – a tragic and twisted story about the dangers of revenge.
• Three Thousand: Inuk artist Asinnajaq plunges us into a sublime imaginary universe—using archive-inspired cinema that recast the present, past and future of her people in a radiant new light
• Check out the Aboriginal Resource Library for available DVD’s

Audio Books/Narratives

• CBC Indigenous Legends Project: listen to stories from Indigenous communities across Canada. This project was developed in order to help document, promote, and protect the culture, language, and stories.
• The Secret Life of Canada: Podcast: takes an unconventional look at Canada’s history and uncovers stories not told in our history books.
• Sqwélqwel: Virtual Museum: Has numerous videos and audio recordings of oral narratives from Sto:lo  First Nation
• Proud To Be Métis – David Bouchard
• Truth About Stories: A Native Narrative:  Thomas King’s 2003 CBC Massey Lecture series weaves it’s way through literature and history, religion and politics, popular culture and social protest, in an effort to make sense of North America’s relationship with its Aboriginal peoples. Class set available
• All Our Relations: Finding the Path Forward: Tanya Talaga’s 2018 CBC Massey Lectures series explores the legacy of cultural genocide against Indigenous peoples. Mature topics.
• Canada Reads:
  • How to use Canada Reads in the Classroom 
  • The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline
    • Backgrounder 
    • Excerpt from the text
  • Son of A Trickster by Eden Robinson
  • From the Ashes by Jesse Thistle

Identity:

• Understanding Aboriginal Identity: Aboriginal identity remains inextricably linked with past government legislation and the continued stereotyping of Aboriginal people in the media and Canadian history.
• Vistas: A series of 13 short films on nationhood from 13 Indigenous filmmakers from Halifax to Vancouver.
• “Where the Borg Are”: This story uses humour to tell of a young man who is trying to make sense of the history he is taught in his socials studies class, and the role of Europeans in the history of his peoples
• You Are Not the Indian I Had in Mind: A video exploration offering insight as to how First Nations people today are changing old ideas and empowering themselves in the greater community. Film/Poem
  • Lesson 
• Reel Injun: On the Trail of the Hollywood Indian: Documentary by Neil Diamond.

Residential School:

• The Secret Path: ten poems incited by the story of Chanie Wenjack. Includes audio and film
  • Suggested lesson plan and lesson ideas from SD71
• TRC: They Came for the Children – The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada is publishing this history as a part of its mandate to educate the Canadian public about residential schools and their place in Canadian history.
• Stolen Voices: Tis resource provides educators with an examination of the Indian Residential Schools and their long-lasting effects on Canada’s Indigenous Peoples through primary source material, first-person accounts, and questions for rich classroom conversations. PDF online.
• Legacy of Hope: Forgotten: The Metis Residential School Experience: a modular exhibition that uses art, artefacts, poetry, images and text to explore the experiences of Métis children in the residential schools, experiences that have been, up until now, largely lost and forgotten
• Legacy of Hope We Were So Far Away: The Inuit Experience of Residential Schools: The residential school experiences of Inuit Peoples are unique and  integrally linked to rapid social and political change in the North, beginning in the mid-20th century. This exhibition, which tells the story through first-person narratives and archival images.
• Kit: Residential School Literature Circle 
• Kit: Residential Schools