Learning from Place

According to the article, bringing all of the age groups together on a nature connection is great for the social, intellectual, emotional, physical and spiritual development. Since this is the case, it is easy to see how important it is for these age groups to be able to connect to the cultural dimensions. This way they get a deeper connection of the land and the territory. These practices are bringing generations of people together and this is a step towards rehabilitation, especially because these practices can be used for generations to come in the future too. Not only are these practices important, but there are many other practices that will help decolonization and rehabilitation: 

• The use of elders teaching the youth, in order to understand roles and meaning of land
• The use of technology by using documentaries, radio documentaries and interviews
• Cree-language revitalization using nature (the river excursion)
• Allowed others to connect and share linguistic, cultural, historical, and geographical knowledge
• The use of nature (land and water rights) goes beyond institutional walls which is traditional Mushkegowuk modes of teaching and learning 

Being a future educator, it is important to understand our traditional lands and how everything has come to be. Acknowledging the land we are on is an important aspect and understanding language revitalization is important too. By acknowledging land names, languages, etc. it exposes our children to the truth at a young age and they are able to have a hand in helping revitalization and so we have no repetition in history. Establishing this relationship to land and culture is crucial for my students and myself. Personally, I believe having an elder come into my classroom is important because they are able to speak culturally and personally on the issues and they are able to offer an insight that I will not be able to. Plus, I don’t believe it is my story to tell, I am only able to teach history. Being very aware of what we are doing as educators plays a big role in revitalization.