On Friday, September 25th I was invited to attend School District 57’s Professional Development Day (Lhulh’uts’ut’en- We Come Together). An entire day full of Indigenous 
knowledge and learning.
Due to Covid-19, the professional development day was 100% online. I attended with my socially distanced bubble, which consists of fellow teacher candidates Cedar and Nina. We felt that collaborating and sharing ideas was the best way to get the most out of it. During the lunch break we even went for a walk outside to reflect, process, and share perspectives. Relationships are so important in the education world so we continued to grow our through working together.
1). WHAT I LEARNED: One moment that really stood out to me was when the keynote speaker, Niigaan Sinclair, said “If you make space for Indigenous students, everyone benefits”. What a great way of looking at the importance of incorporating indigenous stories and views into your classroom. This statement was my biggest take away from this day and bled into every other learning I did. The talks about
I also enjoyed the discussion about Calls to Action. No.62 and 63. We discussed the notion od schools as a Social System and the importance of representation. Represnetation is a topic that is very close to my heart, so hearing different ways of pursuing it made me very engaged.
2). HOW WHAT I LEARNED MATTERS: The session “Land as our Teacher: Changing Engagement for Indigenous Learners” had break out groups and allowed us time to discuss with fellow educators. I felt this was very rewarding and allowed people to share and discuss what we were learning. It gave me time to digest and process what was being said in the session. This, combined with my fellow teacher candidates, meant this day was full of collaboration and connections! Throughout the day I was growing my Personal Learning Community on twitter by gaining followers and new friends in the field. What I learned connected with the need to build relationships with fellow educators and work together.
3). NEXT STEPS FROM MY LEARNING: The day helped me realize how much more learning I need to accomplish. Attending this Professional Development is not the final stop on my Indigenous educational journey. During the day, the various speakers shared valuable resources with us; I especially appreciated the resource “Climbing the Mountain”. This is a great way for me to do further reading on my own time. When reading on my own time, I can take the time to fully digest and process what I am reading. Indigenous education never stops and educators should always be striving to learn more and grow. I hope over this next year I can find more ways to authentically integrate the First Peoples Principals of Learning into my lesson plans and classrooms.
