Vijen Vijendren Student No: 700034149 Box 30. Peerless Lake Alberta. Canada T0G 2W0

1. Vijen Vijendren Student No:700034149 Box 30. Peerless Lake Alberta. Canada T0G 2W0 Unit Code: EXE 734 Course Code: E745 Assessment Item: Assignment 2 Unit Name: New Technologies in Education & Training Course Name MASTER OF EDUCATION (ARTS EDUCATION)

2. WhyNative Studentsfail to excel in Numeracy, literacy, Information,Communication and Technology(ICT) • My presentation is about my personal view on why literacy, numeracy, Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) fail to excel in native communities and in this instance, my teaching community, Peerless Lake School. • I will begin with: • The history of the Cree people and geographical location of Peerless Lake • The role of the Residential Schools: its effect on current schooling, view of educational authority by parents in native communities today. • Factors contributing to poor performance by native students • 4. Alberta’s Education mandate on improving literacy and numeracy in native communities through implementing Information, communication and technology • 4. Programs implemented in my school division to ensure the success of education mandate though limited due to remote location • 5. Kîkway Kikiskîyîtîn (What do you know?) Project • 6. Outcomes to Kîkway Kikiskîyîtîn Project at Peerless Lake School. • 7. What Do I Know?

3. C R E E • Member of an American Indian people who inhabited the subarctic • regions of Canada (northern Alberta and the Northwest Territories to Québec). • They are divided into the Woodland Cree and the buffalo-hunting Plains Cree, who migrated to Montana, in the late 18th century. • The Woodland Cree lived primarily by hunting deer, moose, caribou, beaver, and hare, and gathering wild plants. • They hunted with spears, and used birch-bark canoes for transport. Trade with the Chipewyan to the north and the Chippewa to the south <http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/tribes/cree/creehist.htm>. 2004-2009, Accessed May 20th 2009

4. CREE NATION Peerless Lake. Alberta. Canada Geographical coordinates in degrees minutes seconds (WGS84) Latitude : 56 38' 00'' Longitude : -114 40' 00'' <geology.com/canada/alberta.shtml> accessed May 25th 2009

5. History of Cree Education In Canada we Aboriginal people educated our children in our own way long before the coming of the Europeans. In hunting communities like ours, education was simply part of our everyday lives. Our children learned from their parents and grand-parents. They learned by watching and doing. They sat at the feet of their Elders, absorbing their knowledge, wisdom and attitudes. This is where our unique aboriginal approach to the natural world was passed on from generation to generation. This is where Aboriginal people developed our sense that we are participants in the natural world, dependent upon and responsible to all creatures and to the land and waters we jointly occupy, use and nurture, respectful of them all. None of this created problems. We were a well-adjusted people. But as European-style society began to encircle and encroach upon us, our people were confronted with needs they had never known before. As Canadian society became more complex, so did our need to communicate with those around us become more complex and difficult. <www.oise.utoronto.ca/CASAE/cnf2002/2002_Papers/sym-antone&etal2002w.pdf - What is Native Literacy accessed May 19th 2009>

6. Education of the Aboriginal people of Canada has been based on the governmental policy of assimilation implemented in both the residential and community day school systems. • Antone (2002)quoting Ball: "...Residential schools are gone now, but the legacy lives on among many Native people in the form of self-hatred, substance abuse and child abuse. The damage cannot be overstated. People lost their pride, their hope, and the chance to learn from the Elders. An entire generation of adults experienced the pain of losing their children to residential schools. Those who grew up in the schools often have frightful memories which may prevent them from getting involved today in their own [and their] children's schooling.“ • <http://archives.cbc.caA Lost Heritage: Canada's Residential School> Dr. Antone E, What is Native Literacy?, Framing Aboriginal Literacy in a Culturally Appropriate Way, University of Toronto, <www.oise.utoronto.ca/CASAE/cnf2002/2002 >, accessed May 21st 2009

7. Assimilation • Between the late 19th Century and the late 1970s, • about 150,000 aboriginal children in Canada were taken from their homes • and forcibly sent to boarding schools, known as residential schools. • Originally an extension of the missionary work of various churches, • the schools began receiving state funding in 1874 after the government moved away from a policy of fostering aboriginal autonomy and sought instead • to assimilate aboriginals into mainstream society. • Attendance was compulsory for seven- to 15-year-olds, although many former students say they were taken at a much younger age. • While some parents wanted their children to get an education and felt it was necessary to integrate into Canadian society, many children were taken from their families and communities by force. • The goal was to Christianise the children and to erase all traces of their aboriginal culture. • One government official in the late 1920s boasted that within two generations, the system would end the "Indian problem". • It should "kill the Indian in the child", it was said. RESIDENTIAL SCHOOLS IN ALBERTA 1857 - Gradual Civilization Act passed to assimilateIndians.1870-1910 - Period of assimilation where theclear objective of both missionaries and government was to assimilate Aboriginal children into the lower fringes of mainstream society1920 - Compulsory attendance for all childrenages 7-15 years. Children were forcibly taken from their families by priests, Indian agents and police officers. 1931 - There were 80 residential schools operating in Canada. 1948 – There were 72 residential schools with9,368 students. 1979 – There were 12 residential schools with1,899 students.1980’s - Residential School students began disclosing sexual and other forms of abuse at residential schools. 1996 - The last federally run residential school, the Gordon Residential School, closes in Saskatchewan.1998 - The AFN establishes the Indian Residential Schools Resolution Unit. <http://poundpuplegacy.org >accessed May 21st 2009

8. Residential Schools in Canada Denominations: Map of Residential Schools in Canada Map of Residential Schools in Alberta <www.ndhr.ca> accessed May 28th 2009

9. AB-9b Immaculate Conception Boarding School (Blood Indian Residential School; St. Mary’s Mission Boarding School) (RC) Stand-Off; opened 1911; closed 1975AB-10 McDougall Orphanage and Residential School (Morley Indian Residential School) (MD)Morley; opened 1886; closed 1949AB-11a Old Sun’s Boarding School (North CampResidential School; White Eagle’s Boarding School;Short Robe Boarding School) (AN) Gleichen; opened 1894; closed 1912AB-11b Old Sun’s Boarding School (North Camp School; White Eagle’s Boarding School; Short RobeBoarding School) (AN) Gleichen; opened 1929; closed 1971AB-12 Peigan Indian Residential School (Victoria Jubilee Home) (AN) Brocket; opened 1892; closed 1965AB-13 Red Deer Industrial School (MD)Red Deer; opened 1889; closed 1944AB-14 Sarcee Indian Residential School (AN) Calgary; opened 1894; closed 1930 AB-15 St. Albert’s Indian Residential School (RC) St. Albert; opened 1941; closed 1948AB-16 St. Andrew’s Indian Residential School (AN) Whitefish Lake; opened 1895; closed 1950AB-17 St. Barnabas Indian Residential School (AN) Sarcee; opened 1899; new school built in 1912; closed 1922AB-18 St. Bernard Indian Residential School (Grouard Indian Residential School) (RC)Grouard; opened 1939; closed 1962 AB-19 St. Bruno Indian Residential School (Joussard Indian Residential School) (RC) Joussard; opened 1913; closed 1969AB-20 St. Cyprian’s Indian Residential School (AN) Brocket; opened 1900; new school built in 1926; closed 1962AB-21 St. Francis Xavier Indian Residential School (RC) Calais; opened 1890; closed 1961AB-22 St. Henri Indian Residential School (FortVermilion Indian Residential School) (RC) Fort Vermilion; opened 1900; closed 1968AB-23 St. John’s Indian Residential School (Wabasca Residential School) (AN) Wabasca; AN; opened 1895; new school built in 1949; closed 1966AB-24 St. Martin Boarding School (RC) Wabasca; opened 1901; closed 1973AB-25 St. Paul Des Métis Indian Residential School (RC) St. Paul; opened 1898; closed 1905AB-26 St. Paul’s Indian Residential School (AN)Cardston; opened 1900; closed 1972AB-27 St. Peter’s Indian Residential School (Lesser Slave Lake Indian Residential School) (AN) Lesser Slave Lake; opened 1900; closed 1932AB-28 Sturgeon Lake Indian Residential School (RC)Sturgeon Lake; opened 1907; closed 1957AB-29 Youville Indian Residential School (RC)Edmonton; opened 1892; closed 1948 (AN)Anglican Church (BP)Baptist(MD)Methodist(OO)Other(PB)Presbyterian Church (RC)Roman Catholic Church (UC)United Church of Canada AB-1 Assumption Indian Residential School (RC)(Hay Lakes Indian Residential School); Hay Lakesopened 1953; closed 1965AB-2a Blue Quill’s Indian Residential School (RC)(Lac la Biche Boarding School; Hospice of St. Joseph)Lac la Biche; opened 1862; moved to Brocket in 1898AB-2b Blue Quill’s Indian Residential School (RC) (Sacred Heart Indian Residential School; Saddle LakeBoarding School); Lac la Biche; opened 1898;closed 1931AB-2c Blue Quill’s Indian Residential School (St. Paul’s Residential School) (RC) Lac la Biche; opened 1931; in 1970, became the first Native-administered school in CanadaAB-3 Convent of Holy Angels Indian Residential School (RC) (Holy Angels Indian Residential School; Our Lady of Victoria Indian Residential School); FortChipewyan;opened 1902; closed 1974AB-4 Crowfoot Indian Residential School (RC) Cluny; opened 1909; closed 1968AB-5 Dunbow Industrial School (St. Joseph’s Industrial School (RC) High River Industrial School); High River; opened 1888; closed 1939 AB-7 Ermineskin Indian Residential School (RC) Hobbema; opened 1916; closed 1973AB-8 Fort Smith Indian Residential School (BreyantHall) (RC) Fort Smith; opened 1955; closed 1970 AB-6 Edmonton Industrial School (MD)St. Albert; opened 1919; closed 1960AB-9a Immaculate Conception Indian Residential School (Immaculate Conception Boarding School; Blood Indian Residential School) (RC) Stand-Off; opened 1884; closed 1926

10. List of School Related Deficit • Zittle, (nd) citing Hale lists several school-related deficits factors in of the apparent Native American achievement gap: • Passive teaching methods • Irrelevant curriculum • Inappropriate testing • Uncaring teachers • Large schools • Tracked classes • Lack of parent involvement • In native communities, ICT is looked upon as instant entertainment gratification by youth and students. • Lack of pro-active intervention by parents/local boards and community at large to ensure that internet is utilized more for educational purposes and not as a substitute to ‘babysitting’ gap measure. • Utilizing Smartboard in schools and not ending up as ‘white elephant’ due to lack of in-service professional development or after market technical support. • Sub standard infrastructure: schools and homes, unreliable source of hydro, inferior quality materials used leading to quick deterioration of structure. • Poor housing: teacherages, hence high turnover, lack of continuity in most communities. • Local community politics ‘runneth’ over into school administrative affairs • Lack of post-service maintenance of ICT hardware due to location of school • The area is sparsely populated : Poor road leading into community • High teacher turnover h and qualified substitutes are scarce or next to none.. • Poor level of education …reminiscing days at Residential Schools as cause for present day misery • ‘You Owe Me’ mentality, another form of social welfare mentality whereby society at large must do retribution and compensation for abuse endured residential schools. • No parental guidance • Early pregnancies • Teachers are hired as “high-paid Babysitters’, as a result poor pedagogical advocacy. Zittle, F. J., Enhancing Native American Mathematics Learning: The Use of Smartboardâ-generated Virtual Manipulatives for Conceptual Understanding, Center for Educational Evaluation & Research (CEER), < sharpsav.com/education/CeerZittle.pdf > accessed May 20th 2009

11. <http://www.canadiangeographic.ca/magazine/nd05/indepth/history.asp accessed may 22 2009> • When I was at Assumption, a Dene tribal community just south of 56th lateral in Alberta, math and science were at the bottom of the educational hierarchy though the provincial educational agent states otherwise. In this situation, parents of children that I was teaching were told that they (Dene) and most natives in Canada lack the skills to comprehend these concepts and that those subjects are not relevant in their daily existence, living on reservation. • Hampton citing Green (1978,) that native students were counseled against mathematics as it (math) is ‘difficult for them and unnecessary to their future’ • It is evidently similar here in my present community. Majority of the children attending Peerless Lake School are performing at two grades level below provincial standard. In math, my grade 4 students are performing at grade 2 to 2.5 grades lower than mainstream students. • This is not indicative of their inability to function at grade level or higher but the question of ownership of their failure lies within the governmental system. By this I meant to say that most of the tests and materials were ‘watered down’ way below provincial acceptable level, to ‘accommodate the misconception of their inability’ to gasp math and science. In doing so has made most curriculum in native schools irrelevant to provincial testing standard. Battiste, M. A., Barman. J, First nations education in Canada: the circle unfolds, ,UBC Press, Canada, 1995

12. Definition of Information, Communication and Technology • There is no definitive definition of Information, Communication and Technology • Alberta’s Ministry of Education, Communication Technologies Strategy for Schools define ICT as: "Information Technology (IT) is the term used to describe the items of equipment (hardware) and computer programs (software) that allows us to access, retrieve, store, organize, manipulate and present information by electronic means... Examples include: scanners, computers, projection equipment (hardware) and database, spreadsheet, and multimedia software programs (software)”. <www.cea.ace.ca> accessed May 18th 2009

13. Alberta’s Ministry of Education • According to Alberta’s Ministry of Education, learning's commitment to native schools is to "increase and strengthen the knowledge and understanding among all Albertans of First Nations, Métis and Inuit governance, history, treaty and Aboriginal rights, lands, cultures, and languages" and provide First Nations, Métis and Inuit learners with access to "culturally relevant learning opportunities and quality support services.“ Much has been done to ensure progress in almost all schools in Alberta in achieving the mandate as outlined but in reality, passive teaching methods, irrelevant curriculum, and inappropriate testing are generally accepted when implementing curriculum in native schools. <www.cea.ace.ca >accessed May 18th 2009

14. The Kîkway Kikiskîyîtîn Project • The Kîkway Kikiskîyîtîn Project was launched by the Northland School Division to determine whether Aboriginal students would perform better if assessment were rooted in culturally authentic examples. • In 1998, the division initiated the Kîkway Kikiskîyîtîn Project to develop performance assessment tools to support cultural teaching and learning in mathematics and reading • Teachers within the school division received inservice in curricular and assessment strategies. The use of Smartboard, computers and the educational websites in facilitating Instructions were greatly encouraged. • Field tests and performance assessment tasks were designed to allow students to solve problems in a culturally familiar context. • Questions were built around Aboriginal activities which includes counting moose, fish, and traditional food such as bannock (fried bread), caribou, and moose stew. . • Hands-on problem solving and written communication in mathematics allowed students to demonstrate what they knew. • Tests were administered in April of each year and marked in May. • Rubrics and exemplars were used in Assessing students’ understanding of the grade-level mathematics strands. Gibbs J., The Kîkway Kikiskîyîtîn Project, in The Birth of a Very Large Baby, The Alberta’s Teachers’ Association, Spring 2008, Volume 5, Issue 2

15. Assessing math with my Grade 4 students • In mathematics, two tasks were developed for the number strand (number sense and number operations), and one task was developed for each remaining strand • Students were expected to solve the problems by applying knowledge gained through classroom instruction and a variety of mathematical processes. • When administrating the task, half of my Grade 4 students were given access to calculators and computers and the other half would have to rely on passive methods and ‘finger counting’ process. • The later is closely associated to vernacular numbering and counting system using fingers and toes while hunting animals and fishing. • They were evaluated on their problem-solving skills and communication processes. • Students • Peerless Lake School.Alberta

16. Exemplars Rubrics

17. Number sense, in exploring the concept of quantity, • in Cree language, numbers are limited • to fingers and toes, one – twenty. • For example, • 0 - zero mwac ke'kwa'n • 1 - one pe'yak • 2 - two n'iso • 3 - three nisto • 4 - four n'ew, ne'wo, ne'yo • 5 - five niya'nan • 6 - six n(i)kotwa'sik or kotwa'sik • 7 - seven te'pakohp • 8 - eight ayina'new • 9 - nine ke'ka'c mita'taht • 10 - ten mita'taht • nīstanaw-piyakosāp- Twenty-one and beyond is counted as two tens and one, • nistomitanaw, -thirty, three tens. • ‘ • Numeracy in most native tribes is limited to counting by visual means: one-twenty (fingers and toes). Beyond that would be classified as ‘great’, ‘many’, since they hunt and fish for what is required for the day or for winter storage only. • Quantity is more a western concept. • The Cree have incorporated some french words in expressing ideas but in numeracy, little has been done to expand the number vocabulary. • Battiste and Barman (1995)on Hampton indicates that each Indian nation has its own forms of education that can be characterized as ‘oral histories, teaching stories, ceremonies, apprenticeships, learning games, formal instruction, tutoring and tag-along teaching’ Early Childhood Students at Peerless Lake School <http://www.edukits.ca/aboriginal/language/teacher>

18. Kozma in Yelland (2000)asserts that we must situate theories of learning with ICT 'in the cognitive and social processes by which knowledge is constructed' that we should conduct research that investigates the mechanisms by which students learn with ICT and that ICT will only have an impact on learning if they are integrated into social and cultural contexts. • Similarly, when images of moose, camps,, fish were put in place in their mathematical equations, students who used the calculator and computers grasped the number concept immediately as those imageries were identifiable in their culturally familiar context. Fish-- Jackfish common in Northern Canada <www.turtletrack.org ,‘Mozokas’’ Moose> Dr. Yelland, N., (2000), Teaching and learning with information and communication technologies (ICT) for numeracy in the early childhood and primary years of schooling, Commonwealth of Australia

19. Using symbols, shapesimagery of animals as part of ‘math assimilation’ within familiar native context. Tipi – Cone (Geometry) Tree rings- layers, centrifugal “circle of life.” – environmental studies Moose, Fish- Number Sense Tipi to River- Distance <www.old-picture.com>An Indian Child Standing in Entrance to a Tipi <www.gallerydeboer.ca> Morrisseau, Norval

20. Outcomes • Most students performed well when questions incorporated items that they could identify, such as fish, moose, bear etc. • Questions containing items or subjects that are not part of their cultural vocabulary such as fillet, steak, vacuum, etc, students did poorly. • In my observation, those using calculators and computers as manipulative, were able to provide the correct answers but could not comprehend how they arrive to the answers whereas those using traditional counting system ‘visualized’ the number of animals (moose) or fish caught, were able grasp the concept of quantity. They were only able to perform task that were confined to the maximum numbers permitted by existing toes and fingers. Beyond that, they struggled to comprehend greater quantity that twenty as number concepts is more or less a foreign entity in their culture. • The inability to provide correct answers or comprehending the mechanics of solving the questions, as Antone citing Scallon (nd) suggest, is ‘literacy deficit’ and not numeracy incapability. • Majority of the students complained not understanding the questions. In their estimation, the questions were vague and not specific. • When revising question using Smartboard, online testing, such as Exambank, Frogmath, they were able to visualize the materialization of answers due to animated illustration as tutorial guide. • Upon reviewing the tests, literacy is key between pass and failure. This is more so in my school as English is a second language Cree language has limited vocabulary which inhibit translation from English to Cree and vice versa. • Inferior, irrelevant, watered down curriculum that still exist today in some communities hinders learning development in meeting with provincial tests (PAT) standard in Alberta. • PAT questionnaires are catered for students in mainstream school systems and does not take into account native cultural context

21. What Do I Know? • In order for progress and development to exist in native communities , in my estimation, the following should be made aware off: • Equal opportunities of educational wealth should be shared by all regardless of creed, color and geographical location as those of the city cousins. • Government agencies must revamp their arcade educational policies and be accountable for the current sad state of affairs facing most native communities across Canada • The lack of federal interference in local matters for fear of losing minerals rights on native soil should not be a factor in promising a greater benefit to the community by providing vital education to meet current world demand of employable skills. • Native bands must be made accountable for the current poor educational standard because of poor management of monies provided by federal government and take leadership in stamping alcohol and substance abuse prevalent in their communities even at the risk of reprimanding members of family. • More reliable access to ICT and technical support should be made a priority by local boards (band members) as integral in creating a new approach to learning and connecting with the rest of the world or native communities, locally and globally. • Autonomy of running schools with no interference from local boards is crucial if one is to move forward in education, no fear of retribution. • Traditional teaching and cultural context should be integrated in provincial curriculum • Change old perception of Yelland’s,(2000) 'If computers are used to import and amplify poor pedagogy’ to good pedagogy and deeper understanding of what ICT can do to amplify growth of learning in education.

22. The Rainbow Approach to Literacy Based on the Medicine Wheel-wholistic approach to literacy Four stages of learning from the FNTI Medicine Wheel Model with the literacies of various colours. In this model red is the literacy of Aboriginal languages, orange-oral tradition, yellow-communication, green-multicultural multilingual society, blue-technology, indigo-“spiritual seeing” or intuition and violet-holistic base of Aboriginal literacy (spirit, heart, mind and body) Priscilla G. N., The Rainbow/Holistic Approach to Aboriginal Literacy, Canadian Journal of Native Education, v27 n1 p29-40 2003

23. Be Receptive to Learning old knowledge in Modernways • Aboriginal literacy and numeracy development are always about being creative in disseminating information, ideas, resymbolizing and interpret past experience. • Native students should be given the opportunity to learn at their own pace. There are many different possibilities with regard to how one learns. Native culture is not a generic entity that can be fully accounted for by an overall plan set by educational agency. • The Kîkway Kikiskîyîtîn Project is the bridging between non-native criteria of assessment and inclusion of native culture as a way of learning outcome that encompass traditional native values as it’s main focus. The teaching of numeracy using local cultural context enable students to identify everyday activities in an abstract way of mathematical analysis. • According to native Indians, learning is passed down from generation to generation, father to son, mother to daughter, orally and through sharing experiences, thereby literacy becomes the active form of learning, evident in person’s development of knowledge, their values, and way of being. This transformative process of learning, literacy, and numeracy continues through their life journey. Incorporating Medicine Wheel model that centres on spiritual, emotional, mental, and physical attributes in the cycle of learning provides a fresh approach to teaching and learning. In my teaching experience in native communities in Canada, employing the model has provided the opportunity to understand how they develop a learning process using local cultural values and assimilating with non-traditional instrument of teaching instruction. “Just as there are many roots forming the foundation of one tree, so are there many Elders, each one distinct in his or her own right and with his or her own knowledge, forming the foundation of Sakaw Cree traditional education. Through lifelong experience, our Elders are our knowledge-carriers; through their wisdom and spiritual insights, they are our knowledge definers.” <Promising Practices in First Nations, Metis and Inuit, 2008, Education. Alberta Education, www.education.gov.ab.ca> accessed May 18th 2009