Educators demonstrate a broad knowledge base and an understanding of areas they teach.

During my 490 practicum, I taught a Comparative Civilizations 12 class. Although the experience was extremely interesting and enlightening, this is not a class that I had ever imagined that I would teach. My Coaching Teacher had already decided to focus on ancient civilizations, but through understanding of the curriculum, I was able to incorporate aspects of modern global, Canadian, First Peoples, Inuit, and Metis cultures.

Through comparisons, the class explored differences and similarities between ancient and contemporary life around the planet. Additionally by incorporating aspects of art analysis (particularly that of color and composition) and the GRAPES Historical Thinking Methodology, I was able to tie the aspects of culture together with themes and aspects of investigating that quickly became common to all.

When the bodies of 215 Indigenous children were discovered in May, my lesson focused on the incident and local First Peoples experiences to “build upon student capacity for intercultural understanding, empathy and mutual respect” by using real-world experiences, both past and present. I used my knowledge of research, primary and secondary source evaluation to provide students with primary-source documents with which they could mentally recreate the events surrounding the death of a local Indigenous student who attended the residential school in the nearby city of Williams Lake. Since the situation had really happened and it was so close to their hometown, I think the learning became real for the students. They engaged in the tasks in ways I had not previously seen, and surprised me with their insights.

Photo by Karolina Grabowska from Pexels

I believe that this lesson and the many conversations afterward helped to “cultivate the values, beliefs and knowledge of Canada’s democratic and inclusive society” in that many of the students voiced strong, empathetic opinions regarding the issues that arose. As their capacity to care grew, all the students became more engaged with the learning, and some asked what could be done outside of the classroom to promote Truth and Reconciliation. Although the class consisted of students from many backgrounds, all seemed to find a point of connection within the idea that everyone deserves fair and equitable treatment.