Sometimes, in an effort to defend our thinking or justify our actions, we lose the opportunity to grow in our understanding. Rather than rush to argue a point or dismiss an idea, sit with the discomfort awhile–embrace it.
Jo Chrona
I just finished my first read-through of longtime BC Indigenous educator and consultant, Jo Chrona‘s, fabulous debut book, Wayi Wah! Indigenous Pedagogies: An Act for Reconciliation and Anti-Racist Education. And to be fully forthright, this feels like the perfect timing for a privileged, curious, progressive, Gen-X, educator to stretch some more. The volume of rich knowledge and wisdom was so overwhelming that it requires a second go-round (with a notepad). With its well-structured chapter sequencing, Wayi Wah! offers its reader various access points into Indigenous pedagogy, anti-racism, United Nations Declaration of Indigenous Peoples, Reconciliation, and the role of the public educator.
I had the wonderful fortune of seeing Chrona speak at the annual FNESC conference a number of years ago in Vancouver; still a highlight after such attendance. Much like her public persona as a straight-talking, often blunt, and keenly responsive advocate for BC public education, Wayi Wah! offers its wisdom, guidance, compassion, and story with the same spirit and energy of intentionality. It is also one of most easily accessible, relevant, and profound Indigenous pedagogical resources to come along in decades.
Each chapter of Wayi Wah! invites its reader multiple opportunities to reflect on their personal journey towards Reconciliation and an anti-racism approach (hint: have your journal at the ready). A few of the heart and head challenges include:
- What are the transformational stories you will tell about your role in Reconciliation through education? (p. 51)
- How do the statements that our education systems are systemically racist make you feel? Why? (p. 81)
- What damage is done to Indigenous cultures when non-Indigenous people claim knowledge as new or innovative when it is not new to Indigenous cultures? (p. 107)
- How do you understand the connection between strong relationships and high expectation of learners? (p. 132)
- How does who you are as a person affect what you believe about how teaching and learning happen? (p. 168)
- What aspect(s) of the [First Peoples Principles of Learning] FPPL resonates the most for you? (p. 176)
- What does it mean to you to “critically examine [your] own biases, attitudes, beliefs, values and practices to facilitate change?” (p. 202)
An entire chapter in Wayi Wah! is devoted to contextualizing the systemic racism within BC public education. Sadly, it was (not?) surprising to (re)learn that racism is still alive and well in our public education system. Chrona shares several of her ‘personal reflections’ that recount conversations with educators around the province in school staffrooms and hallways, school district leadership offices, and local and provincial workshops and conferences. Chrona contends that BC continues to struggle to reckon with Reconciliation and the ever growing anti-racism initiatives that are shaping other sectors of society; in education, however, these are often met with overt and covert resistance. Chrona, unsympathetically and candidly, offers insights from relevant pedagogical research and through her own experiences of how deeply embedded racism is in education systems.
For the reader, an obvious thread that Chrona weaves throughout Wayi Wah! is simple: as educators we must decisively acknowledge both the conscious and unconscious biases that we bring to our work each and everyday. We cannot collectively manifest progress until we recognize this truth. As a white, middle-class, heterosexual, cis-gender male, my privilege far exceeds that of so many other individuals. Do I recognize this when I show up in front of learners? What does my racism look like? What does reckoning with privilege look like? What does an anti-racist education look, sound, and feel like for both learner and teacher? How does understanding and acknowledgement about my biases impact my teaching and learning?
[Indigenous knowledge] honours the fact that Indigenous Peoples have rich, robust, and deep knowledge systems that have been previously ignored or devalued as a result of colonial policies and racist attitudes. These knowledge systems contain a wealth of wisdom and information about how we can live in our world in ways that focus on responsibility, reciprocity, relationship, and inclusion.
Jo Chrona
The FNESC First Peoples Principles of Learning (FPPL) was adopted by the BC Ministry of Education in 2007. And while the eye-catching posters have adorned classrooms, hallways, and central offices throughout BC for nearly two decades, Chrona argues that for Indigenous pedagogy to truly become enacted within our schools, we still need to understand, very deeply, what exactly an Indigenous-informed pedagogy looks, feels, sounds like in action; that we are not there, yet. Adeptly breaking down each of the FPPL one by one, Chrona lays bare the connections required for educators to truly attempt the necessary transformative work of Reconciliation. Chapter 5, was for me, a truly profound learning opportunity. I felt a shift in my understanding; in engaging with Indigenous pedagogy.
My saddest challenge as a teacher is working with colleagues who are content with doing things “the way they have always been done.” When I witness the same practices marginalizing the same kids, I like to ask my colleagues, “Who does this serve? Who doesn’t this serve?” In questioning practices, we start to dig into the colonization of pedagogical beliefs. Individual teachers may feel that they are “decolonizing” education or teaching for Reconciliation, but unexamined practices can eclipse good intentions. Understanding how systemic racism operates, and undoing those ties collaboratively through the questions we choose to ask, feels like daily and necessary work.
Tasha H. educator (from Wayi Wahi!, p. 89)
Chrona devotes Chapter 6 to the provision of authentic Indigenous resources while offering an approach for educators to bring true Indigenous-informed pedagogies into their classrooms. Recognizing and avoiding misrepresentation and misappropriation, outlining authentic resource evaluation criteria, reflecting local Indigenous knowledge, and protecting cultural knowledge and intellectual property rights are addressed head-on. This is one space in which I know that the real work is, for me, in this moment.
I have come to embrace the power of “I don’t know” as a space to grow, rather than a barrier. I have become okay with asking questions that I do not have the answer to because I believe in our ability to learn what we need to. The question is not whether Reconciliation is possible or not, but how we can continue to work toward it by taking one step at a time in this journey.
Jo Chrona
Wayi Wah! has been a wonderful gift (to myself); and for any educator to receive. I am grateful to Jo for her relentless belief in the transformative opportunities that public education can provide all of its learners. I appreciate the unapologetic spirit with which she continues to hold all educators to account; to challenge, to rumble with, to share, to support. Many of us have started the journey (with some further along than others). And still many more educators continue to learn and grow in the face of “I don’t know.”
Our time is now.
Let’s go!
JY
GETTING CURIOUS 