Coming full circle

trevor.kenney — Fri, 04 Nov 2016 21:40:23 +0000

In the Blackfoot culture, the circle represents all things connected in the universe: the four directions, the four seasons, the four elements, the four sacred medicines. The circular design of tipis promotes face-to-face communication, discussion and decision-making.

It’s perhaps fitting that student mentors in the Scotiabank First Nations, Métis and Inuit (FNMI) Mentorship program in the U of L’s Faculty of Management often come “full circle.”

Rhonda Crow, Coordinator, First Nations Governance

Recognizing the challenges FNMI students face, this visionary program was launched in 2012 aiming to break down barriers to their education. It encourages First Nations youth to complete high school and pursue post-secondary studies. It is beginning to see successes as the first mentees have completed high school and are attending university this fall.

“For some families, their parents didn't have the opportunity to go to college or university, so it's foreign to them. It really helps for the younger students to have positive role models who are currently attending university,” says Rhonda Crow, coordinator, First Nations Governance in the Faculty of Management.

The mentorship program is unique in the broad range of students it reaches, spanning university to middle school. U of L FNMI alumni serve as mentors to Aboriginal students in the management and pre-management programs. In turn, U of L students pay it forward by providing guidance to middle school and senior high FNMI students in Lethbridge, as well as schools on the reserve. A recent addition to the program includes invitations to prominent alumni (such as Hon. Jennifer Campeau (BMgt '08), MLA for Saskatoon Fairview) to spend a week on campus as executives-in-residence, speaking to classes, community organizations and local schools.

"Students who are mentored or mentor others are more likely to feel supported and engaged in both the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ and local community, and are less likely to drop out," explains Andrea Amelinckx, director and faculty member in the U of L’s First Nations Governance program.

Fifth-year U of L student Alison Frank can further attest to this, having seen first hand the true impact of the FNMI Youth Mentorship program. Frank grew up in a home with six brothers, so when she first heard about the opportunity to mentor youth, she personally wanted to make meaningful connections with younger girls, in addition to gaining valuable real-life work experience. Frank was paired with three students who were in middle school at the time.

"It was a little bit tough in the beginning because, with teenagers, you have to develop a level of trust. However, as I started getting to know them, a relationship and eventually a friendship formed. I talked to them weekly, sometimes even daily," recalls Frank. "It gave me little sisters, something I've always wanted."

During the next three years, Frank connected with the girls through group activities like bowling and going to the movies, but there was always a greater underlying purpose.

"I'm an education major, so it was really important to me to empower them to go to, and stay, in school, to show them that as mentors we are ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ students and you can be, too."

This past year, Frank watched as all of the girls she had journeyed with were handed high school diplomas.

"I had heard about the good times, as well as the hard times in their lives, and I knew what they had been through. So seeing them graduate brought tears to my eyes. I was so proud of them. It made it all worth it."

Since becoming involved with the program, Frank has moved into a supervisor role and is now in a position where she mentors the mentors.

"We always talk about the fact that you never know who is looking up to you. You have to carry yourself in a manner that reflects how you would want to be seen. As students at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ, we're future leaders, and we have to carry that responsibility," Frank explains.

Included in a group of 20 ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ student mentors Frank is overseeing, are two of the three girls she originally met all those years ago. Having graduated from high school, the girls are continuing their education at the U of L and have signed up to be mentors themselves.

"It's really come full circle. We're growing with each other through this program," says Frank, with a big smile. "It's a ripple effect, and it's just going to keep getting bigger and bigger. I'm excited to see where it goes."

Alberta teachers to benefit from linkage of U of L FNMI education database to provincial resource

caroline.zentner — Mon, 25 Jan 2016 17:09:58 +0000

A database of educational resources for First Nations, Métis and Inuit (FNMI) learners developed at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge will gain wider exposure and use when it is added to resources at the Alberta Regional Professional Development Consortia (ARPDC) today.

Dawn Burleigh, a professor in the Faculty of Education, oversees the FNMI Curriculum Collection, a database of more than 1,200 educational resources that bring an FNMI perspective to the Alberta curriculum.

U of L education professor Dawn Burleigh, at left, chats with Johnel Tailfeathers, centre, and Dr. Marlo Steed, during a break in the session to merge the U of L FNMI database resources to a provincial resource.

“As I see it, First Nations, Métis and Inuit education is the responsibility of all teachers in all classrooms with all students,” says Burleigh. “The new Truth and Reconciliation report has a number of action items related to education and, if teachers are agents in that system, they have to be informed about how to address First Nations, Métis and Inuit issues in the classroom. We also have to uphold our obligations under the treaties.”

The database was started several years ago by Dr. Cathy Campbell, a retired U of L education professor, and Johnel Tailfeathers (BEd ’89), a former U of L education instructor.

“The resources have come primarily from students and teachers in the field. Our students have utilized it over the years and contributed to it as well,” says Burleigh.

She wanted to expand the collection and connect with other existing resources so she and Solange Lalonde (BEd ’06), lead developer with ARPDC’s Provincial First Nations, Métis and Inuit Professional Learning Project developed a partnership. ARPDC provides professional development for teachers and is the umbrella organization for six regional consortia in the province.

Funded by Alberta Education, the ARPDC project serves as a resource to bring FNMI perspectives and content to educational programming. Lalonde has developed a Moodle course of FNMI resources linked to the Alberta curriculum. Moodle is free software that helps educators create online courses.

“We’re still in the implementation phase where we’re trying out different professional learning opportunities, introducing new resources, developing resources and working with leadership from the school divisions that are pilots on the project,” says Lalonde.

U of L students who are Native Education majors will be spending the day cross-linking and adding the U of L resources to the ARPDC Moodle directory. Once the resources are all in one place, teachers can consult with their local communities and Aboriginal liaison workers to ensure the resource is appropriate for their region or treaty area.

“It brings more usage to the collections and makes the material more available to teachers in the field, as well as our students,” says Burleigh.

Bringing an FNMI perspective to lessons is sometimes seen as something strictly for teachers of FNMI students.

“If we want teachers to include First Nations, Métis and Inuit perspectives, a way to empower them is to already have the learning outcome linked to the resource,” says Lalonde, who’s also a U of L master’s of education student. “It’s meant to be an integral part of their planning process.”

The FNMI Curriculum Collection page can be found here.

UNews - First Nations

Coming full circle

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Alberta teachers to benefit from linkage of U of L FNMI education database to provincial resource

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