Local Indigenous teaching resources vetted by the community and at your fingertips

Some of the most powerful memories of Indigenous stories in a student’s early education begin in a classroom’s reading corner.

Each turn of the page opens a window into the places, peoples, languages and histories that define what many now call Canada. It’s through a teacher’s use of informed, community-supported resources that students can best appreciate each story’s significance.

Launched in 2021, the database Books to Build On: Indigenous Literatures for Learning has grown to include open educational resources (OER’s) for over 350 local Indigenous stories — suitable for use in classrooms ranging from pre-school to post-secondary.

The database is ordered using multiple searchable categories, including cultural cornerstones like language, traditions, and nation-specific topics, or by wider-scope issues like residential schools, reconciliation and reclamation.

“From its inception, this project was designed to be a resource that’s accountable to the Indigenous community and useful for educators.” says Dr. Aubrey Hanson, PhD, associate professor with Werklund School of Education and a co-recipient of the 2022 Teaching and Learning Grant awarded to the project. “Since 2021, our team has reached out to approximately 1,000 members of the educational community and it’s with their support and feedback so that we can grow the database in a good way.”

Created with educators in mind, many entries are accompanied by lesson plans that inspire teachers to create their own activities. Developed alongside the Alberta education curriculum, lesson plans or “seeds” can be found across subject areas ranging from humanities and the arts through to math and sciences. Additionally, many items on the site contain supplementary materials, including videos from Elders, stories read aloud and images that can add further texture to the teacher’s exploration of the material.

Dr. Erin Spring, PhD, the project’s co-lead and an associate professor at the Werklund School of Education, describes this as an important tool for busy teachers looking for new ways to make meaningful connections between the curriculum and learning outcomes.

“Teaching Quality Standards require teachers to incorporate Indigenous Ways of Knowing into their classrooms – something that many non-Indigenous primary school educators feel nervous about doing,” says Spring. “What’s great about these texts is that they’re local and integrate place-based knowledge. As a teacher who doesn’t speak the language, it’s helpful to have the author read the story aloud to ensure proper pronunciation and engagement with the words.”

Creating a more robust, more fulsome classroom experience

As both a grade 5 teacher and the project’s manager, Anja Dressler understands how using age-appropriate learning resources can have a significant impact on a child’s grasp of complex topics like intergenerational trauma and residential schools.

Guided by the story Fatty Legs: A True Story, her class discussed how the novel’s protagonist (and author) – an eight-year-old girl – is affected by poor treatment at the school and being separated from her family.

“The book explores the subject in a way that eight-year-olds can relate to.” says Dressler. “Students at this age understand what school is like for them — that it’s a place where they should feel safe in and that their parents want to send them to. Upon learning that neither was true for Indigenous children who attended residential schools, students develop a stronger grasp of the situation.”

The database entry for Fatty Legs: A True Story contains age-appropriate lesson plans for grades 4-7 and 7-12 in addition to videos and web content that introduce students to aspects of Inuit culture, language and the arctic environment that the book takes place in.

Like many entries across the database, resources for Fatty Legs: A True Story were compiled by educators from the wider community, and reviewed by a combination of the project team, traditional Knowledge Keepers and Indigenous community members involved with the project.

Now entering its third year, the project is looking to grow the number of lesson plans attached to database entries, and specifically those rooted in math and sciences. Academic staff, postdoctoral scholars and undergraduate and graduate students and support staff who are interested in contributing are encouraged to reach out to [email protected].