Student Tasks

Begin with Your Experience

Think about these questions as you start:

• Can you remember a time someone shared something important with you? How did it make you feel?
• Have you ever shared something that really mattered to you? Why did you choose to do that?

Listening to Teachings

Indigenous Knowledge | Sharing: Video 1
Elder Tony De Parry from Ginoogaming First Nation speaks about being respectful and taking care of the Land.

Indigenous Knowledge | Sharing: Video 2
Tom Lachinette from Whitesand First Nation shares a story to illustrate how the most meaningful gifts are the ones you can’t give away.

Indigenous Knowledge | Sharing: Video 3
Elder Tony De Parry from Ginoogaming First Nation describes the honour of being given a ribbon shirt.

Questions:

• Why might these be important teachings?
• How is giving away something that you love different from giving away something you don’t need anymore?
• What do you think it means to be given something you cannot buy (such as a ribbon shirt)?
• Why do you think this is an honour?

Connecting to Culture and Values

Indigenous Knowledge | Sharing: Video 4
Elder Tony De Parry from Ginoogaming First Nation describes the importance of sharing teachings and offering tobacco.

Questions:

• What do you think this teaches us about how to treat knowledge?
• What might happen if people didn’t share these ways anymore?
• Why is it important to pass on teachings?

Learning from the Land and Community

Indigenous Knowledge | Sharing: Video 5
Youth from the Matawa Education and Care Centre learn how to clean a sturgeon.

Indigenous Knowledge | Sharing: Video 6
Julian Tisato, a Whitewater & Swiftwater Rescue Instructor from Boreal River Rescue, teaches Matawa Education and Care Centre student Landon Yellowhead how to tie secure knots. 

Indigenous Knowledge | Sharing: Video 7
Erin Kelly, an Environmental Technician at Four Rivers Environmental Services Group with the Matawa Tribal Council, teaches youth from the Matawa Education and Care Centre about the growth rings on mussels and their connection to trees. 

Questions:

• Why might it be important to share these skills with others?
• When people share food from the Land, like sturgeon, what are they showing respect for?
• How does this connect to taking only what you need?

Reflect and Share (Putting It Together)

• What is one teaching about sharing that stood out to you?
• How is sharing part of living in a good way?
• What is something you’ve learned that you might want to pass on?
• 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?