Student Tasks

Begin with Your Experience

Think about these questions as you start:

• Can you remember a time when you heard a story that stayed with you?
• What are some important reasons that some stories are passed down through generations?

Learning from Elders, Knowledge Keepers & the Land

Indigenous Knowledge | Remembering: Video 1 
Morris Shapwaykeesic from Whitesand First Nation shares his experiences of residential school and his thoughts about how racism was not a part of his way of life.

Questions:

• When you think about the way of life in the families and communities you are a part of, what does it make you think about when Morris said racism wasn’t part of their way of life?
• What do you think changes when people grow up without racism?
• How might remembering this teaching help us live in a better way today?

Indigenous Knowledge | Remembering: Video 2
Morris Shapwaykeesic from Whitesand First Nation shares stories of the racism he experienced as a 12-year-old.

Questions:

• What feelings came up for you when you listened to his story?
• What are some reasons you think it might be important to remember these kinds of stories, even if they are hard?
• Can you think of examples/stories of folks remembering and not remembering?
• How can knowing these stories help us take better care of each other today?

Indigenous Knowledge | Remembering: Video 3
Tom Lachinette from Whitesand First Nation shares his teachings on finding and establishing your self-identity.

Questions:

• Why do you think putting a braid in her hair helped her remember?
• What might it feel like to reconnect with something you thought you’d lost?
• What can we learn from his mother’s experience about remembering and healing?

Indigenous Knowledge | Remembering: Video 4
Elder Tony De Parry from Ginoogaming First Nation shares his teachings on tobacco.

Questions:

• Why is tobacco important in Tony’s teachings?
• How is tobacco used in a respectful way?
• What do these teachings say about how to live in a good way with the Land, with others, and with Spirit?

Indigenous Knowledge | Remembering: Video 5 
Matawa Education and Care Centre students on their annual spring goose and duck hunt. 

Questions:

• What are some things you notice about how the students are learning together?
• How might hunting be about more than just food?
• What might the rainbow be saying in this moment?
• Have you ever been hunting?  What did that mean for you?  What did you remember about it?  When you went with somebody, did they tell you stories?  Did they remember anything?  What might the students have been thinking or feeling?
• What might have made them nervous or excited?

Reflect and Share (Putting It Together)

• Take some time to write, draw, or talk about:
• What is one story or teaching from this collection that you want to remember?
• Why is it important to carry that memory forward?
• How might remembering help you live in a good way?

Optional sensory/embodied prompt:

• Imagine you were there - what would you smell, feel, or hear in the duck blind? How might your body remember something from this experience even without words?
• What is one thing you carry from these stories and experiences that you want to remember? How might it help you live in a good way?