EDTS 234 Indigenous Film Study: The Grizzlies

As you view the film, jot down the lessons the teacher learned when faced with teaching in a remote northern indigenous community. Please post these lessons below.

set goals relative to current place, appeal to students through their interests, it's important to maintain hope, extracurriculars can support curriculars, all students have different abilities to attend school

Lessons learned:
1. importance in empowering youth to speak for themselves
2. learning to accept diversity
3. understanding all of the aspects of living enviroments (poverty, starvation)
4. importance of building relationships
5. prevailing through emotional and social difficulties, being able to open up
6. Tattoos and traditional exoressions of culture

Lessons learned from "the grizzlies"
-Sometimes sacrificing a better, guarenteed position for a challenging position is better for yourself and your teaching philosophy.
-Not all students are necessarily open about trying new sports or things in their life. But if you show confidence and hope, you can be a great role model and provide great encouragement for them.
-Being a teacher in a new school, especially in a school with the reputation of the one he is at. he learned that you can not just jump in and expect to teach; you have have to build trust and relationships with them first.
-When facing diversity in a classroom the last thing you should do is give up on your self or the students. Taking time to help them learn rather than give up will help give them hope and a sense of belonging. This will in turn help you become a better teacher and help them become better students.

Ethan

Lessons Learned
- Always provide students with a lot of encouragement
- Never give up on your students. You need to take the time to help them learn and be successful.
- You need to build trust, respect and friendship right from the beginning. You can't just jump right in and expect them to be friendly and trust you right away.
- Not all students will be open about trying new things that they are unfamiliar with, but you should give them the confidence and be a good role model.
- If we can sacrifice a better position that is guarenteed for one that is more challenging is going to be better for yourself abd also for you as a teacher.
- Make sure to not make promises that you eon't be able to keep.

The Grizzles: Lessons Learned
- Showing respect will take you a long way
- Never give up
- Do not make promises you cannot keep
- Celebrate all victories – np matter how small they are
- It is important to look beyond what you see- open your eyes
- When you affect a change there are consequences
- Even the smallest change can make a difference
- That when things get tough you cannot just run away
- What lies behind us and what lies before us is tiny compared to what lies within us
- He learned from his students
- Formed relationships
- Learned about their culture: poverty, tattoos, food (starving, had to hunt), raising of the eyebrows means yes

Here are some of the lessons that I watched the teacher in The Grizzlies learn (and I learned too):
- He (me) has a separate and distinct "white guy" worldview
- School is not a value for everyone! (there is more going on in kids' lives than we know)
- Sometimes we need to get creative to reach kids
- Use kids' NAMES
- Importance of humour and teamwork
- Co-develop guidelines
- White people have EVERYTHING to do with the lasting problems of the First Nations, Metis, and Inuit
- Education is NOT about you as a teacher

Lesson Learnt-
-Taking time to help students learn rather than give up and lose hope, allow the students to have a sense of belonging, which will, in turn, help them learn and become better students
-When facing diversity in a classroom the last thing you should do is give up on yourself or the students
-Creating equal oppurtunties and relationships for all students will make you an amazing teacher and students and parents will value your efforts, but the most beneficial is seeing student development

-Don't have expectations for acceptance or make assumptions, learn about customs and culture
-Show respect to get respect
-be aware that sometimes the lives and jobs students have outside of school are the priority
-community building is very important
-we all neeed to work together and do our part to make a difference

hope and resilience is so important
every student has different needs and backgrounds that need to be accomodated for
don't give up
respect is so important when building relationships with students
cultural differences and backgrounds need to be taken into consideration in the classroom
some students won't really open up about their struggles

1) When the teacher described history as a "true story" that was fairly insensetive and not true.
2) When going into a home, knocking was not the norm.
3) One on one conversations are far more valuable than group conversations.
4) Everyone deals with grief in different ways and uses different coping methods.
5) Do not make promises that can not be upheld. Plan before making the promises instead of hoping it will work out.
6) "When you effect a change, there are consequences"
7) The cost of living in northern communities is very expensive.
8) Nonverbals in differnt cultures have different meanings. For example, raising eyebrows means yes.
9) Building relatinships and communities take time. Teachers have to stay for a lengthy period for a relationship to build.
10) Family structures can take on different looks. Big brothers can fulfill parental roles.

Lessons Learned:
- That it is important to not instantly judge students, but moreso take time to develop a mutual understanding for their given situations before rushing to conclusions.
- The importance of diversity and differences
- The importance of forming and maintaining relationships
- The ability to form a community is beneficial to everybody involved, without that people can lose hope. Resiliency is key.

Lessons Learned:
- respect is so important
- being open to learning about a culture is important to create an inclusive classroom
- open to understanding the history and challenges these students went through
- giving students an opportunity to come together and support one another will go a long way
- it takes time to build relationships with students and it will not be easy
- every student goes through different difficulties and being there as a teacher in a supporting role goes a long way

I learned a lot from The Grizzlies movie, here is a short list of lessons:

1. The cost of groceries--a basic need and human right--is incredibly high, so people have to hunt for food for their families, and/or are nearly starving.
2. Elders answering questions with stories; rather than giving answers or opinions, they guide people to make their own inferences and decisions.
3. The Inuit relationship with the land--the fact that you can see far and wide across the horizon; and how that can be thought of as a way to look at people, there is more going on than what is directly in front of you (how Miranda told Russ that Inuit like to see far, and look at people farther, deeper in than he was).
4. The elders are untrusting of Russ and the school system, rightfully so, of course.
5. How team-based sports can help build a sense of community and confidence. The power of that and how much it can help people cope and deal with stress.

Thank you!
Dania Fode

Some lessons learned;
- Never give up on students no matter how diffivult they seem to be
- Setting small goals is the key to success
- Perserverance
- Hard-work
- Dedication
- Dealing with grief and how grief can empower people
- Teamwork
- Chosen family
- Growing from ignorance and seeking to educate yourself based on mistakes